City of Heroes Mac Edition Guide (Version 1)

CuppaManga · 01-07-2009 07:25 PM

City of Heroes Mac Edition Guide (Version 1)

There are separate guides dealing with installing the Windows version of City Of Heroes on a Mac via Boot Camp (Dual Boot), Emulation (Parallels, VMWare), or Crossover Games. This guide deals specifically with the Native Mac Client.

Before you begin, keep in mind that City of Heroes works best with Leopard (MacOS X 10.5.x) or Snow Leopard (MacOS X 10.6.x), and an Intel-based Mac with a discrete video processor by ATI or nVidia. It also works with Tiger (MacOS X 10.4.x) but may have future support issues. It also may work if you have an Intel GMA video processor, if you set it to Performance, but no promises.

The Native Mac Client

By far, the simplest way to install City of Heroes on a Mac is the native client distributed by NCSoft (available in the software downloads section of the cityofheroes.com web site). It's distributed in a Mac native DMG disk image. There are two separate clients: One for the regular City Of Heroes live servers, and one for the Training Room. To use either, follow these simple steps:

1. Once you've downloaded the DMG, double-click it to mount it to the desktop.

2. Drag the City Of Heroes application to your Applications folder, or wherever you want the game to reside.

3. Double-click the City of Heroes application and allow it to update itself with the latest game data. This could take a while.

4. You're ready to play.

Shortcut: If you're brave, and you have an updated PC copy of City of Heroes, you can skip most of the download by doing the following:

WARNING: Tampering with the files within the City of Heroes application may render it inoperable, requiring you to reinstall it from the DMG.

1. Run the updater once to allow it to update itself if necessary. Once you see it "Fixing Files" you can quit and move on with the next step.
2. Right-click the City of Heroes application and select "Show Package Contents".
3. Open the Contents, then Resources, then transgaming, then c_drive, then either "coh" or "Program Files" and then "City of Heroes". If neither of those are in "c_drive", run the updater once but quit before the download completes. From now on that folder will be referred to as the Client Folder.
4. Copy the contents of your Windows City of Heroes "piggs" folder into the Client Folder (credit: Ghost Vision). You may also copy your wdw.txt (saved windows) and the folders named like your accounts (saved preferences). Do not copy the other files, as that has been known to cause a corrupted install.
5. Delete the coh.checksum file (credit: Ghost Vision).
6. File > Get Info on the Client Folder and make sure your user account is the owner, and has Read and Write permissions. Apply the permissions to enclosed folders even if they look okay. This step varies whether you're using Tiger or Leopard, so please check the Apple help if you're unsure of how to do it.
7. Double-Click City Of Heroes and let the updater verify files and patch. It will take very little time.

Screenshots and Demorecords on the Native Mac Client

Screenshots and Demorecords are both stored in an unusual place in the native Mac client. It will take some practice to reach them, but as long as you're careful you can do so safely.

First, however, you might want to give some attention to the different types of screenshots and demorecords available.

1. Basic in-game screenshot: Usually created by pressing Print Screen. If you're on a laptop, however, you'll have to remap that key since there is no Print Screen. In-game, go to Options and Keymapping. Down at the bottom is the Screen Shot option. Click where it says Print Screen, and hold down a replacement key combo. I picked Ctrl+~. This method will create a screenshot free of UI elements. The screenshot retrieval process is strange, however - instructions are below.

2. MacOS screenshot: Pressing Cmd-Shift-3 captures the entire screen, UI display and all. It's the same as typing /screenshotui 1 before doing the above, and will put the screenshot on the desktop. Cmd-Shift-4 (regional screenshot) is not available in-game.

3. Basic Demorecord: Typing /demorecord filename in-game will start recording a command set for creating a full-motion simulated game-based movie (/demostop stops the recording). It's proprietary to City of Heroes, and requires some typed commands to play it back. The retrieval process is described below, but playback will be covered in a separate document.

4. Third-party screen recording utility: You can either use one of these to record the game live, complete with UI elements, or to capture a played-back Demorecord to make a Quicktime movie. There is a wide variety of these available, so there are no specific instructions to make one work.

