Long load, interface shows only background, forced closure

[Without_Pause]

Started yesterday and have seen it happen three times. I get a load screen that sits at barely loaded, it finally loads, and all I see is the background with the area I was in and I'm super close and lower to where it initially feels like I am stuck in the floor. I can't  do anything outside of scrolling the camera backwards. I simply close the game and reload it.

[EmmySky]

I am not sure about the stuck in floor.....before closing game did you try /stuck?  Regarding the long load time.....mine would do that and I had to upgrade my graphics card (even though windows claimed it was up to date the manufacturers website had a new driver) and now I load zoom fast!

[Without_Pause]

There's zero interface so I don't know how typing would do anything. Again, this started yesterday, and I have been playing for months. While graphics can be an issue at some points, this feels different.

[Without_Pause]

4th time in two days.

[Korbian]

Can you get to the options menu from the login screen?  And are you playing full screen?  I'd suggest switching to windowed mode and adjusting your settings if you can.

Yesterday's patch introduced some updates that have probably thrown you off kilter, but will be fabulous once you get your settings retweaked.

[Without_Pause]

I play in Windowed mode. I did a print screen, but I don't see it. I rebooted my laptop so I don't have anything to paste into Paint so I can link to it. If you went into the game and got rid of the UI so all you see is the environment, that's what I see.

[Korbian]

Make sure you let all the patches finish, close and reopen Tequila, and revalidate.  I noticed mine finished yesterday but then today after the beta patch downloaded it picked up a couple of things it missed somehow.  I don't know if that will help but it's worth a try.

Also trying to remember the command to hide/unhide the user interface in case that's it...

[Without_Pause]

Complete reboot for my laptop and making sure everything is patched. It happened again today.

[Without_Pause]

And again.

[Without_Pause]

I'll try to stop being annoying with every time it happens, but it happened twice more tonight. There was a variation on the theme with a long load happening and getting a mapServer message, but the second time was back to normal. Note, if there is going to be an issue, it is very early on during the load page. I see a small amount of the load bar, and then it just sits there until the load happens. I don't know what percentage of the time it happens, but it is enough to where being on teams is going to be difficult if I have to exit the program and then log back in and get a reinvite once every lets say 6 load screens. Should be obvious how annoying this would be for TFs. I don't know if I could even complete one.

[Korbian]

I'm definitely not the smartest person to help in these matters, but at this point I think we have to look at your hardware.  I'd monitor task manager and see what's happening with your cpu/gpu when you have this happen.  Maybe dig up some system specs for the cleverer folks to look at. 😉

[subbacultchas]

On 9/11/2019 at 10:20 AM, Without_Pause said:

I play in Windowed mode. I did a print screen, but I don't see it. I rebooted my laptop so I don't have anything to paste into Paint so I can link to it. If you went into the game and got rid of the UI so all you see is the environment, that's what I see.

This may be the issue. I seem to recall a thread a while back where playing in Windowed Mode was causing all sorts of crashes and long loads. Moreso, I had a friend who suffered through this for months, going so far as to switch OS, several reinstalls and such. Ended up suggesting he switch to Fullscreen, instant fix.

May not be your issue, but if you get the time try to play it in Fullscreen and see if it works?

 

[Without_Pause]

Fullscreen and it still happened. I did some crafting and going to my base fine. Ran an AE mission and crashed on the exit. Note this happens outside of AE.

 

Laptop specs: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05165205

[subbacultchas]

Well dang. It was such a miracle fix for said friend, I was really hopeful man.

 

[Without_Pause]

I don't know when the load screens all happen, but entering and exiting missions is when mine definitely happen. I don' think it has ever happened dealing with the base.

[subbacultchas]

How about zoning? Load screens were what hit my friend hard too, but zoning was instacrash three times in a row.

[Korbian]

I'm gonna go ahead and guess this is because of the Intel integrated graphics.  This is the info from another thread, but I'm not sure it'll be useful.  The fix is iffy.

On 4/26/2019 at 7:12 PM, Silk said:

Updated to v3.

 

# How to fix City of Heroes issues with OpenGL on Intel video cards (GPUs)

 

Please note this procedure has been updated as of 16 May 2019 to reflect the change in Homecoming's file name. Further updates have been made to update more GPUs.

 

This process was created by the SCOTS team in order to allows you to create what is known as a driver shim. This is basically a way to force the Intel driver (which is the root of this issue, not City of Heroes at all) to work in compatibility mode for an older version of Windows. Usually this sort of thing is handled by the folks who made the driver or by a game's developers. Since we lack the latter here & Intel doesn't seem to care about OpenGL support, we're forced to do this ourselves instead. It may be worth attempting to run CoX in compatibility mode (Win7/8/8.1) first. That's not a universal solution but some report it does the trick and is much simpler. Ask how in one of the support channels on the Discords if you're unsure!

 

Please note as well this will not likely improve performance for folks who can already get into the game. This is generally intended for allowing those with the affected GPUs to launch the game at all or who experience crashes almost immediately to play. This is somewhat of a work in progress as to specific GPUs and such. Please bear with us. If you have feedback for this process, please be sure to let me (Nilt) or another SCOTS volunteer know.

 

List of Intel GPUs confirmed to operate well with this process:

 

    Intel HD 3000

    Intel HD 620

    Intel HD 630

 

 

Please let a member of SCOTS know if more GPUs are confirmed to work with this.  I will be happy to update this as we go.

