GM Tock

Did some surgery here. Please follow up with your primary care physician, drink plenty of fluids, and keep on topic. I'll set the next appointment in three weeks. 🙂 (Seriously, this got waaay away from the OP. Back to PB builds.)

Tequila hasn't changed in version number in over a year. On top of that the md5 being reported is blank. This could be happening for a different reason. Are you able to download the file directly from http://patch.savecoh.com/tequila20.exe yourself? If the download fails or is blocked for some reason, you'll find out quickly.

I would try deleting the Tequila related .xml files from the game directory next. A configuration option or setting may be messing the app up.

Any Windows Updates pending? Particularly for .NET Framework? Usually fastest method to finish those is a simple reboot, but sometimes they get stuck. Open Settings, Updates & Security, then see if Windows Update needs attention.

They should be mission markers indicating you have an open mission on that map, but they don't always work. That would be an example. If that mission is from Borea, she's a repeating mission contact, so those markers may not appear all the time. (Ephraim Sha, Meg Mason, etc.) If I'm seeing the above correctly, you haven't talked to Maria. They do not work on any contact you do not know yet. Maria Jenkins in the left pane hasn't been "introduced" to your character, so you'd need to talk to her in person for those markers to start to appear. (Teleport to Contact first.)

You probably didn't have to do that. In the future, the Freebies Popmenu is hard-coded into our Beta client, but can be replaced by a menu file if you saved one in the Data folder. If you rename the Data folder and the menu is fixed, that's most likely what happened.

46 miles from Wales, no less.

The Launcher has little effect on the operation of the client itself once updates finish. The game client... quirks, bugs and all... is going to be the same experience after the new Launcher is released.

Linux, while I can't guarantee across distros the same magic (I'll give Fedora a shot for an RPM-based distro over APT next), it was as simple for me as Ubuntu 20.04 > Lutris > Homecoming Launcher > Install. The new Launcher caught the Tequila files and migrated them over automatically. If it doesn't work after patch, configure the launcher once more and make sure DXVK is turned on for Vulkan/OpenGL support. But that's it. I did have to change the Lutris launcher after install to point to the final patcher location in the Wine C Drive, but once done, it worked. (Because I'm on NVidia, that means using the "Version 440" closed source driver and not the open source hot-ness that is Noveau, so none of the Wayland goodness is possible for me yet. But with that, Linux and Windows performance is pretty evenly matched!) Stay tuned. 🙂

Nail on the head. I'd hold on to the Hami-Os and wait to enact your plans. Level 47 - Able to slot Level 50 enhancements. Level 48 - Able to combine Level 50 X1. Level 49 - Able to combine Level 50 X2. Level 50 - No change. (You can combine a maximum of three separate non-IO enhancements together.)

Normally, I'd issue a warning to stay on topic, or hand out points and remove posts, but since it's probably more prudent to just move on... well... The suggestion has been heard. Thanks.

Atlas Park is a laggy area. It's the start hub for a lot of players. If entering the neighborhood of Atlas Park IN Atlas Park makes your system slow down, and there's 20-30 folks around Ms. Liberty, it's not just you. They all probably feel it a bit too. It also uses the newer client resources like Praetoria and Rogue Isles (which got a revamp too), which tax certain systems. Even if the zone is empty, if you travel to Mercy Island or First/Night Ward and you experience slow down, that might be a common factor between the three. Head to an older zone, like King's Row or Cap Au Diable, and if the lag isn't as bad, that could be why.

The Beta Servers were split off of the main manifest address of https://patch.savecoh.com/manifest.xml so new users and others who don't want to try the beta servers have less updates and downloads to patch. The old manifest should still work. BOTH manifests have links to the Homecoming Live service, so you only need one manifest whichever you prefer. The other major change is that the Safe Mode client is no longer supported as of March 2020. Safe Mode has been removed from the regular and beta manifests, going forward the new 32-bit and 64-bit clients are the only supported ones for Homecoming. ... If your account was made since Torchbearer was started, your toons on the live servers should be completely unchanged. We added an automated Beta Account transfer tool that send a copy of your Live Server characters one-way only to the Beta Servers for tests and character respec experiments. Your toons have be at least Level 2 before they'll be visible on the tool. Toons cannot copy back from Beta to Live. That was not permitted with Paragon Studios, and we take the same stance... especially when we enable cheats on one pair of Beta servers. If you don't use the Beta Account tool, you can log into Beta servers with your regular game account. But if the Beta server is wiped none of your prior toons will be present. (You can always copy them again with the same tool.)

The current state of affairs is that we're self-published. Steam's City of Heroes store page is from the live game service that ended in 2012. That's all I know.

This. Homecoming is not available through Steam, GOG, or any other Game Distributor.