Retrieving Screenshots and Demorecords

WARNING: Tampering with the files within the City of Heroes application may render it inoperable, requiring you to reinstall it from the DMG.

1. Right-click the City of Heroes application and select "Show Package Contents".
2. Open the Contents, then Resources, then transgaming, then c_drive, then either "coh" or "Program Files" and then "coh".
3. The screenshots are stored in the "screenshots" folder, the demorecords in "client_demos".

Playing Back Demorecords on a Mac

- To Be Added Soon

Accessing the Training Room

Unlike the PC client, the Mac has a separate game client for accessing the training room. The installation and use procedure is the same as the regular Mac client, at the top of this document, the only difference being the server it connects to, and the name of the application. Instructions on how to copy characters from the Live servers to the Training Room are at the City of Heroes official message board.

Loading Bind Files

The City of Heroes Mac client has a "D" drive mapped to the location of your current Home folder on the Mac. Placing your bind file there will allow you to load it directly from inside the game:

1. Place a bind file, such as "binds.txt", in your Home folder.

2. In-game, type "/bindloadfile d:/binds.txt" and press Return.

3. Your binds are now available!

Unique Mac Features

1. Minimize: Pressing Cmd-Tab while in-game will minimize City of Heroes and allow you to access the Desktop. Be careful you don't press that key combo while in the middle of battle. Clicking the application in the Dock will restore it to full screen.

2. Windowed Mode: Pressing Cmd-Enter while in-game will switch City of Heroes to Windowed mode and back. This is a fairly convient way to do it, since you can switch back and forth at will without restarting the game. You can run other applications and still keep an eye on in-game events and chat this way.

3. Self-Contained Operation: This means you can copy the City of Heroes application to any Intel-based Mac and it will work the same as on your own gaming computer.

4. Multi-touch trackpad: If your Mac has a multi-touch trackpad, City of Heroes will obey the right click and directional scroll gestures.

5. Bluetooth, wireless, or USB mouse: If you have a Bluetooth, wireless, or USB mouse it will work about as it does in the operating system, except that CoH is limited to 3-button and scroll wheel support.

6. You can run multiple instances of City of Heroes by Duplicating the application (File > Duplicate) and calling the alternate one something like "City of Heroes (2)". You can then launch both applications at once.

7. The Mac City of Heroes client is capable of running from a USB Flash (Thumb) Drive at least 4 GB in size. It will operate just as the game normally does in this state. The only caveat is if you're on a public computer you may want to delete the City of Heroes Preferences in your (User) > Library > Preferences folder.

Vidiotmaps

Vidiotmaps can be installed in City of Heroes for Mac using the following procedure:

EDIT: The procedure below is now OPTIONAL. Vidiotmaps now has an official Mac installer - but in case it doesn't work for you, I've left the instructions below intact.

WARNING: Tampering with the files within the City of Heroes application may render it inoperable, requiring you to reinstall it from the DMG.

1. Download the Vidiotmaps installer that contains ONLY the maps.

2. Run the Vidiotmaps installer on a Windows computer, or in Crossover, Parallels, or VMWare. Extract the files somewhere highly visible like the Desktop.

3. Copy the "data" folder to the Mac Desktop.

4. Right-click the City of Heroes application and select "Show Package Contents".

5. Open the Contents, then Resources, then transgaming, then c_drive, then either "coh" or "Program Files" and then "City of Heroes". If there is no such folder, run the updater once to get it to create the folder.

6. Drag the "data" folder to the folder.

Known Issues

1. Full-Screen Anti-Aliasing, Depth of Field, and other advanced video features not yet available.

2. Native game Windowed-Mode may not work as expected (use Cmd-Enter noted above), and does not yet start automatically.

3. Increased lag/chop in certain zones. Make sure your World Detail is no higher than 100% to alleviate this issue.

4. If you change your screen resolution in-game, you need to restart your game client right away. If you change anything or click Apply your settings will revert without warning (this is actually an issue 13 bug).

Common Questions

Q. When will the Valkyrie pack be released seperately?
A. A few months after the City of Heroes Mac Edition becomes available at the NCSoft store.

