_NOPE_

Oh YES, I concur with this completely. Vent, absolutely. Get it out of your system, but then stop and let it go. Because the only real "power" in this game lies in the hands of the ones running the server. That's it. Don't give a bully any more sway over you than the sway it takes to type "/gignore @JerkyPlayer

Nope. Because it's all pretendy fun time games. With thousands of concurrent players in the game at any time, and the ability of ANYONE that so desires to being able to open up the team window and start forming a team themselves at any time, no. There is no "power" here. Anything else is just whatever "power" YOU give to "them". Now if there's an actual violation of the server's Code of Conduct, report them, put them on ignore and then be done with it. Then they lose all "power" over you.

@ZeeHero there is no "power" here. Pretendy Fun Time Games.

I should note that if you're having issues with any of the mods, try Uninstalling and deleting your local copy and getting a fresh copy from the server, that should fix it. Let me know if it doesn't.

Should be fixed now. It was issues with the zip files themselves.

You'll probably need to upload them again.

Can you please attach to this thread the file that you were trying to use?

Sorry @Solarverse my actual paying job got busy. I just uploaded version 1.61 just now, that should have a "self heal" functionality to prevent this going forward in the file database. Please download and try this newest version and let me know if you have any further issues. It's worked for me.

If anyone wants it, I just pushed out a bugfix that should automatically remove duplicate entries so that this shouldn't happen anymore. I don't have time right now to figure out how the duplicate entries got into the system.

No new version, database corruption. Somehow @Solarverse your "Kinetic Melee Soul Mage Mod" had more than one version listed in the mod "database" (really an XML file where I'm storing all of the file listings). Version 1 and Version 2 both being listed are messing it up. I deleted the first version listing, but it somehow came back. I'll keep watching this and thinking about the code to see if I can figure out how an "old" version listing got put back in the database. I might just throw in some "patch" code that says if more than one version is found, then remove all version references other than the newest... but that's a patch that I'd rather not do. I'd rather just find out how the hell it got in there in the first place! Should be all good.... for now.

Ditto

Just think of it this way. By making a Force Field character that can reach the soft-cap for Defense and be nigh invulnerable and still able to attack while NOT inside of their "ultimate defense bubble", you've basically just won the game. Good job! Enjoy your victory! If you want something new to challenge you further, you can absolutely gimp yourself intentionally and try to beat +4x8 mobs without having any enhancements slotted, for a start. Just an idea. I'd just advise against trying to push the powers to be MORE powerful because you feel overpowered with your intentionally overpowered build. 😛

I'm sorry @Solarverse, but I don't think the game should be balanced around munchkin builds.

I just fixed that. It was a data issue with two versions of the same mod existing on the database at the same time. Should be resolved now, please try again! You shouldn't need to restart the program even!

And Soon™ is now! Not only can you now manipulate the size of all of the control areas, but now there is a new Category filter: If you leave that filter blank/NULL, it will display ALL mods. I went ahead and manually went into all 60 existing mods and inserted/updated that ModCategory to be accurate myself on the server. Because I'm a maniac. Be aware that this filter affects ALL of the ListBoxes, so if you have any installed mods and/or uninstalled local mods, they may not appear if you have this filter set to anything but the default "blank" setting, due to the locally installed mod files having either no or invalid ModCategory settings "baked into them". Your best bet to see them is to blank out the filter. Then you might want to think about removing/uninstalling them from your PC and getting a fresh updated copy from the server. Or, if you want to go extreme, there's always the "Fresh Start" button that wipes all mods from your mod directories and re-downloads (but does NOT install!!!) all of the mods from the server:

You know what? I'll do you one better. I just put all controls inside a series of SplitContainers, so that you will be able to do this: Resize pretty much any of the areas at your whim by modifying the border between the areas. That also includes the height: I'll release this update as soon as I get the "Category Filter" put in, which is my next task, so... Soon™.

