Guide to Using Mids' Hero Designer

[Derek Icelord]

Welcome to Derek Icelord’s Guide to Mids’ Reborn.

Everything you wanted to know about Mids’, but were afraid to ask!

Before we get to the meat of it, a few disclaimers:

1. This is a guide for how to use Mids’ Reborn, not how to build super OP characters. Go to the Archetype forums for those discussions.
2. Mids’ Reborn is only a near perfect representation of the game. The dev team has put in a ton of effort, but Mids’ has been passed down through at least 3 development teams over the years and not everything is as easy as changing a couple numbers around. There may be cases where Mids’ says you can do something you cannot do in game, or where numbers don't perfectly match.
3. The /buildsave command does not reliably export workable build data for Mids'. Those of you who did not know there was a /buildsave command can rest easy that you have not missed anything.
4. No the UI does not get any bigger.

With that out of the way, let’s dive in!

 

Menus

Many of these are self-explanatory, but I’ll list everything for the sake of completeness.

File: The usual stuff that’s been listed under File since at least Windows 95. If you need this explained, please ask your grandchildren. Mids’ will prompt you to save when opening or clearing a build if changes have been made since the last save.

Import/Export:

• Import from Forum Post will import from a copied Data Chunk provided by someone else. Highlight the data, copy, then use the import option.
• Short vs. Long Export is pretty simple. A short export abbreviates enhancement names and puts enhancements on the same line as the power. A long export abbreviates nothing and puts each enhancement listing on its own line. The data for Mids’ to import is exactly the same.
  • Note: Most Long Export formats have too many list tags for the Homecoming forums. Either use the No Codes or UNB formatting options, or remove the list tags before posting.
• DataLink and Data Chunk are the clickable URL and the block of text that looks like gibberish, respectively. The Formatting Code Type is for the various types of markup used by forum software. Pick your poison. Homecoming forums recognize the Official Forum (vBulletin) formatting. Everything else is exactly as it seems, tick options on or off as you please.
• Export Data Link is an older function just exports the click-able URL part, without any of that pesky human-readable stuff.
  • Note: the DataLink does not support IOs. Use is not recommended.
• Export to Discord gives you a nice, neat format to put in a Discord server so your friends aren’t bombard with a wall of text. Discord servers need to be set up in the Configuration menu (see the Advanced section).

Options:

• Configuration allows you to change the default settings of Mids’.
  • It is covered in more detail in the Advanced section.
  • Updates & Paths is where you can change the location of saved builds, and if you want Mids’ to load the last open build at startup.
    • Note: Mids’ doesn’t always like to remember that you’ve changed this.
• Check for Updates Now checks for updates, right now. Who’d have thought?
• Force reinstall is for trouble shooting. May or may not work as intended.
• Advanced/Database Editor lets you tweak the database. More details in the Advanced section (you’re shocked, I know).
• Advanced/Reset Tips is a dead function (this program’s old, yo!)

Slots/Enhancements: these options let you alter your slotting and enhancements en mass

• Set all IOs to…
  • Default puts all IOs to the default setting
    • By default this is level 50. Set IOs that stop before 50 will be set to their highest level.
    • This can be changed in the Configuration menu in the Enhancement & Views tab
  • Maximum: maximum allowed level
  • Minimum: minimum allowed level
• Set all Enhancement Origins, pick Single Origin, Dual Origin, Training Origin
  • Note: Mids’ does not list enhancements by character origin, as the effect is the same regardless
• Set all Relative Levels lets you put all enhancements to a relative level from -3 to +5
  • IOs cannot have a negative relative level; they will be set to even if a negative value is selected.
  • Only IOs can go above +3, non-IOs will be set to +3 if a higher value is selected.
  • None disables normal and special enhancements (the equivalent of being more than -4 in game) and sets IOs to even level.

View: this lets you change how you view Mids’. Highly counter-intuitive, I know!

• Columns: How many columns the power bars are sorted in. Pick 2, 3 or 4. 3 is the default, 4 is particularly useful for Kheldians with shape shift powers.
• Show IO Levels puts the IO’s level on the top level UI so you don’t have to mouse over to see it
• Show Enhancement Relative Levels does the same for normal/special enhancements
• Show Slot Placement Levels can also be toggled with a UI button
• Show Damage Per…
  • Activation is the total damage the power deals (i.e. damage per click)
  • Second is ye olde DPS
  • Animation is for powers with damage broken up over more than one animation cycle (e.g. Shadow Maul)

Window: many options are also available with a UI button. All open a new window, and most can be open at once if you love screen clutter. This can cause performance issues and is very much not recommended.

