Retired Game Master GM Tock Posted March 30, 2020 Retired Game Master Posted March 30, 2020 (edited) New to Homecoming Servers? Played City of Heroes when it was live, but don't know where to start? We have you covered. Head to the Installation Guide for instructions on how to install the client for Windows and Mac systems. Need help? You can join the Discord Server here, and visit the #setup-install-help channel for assistance. Before You Post... There are a lot of common calls when people ask for Help and Support. If you need help, please try the following first: Search. There's an excellent chance what is a show-stopper for your system has already been solved. The search box is in the upper right of the screen. For best results, head back to the Help & Support forum and click in the Search box, then make sure this is checked: By checking off "THIS FORUM", only posts in Help and Support will appear in your search results, narrowing out gameplay advice and off-topic posts that won't help. You've heard this once before but it bares repeating now: REBOOT. There's more and more folks who leave their PCs on 24/7. See if the behavior persists after your computer has been restarted. If you can't reboot, and Tequila is misbehaving or you can't launch the game, close and reopen Tequila first to see if it gets back to checking files again. (Unless you visit Options and Re-Validate, or change the active manifest in the dropdown list, Tequila won't recheck files on it's own.) As a side note: Windows Updates are a factor. There are components that Tequila and the City of Heroes client needs which may stop working on occasion. These pending updates can make the game fail to launch until your computer is restarted. When you've been playing for a while and it all suddenly stops, this is the first place to check. Got any Windows Updates pending? Finish the updates, and try it again. Be descriptive. If you can't find a post on the matter, you can make a new post about your problem. But it's important when you're asking for help to get the game to work to be specific on what problem you're having. You'll probably have no response if "It don't work" is the subject, followed by "Like I said above, nothing works. Help!" in the body. That doesn't tell us what's going on. Instead: Tell us what OS you're using. Windows or Mac. (Linux, you might find a few people who can help you, but we don't have an official client we endorse for Linux systems. That's 100% community supported... you're welcome to post here, but our development is focused on Windows and Mac at this time.) Another question: What hardware are you running? This falls into two things, really: Processor: Yes, this matters. Certain processors are non-starters. (Sorry, Pentium 4 and Core Solo.) Some are 32-bit only, like certain Celerons and all Atom models. Video Card: We need a model number to determine driver support, and in Intel's case, if you need to "shim" your installation of City of Heroes or not. Are there any Error Messages you're getting? You don't have to type them out, a screen grab will work. Windows: SHIFT-WIN-S. Draw a rectangle around the area. Then click the notification that appears, copy to clipboard (press the Copy button), and paste it in these forums. Mac: SHIFT-COMMAND-4. Draw a rectangle, and the PNG image will land on your Desktop to upload wherever you like. What else have you tried? Let us know what advice you took, and what didn't work. Keep it specific to starting or playing the game: Not able to save files in Microsoft Word, randomly stopping and starting playback in Spotify, or clicking on a link in Chrome shouldn't affect the game client, for example. (And if it does you most likely have a larger issue at hand, such as malware or hardware failure, that probably should be solved first.) General Disclaimers With that in mind, go forth and post. Also, nota bene: (Or a $20 latin term for "heads up".) Time is of the essence, so to speak. Forums are great for advice, detailed guides you can't get in chat, and troubleshooting issues of an intermittent or ongoing nature. But unlike chat, they're lousy for immediate support. If you want to get going as soon as possible, suspect a smaller issue, or just want a quicker conversation about your issue, the Discord Server text channel for #client-issues is your best bet. Join our server right here. No deadlines. Also, we can't promise to make any deadlines you've may have. If you really want your laptop working for City of Heroes before a trip, 48 hours in advance is more reasonable to work with than, let's say, standing at the gate before you fly out of an airport. (Someone asked me how to get their Torchbearer toons working on a Dell Laptop minutes before boarding a flight, so they could play on in-flight Wi-Fi. True story... and it didn't work well anyway, so I don't recommend trying it.) Nobody is being paid to be here. If you come to us asking for help with an issue, you'll get it. If you