 

Anything I ask you to type will be enclosed in "quotes".  DO NOT include the quotes, they're just to make clear what you need to type.  Any bold text below is either a button label that you need to click or the name of the window or list where we are.

 

### Let's figure out which version of Windows 10 you're on:

1. Right click the Start menu in the lower left of your screen and choose System.

2. Scroll down to Windows specifications and look for the Version.  It should be 1607, 1703, 1709, 1803, 1809, or 1903.

3. Go to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install & download the Windows ADK for your version of Windows.

 

### Now to install the program:

1. Run ADKsetup.exe when it is downloaded.

2. Leave the top option selected & click Next.

3. Choose whether to send Microsoft some usage data & click Next.

4. Click Accept after reading the agreement (ha!).

5. Uncheck everything in the list of features & click to check Application Compatibility Toolkit.

6. Click Install & choose Yes when asked if you wish to allow it to make changes to your computer.

7. Click Close and restart the computer if prompted.

 

### Now we need to run the "Compatibility Administrator(32 bit)" program:

1. Click your Start Menu (usually in the lower left of the screen).

2. The application should be at the top.  If not, start typing the name above though there's no obvious box to type in.

3. Click it when it shows up.

4. Click Yes again to allow it to make changes to your computer (it needs to be run as an administrator).

5. Select New Database(1) [untitled_1] under Custom Databases from the list on the left.

6. If Custom Databases is not present, click the New button above.  Otherwise, skip to the next step.

7. Click the Fix above.

 

### Now we're in the "Create new Application Fix" window:

1. Type "City of Heroes" in the first box.

2. Type anything you wish in the middle Name of the vendor for this program box.

3. Click the Browse button & locate the game's folder.

    * If you do not know where your folder is, ask whoever you got these steps from or seek assistance in the Discord's tech help channel.

4. Click one time to select homecoming.exe then click the Open button.

    * This may only say homecoming depending on your system's settings.  If so, select the one with the City of Heroes icon, not a folder icon.

5. Click the Next button to proceed.

6. Click Next to skip the Compatibility Mode options.

7. Scroll down the Compatibility Fixes list to Win81RTMVersionLie & click the box to the left of it.

  - You may press the W key on your keyboard to jump most of the way but don't check any other boxes accidentally if you do so.

8. Click the Parameters button above the list.

 

### Now we are in the "Options for Win81RTMVersionLie" window:

1. Leave the Command line box completely blank.

2. Type "ig4icd32.dll" in the Module Name box.

3. Click the Add button to the right then click the OK button below.

4. This brings you to the Create new Application fix window.  Click the Next button.

 

### We're now in the "Matching Information" list:

1. Click the Unselect All button to the bottom of the left.

2. Click the checkbox for ORIGINAL_FILENAME=CityOfHeroes.exe.

3. Click the checkbox for INTERNAL_NAME=CityOfHeroes.

4. Click the Finish button below.

 

### We're now back in the main view of the Compatibility Administrator:

1. Click the Save button at the top of the window.

2. Type "CoH OpenGL" in the Database Name box then click the OK button.

3. A new Save Database window opens.  Type "CoHOpenGLShim" in the File name box at the bottom.

4. Click the Save button to the bottom near the right side.

5. Note: Stay in the same program for this step. Right click CoH OpenGL [C:\Games\City of Heroes\CoHOpenGLShim.sdb] and choose Install.

    * Note that the C:\Games\City of Heroes part varies.  Your path, if different, will show there instead.  Also, the part in brackets is often cut off depending on the size of the window.

6. Click OK to the prompt when it's installed.

 

Try running the game.  Hopefully it'll work but if not, please be certain to let someone in the Discord tech assistance channels know!

You may have a slightly different Intel driver file or something which we can help you identify.

 

Inspired by videos at https://pal1000.github.io/shared/tutorials/legacy-igpu-ogl-fix-win10.mov and the same video on YouTube.  We're uncertain which is the original source.

 

https://pastebin.com/shHxr7hV

[Without_Pause]

Zoning seems fine. I was very much looking to post about getting a new graphic's card when this issue popped up as the game can be still pictures at times. I have not gone through those steps yet. I got on a Tina arc team and dinged 50 for my first hero on HC going from 46 to 50. I did three Posi 1 TFs today and had considered the issue maybe over until it happened when I clicked to exit the final mission of the last Posi TF I had done. RAM for the game was 1.2 GB at the time of the issue.

[microc]

if your video drivers are up to date. try running the older 32 bit coh see if it more stable. the 32 and 64 bit has different min/max ram size when running. the 32 bit is smaller when running then the 64 bit. if your laptop has not had a memory upgrade you may be running out of ram when the game runs. your laptop if there no amd or other gpu in the laptop the intel gpu will share system ram and use it for video ram. so with coh and the os and any other program running you may be running out of ram. use crucal memory advisior see if you have an open ram slot and can add 8g of more ram. it be a cheap upgrade. the only other issue i can see is the laptop is getting to hot and locking up. try turning the eye candy down on the game. if it locks up try blowing air on the laptop see if more airflow helps. use a few tools like ccleaner and see what running at start up. you just want your anti virus and the game running...try killing or turning off things like skype and one drive at start up to free up ram.

[Without_Pause]

32-Bit and nothing else running and still happened. I wasn't even on long. It was due to zoning from my base, so that might be a first or a rare instance. Again, it ran for months without issue until the last patch. My work laptop did get a RAM upgrade, so I'll try on it.