Q. Will I be able to use my characters on Triumph, Freedom, Virtue, etc with the Mac client?
A. Yes. You will be able to access the Live servers alongside PC clients without limitation.

Q. Do I need a new account or can I use my existing one?
A. If you have an existing account, you can use it with the Mac client.

Q. If I have an account I started with the PC client, can I use the Mac client?
A. Yes. The two clients behave the same, without regard to what type of account you created.

Q. Can I use the Mac client with a trial account?
A. Yes, even trial accounts can be used with the Mac client.

Q. How do I use the Valkyrie pack if I have a PC created account?
A. You will be given an Activation Code when you order the Mac Edition (or if you ordered a package, it will be inside the box). Use UPGRADE, rather than ADD, to add the code to your account.

Q. Can I use Herostats or Mid's on a Mac?
A. Herostats does not currently support the Mac client. Mid's can be run in Boot Camp, Parallels, VMWare, or any other emulated Windows environment.

Q. How do I report bugs in the Mac client?
A. Post them to the Mac Users, Technical Issues, or Training Room forum, depending on where you found the bug. You can also use the in-game /bug command.

Q. What if I have a problem logging in, or another problem with my account?
A. Customer Support will be able to help you with either PC or Mac account problems.

Manga @ Triumph
"Meanwhile In The Halls Of Titan"...Titan Network Working To Save City Of Heroes
Save Paragon City! Efforts Coordination

CuppaManga · 01-07-2009 11:01 PM

If your Mac game client won't start after playing it previously, try the following steps:

1. Open your Applications folder, and then Utilities.

2. Launch Activity Monitor.

3. Look for a process called "wineserver" and click it once to select it.

4. Click "Force Quit".

5. Launch the CoH game client again.

Manga @ Triumph
"Meanwhile In The Halls Of Titan"...Titan Network Working To Save City Of Heroes
Save Paragon City! Efforts Coordination

scholarman · 01-08-2009 05:29 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Retrieving Screenshots and Demorecords

WARNING: Tampering with the files within the City of Heroes application may render it inoperable, requiring you to reinstall it from the DMG.

1. Right-click the City of Heroes application and select "Show Package Contents".
2. Open the Contents, then Resources, then transgaming, then c_drive, then either "coh" or "Program Files" and then "coh".
3. The screenshots are stored in the "screenshots" folder, the demorecords in "client_demos".

[/ QUOTE ]

One trick to make this more convenient: after you create at least one screenshot or demorecord (which creates the in-package folder), you inspect the package contents as you instruct, surfing down to where the screenshots (or demorecords) folder can be found. Click on the folder to highlight it, then right-click (or control-click, on single button systems) to bring up the contextual menu. Select 'create alias' from the menu. You will now see screenshots alias (or demorecords alias) right underneath the original folder.

Drag that folder to your desktop, and close the package contents window. Voila. You now have a clickable icon on your desktop that will open the screenshots folder without having to open the package contents.

Nazghul1 · 01-08-2009 05:38 PM

Can saved costumes be moved from PC to Mac and vice versa?

CuppaManga · 01-08-2009 05:51 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Can saved costumes be moved from PC to Mac and vice versa?

[/ QUOTE ]

Untested, but I don't see why not.

Manga @ Triumph
"Meanwhile In The Halls Of Titan"...Titan Network Working To Save City Of Heroes
Save Paragon City! Efforts Coordination

AnoucheSyn · 01-08-2009 06:31 PM

Ok, here's my question in regards to a friend who had a PC account in the past, and bought the PC version already.

He had to borrow a PC and was able to buy the PC version and play for several months until the PC broke and he had to return it, thereby no longer being bale to play CoH. He has a Mac Laptop running Tiger and plays WoW, but is interested in the Mac version and has been waiting for it to come out of beta.

He is now wondering if he has to BUY the digital Mac download, essentially having to purchase a 2nd copy of CoH, to get the game installed on his Mac laptop, or can he simply re-activate his old PC account with his existing toons, and be given access to the Mac client to download the new platform's software and begin playing on his Mac laptop without having to re-purchase the game just for playing on a Mac?