come here with little information except for how angry you are, there won't be a whole lot of replies. Nothing personal, but coming to volunteers with the same mindset as a paying customer does not make for a positive outcome for anyone involved. We'll try our best to get you back to the business of being a big damn hero, but please keep a level head and remember how much you're paying to be here. (Sorry, donations do not count.) And please understand that not all issues are able to be solved by our staff 100%. If the issue is bigger than us, we'll let you know so you can find a Neighborhood-Friendly Teenage Computer Girl/Guy and get them some much needed cash for all the fun stuff they want to do at their school. If you want to send logs or computer files to us, or you don't feel comfortable posting images from your system, we recommend filing a Support Ticket instead of uploading content directly to the public part of the forums. Support Tickets are 100% confidential and your information sent to us this way is protected by our Privacy Policy. Edited March 23, 2021 by GM Tahquitz 1
Retired Game Master GM Tock Posted March 30, 2020 Author Retired Game Master Posted March 30, 2020 (edited) Frequently Asked Questions for Help & Support: I need to reset my game passwor-- Go here. ...but I forgot my old one. I need my game password reset. Nope. Seriously, go here. If you are able to login and post on the forums, you can reset your game password by yourself at any time. Your old game password is not needed to reset it. Just head to the Game Account Center and change it. (This is why it is especially important to protect your forum account email address and password. If those are compromised, you can count on your game account being lost as well.) But I can't log into the forums, though. Okay, NOW you need a password reset. Go to the forum login here, then click "Forgot Your Password." Enter your email address that is connected to your game account and a password reset link will be sent to you. You MUST have a current and working email address you entered at the time of registration for this to work. If you forgot what email address you used, open your email address using a website or email reader and search your messages for any use of the word "Homecoming". If you didn't delete your messages from the Homecoming server after signing up, a search should show your registration confirmation email. That address should be available to reset your forum password, and once that's done, you can then reset the game password using the above links. If you use multiple accounts, your mileage may vary. Check ALL of your email addresses for any Homecoming email messages to get a better idea. (Also, if you're reading this, and you don't use your email address all that much anymore, or used a burner email account to sign up that you might drop someday, we recommend changing your Account Settings in this forum and providing an updated email address as soon as possible.) I'm using Tequila and getting an error saying .NET Framework is missing. Don't worry. On a new Windows 10 computer, this is pretty common. Installing Tequila for the first time means installing .NET Framework 3.5 to run Tequila. You can get the .NET 3.5 Runtimes here. Please note that our new patcher, the Homecoming Launcher, does not require any .NET Framework or other runtime software to work. Now I got another error, saying msvcrt.dll or vcruntime140.dll is missing from my computer. Again, on a new Windows 10 computer, a common issue. For the now-patched Homecoming Client to run, you need the Visual C++ 2015 Runtime installed. This is separate of patching, and mandatory to play the game. This is too difficult for me, I'm not really a computer person. Can you please remote into my system and do it for me? Absolutely not. Homecoming Servers has a Privacy Policy and "remote support" is not offered to users at all. You will need to carry out Installation Steps yourself as we only offer self-support options for the game, no further. I've been having this problem with another application since City of Heroes was installed. -OR- I'm trying to get this feature that worked on Live with another software product to work with Homecoming... Can you get it working for me? We will do what we can to offer help in getting your game client running. But our responsibility ends there. While others in the community may or may not offer general computing advice, GM support for Homecoming Servers starts and ends with getting City of Heroes to work. For programs and mods in the community maintained by our own players (HeroStats, Mids Reborn, Vidiot Maps, etc.), you'll need to seek support from those who made them. (Most of whom are in these boards, but not typically in this channel.) We also do not offer support for programs that relied on the live game, nor apps made for MMO Gaming after the Live shutdown (Steam, Ageia PhysX, Discord Overlay, etc.) whether they worked at one