• Sets & Bonuses shows you all the IO sets and their set bonuses currently in the build. It also alerts you if a set bonus exceeds the Rule of 5 (see Enhancements section for more information)
• Power Graphs show bar graphs of a build’s powers (both taken and available) with lots of stats to choose from.
• Powerset Comparison compares the stats of powers across different powersets and Archetypes. It compares straight across tiers, so usefulness may be limited (i.e. a set that has a utility/control power as a T5 vs. a set with a pure damage power at T5)
• Data View gives high detail information about a power when moused over.
• Advanced Totals shows more character stats than the Totals tab in the Info box. This can also be opened with a UI button.
• Recipe Viewer shows the recipes for all IOs the current build. This includes buy costs for normal IOs, crafting costs, and salvage requirements. It can also generate a shopping list that stays open over other windows to help with market purchases.
  • Note: Clicking on an Event or Archetype enhancement causes an error.
• DPS Calculator is nonfunctional and will likely crash your program. Do not use this.
• Set Bonus Finder is a database to search for specific set bonuses, in case you don’t have them all memorized already.
• In-Game Respec Helper stays on top to help you with respecs in game.
  • Profile and History are same. This may have been different in the long ago, but not anymore.
  • Short only lists powers and slots, Long also lists what enhancement is put into each slot.
• Accolades shows accolade powers. This is the same as clicking the Accolades toggle button in the UI.
• Incarnate is the same window opened by the Incarnates UI button.
• Temporary Powers shows temporary powers. This is the same as double clicking the Temp Powers toggle button in the UI.

UI Buttons

 

• Team Members allows you to pick how many team members you have, and what AT they are for calculating powers like the Kheldian inerhent
• The Hero/Villain button changes which set of accolade powers a build has access to. It also changes Mids’ color scheme between blue and red. Hero and Sentinel ATs default to hero, Villain ATs default to villain when creating a new build.
• PvE/PvP mode toggles between PvE and PvP numbers and mechanics.
  • Note: Homecoming altered PvP tables/values from Live, and Mids’ is not an accurate representation of Homecoming PvP.
• Recipes and Pop-Up toggle pop up boxes on mouse over for power and enhancement details. If Recipes is on, mousing over a set IO shows the recipe instead of the set details.
  • Note: Recipes has no effect if Pop-Up is not toggled on.
• Accolades opens a window to select accolade powers. Selected accolade powers are added to the bottom of the window, and can be individually toggled with the radio buttons.
• Temp Powers toggle temporary powers on or off with a single click. A double click opens the window to select which powers are toggled on/off.
• Incarnates opens the incarnate power window with a single click. Selecting an incarnate power will add a power in the inherent section of the UI with toggle buttons when appropriate.
• If Mastermind is the selected Archetype, there will also be a Pet Powers button. Once a pet summon power is selected, single clicking will open a window that shows the stats on pet powers.
• Dynamic/Level-Up toggles between Dynamic and Level-Up modes described above. When in Dynamic mode you can choose between placing powers and slots, or powers only. In Level-Up mode the button becomes an indicator if your current level is placing a power or slots. The Level-Up button will track which level you are currently on.
• View Active Sets brings up the same window as the Sets & Bonuses menu option described above.
• Slot Levels toggles the display of slot placement levels, same as the option in the View menu.
• Slots to go/slots placed changes if you see how many slots are available to place or how many slots have already been placed.

Creating a Build

This is the part I’m sure most of you are here for.

• Name and Origin have no effect on the build itself. Origin will slightly change the icons for DO and SO enhancements.
• Picking your Archetype will populate the Primary and Secondary power dropdowns with the available options.
• Selecting a power from either will lock your archetype selection.
• Single click a power to place or remove it from a build. If a power’s name appears in red italics, it has been placed in an illegal position. The most common reason is placing a pool power without meeting the prerequisites or picking more than one origin pool (Experimentation, Force of Will, or Sorcery).
• Once placed in a build, powers can be dragged to different power placement levels. If a power is in the destination area, the powers will swap places.
• If Mids’ is in Dynamic mode, clicking on an empty power slot will select that slot for the next power placement.
• Once a power is placed, single click to place an enhancement slot on it. If you wish to remove a slot, hold Shift and click on the slot to remove.
• Every power can have its enhancement slots flipped to an alternate. This is useful for comparing enhancement values or set bonuses across different options. To flip a single power to its alternate slotting, hold Shift and right click the power. You can flip all the slots on a build to alternate using the menu option under Slots/Enhancements.
• To place an enhancement in a slot, right click the slot to bring up the enhancement window. Dragging the cursor outside the window dismisses it.