Hopefully, you have an answer that can get him going without to much buyer's grief. Because of a trial account and difficulties retrieving his account information, he actually has bought the PC version TWICE, and is therefore reluctant to but the another version of the game.

Thanks for any and all advice forthcoming.

Janlee · 01-08-2009 06:39 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, here's my question in regards to a friend who had a PC account in the past, and bought the PC version already.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unlike the other world of computers, the game doesn't care if you use Mac or PC.

If you have a valid PlayNC account that is tied to "City of", grab the Mac Client and play along on your Intel Mac (running at least Mac OS 10.4, preferably Mac 10.5)

PC or Mac, the clients hit the same servers.

ftp://client.coh.com/US

Does that help?

Sometimes, I impress my boss. Sometimes, I impress myself. The rest of the time, I scare people. I can live with that.

AnoucheSyn · 01-08-2009 07:15 PM

yes, that is great news, the problem I have just discovered now is that you must have an Intel Mac, which essentially means, quite ironically I believe, if you have this type of Mac, you could be running Boot Camp/Windows and playing on the PC side.....if you have an older version Mac - non-Intel chip, and can't run any version of the Mac OS above Tiger, like my friend...you are once again not allowed in the "members only club". What's the point for an existing Mac owner, and why wouldn't you just use Boot Camp with your Intel chip Mac and play back on the PC side, like I do? They should have been able to pull this off without Intel based Macs...I can sympathize with the idea of a digital download that doesn't discriminate between a mac or pc account, but Intel-based is really for NEW mac users. Unfortunate for my friend who can't afford the latest Mac and manages to run WoW: Wrath of the Lich King, on the same non-Intel mac laptop, even though Blizzard says its against the recommended requirements to play...he plays WoW, with all 3 expansions every night. Blizzard manages the cross-platform deal with their game without steep requirements....and you wonder why their user base world-wide is so enormous. This could be a reason why you will only get new affluent Mac purchasers as your new user cross-platform-base.

Thanks!

Janlee · 01-08-2009 07:23 PM

[ QUOTE ]
yes, that is great news, the problem I have just discovered now is that you must have an Intel Mac

[/ QUOTE ]

And, if you read the specs, you are not supported on the Intel Mac Mini either, which uses the wrong graphics chipset.

This does not preclude Macs from using the Mac Client, only what is "officially" supported.

My Quad-G5 with 10.5 and the NVidia card does run the game, I just can not ask for support.

And, for 50 or so dollars, they can pick up Parallels.

There has been Mac people running the game in all sorts of environments, but now there is a "Mac Native" client.

Does this help?

Sometimes, I impress my boss. Sometimes, I impress myself. The rest of the time, I scare people. I can live with that.

Frost · 01-08-2009 09:25 PM

The point is, Boot Camp requires a licensed copy of windows and a lot of hard drive space. The native client does not.

GadgetDon · 01-08-2009 09:54 PM

If you play the game with boot camp, you have to log out of OS X completely. With this new client, you don't have to stop all other programs (though too many could slow down performance). Using windowing mode, tonight I ran the Mac version and periodically saw that I had new mail, quickly checked it, and resumed biffing baddies.

As for why Intel...they didn't actually rewrite the whole client for OS X, instead, they used Transgaming's cider technology to put a wrapper around the windows code to run on a Mac. Many games are brought to the Mac the same way, like Spore.

My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
The world beware! I've started a blog
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GadgetDon · 01-08-2009 09:56 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
yes, that is great news, the problem I have just discovered now is that you must have an Intel Mac

[/ QUOTE ]

And, if you read the specs, you are not supported on the Intel Mac Mini either, which uses the wrong graphics chipset.

This does not preclude Macs from using the Mac Client, only what is "officially" supported.

My Quad-G5 with 10.5 and the NVidia card does run the game, I just can not ask for support.

And, for 50 or so dollars, they can pick up Parallels.

There has been Mac people running the game in all sorts of environments, but now there is a "Mac Native" client.

Does this help?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hunh??? The way it works, an Intel processor is mandatory. Yes, you can get away with an unsupported graphics processor to some level. But are you really saying you've installed this on a quad-G5 computer and it works?