point or not. I've been having a problem with (VidiotMaps/Mids in any flavor: Original, Reborn, Pine's, etc./Titan Icon/Paragon Chat/PKTools/etc.), can you help with that? Homecoming Team supports only the following products: Homecoming: City of Heroes Client - The actual game that launches once it is successfully patched. Tequila - No longer updated but will continue to receive manifests indefinitely. Homecoming Launcher - Recommended for Windows users. Island Rum - Recommended for Mac users. All other mods and helper applications that are companions with the City of Heroes Client (for Homecoming or otherwise) are the responsibility of their developers. You can find a majority of folks working on Mods and Helper apps in the "Tools, Utilities & Downloads" forum here, or you can seek out their Website, Discord server, or forums elsewhere for help. I can't connect to the game! And now none of my browsers work! How do I get my cable modem/DSL modem/fiber optic ONT to work again? Generally we can't. Don't get us wrong, we'll help with advice for your COMPUTER, but past that, it's up to you. We cannot offer support to reconfigure or repair network devices. To be specific, taking advice from the Internet blindly without considering your home network's equipment and specific situation is the fastest way to shut an otherwise working network down. (And realistically, there's only so much we can ask a volunteer support staff to offer up for free.) Home Network Issues are your own responsibility. If you CAN'T get online, call your ISP for support first. If you CAN get online and other online games and websites work but you still can't sign in to Homecoming, your home network is probably not the issue anyway. Worse, messing with your home network device before the issue is resolved can prevent the game from connecting if your home network would otherwise connect. Definitely check in with us and let us know if you're getting a specific error, but also check the Server Status window to see if there's problems with the server you're trying to reach as well. If the server is down, nobody can log on and there's nothing you can do at home to connect until the server is back online. I deleted Tequila and reinstalled it. Now all of my costumes, power customization files and window settings are gone. How do I get them back? There are folders in the main Tequila folder that hold your screenshots, costume files, power customization settings, mission architect data, and an account folder to hold your chat/window preferences and logs. This information is not stored on our servers, however, it is also not required to play the game. Files of this kind are up to you to backup and secure. We're sorry but if these files are lost, we cannot get them back for you. Therefore, we strongly recommend you regularly back up costumes, power customizations, screenshots and anything you'd miss if you need to reinstall Tequila. Tequila/Homecoming Launcher isn't working because my antivirus keeps blocking it. So what antivirus is compatible with Homecoming? What do you guys use as GMs? There are 100's of antivirus products out there, and we cannot endorse or review any antivirus app as recommended by Homecoming Servers for playing the game. As much as outspoken users swear against Product X as being a worthwhile antivirus program, just as many are opposed to their own use of Product Y in it's place. Ultimately, user practices determine how vulnerable a computer is to security issues just as much as the security programs you run to try to prevent it. While we don't recommend ditching your Antivirus application of choice, realize that no security app will protect you 100% from a "zero-day" vulnerability if you click on an suspicious ad or email link. Remember: there is no such thing as perfect protection. Having no security on your computer means anything can happen, good or bad. You can install anything you like, but so can attackers as well. However, having the most secure computer setup protected from every conceivable method of attack means getting permission to do anything on your own system, with anything that does not follow the rules being denied. This impacts even legitimate activities, and can make your system too difficult to use. A sane approach to modern computer use is somewhere in between. I can't use a program I need for school, college or work after I installed Tequila. Can you help me with changes to Tequila so I can do both from my system? Please understand that installing any library or app to get the game to work MAY IMPACT other software on your computer. This includes Visual C++ Runtime, .NET Framework, Wine, DirectX and other apps. For example, if your computer is needed for work, and installing City of Heroes breaks your work apps, figuring out a workaround (or removing the game to restore your work programs) is your own responsibility. We strongly recommend installing City of Heroes on a computer you DO NOT need to use