• In the enhancement window you can select regular, non-set IO, special, and Set IO enhancements. Clicking on Set will show the types of sets available. Event and Archetype enhancements are listed under the Set category.
  • Relative levels can be altered using the ‘+’ and ‘-’ keys.
  • IO level can be set using the number keys. Non-set IOs are only available in 5 level increments. Selecting a level outside set’s range will put the level at the closest available level for the set.
  • The empty icon left of normal enhancements will change the slot to empty.
• The middle click function will repeat the last enhancement placed, both (relative) level and type. If the last enhancement placed was part of a set, middle click will place the highest ordered enhancement not placed in the power. This is according to the Mids’ UI ordering, which may not always perfectly match the in-game ordering.
  • Note: If the last enhancement placed is not a valid option for the power clicked on, middle clicking will clear the enhancement slot.
• When placing a set enhancement, if Pop-Up is enabled it will show a detailed view of the set’s bonuses. This info is always available in the Info box in the lower left.
  • Note: There is a minor UI bug in the Info box. To scroll through the set bonuses, move the mouse wheel to focus on the Info tab the use the up and down arrow keys to scroll.
• City of Heroes caps set bonuses at 5 for a given bonus and value. This means that a set bonus of +12% Regeneration is not counted the same as a bonus of +16% Regeneration. Set bonuses and global bonuses (such as Luck of the Gambler’s +7.5% Recharge) are also counted separately. Any bonus that exceeds 5 of the same type/value has no effect.

Viewing Your Totals

Now you’ve made that shiny new build. How do you see what everything does?

• The Info box in the lower left shows a lot of data, broken up into 4 tabs. It can be floated into a separate window by clicking the ‘F’ icon to the left of the power name.
• Mouse over a power, or enhancement, to see its specific data in the info box. You can right click a power to lock it, allowing you to switch tabs without having to hover over the power again. To unlock the power, click on the [Unlock] text near the power’s name in the Info box. A power does not need to be in the build to see its info, or locked into the info box.
• The Info tab shows a power’s short and long description, as well as essential stats like endurance cost, accuracy, recharge, etc… If an enhancement is moused over, the main box will show the enhancement’s values, and set bonuses if part of a set. If a power scales off of number of enemies (e.g. Invincibility or Rise to the Challenge), the Info tab will have a bar allowing adjustment for how many enemies are contributing to the effect.
• The Effects tab shows more detailed info about secondary effects in a power, such as mez magnitude, specific damage defense and resist values and so on.
• The Totals tab shows totals for the entire build. Individual powers can be toggled on or off using the green radio buttons on the right side of the power name in the build. If a power has a proc, it can be toggled individually from the power using the yellow radio button. This button is on the left if the power is a toggle and slotted with a proc.
• The Enhance tab shows how much enhancement a given value for the selected power has. Mids’ shows both current and pre-enhancement diversification (Pre-ED) values. The UI will color the numbers based on how much enhancement value is lost due to ED. White for no loss, green for minimal loss, yellow for moderate loss, and red for high loss.
• For Archetypes with access to Sniper attacks, there is a Quick Form button located in the inherent section. Toggling this on will show the values for fast snipe.

Advanced

The section where we talk about all the exciting and wonderful ways you can break your version of Mids’! While nothing here will destroy your saved builds (hopefully), it may lead to reinstalling the program. Proceed with caution. (Obvious warning is obvious.)

Configuration menu:

Enhancements & View is where you can change the defaults on screen view and enhancement type. Of note, the Set all IO and SetO button affects the currently open build. Info Tab text is the tab in the Info window, while Stats/Powers is the list of powers under the Primary, Secondary, and Pool drop downs. Tick the bold box to make the text bold. Note: Stats/Powers text appears to be fixed at 8.25 point size regardless of the setting. Use High-Visibility text turns the power bar text from black to white.

