Number Six

Check for updates and try again.

You're not the only one, someone else I helped on discord had trouble with one specific file (stage3e.pigg) stalling out over http, no matter if they tried to download it from the North America mirrors or the EU one. They could get it over https so I chalked it up to a malfunctioning ISP caching proxy or security scanner. Fortunately it was only the one file and they were able to get it manually over https. The new launcher does fail back to https, but for a stuck transfer like that it may take quite some time for it to give up on the http version. May have to flip the defaults for a while.

* teleporting with a non-combat NPC targeted if and only if it’s the first time you’ve teleported after doing something that syncs the character with the DB (zoning, starting a TF, joining a team, and a few other miscellaneous things). Can legitimately blame Paragon for this one since it’s a very old bug in a feature they added, but up until this point nobody had made a power that uses it in quite this way.

We're pretty sure it's being caused by Momentum, but won't know for certain until the fix for that is in, which will most likely be Tuesday the 27th during maintenance. In the meantime, if you end up with a character that's missing powers after a level-up hiccup, open a support ticket. A GM can verify by looking at the power list and grant a respec to fix it. Kind of a pain to have to respec but it's possible to get the character back where it should be.

Pretty sure you were affected by the bug that was fixed in 4250: Since live and prerelease had both been updated recently, and the crashhandler package that they all share also had a new build, if you had both set to update automatically and hadn't updated in a while it triggered a previously undetected bug that only happens under very specific conditions. I saw several crash reports on it that identified the issue, chances are some of them were yours. If you weren't able to disable the automatic updates, deleting the package json is exactly what you needed to do to get up to a version where things were fixed.

The OP's problem is fixed in the latest launcher update, though if you're stuck in a crash loop you may have to use a workaround in order to get it installed:

Version 4250 Bug Fixes Fix a crash that could happen if multiple profiles tried to update simultaneously (usually from being set to update automatically) that both depend on a shared package that was also updated. Fix a reversion that would cause verify tasks to block other tasks from running. UPDATING NOTE: If you have multiple profiles set to update automatically, you may find that the launcher crashes before it can update itself. To work around the issue, look in your COH install directory and delete the file settings/launcher/packages/launcher.json. As it go into the folders "settings", then "launcher", then "packages", and delete launcher.json. That will force the self-repair to run and will update the launcher to the newest version before starting the UI, breaking the cycle and allowing it to load.

We are actually 100% sure and the root cause was identified earlier today. The fix will be in a future patch, but for now the workaround is to switch targets to a critter (something other than a non-combat NPC) and/or press escape to untarget everything. After you successfully teleport once you’re fine to target anything and it will continue working.

The self-update runs quietly in the background so as to not get in the way of launching the game. When it updates you won't see the new version until you exit and start it up again. From older versions that don't have the button to force an update check, this is the fastest method: Start the launcher fresh (close it first if it's currently running) Wait about 5-30 seconds for the update to install in the background, depending on Internet connection speed. Close the launcher, the start it up again. You should be running the new version. If it's not updating, you may need to check launcher.log to see if there's something blocking it. As last resort, you can go into the COH directory and delete settings/launcher/pacakges/launcher.json. That will force a self-repair cycle the next time you run it. You shouldn't have to do that, though, and if you do I'd appreciate the opportunity to look at the log file to see why the normal update wasn't working.

Version 4212 Updating Extensive redesign of how the package install process works. No outwardly visible changes, just even more robust installs and updates. Better handling for version rollbacks in the rare event we would need to do one. Eliminated some unnecessary dependent package version checks, slightly reducing network traffic. Launch profiles are no longer uninstalled if they become inaccessible. They of course cannot be updated but don't disappear unless the user uninstalls them. User Interface New system for displaying high-level "problems" that may need user attention, but do not prevent launching. These show up as a yellow warning icon next to the action button, which can be clicked to open a dialog with more detail. One common example is being unable to check for updates due to a network connectivity issue - this is now made obvious rather than being hidden in the log file. New "Advanced Settings" page in the settings dialog (gear icon). This contains a few settings that may be of interest for specific cases: Disable Hardware Acceleration - This option may help to fix graphical issues related to certain drivers or operating systems. It is enabled by default on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Wine-based (Mac & Linux) systems. Do not check for updates automatically - Prevents the launcher from automatically checking for game updates. Launch profiles will not go into the "Update Required" state unless you manually use the menu to check for updates. Note that with this option enabled, you are likely to encounter a version mismatch error if the server has been updated but you have not yet checked for updates. Do not automatically update the launcher - Disables launcher self-updates. There is a "Check for Updates" button at the bottom of the page that can be used to manually check if a new launcher version is available and will prompt to install it. NOTE: If the launcher install is damaged enough to cause the self-repair process to be invoked, the launcher may still connect to the Internet to repair itself regardless of this setting. This is necessary to make the self-repair ability work even in the case of badly damaged installs or corrupted configuration. As always, the launcher.log file is extremely transparent and provides a high level of detail about what exactly the launcher is doing at all times. Update branch - Provides an easier way to switch between the two update branches available for the launcher: release - The stable branch which is suitable for general use. test - The testing branch which receives updates more often and is used for testing new features. Login errors are now highlighted in red to make it more obvious. Adjusted the columns in launchercli to work better with the new descriptive version numbering. Added a Browse button to the install location under General Settings to make it easier to find the root of the installation. Miscellaneous Always show the full file path in the log file instead of names relative to the package root, which may not always be obvious. Increase log file size before rotation from 100kb to 1mb. Bug Fixes Fix a few bugs that could cause the self-repair process to fail in some circumstances. Fix vanishing progress bar if scrolled up behind the logo while a task is in progress. Fix a rare issue where the UI could fail to start under certain conditions on the first run after install. Version 4220 Bug Fixes Fix minor issues with the manual launcher update process: Fix incorrect text in progress bar window. Force a restart after successful installation rather than leaving the old version running and the settings window open. Fix crash when clicking the button to check for launcher updates if a background update has already been installed and is pending restart.