for work or school. This isn't specific to Homecoming, but true of any application you install. Certain programs do not "get along" with others, regardless of the applications involved. (Particularly for school, any "Secure Browser" or "Lockdown Browser" installed is actively looking for programs like our game and will not allow Computer Based Testing until they are removed. This is by design, and Homecoming Servers can't really do anything about it.) But I want to play City of Heroes on my school- or work-issued laptop. How do I get around their security to install it anyway? There is a reason K-12 institutions, colleges, non-profit groups and workplaces lock their equipment down: to put it simply, it's not yours to play with. If you ask them for permission to install a program and they tell you "no", please respect their wishes and find another computer to play the game. Don't get into trouble over us. I want to play City of Heroes on my Chromebook anyway. Help! The short answer: don't. The more detailed one? City of Heroes needs x86 processing and most school-issued Chromebooks (as well as home ones under $300) use ARM processors which will never run the game. (If it's a school-issued device, see the above question.) Manufacturers include Qualcomm Snapdragon, Samsung EXYNOS, Rockchip, Marvell, Infineon, ST Micro, etc. For those with a more expensive device with an Intel or AMD processor (Distinctly, NOT ARM), the labor to physically install City of Heroes involves: Going to Dev Mode, Wiping Chrome OS (possibly your bootloader with custom firmware that allows another OS to load in EFI,) Installing a Chromebook-friendly Linux with device drivers, or taking a common distro like Ubuntu or Fedora and beating it into a usable shape, Installing Wine and any associated libraries and helper apps (Graphics drivers are not involved as you're 100% on board graphics, because I guarantee there's no discrete cards installed on an Intel Chromebook. For those who are curious, NVidia Tegra based devices use an ARM SoC CPU/GPU, not a discrete graphics card. See #1 above.) Installing a City of Heroes patcher. That isn't me over-describing the process, it's exactly that complicated. If any one step fails, it won't work. Especially rewriting your bootloader, you always run the risk of "bricking" your Chromebook if it goes wrong. (Bricking a device = it fails to boot up. Either you'd need to involve a service center, or cut your losses. Warranties won't save you if you mod firmware.) Keep your Chromebook around for what it is meant for... a simple, fast and uncomplicated Internet device. My Chromebook uses ARM, and Apple's moving away from Intel. So an ARM version of the game should be in the works, right? The only client we have at the moment is Windows. Work has been done to extend it from 32 to 64-bit architecture. MacOS and Linux work using Wine for either one. Any news to the contrary (work on a native Mac, Linux or ARM processor client) is solely in the realm of Homecoming Team & our developers to share, not me. So far, the Windows client stands as-is. In that regard, there's something Chromebooks do not have that an Apple Silicon machine DOES: Rosetta 2. Removing the marketing-speak, Rosetta 2 is an AMD x64 Instruction Set Emulator, which runs Intel apps well enough to be usable. (Not "The Fastest CPU in The World" good, but fairly well for what it is.) It describes both hardware emulation components as well as software emulation for Intel software. Chromebooks by default contain NEITHER. You would need to find a software emulator for ARM in Linux to run the game, and as Microsoft Surface Pro X has demonstrated, even on Qualcomm's latest and greatest Adreno CPU, the SQ2, software emulation alone isn't going to be very effective. Your Chromebook ARM processor is very likely not as powerful as either the SQ1/SQ2 or M1, and will perform even worse. (When it comes to CPUs -- Capacity, Power Efficiency, Price. You can knock one out of the park, or do great at two. Getting all three isn't going to happen, and anyone who says otherwise is lying about how much they paid for it.) Right now, all Apple Intel based Macs that are supported by current MacOS development (High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, and Big Sur) will continue to run on Island Rum. And Intel-based Macs continue to be available brand new in the market and will be for a few years at least (even though Apple is rapidly discontinuing models as we speak on their website, it says nothing of brick & mortar store supply -- you can't empty a shelf and send devices back to Apple if they're footing you with the bill for unsold stock). Apple M1, on the other hand, we'll be able to give a better answer once Wine 7.0 reaches a Stable branch. Stay tuned. TL;DR: Your best chance for a sub-$400 device that can play City of Heroes is still a Windows Laptop. Edited March 24, 2021 by GM Tahquitz 2
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