Effects & Maths settings are for specific states in the game. Chance of Damage deals with effects that do not go off all the time (principally damage procs). Arcana Time shows animation time as the server breaks down real seconds into ticks. Suppression allows you to toggle the various effects a character can be under. Of particular use is the Attacked effect, which will remove the suppressed DEF of powers like Stealth or Hide while in combat.

Exemping & Base Values is an incomplete feature. Base ToHit is your base ToHit chance against enemies. By default, this is 75% which represents even con (+0) foes. You can change this to 39% to represent +4 foes, 48% for +3, 56% for +2, 65% for +1, and 80% for -1.

Discord Export Settings allows you to export builds neatly to a Discord server, without the wall of text a typical build export generates. To export builds on a different server, you must have admin privileges and invite MidsBot to the server.

Forum Export Settings allows for the tweaking of color schemes to suit your taste and adding any forum markup code formats if none of the built-in ones work for the forum you’re using.  Official Fourms (vBulliten) works on the Homecoming forums.

Updates & Paths changes where Mids’ checks for updates, save builds, and startup behavior. It is not recommended to change the update path.

Drag & Drop allows changing program behavior on various drag & drop events.

Database Editor:

The database editor is not for the faint of heart. Here you can theoretically change almost any aspect of Mids’ as you wish. However it is a fickle beast and will likely break your installation of Mids’. If you wish to proceed, always make a backup of your database before (<install directory>\Data\I12.mhd). It is highly advised you seek assistance from the current dev team on the Mids Reborn Discord (linked below).

 

For support and feedback on Mids’, join the Discord or post in the thread in Tools, Utilities & Downloads here.

If you have questions on the guide, something isn’t clear, or just want to tell me I’m an incompetent prick, post in this thread.

Edited January 23, 2021 by Derek Icelord

[Snowdaze]

Pinned please!

[WanderingAries]

Video reference as well (if doesn't exist)?

[Tonio]

On 5/25/2020 at 11:07 AM, Derek Icelord said:

To flip a single power to its alternate slotting, hold Shift and left click the power.

At least for me, running on Linux with wine, it's shift+RIGHT-click, not left click.

 

 

On 5/25/2020 at 11:07 AM, Derek Icelord said:

You can left click a power to lock it, allowing you to switch tabs without having to hover over the power again.

 

Same here, it's RIGHT-click, for me.

Edited May 26, 2020 by Tonio

[Derek Icelord]

4 hours ago, Tonio said:

At least for me, running on Linux with wine, it's shift+RIGHT-click, not left click.

 

 

 

Same here, it's RIGHT-click, for me.

I'm totally not dyslexic <_<

Fixed.

Edited May 26, 2020 by Derek Icelord

[LaconicLemur]

Nice!  Something I pulled from somewhere: there's also a command to increase IO levels (useful when you want a +5 Recharge on Hasten):

 

Right click the slot, mouse over the IO you want to use, then press + to the number you want, then click and it'll populate. Note that it won't show 50+5 on the enhancement, but the mouse over text for the enhancement will show it.

 

Edit: Looks like you had this covered! 

Edited June 1, 2020 by LaconicLemur

[Doomguide2005]

Exemping & Base Values is an incomplete feature, and Base ToHit should never be changed.  Skip this tab.

  Can you expand on this?  I've been doing this since 'forever' (many issues previous back on Live) as a way to ensure my builds are able to hit +4's.  Never noticed an issue either in Mids' or in game with missing too much.  Is it something new, my computer died and I haven't been in game or able to use Mids' since late February?

[Bopper]

9 minutes ago, Doomguide2005 said:

 

  Can you expand on this?  I've been doing this since 'forever' (many issues previous back on Live) as a way to ensure my builds are able to hit +4's.  Never noticed an issue either in Mids' or in game with missing too much.  Is it something new, my computer died and I haven't been in game or able to use Mids' since late February?

It's true the Exemplaring tab is full of incomplete features, but those features are grayed out and inaccessible. The To-Hit Base Value can be adjusted and is useful for showing effects of the purple patch. If you are facing enemies that are +4, set the ToHit to 39. If +3, set to 48. If +2, set to 56. If +1, set to 65. If +0, set to 75. If -1, set to 80.

