I have always wanted this and assumed there was one out there and i was just too lazy to find it. Now i know there isnt i am outraged. I'm also a fan of worktime distractions as this doesnt fill my day with enough CoX goodness
Its something i think almost every one wants and has been suggested numerous times but so far hasn't happened.
The reason for it not happening is reckoned to be the terms of the marvel law suit that was brought against cryptic and NC-soft before CoH was released it's guessed that one of the agreed upon terms is that that cryptic and NC-soft wouldn't realise a stand alone (and hence unmonitored) costume creator. but no one knows for sure because under US law no one can talk about (bloody stupid but there u go)
So great idea but probably never happen
Check the third post down in this thread:
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An offline costume creator was available for City of Hero (the defunct Korean version), but by best guesses it can't be made available in the US due to issues with Marvel by total [censored].
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But if it was, as I have suggested, just allowing you to 'import' costumes that you created - how would it infringe Marvel copyright? In the end, you'd only be able to 'play' heroes that weren't breaking the rules. Hell, you can 'design' Marvel look-a-like costumes anywhere....
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But it would still be a tool whose sole purpose was to create superhero costumes which - if those costumes were never added to the game - couldn't be vetted for copyright violations. As I understand it, in effect it would be a tool designed to aid violation of Marvel's copyright.
Not sure I completely agree with that, but to be honest it doesn't really matter if I (or anyone else outside NCSoft) agrees or not - to stop distributing it was the agreement with Marvel. End of.
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Check the third post down in this thread:
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An offline costume creator was available for City of Hero (the defunct Korean version), but by best guesses it can't be made available in the US due to issues with Marvel by total [censored].
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This is not the US. If it was possible in Korea perhaps its possible in EU? Imagine the fun to find out in every EU country if it is allowed 
"But it would still be a tool whose sole purpose was to create superhero costumes which - if those costumes were never added to the game - couldn't be vetted for copyright violations. As I understand it, in effect it would be a tool designed to aid violation of Marvel's copyright."
I suppose so - but with that logic, I've no idea why Marvel haven't attacked every other hero creator out there. Maybe it's because NCSoft had the money...
"Not sure I completely agree with that, but to be honest it doesn't really matter if I (or anyone else outside NCSoft) agrees or not - to stop distributing it was the agreement with Marvel. End of."
Oh, I'm not arguing the fact. I'm just trying to better understand it
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Check the third post down in this thread:
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An offline costume creator was available for City of Hero (the defunct Korean version), but by best guesses it can't be made available in the US due to issues with Marvel by total [censored].
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This is not the US. If it was possible in Korea perhaps its possible in EU? Imagine the fun to find out in every EU country if it is allowed
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Even if it doesn't extend to the EU (and I think it does because the agreement was said to cover areas where Marvel comics were sold) they wouldn't in case the same think as happened with the korean version happened and copies of it got over to the US.
Before I bought the game I downloaded the korean app, and it was surprisingly helpful once I'd figured what tabs were for what lol
I believe you can still get it from a couple of bit torrent sites, not that I'd condone something so illegal 
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I'm just trying to better understand it
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And that's were your falling down, there are various agreements in place that we won't ever know the details of and NCsoft can't talk about.
it's like trying to describe colour to something that has no eyes. it will always end up a confused mess.
It is entirely possible that the actual settlement includes a clause that precludes the release of any standalone character creator within certain terrorties. There is no reason that it is just a copyright issue. When the action was settled the settlement could easily have included things like that ad even specific power sets that Cryptic (now NCNC) agreed just not to include. ANd as was said there is no way we'd ever find out exactly what the settlement was due to the NDA on it.
((Short of working in the legal departments of either.))
Of course the agreement with marvel doesn't actually mean they'll never be a costume creator. NCsoft could choose to move ahead with a costume creator effectively breaking the agreement with marvel (provided not doing one is the agreement) and then fight marvel when they bring a law suit (marvel have to bring a law suit to maintain there copyrights)
But it really doesn't seem worth while to go to that expense
Then lo and behold - you can save/load costumes. Well, we're halfway there. You've got to love the devs for being ahead of the curve
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Problem with that is we don't know what format the .costume file will be, it is possible that it is encrypted and decrypting it is breaching EULA (modifying game files) as is the current case in extracting things from the .pigg files.
Personally I don't really care one way or another on actually having a standalone creator, it'd be nice sure but my interest won't wane through lack. However I really hope the .costume file is plain text, XML or the like.
