Shenanigunner

(Stream Deck, not Steam Deck!) Anyone using a Stream Deck? Long story, but as a hardware macro key junkie, and with keyboards with more than a few macro keys having disappeared from the market, I had to look into other options. Marketing and user base have Stream Deck fairly firmly locked into the niche of 'power streamers,' but I can assure all it's a hell of a good macro tool with essentially unlimited key assignments..., and digital icons for each key, as well. I've found no use for for it in CoX (but then, I've got fairly well optimized binds and macros there). But, as a general system tool, I'm delighted with it, and I have finally achieved a long time goal: one-button login to Paragon City! One button simply launches the game and leaves me at Character Select. Two others, so far, launch my #1 and #2 slot characters. Press one button, get comfy in my chair and on the trackball, and I'm standing in CoX ready to go. (Backstory: started with a Logi G15, then a G11 when those keycaps wore through, then a second NIB G11, and had to settle for a lightly used G110 last time. Since there are no new keyboards with more than six keys, I matched the Stream Deck to a Corsair K95 XT, and they work together hand-in-glove, even sharing setup software. Nice to have real mechanical keys again [Cherry browns] after years of Logi's good-but-not-great ones.)

Nice catch. And great idea, even though we're getting to it late. We need to unearth or choose an anniversary date. (Providence won't do; founded in 1636...)

Actually, it's easier than that. I have Help in the top pane and General in the next one down, and all the other chats in the third with Local set as the default. With that "a"ctive channel selected, you can switch entry to any of these (Help, General or Local) just by clicking in that pane. Don't even have to click the tab, and surez'ell don't have to click the right eeny-weeny button. 🙂

Right, you can resize it, but you can't rescale it — I have my Chat stack scaled at (I think) 0.75, so the tear off window is noticeably larger in tab size, border, etc., and the text is about 25% larger as well. None of the commands that used to control these (chat3 or chat5 or such) work any more. Bummer.

I use tear-off Chats, too, primarily one for NPC and Team chat. However, this got broken in a recent update — Ish 25, p1 or 2 — and you can no longer /windowscale or adjust the chat text in these windows. Very frustrating.

On the other hands, there's nothing as simple and flexible as rolling binds on the forward movement key. The other approaches work, but spreading the pseudo-autofire stuff around multiple keys is (IMHO) harder to manage and can lead to a failure to fire some powers in a timely manner... maybe you don't back up for a minute or so, for example. And there's not much need to try to hard to switch the auto-fire ring around, either. This is all written up in detail in the Guide, and I suggest anyone seriously interested in never having to toggle up powers or buffs and never having shields or buffs fail to be active give it a look. It's a very general solution that can be made to "fit all sizes" — all builds, all alts, all power sets — without fussy adaptation to each variant.

So it was just another bug hunt instead of a stand up fight?

Apricot went out of business years ago. Time for an upgrade!

Noted. Silently. 🙂

Oh, make no mistake, the referral is much appreciated. I just wish it had something to offer besides, basically, "oops." 🙂

You have no idea how funny this is. 🙂 BlackSpectre is doing a yeoman job of collecting, organizing and cleaning up slash commands from various sources, including the Guide, and he's found a number of glitches in the latter (mostly typoes or places where I did things like setoption instead of optionset and never caught it). I didn't look closely when he brought this one up. I think it's either obsolete or a synonym for getglobalnamesilent, which definitely is. I should remove it from the cross reference list, the only place it appears.

I h te it when ch r cters st rt dis ppe ring—it m kes me so m d.

Well, there are actually two, depending on which launcher you use. If you are using the “Tequila” launcher, the default folder for bind files will will be \data under the City of Heroes game installation folder. (If the game is in c:\games\CoH, the default bindfile location will be c:\games\CoH\data.) If you are using the “Homecoming” launcher, bind files will be in \settings\live under the CoH installation folder. I simply call it the default folder.

As I started to say in a prior thread— I greatly admire the innovative thought and effort here, as I do for all posts that add technical knowledge and techniques to the game and gameplay. But I can't see much here that isn't just a slight variation on the 'rolling bind' techniques that have been used since the game's earliest days. I think there's a little too much effort forcing this into a "macros for macros' sake" model when it actually uses rolling (serially loaded) bindfiles to execute the macro changes. My preference and approach has always been binds, activated by keys, and I regard macros as a somewhat less efficient and more limited option for powers control. But I know many players prefer clicks to keys, and I've tried to include general macro info as an alternative in the Guide. So my suggestion here is this: rather than trying too hard to make this process work as "macros only," when it's already using bind files as a key element, take the gist of the idea—macro activation rather than keys—and combine it with the much more flexible rolling-bind techniques to get the best of both worlds. That is, take all the great stuff that can be done with binds and serially-loaded bind definitions, but hook it to a single macro for activation and changing functions, instead of a key. That would allow so much more flexibility, including the ability to define/redefine the macro icon with each change—which is something I've never explored. One of the problems with rolling binds is that you don't always know what phase the command series is in; if the macro icon is changed as an indicator, that problem is solved. Very much... carry on!

