Poor interaction between CoH and flux

[Sarrate]

I use a program called flux on my computerto the color temperature of my monitor based off time of day. As it becomes night, it makes the colors warmer (more red tinted, less blue). When running CoH (fullscreen borderless, but this doesn't matters as it affects all monitors) at night, it will frequently revert the color settings back to normal (that is, not adjusted by flux). I can get flux to warm the colors again by clicking out of CoH (color warms), then back in (warm colors persist).

 

This is not random, as it happens consistently during frequent events like opening the contact list / talking to contacts. So this is a constant annoyance while playing.

 

What it feels like to me (and I was unsuccessful in trying to track this down myself) is that there is some sort of initialization function that configures settings (including OS color settings) that always gets called before opening certain dialogs, etc. Completely harmless and invisible unless color settings are changed (eg: by flux).

 

If possible, I'd appreciate it if this color resetting could be removed - or at least limited to something more infrequent (like on startup). Thanks for listening.

 

 

(I waffled back and forth where to post this. It's not really a bug, but it does fall into undesirable behavior in a specific use case. Mods, feel free to move this to wherever the most appropriate.)

[Abraxus]

I don't know. 

In the 15 years that the game has been around, there have been four operating system revisions just on the Windows side (XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10), and numerous evolutionary iterations in graphics hardware, and APIs.  It might be asking a bit much to want a change to make the game aware of a modern monitor coloration utility, on a modern operating system.  The fact that CoH works as well as it does, after all these years, is already nothing short of a miracle, and introducing something like this would be quite a reach.  Especially when there is SO much for these good folks who care for this game to do, just to keep it going, and try to make improvements that will keep it interesting, and viable to the existing player base, and hopefully even attract some new players.

 

I suppose anything is possible, but try to keep expectations realistic.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Abraxus

[Apparition]

If you use Windows 10, night mode is built into the OS (thus no need for flux), and it works just fine with CoH.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Apparition

[Scarlet Shocker]

If you dislike how flux works, go remonstrate with him in the Hollows 😎

[Jimmy]

It's actually been this way since Live - I remember having this problem all the way back then!

 

Moving this to help & support though as it doesn't belong here 🙂

[Sarrate]

18 hours ago, Abraxus said:

I suppose anything is possible, but try to keep expectations realistic.

For clarity, I have no expectations it will be fixed. After all, if it was more common to run both CoH and flux, there would surely be more threads about it. However, unless someone at least raises the issue, devs may not even be aware of it. Doesn't hurt to ask.

 

For the record, it's not asking for a new feature "make CoH do X," I'm asking for quite the opposite, "make CoH stop doing X." I haven't experienced any other program do this before, and it happens under repeatable circumstances. I also know that seemingly simple issues can be infuriatingly difficult to track down, let alone fix.

 

18 hours ago, Apparition said:

If you use Windows 10, night mode is built into the OS (thus no need for flux), and it works just fine with CoH.

Good idea, but I'm using Windows 8, so no dice.

 

12 hours ago, Jimmy said:

It's actually been this way since Live - I remember having this problem all the way back then!

 

Moving this to help & support though as it doesn't belong here 🙂

I didn't start using flux until after CoH was shutdown, so I don't have first hand experience of the time, but it certainly doesn't surprise me.

 

Thanks for moving the threat to a more appropriate section.

[WanderingAries]

TBH, while I doubt it adds all that much load, I'd be pausing Flux during game session TBH. I stopped using it shortly after trying it out because it really messes with color accuracy (obviously) and can sometimes affect being able to see something I'm looking for.

[RikOz]

I've noticed that, every time I click an item in my base storage (salvage racks), my base lighting changes slightly. Now I wonder if this is the game interacting oddly with my night mode settings in Windows 10.

[Sarrate]

I may have figured out a more specific instance in which CoH resets the color settings - when it needs to render characters to a texture.

 

For example, opening the contact window (renders NPCs to textures), opening a dialog box with an NPC (renders their portrait), viewing another character's info (player or NPC), viewing your costumes, etc. It also appears that these are cached. The first time I open the contact window, for example, it resets the color settings. Immediately reopening it does not.  Viewing an NPC's info for the first time resets it, reopening it does not. Player characters, on the other hand, always reset the color settings. (I assume it's because, unlike NPCs, PCs can change costumes.)

 

I know this isn't a priority issue to address, but I figured I'd share the realization, regardless.

 

4 hours ago, RikOz said:

I've noticed that, every time I click an item in my base storage (salvage racks), my base lighting changes slightly. Now I wonder if this is the game interacting oddly with my night mode settings in Windows 10.

 

I seem to remember lighting in bases flickering back on live, too, but I can't recall the circumstance (clicking thing, base editing, etc). Do you have multiple monitors? Does it affect monitors that CoH is not on? Does it affect CoH's UI, or just the game world?

[RikOz]

2 minutes ago, Sarrate said:

I seem to remember lighting in bases flickering back on live, too, but I can't recall the circumstance (clicking thing, base editing, etc). Do you have multiple monitors? Does it affect monitors that CoH is not on? Does it affect CoH's UI, or just the game world?

Nope, just one monitor. I think it just affects the game world, not the windows, but I'd have to look again to make sure.