My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
The world beware! I've started a blog
GadgetMania Under Attack: The Digg Lockout

INTERR0BANG · 01-09-2009 12:37 AM

I have a current Account and play on the live and test servers and have for a while. Again. I'm current. My question is: Do I have to pay again? Can't I just download the mac client for free? and if so, how?! Nothing is telling me how. I saw in this forum weeks ago that it's free to download if you are already paying for access.

Please help! I don't want to spend 20 bucks if I don't have to, but I want to download it right now. I have been playing the test server since it started up and I hate running on windows on my mac. As soon as I download the Mac client, I'm deleting my windows partition.

INTERR0BANG · 01-09-2009 12:46 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ok, here's my question in regards to a friend who had a PC account in the past, and bought the PC version already.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unlike the other world of computers, the game doesn't care if you use Mac or PC.

If you have a valid PlayNC account that is tied to "City of", grab the Mac Client and play along on your Intel Mac (running at least Mac OS 10.4, preferably Mac 10.5)

PC or Mac, the clients hit the same servers.

ftp://client.coh.com/US

Does that help?

[/ QUOTE ]
That FTP file is the file for the beta and test server. Not the actual live client. Thanks for trying, but for Mac, there are separate applications for the live and test servers.

Frost · 01-09-2009 04:52 AM

No, that FTP has the live client. It's named the same, but it works on live. It's how I downloaded it. They updated the client on the 6th of January to support the live servers.

The beta client is now the test server client.

Janlee · 01-09-2009 07:31 AM

[ QUOTE ]

Hunh??? The way it works, an Intel processor is mandatory. Yes, you can get away with an unsupported graphics processor to some level. But are you really saying you've installed this on a quad-G5 computer and it works?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sort of.

It's running in Windows for Mac, old software emulates a 386.

I did NOT say it ran well, but I use it to download large patches and burn them to DVD as my home internet is sort of....sucky.

Sometimes, I impress my boss. Sometimes, I impress myself. The rest of the time, I scare people. I can live with that.

CuppaManga · 01-09-2009 07:55 AM

How to locate error information when the Updater or CoH crashes (provided it doesn't give you a crash report window):

1. Go to Applications > Utilities and open Console. If you have 2 panes there select "system.log" on the left. Then use the broom icon to clear the window out.

2. THEN launch the Updater. Copy anything that looks like an error to the clipboard (Cmd-C) and paste (Cmd-V) to a post in the Mac Users or Technical Issues forum.

If you get a crash report instead, copy and paste that.

Manga @ Triumph
"Meanwhile In The Halls Of Titan"...Titan Network Working To Save City Of Heroes
Save Paragon City! Efforts Coordination

scholarman · 01-09-2009 09:08 AM

[ QUOTE ]
yes, that is great news, the problem I have just discovered now is that you must have an Intel Mac, which essentially means, quite ironically I believe, if you have this type of Mac, you could be running Boot Camp/Windows and playing on the PC side.

[/ QUOTE ]

For the cost of a licensed copy of Windows and the 'surcharge' of rebooting your machine every time you want to play. I've been doing that for years, and I promise you this is way better.

As for using pre-Intel Macs... the Intel switch happened in 2006. That's now officially three years ago. At this point, as much as I'd like to see pre-Intel machines given robust support -- our school still has a lot of them -- it's hard to get too upset that companies aren't developing for them. By the same token, a lot more video companies are developing for the XBox 360 instead of the XBox, the PS3 instead of the PS2, and the Wii instead of the Gamecube. And nobody expects anyone to develop for the Dreamcast. When it does happen, that's a banner day for Dreamcast owners, but it's not anyone's priority.

Heck, the next version of the Macintosh Operating System won't even work on pre-Intel. If Apple's not going to support the G5 any longer (and that makes me a sad Panda, admittedly), you really can't expect Transgaming to.