It's a plain text file. Pretty much no different to what you see inside .demoedit files.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
text files of this kind are mostly made this way so you need X program to make your PC understand it, a bit the same as with a PPT file, you need power point to make it work but just opening it with notebook makes it plain text.
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It's a plain text file. Pretty much no different to what you see inside .demoedit files.
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Good.
Looking forward with some anticipation to playing with it.
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text files of this kind are mostly made this way so you need X program to make your PC understand it, a bit the same as with a PPT file, you need power point to make it work but just opening it with notebook makes it plain text.
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A text file is a file that is just text... that's why its called a text file. A file that is only read through another program can be called anything you want, if its not in text format it isn't a text file.
If you look at some files, you can read them as plain text with no interpreter but once you run them through an interpreter they can appear in a better light. HTML or something similar would be a perfect example of this. Open one up in notepad or another plain text reader and you can read them, open them through a browser and you get to see pretty colours and other interesting effects.
If FFM is to be believed, and I see no reason why he'd lie to me 
, then the file that is generated is a plain text file that can be read either through notepad or similar or by the game... I don't doubt you could use a command line pipe to read and understand it too.
The only possible issue would be if it included some form of write protection either in some form of check sum or something else that prevented files that had been modified from loading back into the game. Some save files for games are made this way to prevent tampering... more fun for me to work out how to circumvent such protection... (Yes I am a little odd.)
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text files of this kind are mostly made this way so you need X program to make your PC understand it, a bit the same as with a PPT file, you need power point to make it work but just opening it with notebook makes it plain text.
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No... You're referring to binary data files (Such as Powerpoint creates), which only view as random gibberish in Notepad (If they'll open at all). Most programs use a proprietary format to store their data. These .costume files are not, they are literally straight ascii text files, just with a .costume extension instead of a .txt extension, and are easily readable in Notepad.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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Then lo and behold - you can save/load costumes. Well, we're halfway there. You've got to love the devs for being ahead of the curve
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Sorry, I've been in the boondocks for a few days (that backwater, PoS town of London) and I must've missed something.
What's this about?
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
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Then lo and behold - you can save/load costumes. Well, we're halfway there. You've got to love the devs for being ahead of the curve
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Sorry, I've been in the boondocks for a few days (that backwater, PoS town of London) and I must've missed something.
What's this about?
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Linky.
Check the general discussion thread, it's part of I13.
Edit Sorry, I13... not 15
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Then lo and behold - you can save/load costumes. Well, we're halfway there. You've got to love the devs for being ahead of the curve
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The are all the way there, in terms of technology - off line character creator already exists.
The barriers to releasing one are purely legal/finacial.
I really should do something about this signature.
15?
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Sorry, a little carried away...
Ok - so we all know that a big part of CoX's 'hook' is the costume creator / hero (or villain) designer. Hours of fun tweaking costumes, colours, capes and cowls, before you even ENTER the game. Even once you've picked your primary costume, there are four more slots to unlock, extras to earn and new ideas to pick up as you see other players, and NPCs. THIS WE ALL KNOW AND LOVE...
I was sitting in my office today, thinking about possible costumes for a new 'themed set' of characters that I wanted to create. I know most of the items in the (fully unlocked) costume creator by heart, so I can visualise costumes before I go home and try them out.
But that's the frustrating part - having to wait.
The Hero Designer (the classic HTML one) is nice for 'ideas' - putting together a concept before you try it - but as some of you know, a costume idea can fall flat on its face if you can't find the right piece to make it look just right.
Then I thought about Spore - the latest PC game. As a 'preview', they released a 'creature creator' before the main game was released, where you could build you 'creature' and have it ready for the main game.
You know what would be good? A 'costume creator' application - a modular, graphical 'app', that you could load seperately (without the rest of CoX) and build costumes, which you could then 'export' from your office (say, on your lunch break) and 'import' at home at the end of the day (I'm working under the assumption that a costume in itself could be broken down into an XML format... which when you think about it, makes sense).
The number of times I have introduced a friend to CoH by letting them make an character on my account - and then having to write down all of the costume pieces so that when they buy their own copy, they can recreate it. An 'export costume' button would be amazing here.
And hey - why not put the costume creator out there as a demo? An introduction to the game? Ok, yeah, you've got the '14 day trial' - but that's a huge download. The costume creator could be fully 'offline' - and then you could create costumes to your heart's content, and upload the finished 'configuration' to a new (or existing?) character in the game.
Just a thought - certainly something I could've used today - my head is exploding with costume ideas that I can't put into action until tonight!!!
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