FTFY. Carry on. 🙂

If the Sound FX, Music, and Voiceover volumes are all set at the same level, a possibility may be the sound device in use. The last two options in the Audio area of Options are for Playback Mode and 3D Audio. Playback Mode: Performance - Use Hardware-based Audio handling. Compatibility - Use Windows Audio for 100% of audio. This should only be necessary if audio playback is having issues, most systems should use Performance. 3D Audio: (Greyed out) - Your Card doesn't support it. Your only option is Playback Mode. On - EAX or OpenAL is turned on (Environmental Audio) and used for Surround Sound and Doppler effects. Off - The game sticks to 2.1 channel audio. If you're on a 4.X-7.1 (multichannel) audio system, plugging in a headset and hearing what's going on in Stereo and no 3D Audio effects may be a good comparison point to try tweaking things to your liking on your audio system. If it's all 2-channel (Left, Right, no subwoofer), then I'd turn 3D Audio off or try compatibility Playback Mode. Also, a good place to look is your own Sound Card properties. There may be a post processing effect that's in use that may need to be shut off.

@Spine91 I'd look at your volume settings in-game. Sound FX, Music, and Voiceover are the three volume controls, sounds like Sound FX might be turned down. As for the others, City of Heroes uses the Windows Audio system to playback sound. Things to check: If you have the game Volume turned up in the Options > Graphics & Audio area, you'll see the client appear in the Volume Mixer on the device it's playing back on. "Speakers (4- ATR USB Microphone)" is my default playback device. To see the mixer, right-click your sound icon in the taskbar and select "Open Volume mixer." City of Heroes audio will be played on your default playback device. If the Volume Mixer shows City of Heroes is on a device you do not expect, you will need to change your defaults in either the Settings app under the System Icon, or in the Sound Control Panel. Windows 10 added a quick way to change the default, too. When you left-click the Sound icon, a volume control appears. If the top line has an arrow icon, that means more than one output source has been found: click the arrow and you can change your device on-the-fly.

Follow the instructions on the Installation Guide, which covers both downloading the files and installing the game. You do not need to download the game from somewhere else or have the game files kept from when it was live in 2012 to play.

This usually means your connection to the game ended while you were making your character. The character isn't recorded as finished until you load them onto a map for the first time. -- Try saving your costume and power customizations before finishing the character, so next time you try to make the character, you're not doing the same work twice. -- If after finishing character creation quickly, the game still won't load the map, let us know. There's additional troubleshooting to be done. -- If the game disconnects during play, it's a network issue stopping you from getting started. If you're on Wi-Fi, for example, an intermittent connection will not allow you to play.

Click here. You'll see it on the line that says "Your Account Username is..." It was set when you made your game account, and once set it can never be changed. If the line is able to be entered, then you never set one and it can be anything you like. Only you will ever be able to see it: your game account username and global username have independent of each other.

Well, you're getting me. Too bad. 😄 Consider changing options in "Graphics and Audio" to reduce load on your system. Possibilities include: Resolution Scaling - While not changing the window resolution, resolution scaling turns down the game resolution but magnifies reduced game video to fit your larger screen. This is the fastest way to reduce game overhead, but results in poor appearance at the most effective (lowest) settings. FSAA - Full Screen Antialiasing. This removes jagged lines on curves and angles. Safer values are x2 and x4. Off is the safest, but everything looks like a Nintendo 64 game. World Draw Distance - This reduces "pop-up" such as graphics from a distance being drawn further away from you rather than closer. On modern systems around 2K to 4K graphics, this never works to prevent it absolutely, so turning it down may take strain off the CPU. Ambient Occlusion - Turning this to the lowest setting or off will improve performance. Shadows - Turning this to the lowest setting or off will improve performance. Try changing one or more of the above to your liking and see if animations improve. This advice is neutral to whatever system you're running, but better advice is possible if we know what graphics card you're using to play.

Was it the same costume slot picked?

You can change email address in the Account Settings page. The trip-up would be setting an account to the same address: our system only permits a 1:1 email to forum account relationship. Only one email can be attached to only one forum account at a time. For what you're thinking of, a third account would have to be involved. If account 1 is on email #2, and account 2 is on email #1, then the fix would be to move account 1 to email 3, account 2 to email 2, then finally go back to account 1 to move to email 1. This would be self-support only, and we don't recommend doing this. Something going wrong with your email password (email locked out), involving an email address from a certain (one could say Hot) mail provider, and forgetting to finish the process can leave one or more accounts in limbo.

If you see UNNAMED, there may be unfinished files in Tequila that needs updated. Close Tequila and the client and reopen Tequila, see if it updates files again. Let it finish before starting the client again.