where is CohTest? there is only CohBeta

Okay, I'm a very recent subscriber (VIP) to city of heroes. started with mastermind, really enjoying it, and the community on the Virtue server has been very helpful. This question relates to the test server or test servers, because I'm still not sure what they're called or which ones still exist.

I've followed the instructions in these boards for the Public Test Server by using that link which was dated in 2011, rather than the older ones in the Development forum. I make my shortcut, modify it to have =CohTest, and then it brings up the NCSoft launcher. in it I see CoH Subscriber Beta as the one to install. yet the boards do not call it beta, the Paragon Wiki does not call it beta. in fact, when I install attempt to install the subscriber beta, the folder that's created is not CohTest, but CohBeta.

so what do I need to do here to use the test server? or is beta the test server? or is beta the only server to survive for testing and copying live characters over try out new content before it's live? the instructions in the Development > The Global Training Room (Test Server) part of the forums is very dated, by a few years (2009) and why I didn't use a link that didn't include the mandated NCSoft launcher. it seems the old methods don't apply, no longer exist, or haven't been properly updated by the devs, the community, or anyone that seems to have a clue.

to sum up, the folder created after changing the city of heroes shortcut to end with CohTest provides an install that uses CohBeta instead. the launcher doesn't even mention test or training. Is Beta the training server? is the training server removed now? I'd really like some up to date information on this. Thanks again for any help from the CoX vets here, I know I'm not the only one asking this question.

I was just on the Test server; checking my shortcut for Test I see "I:\NCSoft\Launcher\NCLauncher.exe /LaunchGame=CoHTest" (I have an aversion to installing software on my Windows drive). Does your shortcut look similar (notice the difference in the slashes)?

Deleted my test install, and started fresh, made a fresh shortcut to City of Heroes. I then edited the target line to "C:\Program Files (x86)\NCSoft\Launcher\NCLauncher.exe" /LaunchGame=CoHTest hit OK, and then double clicked that shortcut. The Launcher then opened, and without me having to click on anything else prompted me to install CoH Test. Now there WAS a option for the CoH Subscriber Beta, but that is not what you use to install test, the above steps should work. If it doesn't, you may want to uninstall and reinstall the NCSoft Launcher.

Update: and it's a bit weird. I reinstalled the beta, and the beta shortcuts didn't appear in start menu. odd enough, but even more so is when I used the =CohTest shortcut again, and this time I got the option to install the test version. I'm gonna guess that something was going beyond the launcher that prevented installation of the test server client, but this is just a guess. anyway the install is going to take an hour or so.

Here's a method I found to forcing the launcher to recognize Beta and Test.

(If you don't already have a CoHBeta folder, then you'll want to )go ahead and copy the installation you have of the game into a folder called CoHBeta and then make an empty folder called CoHTest. Next go into the the new CoHBeta folder and edit the LauncherID.ini file to say CoHBeta instead of CityOfHeroes.

Read very carefully on this next bit! Hit the windows key + R and type in regedit. This brings up the Windows Registry Editor so do Exactly what I'm about to say and no more! Hit control + F (search function) and type in COH. This should take you to something that looks like HKEY_Current_User:Software:Cryptic:COH. You'll probably want to make the window bigger so it's easier to see everything. Now click the COH and take a glance at what things look like in here. Notice the one entry that points to your COH folder? That's what you want things to look like in the next two entries we'll create.

Note: if you already see either CoHBeta or CoHTest listed with COH under Cryptic, then you don't need to create new keys, but make sure that the entries point to your existing directories.

Now click Cryptic and the list on the right should be basically empty. Right click on Cryptic and tell it to create a new Key. Name the Key CoHBeta (if doesn't exist) and then make a second one, again under Cryptic, that says CoHTest (if doesn't exist). The next step is the same for both of the new keys, but obviously the path needs to point to the correct folders. Probably the easiest thing to do is to have the folders you created above open so that you can simply copy the path from explorer (saves typing).

Now right click on the new Key that you made for Beta and tell it to create a new String. Name the string Installation Directory just like it looks in the COH key we looked at earlier. Double click the string you just renamed and now you just paste (control + v) the location of your Beta folder! Mine looks like this:
D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHBeta

Note that there is nothing after beta! Do the same steps for the CoHTest Key using the appropriate path for your Test folder and close the registry editor.

Now you can open the Launcher and see that both Beta and Test should show up. If Test doesn't come up right now, then don't worry quite Yet as we haven't done something important. NeWay, goto beta in launcher. Click the little arrow and then properties. Make sure that points to your new CoHBeta directory and go ahead and add this line under Extra Command Lines:
-maxinactivefps 5

That'll help your system if you need to tab over to something else during game. Click Ok there to close the popup. Click the arrow again and choose Update. This will update the files in the copied directory so that it is current. This step takes time depending on your internet connection.

When that's done, then copy what's in the CoHBeta folder into your CoHTest folder. Again you'll need to change the LauncherID.ini file inside CoHTest so that it says CoHTest. Do the Properties and Update things from above and you should be all ready to access everything!


Yes I'm sure I could have done one or two things to make this go a little faster, but the one that comes to mind depends on how you have the game installed and isn't always going to be standardized.

Odd that - I thought CoH Beta was CoH Test - I thought Test had been renamed Beta.

Hmmm!

Can't you try out Live things without messing up your toons in Beta? - I recall copying some toons across to Beta to do the very same, besides trying out new content.

I've always looked at it as Beta is what is coming out in a month or two while Test is what's coming out in a week or two.

Both require testing. In Beta it's more along the line of "does this new feature work right" while Test it's more like "does anything you do normally now on live break this release badly because we are planning on pushing this to live next week".

just a heads up, I have both test and beta servers installed now. character copy is working fine for me too. the main difference I saw is beta server allows one to use market items where test server does not (example, I can only test the travel powers like ninja run in Beta, never received it in test server).