Install and Troubleshooting Guide v2

[Silk]

Installing made easy for MacOS users.

Note this is a WIP and first write up so there may be changes and more clarifications edited in later on. Credits to Arakendo for providing the download for mac users and putting time into making this possible.

 

For now I will provide a 30 day link to the file and will make either a torrent or a permanent link to this site later on.

 

Everything you need to play the game should be bottled in including wine, the game files and Tequila.

 

 

Step one:

 

First you will need a program to extract the archive, Arakendo used Keka available here:

https://www.keka.io/en/

 

 

Step two:

 

Download the "cohmac" archive here:

https://ufile.io/laoezbww

 

 

Step three:

 

Extract the archive using Keka and double click the app file and run it. Put it in your apps folder but it should run fine anywhere.

 

 

Step four:

 

Now to avoid the MacOS security problem.  When running anything downloaded from internet, you have to verify with System Preferences > Security > General to let it run. First run will take a while as MacOS will sit there and “verify” files for like 3-5 minutes.

 

 

Notes:

 

If "wine preloader" seems to hang and not complete, install the following:

https://www.xquartz.org/

 

Reboot after installing the above.

 

 

For troubleshooting, if you open that with explorer, navigate to Contents>MacOS folder, there is a single file like a bat file. If you run that, it will show the errors in “terminal” (Mac cmd prompt).

 

 

 

 

[Silk]

Updated to v2.

 

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

 

This process was created by the SCOTS team in order to allow 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!

 

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

* Intel HD 3000

 

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 score.exe then click the Open button.

    * This may only say score 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. 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.

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

[Madmarcus]

Thanks for giving the MacOS side some love.

[Silk]

Thanks for giving the MacOS side some love.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

Updated OpenGL fix in my previous post to v2.

[Autumn]

Thanks so much for setting this up. It worked great! So happy.

[Silk]

Thanks so much for setting this up. It worked great! So happy.

 

Your Welcome! 

 

Can I ask which part helped you exactly? Was it with installation or some other fix?

[Autumn]

I was trying to use my old (2012) game client with Island Rum and its updates, and it kept either throwing errors or hanging on the login screen (I also tried downloading the game client from scratch that way). I downloaded your version of CoH as you prescribed, went through all the security protocols for High Sierra, and also installed the X11 emulator you suggested (required a reboot to start working). After that, Tequilla works great in the emulator and the only weird thing about launching the game for the first time was the 1080px screen default (easy enough to fix in settings).

Thanks so much.

 

I was insanely happy playing the game today, reincarnating my old ice/mace tank and getting all those free powers from the P2W vendor. So much fun.

[Madmarcus]

I'm still having problems. After downloading everything I went through the steps up to verifying the files and clicking to allow the app to run. However I stepped away from the computer after that and when I came back nothing was running. Further attempts to run CoH do nothing.

 

The troubleshooting file reads...

 

Last login: Thu May 16 07:26:05 on ttys000

BonarDavid:~ bonard$ /Applications/City\ of\ Heroes.app/Contents/MacOS/City\ of\ Heroes ; exit;

dyld: Library not loaded: @rpath/libwine.1.dylib

  Referenced from: /Applications/City of Heroes.app/Contents/MacOS/../Resources/wine-home/usr/bin/wine

  Reason: no suitable image found.  Did find:

/Applications/City of Heroes.app/Contents/Resources/wine-home/usr/bin/../lib/libwine.1.dylib: file too short

/Applications/City of Heroes.app/Contents/Resources/wine-home/usr/bin/../lib/libwine.1.dylib: stat() failed with errno=1

dyld: Library not loaded: @rpath/libwine.1.dylib

  Referenced from: /Applications/City of Heroes.app/Contents/MacOS/../Resources/wine-home/usr/bin/wine

  Reason: no suitable image found.  Did find:

/Applications/City of Heroes.app/Contents/Resources/wine-home/usr/bin/../lib/libwine.1.dylib: file too short

/Applications/City of Heroes.app/Contents/Resources/wine-home/usr/bin/../lib/libwine.1.dylib: stat() failed with errno=1

/Applications/City of Heroes.app/Contents/MacOS/City of Heroes: line 33:  2146 Abort trap: 6          "$WINE" "$(basename "$APP")"

logout

Saving session...

...copying shared history...

...saving history...truncating history files...

...completed.

 

MacOS 10.13.6

 

 

[Silk]

I was trying to use my old (2012) game client with Island Rum and its updates, and it kept either throwing errors or hanging on the login screen (I also tried downloading the game client from scratch that way). I downloaded your version of CoH as you prescribed, went through all the security protocols for High Sierra, and also installed the X11 emulator you suggested (required a reboot to start working). After that, Tequilla works great in the emulator and the only weird thing about launching the game for the first time was the 1080px screen default (easy enough to fix in settings).

Thanks so much.

 

I was insanely happy playing the game today, reincarnating my old ice/mace tank and getting all those free powers from the P2W vendor. So much fun.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I will let Arakendo know it helped you!