Looks like we'll have to agree to disagree @Solarverse , as I'm an originalist, and you appear to be a loose constructionist... 😛

Now that I have some time to give a proper answer, here it is. What I would personally do with the power I have detailed in my response to the "Force Field (Cottage Rule Need Not Apply)" thread: In short, I'd merge it with Detention Field and give the power the ability to make ANY target, self, ally, or enemy untouchable. As for your suggestion? I don't like the idea of moving PFF to Tier 9 and modifying it in that way, and here's why: Design Philosophy - When looking over the Primary powersets, if you're paying attention you'll notice that there's some patterns. Blaster Primaries get a choice at level 1 between two different blasts, one weak but fast, and one stronger but slower Tankers get a choice at level 1 between either a fairly "weak" auto power that makes them naturally tougher, or a much stronger toggle that costs endurance Defenders, being much more "variable" than other Archetypes typically have a choice between two different powers that are "definitive" of their whole set's playstyle. Empathy gets either a PBAoE heal or a single target ally heal Dark gets either a targeted AoE debuff or a targeted enemy debuff + Heal Force Fields gets either a Personal Force Field or a quick stricking guaranteed knockback attack etc. etc..... these abilities are representative of what the set stands for as a whole, and give new players a "sneak peek" about the type of playstyle they have to look forward to throughout their gaming session with that primary. Moving these around breaks that design philosphy. Force Bolt teaches the player about knockback, and PFF teaches them about damage negation through Defense Buffs, in the most extreme way possible! Playstyle - As an early level Force Field Defender the power to basically "hide" from virtually ALL damage has helped me INNUMERABLE times with... Travelling through areas that would have otherwise killed me. It's made it INFINITELY easier for me to solo, as I can just take a "time out" whenever I damn well please and the enemies I'm facing can't do SHIT about it, frustratingly whacking away at my bubble 🙂 ! It's also allowed me to act as a "pseudo-tank" by jumping into mobs first and taking the alpha strike from the enemies while my teammates went nuts. It's also allowed me to take a breather and conserve my resources safely if I needed to. It's also helped me avoid a total team wipe with saving my own ass and then teleporting all my teammates back to safety... there's SO many uses for this power, that I find it a shame that you haven't found more use out of it... Personal Philosophy - The "Cottage Rule" in general I find to be valuable. Why throw away the design work of professionals that's been proven to be valuable, when you can tweak what's already there? That being said, if you're going to rework things, if there's a REALLY good reason to do so. I don't like the idea of changing PFF to make a Force Field user into essentially a "Sentinel-lite". I just like the "on/off" nature of the power, and I personally LIKE the inherent danger that comes with being "squishier" than my teammates. Honestly, it thrills me and keeps me on my toes, it almost makes the game "hard mode" for me compare to my teammates, which I enjoy thoroughly. Consider it a martyr complex, but I like being on the razor's edge where I'm hurting but my team is doing just fine because of the benefits that my powers are bringing to the team!

This is the "buff Force Fields" thread, someone else started a thread for if we were to rework FF from the ground up, Cottage Rule be damned. Here's what O said about that: I'll get back to you more when I have more time.

This is amazing @Bopper. Can I ask, where did you get your data from? And how did you parse it? I'm curious about your methodology and source. Is this a "static point in time" from a certain code release, or do you have sources that are feeding you new information?

Thanks for the nod @Sovera, but I don't have time to tackle a BIG project like that would be right now. I had to put my "Web Hero Designer" on hold due to lack of time to devote to learning enough about ASP.NET to finish it, and all I've found time for is for making small programs to parse the game's text files for data, like here: Or maintain and make improvements on my CoH Modder: My current "mini-project" is actually trying once again to bring the old CoH forums back in some format. Where my previous database-driven model failed, I found a way to decompile .WARC files, so I'm in the process of doing that now.... all 18,869 files.... all 500+ GBs... it's a LOT of unpacking to do. And then, after I have them all unpacked, I need to go through them and fix the file references so that the files point to each other, rename files etc. etc.

Okay, thank you @Solarverse I was confused. So the reference ISN'T for maletaunt6b, it was for 4, but 6b is the sound you wanted, and I happened to find it among a collection of apparently "decommissioned" sounds. Great, all is right in the world, and my head now won't explode from lack of logic.

So does maletaunt6 actually affect the sound of the taunt powers? Have you tested this in game yet? If so, I'm super confused, because my search searched ALL of the game code that I'm aware of - the data files, the code, and even the binaries... so where the HELL is the reference then? It's like the game is pulling it out of nowhere... that concerns me.

Maybe that's the case @AboveTheChemist. I just finished my grep search, and in the whole of my CoH files, it's only referenced in two files, both of which appear to be related to either Dev testing or excluding the file from production:

As far as I can see, it's fine. I'll have to test it out in-game after work! Thanks! AFAIK all things like sounds and images that are cosmetic are all client side to speed up resource loading...