The whole thing is moot since the duration/recharge timings that are going into the next build weren't even one of those 3 options at all. Let's not waste any more time on it, please.

Everybody keeps saying this but it actually is WAI. It's just supposed to be something that randomly happens as you do other stuff.

That would be a completely broken proc rate since it would calculate PPM based on a 10 second cycle but get to apply the resulting chance roll every 3 seconds. Irradiated Ground currently suffers from this problem. EnToggleflame - once the issue with it not passing enhancements through to the pet at all was fixed - was designed in a way that procs should have a chance to fire per the normal 10 second toggle rule. The dropped patches do not apply procs once they're on the ground.

The current code is quite different than the original code. There are a lot of things that are possible now that didn't used to be.

I really doubt they'd try to integrate it with Teams since Teams is much more business-focused and positioned as a Slack/Webex/Zoom competitor. Discord is a lot more gaming-centric, so it seems likely to me they'd try to tie it in with all their XBox network stuff.

The lag / rubber banding issue is solved in 27.2.3885.1, which was pushed out as a quick hotfix to the HC Launcher. If you're using Tequila it will probably be in the next beta content update.

Just tested to see if I could make it happen. All those keys seem to be working fine for me on both Firefox and Chrome.

Should be fixed in 27.2.3885.1

Should be fixed in 27.2.3885.1

I like that idea: the targeting is a relic of when they were single-target powers, now that they're AoE it doesn't really make a whole ton of sense to have to target one to use it.

There's a lot of text here, but I can save you all a lot of time and back and forth. We considered making upgrade powers auto a while back (9-12 months) because it was a player suggestion that had come up a few times, but ultimately ruled it out. The reason was that there has to be some opportunity cost to give the player an incentive to try and keep their pets alive. If you want to get them back up to full strength, you have to spend extra time not using your secondary powers to do it. So while the changes on beta are intended to make life a little less painful when they do die, the intent is not to make it trivial to have an infinite supply of full-strength pets out.

The editor is full of bugs but the   thing looks to be by design. Those get inserted if you type consecutive spaces, since otherwise they would be collapsed down to a single space when rendered.

It's not something that was on the radar, but may be possible to look at adding. The biggest hurdle there is that the self update mechanism is completely independent from the UI. There are a couple of reasons it's designed that way. The core of the launcher is a small executable with a package management system, while the UI is a separate component that is not required for that base functionality. The UI handles more complex higher level tasks like managing launch profiles and settings. That component can also be swapped out -- see launchercli for a barebones text interface. The launcher's self-update capability doubles as its self-repair function... and also installation for that matter. The "install" consists of it copying itself into place, then initiating an update which downloads the package with the UI code. If the files are ever corrupted, it automatically verifies the package and uses the updater to replace any that fail verification. That has to be able to work without a UI since the UI itself could be broken. So to give the UI any sort of control over the self update process will require building some new interfaces, so that it doesn't interfere with the health check and repair that begins at a lower level before the UI even starts.

Bug Fixes The game will now print an error message if a screenshot cannot be saved rather than exiting without warning. Improvements to Unicode character handling in chat and editor windows: Fix a bug that could cause a partial UTF-8 sequence to be inserted when typing or pasting special characters at the end of a long message near the character limit, and eventually cause a client error due to the malformed sequence. Correctly calculate cursor position when using the up arrow to recall a chat message that contains non-ASCII characters. Correctly calculate cursor position when pasting a power link into a chat message that contains non-ASCII characters. Guard against a mapserver crash related to disbanding a flashback TF that has been observed sporadically happening since the 9th.

Well, I thought it might be related to UTF-8 encoding/decoding since that's notoriously difficult to handle correctly and easy to miscalculate and overrun buffers if you're not careful, and because roleplayers might be somewhat more likely to use non-ASCII characters in chat. I did find 3 bugs related to that but none of them appear to be the likely cause of this issue. Is there anything else you can think of that you or people around you use a lot in chat that might not be used other places? Any "tricks" people use to do creative things with the formatter?