Shelly · 01-09-2009 09:59 AM

Someone needs to post the Dashboard widgets for Mac OS X that were made in closed beta. ^.^

mygeeks · 01-09-2009 10:13 AM

Is anyone having trouble with the right mouse button? I have an intel powerbook pro - and while I can click in the screen and mouselook - I can't for instance right click and inspiration or power to the the options menu. I've tried two finger clicking on the track pad, a wireless mighty mouse and an old logitech usb mouse - all of which work in mac os, but none of which will activate those features. Oddly - running COH in Parallels also won't work with those features - so it seems like a mac/windows issue. I don't have any other mac/mouse software running. It seems odd that parts of COH features work on right click and others don't. What am I missing?
tnx

addendum..... I discovered that Shift right click works - don't know why and I'm pretty sure I tried that before. I'm still not sure what is going on, but this was pretty much my last issue with the mac version.

I_Frobot · 01-09-2009 11:33 AM

Hi all! Quick question...I understand that some of the advanced video features are not available yet. I'm assuming Vertical Sync is one of these, since I'm still getting a lot of screen tearing when I play on Mac.

Since I know this was a deal-breaker issue with a number of people during the beta, I was wondering if other people are still experiencing this. I'm also wondering if there is any kind of work around for it, or if anyone's heard any info on if/when this might be addressed.

I'm running the game on the following machine:
Mac Pro 2x2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
12GB Ram
ATi Radeon X1900
OSX 10.5.6

I've got the graphics options cranked up as high as they'll go. Except for the tearing, the game looks phenomenal!

GadgetDon · 01-09-2009 01:40 PM

You can find a server status and dev digest Dashboard widget here

My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
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CuppaManga · 01-09-2009 02:03 PM

(QR)

If you're having right-click problems try resetting your keybinds. Also if you're using a Mighty Mouse make sure you don't have the buttons reversed. A Wacom tablet driver may cause interference too.

The visual tearing is caused by Vertical Sync not having any effect. As it's not game breaking, it didn't stop the client from going live. It's still on the list as far as I know, and may even make a quick patch during I13, as the cursor colors will.

The priorities for the Mac version to go live were playability, stability, and not breaking the Patch Server. Once all 3 were met it was ready to go live (it was the 3rd condition that cause most of the delay of the launch).

Advanced graphics effects like FSAA and the distance blurring (I forget what that's called) are going to have to wait for a future issue release (maybe I14 or I15) but they're also still on the list.

Manga @ Triumph
"Meanwhile In The Halls Of Titan"...Titan Network Working To Save City Of Heroes
Save Paragon City! Efforts Coordination

Gorgar · 01-09-2009 05:09 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Can saved costumes be moved from PC to Mac and vice versa?

[/ QUOTE ]

Untested, but I don't see why not.

[/ QUOTE ]

I tried it, but it didn't work. Seemed to put a spare / in the path, oddly...could see it when it told me what file it was trying to load. Not sure what happened there, and didn't troubleshoot further.

Also, thanks for posting this. I was upgrading from the closed beta, which they sent me a link to but I never seemed to be able to log in, so my setup was probably weird. My path was slightly different and I had to let it fix files a bit longer, and try it twice, but in the end, upgrading via your instructions and skipping the massive download worked. Very cool.

Virtue
Angel Witch II - Chord of Souls - Storm Witch II - Princess of the Dawn - Standing Horse - Witch of Xymox
Silent Scream - Shadow Witch II - Liquid Serenade - Nebulous Dawn - Ghost Witch II -Xiberia

INTERR0BANG · 01-09-2009 07:39 PM

[ QUOTE ]
No, that FTP has the live client. It's named the same, but it works on live. It's how I downloaded it. They updated the client on the 6th of January to support the live servers.

The beta client is now the test server client.

[/ QUOTE ]

My bad. I retract all comments. That is the correct one. It is just named the same. When tried loading it the first time, it asked if I wanted to replace the old CoH. I assumed since it was the same name and it wanted to replace, I thought it was the same. I wanted to keep the test server, so I renamed the test server "City of Heroes Test", then loaded the new one. Now I still have both.

And my confusion with the new costume set and the porter was just an assumption that it was free to mac customers. I now know that the client is free but the upgrade still costs the same for everybody.

Thanks for straightening me out.