guide How to manage your character setups when you have alt-itis (advanced guide)

[LaconicLemur]

Do you suffer from altitis? Do you have a minutes-long ritual to set up up your 100th alt to have the *exact* same settings as your 10th allt?  Here is a guide for you!  In this guide, I’ll show the steps to create a custom window or popmenu (your choice) that allows you to copy your custom binds, options, and window settings for each new alt in less than five mouse/keyboard clicks. Basically, on create, each alt will have a window or custom popmenu.  So you can load up your custom binds, custom macros, chat channels, saved options, and saved windows all in one spot.  

 

Prerequisites:
-    Basic knowledge of how to create and use *.txt bind files (guide here)
-    Basic knowledge of popmenus and/or how to create custom windows (here is a link to my steps on custom windows how.  See section below on how to bind a key to a popmenu).
-    Basic knowledge of how to set window UI scaling (here is my quick version how-to)
-    A saved default options.txt file and .wdw file from the COH Options window that you want loaded for all your alts
-    Generic custom binds text file. I use a pared down version of Shenanigunner’s GABB.txt file
-    Generic custom macros text file.  For this example, I’ll call it genMacros.txt  (here is a how-to) 

-    Generic custom channels text file.  For all the custom channels you want your new alt to join immediately
 

OPTION 1:  Steps for creating a custom popmenu

This option can be helpful if you don't want a persistent window on your UI.

 

-    Create a Setup.mnu file in your City of Heroes  \data\texts\English\Menus directory location (note you need the extra line at the start of the file) like this:

 

Spoiler

// Need at least one line of comment or empty new line before menu commands 

Menu Setup
{
        Menu “Setup”
        {
        Option "Load &Binds"        "bind_load_file C:\CoHbinds\genericBinds.txt"
                                   Option "Load &Macros"        "bind_load_file C:\CoHbinds\genMacros.txt"
        Option "Load &Channels"        "bind_load_file C:\CoHbinds\channels.txt"
        Option "Load Saved &Options"    "option_load"
        Option "Load Saved &Windows"    "wdw_load"
        }

}

-    Login to COH. In your new alt, bind a key to the Setup menu:
/bind shift+S popmenu Setup  (this should be same as the name of the Setup.mnu file)
-    Use your bind key and select all the setup options you want
-    Quit and restart the game. On login to your alt, all options should take into effect. (Bind_load and Bind used as commands in the menu shouldn't work until you do so.)
 

 

OPTION 2:  Steps for creating a custom Window

To make my guide simpler, I've assumed you already created a custom Window and simply want to add the Setup menu options.  If you have not created and tested a custom window, I recommend you do so first and test that your custom window works. 

 

-    In your COH  \data\texts\English\Menus directory, open the existing .mnu file you created (see link above on creating custom windows if you need help on how to do this) 
-    Edit the file so it has a new submenu, called “Setup”.  In this example, the new submenu is BELOW the “Divider” command:

 

Spoiler

// Need at least one line of comment or empty new line before menu commands 

Menu CustomMenu
{
    Menu "Travel"
    {
        Option "&Ouroboros"        "powexec_location 0:10 Ouroboros Portal"
        Option "&SG Base Transporter"    "powexec_name Base Transporter"
        Option "&Team Mission Teleport"    "powexec_location 0:10 Team Transporter"
        Option "&Mission Teleport"        "powexec_name Mission Transporter"
        Option "&Assemble the Team"    "powexec_name Assemble the Team"
    }

// NEW SUBMENU TO SETUP NEW CHARACTERS
    Divider
        Menu Setup
        {
        Option "Load &Binds"        "bind_load_file C:\CoHbinds\genericBinds.txt"
                                   Option "Load &Macros"        "bind_load_file C:\CoHbinds\genMacros.txt"
        Option "Load &Channels"        "bind_load_file C:\CoHbinds\channels.txt"
        Option "Load Saved &Options"    "option_load"
        Option "Load Saved &Windows"    "wdw_load"
        }

// END OF  SETUP SUBMENU

}

-    Save your .mnu file and exit.
-    Exit and close CoH if you had it running.  Restart CoH.  
-    After restarting and logging in, you should see the new menu option.  Each time you create a character, that option will be there for them to easily load up your custom UI, macros, channels, and keybinds.
-    Quit and restart the game. On login to your alt, all options should take into effect. (Bind_load and Bind used as commands in the menu shouldn't work until you do so.)

 

Disclaimers:
While I tested the popMenu and customWindow options, I haven’t tested the macros and channels options.  Also, I have tried to consolidate this guide to the absolute minimum new information you need to get started.  So I have not recreated the information found in the links I posted in the prerequisites.  Feel free to ask for clarification if you try and it doesn’t work for you.
 

 

Edited December 29, 2019 by LaconicLemur
formatting

[r0y]

Are you sure you can load macros from the command "/bind_load_file" ?  I've tried this, and while the game says "Keybinds file loaded <path/file>" it does not actually create the macros.

 

Currently, my macros.txt file (in game root, E:\CoH\macros.txt) has the following format:

macro X "commands"

macro_image image X "commands"

That is, no preceding slash (e.g. /macro) similar to the keybinds.txt file format.  What am I missing?

Figured it out, read your linked guide to Transfer Macros...  still:

Also, chats are loaded from chat_load_file — or will bind_load work, too?

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by r0y

[LaconicLemur]

2 hours ago, r0y said:

Also, chats are loaded from chat_load_file — or will bind_load work, too?

 

 

Actually, on further playing, I think the game already automatically adds the channels you have joined.  But if you want to create a file *just* to be sure you are consistent across all alts, I think this is how it goes (I haven't tested):

- Create a .txt file 

- Use the slash command "chan_join channelX" for each channel you want to load

- Load the .txt file using the /bind_load_file command like you do for the keybind files

[LaconicLemur]

BTW, if you use the custom windows option, I found it was super-easy to create a windows .mnu file that automatically creates macros for my new alts. So I use those macros instead.  It sounds confusing so I'm attaching what my custom window should look like, and a new vertical panel that houses all my custom bind commands.  The custom window makes three snazzy image_file macros, which I then move to my designated toolbar, "4".