 

 

 

@Madmarcus

 

Can you get on Homecoming Discord and reach out to Arakendo?  I don't use Macs so I am simply relaying all this from others for people here on the forums.  He is the one that will really be able to help you.

 

BTW did you do the last bit in the Notes section?

 

Notes:

 

If "wine preloader" seems to hang and not complete, install the following:

https://www.xquartz.org/

 

Reboot after installing the above.

[Madmarcus]

@Silk

 

Yes I installed xQuartz and rebooted. I loath Discord but I'll try it. Thanks anyway; I'm not normally a Mac user either (which might be part of the problem) but I have access to a Mac at some times when I will not have access to my main computer.

[Silk]

@Silk

 

Yes I installed xQuartz and rebooted. I loath Discord but I'll try it. Thanks anyway; I'm not normally a Mac user either (which might be part of the problem) but I have access to a Mac at some times when I will not have access to my main computer.

 

Arakendo should be able to get you all set up he was around not long ago too.

[Madmarcus]

Since I still had the downloaded .zip file I reinstalled. Whether that changed anything is up in the air. However I have found that if I click on CoH it attempts to start but nothing happens even if left running for 10 minutes. However as soon as I open the City of Heroes file (and thus open Terminal) the game instantly starts and works fine.

[Silk]

Since I still had the downloaded .zip file I reinstalled. Whether that changed anything is up in the air. However I have found that if I click on CoH it attempts to start but nothing happens even if left running for 10 minutes. However as soon as I open the City of Heroes file (and thus open Terminal) the game instantly starts and works fine.

 

I will mention this to Arakendo when I have a chance.

[Silk]

Updated with missing mouse cursor fix.

[Silk]

Updated Tequila.xml to new one after the server migrationg it in the OP too.

 

Tequila.xml updated to 5/16/2019

https://ufile.io/joqavarh

[The Fifth Horseman]

If anyone is still using a batch file or a shortcut to launch the game, the authserver change affects you as well. The executable, patch directory, patch version and authserver have all changed.

Shortcut:

homecoming.exe -patchdir homecoming -patchversion 2019.05.16 -auth 51.79.19.146

Batch file:

start homecoming.exe -patchdir homecoming -patchversion 2019.05.16 -auth 51.79.19.146

 

[Silk]

tweaked the easier to follow install guide on page 6 to take into account the server migration and the fact we are using a torrent from before the migration.

 

Essentially the "score" folder is now called the "homecoming" folder and uses a homecoming.exe instead of a score.exe.

 

Remember to check that your anti virus is not blocking things if you had only put score.exe into your anti virus exception/exclusion list.

 

Norton has been particularly fussy with the new homecoming.exe

[dmordred]

Greetings friends!

 

I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack and I'm having some problems!

 

No AV

-Download the torrent

-Torrent files is the one with score.exe, and has the folders piggs,qt_plugins and score

-move folder to c:\games\City of Heroes\

-delete all Tequila files but the .exe

-run Tequila

-Tequilas validates all files but then start download them all again to homecoming folder

 

So, what did I miss?

[Silk]

Greetings friends!

 

I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack and I'm having some problems!

 

No AV

-Download the torrent

-Torrent files is the one with score.exe, and has the folders piggs,qt_plugins and score

-move folder to c:\games\City of Heroes\

-delete all Tequila files but the .exe

-run Tequila

-Tequilas validates all files but then start download them all again to homecoming folder

 

So, what did I miss?

 

NOTE:  Due to the server migration some of the files will need to update. Namely before doing anything you need to rename the "SCORE" folder to "homecoming".  Then when you update it should make a homecoming.exe application. If the score.exe is still there you can delete it as the homecoming.exe replaces it.

 

Page 6 has a easer to follow install guide updated to take into account the server migration but the OP still has relevant info.  Just need to take into account the NOTE in bold above.

 

Sorry about the confusion, I am planing on rewriting the OP and tidying it up but was hoping to wait till the new Sunrise launcher was ready, might have to rewrite it before though as I am not sure when it will be ready.

[Silk]

Updated OP to V2.

[Skawt]

Updated OP to V2.

 

I haven't had a chance to try this yet, but I did discover something very interesting with my Surface Go (Intel HD 615).

 

No amount of default Windows software settings or drivers solved the problem. Neither did undervolting with Throttlestop, which only resulted in my tablet locking up.

 

Turns out Microsoft's entire Surface line is designed to throttle the CPU at the first hint of an increase in heat. And it throttles all the way down to 400mhz. It won't stop until the heat level goes back down. If you play at room temperature, it will start throttling the moment the game is loaded.

 

So I put an ice pack under my tablet, and the temp stayed so low that it never throttled, and I could play just fine. I'm willing to bet that most of the people with integrated GPU are using devices with little to no cooling, and Win10 is overzealous when it comes to heat throttling.

 

So if I can combine your solution with the ice pack, I may be able to get rid of lag everywhere. I'll follow up when I've had a chance to test it.