Way too athletic for me. 🙂 The purpose of a controller, in my view, is to reduce the complexity of input, not multiply it. Using it in addition to keyboard/mouse becomes just "different," and doesn't really take advantage of either option. Not worth all the added overhead just so I can use thumbsticks some of the time. (Of course, I've been doing this since "user input" was to type out "GO THROUGH THE NORTH DOOR." 😄 ) But as in all other UI customizability — if it works for you, it's one more reason this is a great game.

I've tried it from time to time, just for giggles. The UI — maybe the trendoid 'UX' is more accurate — is simply not set up for first person. The entire view system seems to be optimal with your entire alt just completely in view, down to the ground, and many situations are better managed from further back. FP gets... weird.

I think ATC has it here. I thought something like what the OP mentions - embedding or announcing your location - was added in that recent loc/thumbtack/whereami expansion, but I guess not. (Rummages around) I guess I was thinking of how loc and whereami now create the link in chat.

I've worked at it in cycles since early days. It "can be done" — but to me it never improved gameplay and satisfaction. It's inherently a key-masher in so many ways. For it to be a rewarding controller game, the whole power/trays system would have to be revamped. IMVHO and YMMV. The mapping is also so nonstandard there's a big learning curve, which then — again IMHO — only gets you sorta-kinda-mostly to full engagement. But glad the option is there for those who prefer it. I very much believe in "the freedom to do things your own rotten way."

Transferring inf is pretty trivial. Whenever you have a minute, have a rich character send several emails with 1M-10M or whatever. Any other alt can grab those. That is, don't wait until you roll a new alt or have one go broke. Keep X amount in email so it's always available. The difference between than and a shared bank account is almost nil... after all, you wouldn't necessarily want every Inf-buck from every alt in one account.

Probably because CoX is the one game that is harder to play with a controller. I long ago gave up trying to map a controller for any build with more than three powers.

Somewhat old thread, but I concur with all those who recommended an SSD. I've had three aging machines get spectacular new life by swapping in an SSD for the boot and program drive. Data — not so much, a decent HDD is still probably a better value overall unless you work with huge video projects or the like from it, and even then, a 10K drive is insanely fast for most data. But boot? apps? paging/swap? I'll never build another system without an SSD in that role, and will swap out an aging boot HDD with an SSD in a heartbeat. It's not just "faster," it;s like what jumping ahead a generation in CPU or doubling your RAM has traditionally done for system performance. The modest extra $/GB cost is... irrelevant. You'll save more in sheer convenience and lack of lost time waiting for things to start and load. Oh, and pro tip, especially for those fretting about MTBF and other end-of-the-world problems: leave your old drive or a similar one in the machine and do a weekly clone using Macrium. You'll probably never need it but a spare "hot" boot drive ready to go aids in comfy sleep. 🙂

Why am I now singing "Marian" from Men in Tights, but "Mario... Mario..."? Never mind. Do not answer that.

(What have I done?) The other thing I love is when my TP alts leave a little... line... of... dots across the fog. Even more fun when you have TP leveled/slotted up for more distance.

+1 on that! As I've said before only to get rolly-eyes from the Reveal aficionados, I used to spend idle time 'outlining' every zone, fairly early on as I started getting missions in them and sometimes in way-purple zones, just for fun. I have traveled well across a big, messy zone to erase a small dot of fog. I love games that permit—even encourage—this sort of silliness and alt-play. And fess up, now, all of you who have tried to write your initials or a dirty word in the fog of a big new zone... 😄

Pretty much same here. I suppose there are some redside locations where I'd have to move around a little before knowing where I am, but I've been playing so long, and focused on soloing/street hunt/exploration badges and just exploring, that I probably know PC/RI better than any city but that of my birth. Reveal still feels like a cheatsploit to me. Won't use it. But yeah, badge hunting on those evenings when you just don't feel like beating up bad guys... great way to find all kinds of strange little easter eggy things. Fun.