 

[Silk]

Updated OP to V2.

 

I haven't had a chance to try this yet, but I did discover something very interesting with my Surface Go (Intel HD 615).

 

No amount of default Windows software settings or drivers solved the problem. Neither did undervolting with Throttlestop, which only resulted in my tablet locking up.

 

Turns out Microsoft's entire Surface line is designed to throttle the CPU at the first hint of an increase in heat. And it throttles all the way down to 400mhz. It won't stop until the heat level goes back down. If you play at room temperature, it will start throttling the moment the game is loaded.

 

So I put an ice pack under my tablet, and the temp stayed so low that it never throttled, and I could play just fine. I'm willing to bet that most of the people with integrated GPU are using devices with little to no cooling, and Win10 is overzealous when it comes to heat throttling.

 

So if I can combine your solution with the ice pack, I may be able to get rid of lag everywhere. I'll follow up when I've had a chance to test it.

 

Good to know, will see if we can get others to test this out and see if this solves problems for some people.

[Skawt]

Good to know, will see if we can get others to test this out and see if this solves problems for some people.

 

OK, I went through the OpenGL shim process. It worked just fine, but I really didn't see any difference in performance with and without it. I did discover that my Surface Go tablet really just needed to be lifted off of the flat surface it was laying on--amazing what just a little air-cooling can do. However, if people are experiencing heat throttling, they definitely need to do something to bring the device temp down or it will still throttle the CPU down to 400MHz.

 

I am running the game Windowed, with FSAA disabled and the graphics set to minimum. There is no point in enabling the advanced settings since they don't really affect the performance once you're at minimum anyway. Windows Defender antivirus doesn't seem to affect performance either, although I did exclude the CoH directory from being scanned.

 

Playtesting with this setup is usable, but there are still areas where it lags. High-activity areas, like where the trainers are standing, are always laggy. The cave and sewer instance maps have a considerable amount of lag as well. Other maps and indoor areas are crisp and fast, even if you bump up the graphics quality.

 

My belief is that even if your computer isn't throttled, it's very possible that the CPU under Windows 10 is just too pokey to handle the data being thrown at when it hits those lag-heavy areas. My wife has a Dell XPS 13 with Intel HD 620 video, and her system flies through everything with high level graphics enabled. Her laptop has an i7 which turbo boosts up to 4ghz. My Surface Go has a pentium gold 4415y, which has only 2 cores and a max speed of 1.6ghz, and has turbo boost disabled in the hardware.

 

Final verdict: The Surface Go can play CoH, but it's going to suffer lag no matter what you do because the CPU simply isn't powerful enough to handle the high load areas.

[Silk]

Good to know, will see if we can get others to test this out and see if this solves problems for some people.

 

OK, I went through the OpenGL shim process. It worked just fine, but I really didn't see any difference in performance with and without it. I did discover that my Surface Go tablet really just needed to be lifted off of the flat surface it was laying on--amazing what just a little air-cooling can do. However, if people are experiencing heat throttling, they definitely need to do something to bring the device temp down or it will still throttle the CPU down to 400MHz.

 

I am running the game Windowed, with FSAA disabled and the graphics set to minimum. There is no point in enabling the advanced settings since they don't really affect the performance once you're at minimum anyway. Windows Defender antivirus doesn't seem to affect performance either, although I did exclude the CoH directory from being scanned.

 

Playtesting with this setup is usable, but there are still areas where it lags. High-activity areas, like where the trainers are standing, are always laggy. The cave and sewer instance maps have a considerable amount of lag as well. Other maps and indoor areas are crisp and fast, even if you bump up the graphics quality.

 

My belief is that even if your computer isn't throttled, it's very possible that the CPU under Windows 10 is just too pokey to handle the data being thrown at when it hits those lag-heavy areas. My wife has a Dell XPS 13 with Intel HD 620 video, and her system flies through everything with high level graphics enabled. Her laptop has an i7 which turbo boosts up to 4ghz. My Surface Go has a pentium gold 4415y, which has only 2 cores and a max speed of 1.6ghz, and has turbo boost disabled in the hardware.

 

Final verdict: The Surface Go can play CoH, but it's going to suffer lag no matter what you do because the CPU simply isn't powerful enough to handle the high load areas.

 

I wont argue as I think  in your case it was indeed a heat/throttling issue and this may even be the case for some other with weaker laptops. 

 

The shim thing though isn't really a fix for having a weaker laptop or Surface Go like you have as that wasn't really designed with gaming in mind like some of the top end laptops are. 

 

The shim fix is for people with laptops that are perhaps a little more highend or outright gaming laptops that are having issues due to windows 10 not having proper OpenGL support.

[Victorianraven]

Hi. I followed all the instructions to install the game I even added exclusions to my Windows Security and antivirus but when I launched Tequila.exe, it seems to be stuck at "Downloading C:\CoH\City of Heroes\homecoming.exe" Help :)