[Doomguide2005]

10 minutes ago, Bopper said:

It's true the Exemplaring tab is full of incomplete features, but those features are grayed out and inaccessible. The To-Hit Base Value can be adjusted and is useful for showing effects of the purple patch. If you are facing enemies that are +4, set the ToHit to 39. If +3, set to 48. If +2, set to 56. If +1, set to 65. If +0, set to 75. If -1, set to 80.

Nod, it's what I've been doing.  It's the only change I've ever made there (as far as I can recall). It does sometimes, and always has to my knowledge, lead to some fairly large accuracy numbers reported such as 458%.  Vaguely recall from Live thread(s) discussing it was a result of how it reported out the value with anything 95 and up meaning you had effectively maxed your final chance ToHit value.  Just wanted some clarity.  Thanks.

Edited June 17, 2020 by Doomguide2005

[magicjtv]

Great guide. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[Marshal_General]

How do I get the planner to show the same numbers as it does in game. For instance, the game shows Chain Induction on the stalker I have on test as doing 546.99 average damage while the planner shows 382.5 with assassination clicked on. The only one that is close is Zapp which is 731.59 in game and 736.8 in the planner.

 

Here is the build.

Electric EA - Stalker (Electrical Melee).mxd

[Derek Icelord]

On 7/2/2020 at 5:45 PM, Marshal_General said:

How do I get the planner to show the same numbers as it does in game. For instance, the game shows Chain Induction on the stalker I have on test as doing 546.99 average damage while the planner shows 382.5 with assassination clicked on. The only one that is close is Zapp which is 731.59 in game and 736.8 in the planner.

 

Here is the build.

Electric EA - Stalker (Electrical Melee).mxd 5.07 kB · 1 download

See Disclaimer #2

[ZacKing]

What's the export option to get this to post the detailed builds like HTML or phpBB and such?  Every forum type I pick and the forums here throw some kind of error.  Data chunk seems to work fine. 

[Derek Icelord]

On 8/25/2020 at 12:03 PM, ZacKing said:

What's the export option to get this to post the detailed builds like HTML or phpBB and such?  Every forum type I pick and the forums here throw some kind of error.  Data chunk seems to work fine. 

For Long Forum Export, use the No Codes option or use the Short Forum Export option. Long Forum code tags appear to be broken.

 

[Derek Icelord]

I've updated the guide with a few notes, specifically Bopper's info on base ToHit vs different relative level enemies and the Long Forum Export quirks.

[Derek Icelord]

Updated for Mids' v3.0.2.19 and Issue 27 stuff. If I've missed anything, please let me know.

[LaconicLemur]

17 hours ago, Derek Icelord said:

Updated for Mids' v3.0.2.19 and Issue 27 stuff. If I've missed anything, please let me know.

 

I might have missed it -- but this looks new. What do the two white & black buttons now do? (I know one button used to simulate a power being active/inactive, and turned green when on):

 

[Ura Hero]

One is for Procs, the other is the power toggle that has always been there.

[Derek Icelord]

3 hours ago, Ura Hero said:

One is for Procs, the other is the power toggle that has always been there.

Correct. The left/yellow radio button toggles the proc effect and the right/green radio button toggles the power.

[LaconicLemur]

10 hours ago, Derek Icelord said:

Correct. The left/yellow radio button toggles the proc effect and the right/green radio button toggles the power.

 

Ok. I see in your guide it's listed under the "Viewing Your Totals" section. Thanks.

Edited January 23, 2021 by LaconicLemur

[Derek Icelord]

1 hour ago, LaconicLemur said:

 

Ok. I see in your guide it's listed under the "Viewing Your Totals" section. Thanks.

Already done.

[Miltonaut]

On 5/25/2020 at 10:07 AM, Derek Icelord said:

Single click a power to place or remove it from a build. If a power’s name appears in red italics, it has been placed in an illegal position. The most common reason is placing a pool power without meeting the prerequisites or picking more than one origin pool (Experimentation, Force of Will, or Sorcery).

Is there another way to remove a power from a build? This ^^^ doesn't work for me.

[Derek Icelord]

12 minutes ago, Miltonaut said:

Is there another way to remove a power from a build? This ^^^ doesn't work for me.

You need to click the power in the powers list, not the area where you assign slots.

[NiCad]

I intermittently have Mids refuse to allow me to add and remove slots.  I have no idea what's going on.  I'll change the slotting tabs, etc.  Sometimes it'll let me remove them but not add.  Sometimes it just occurs when I'm trying to make a new build.

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by NiCad

[Derek Icelord]

I am not a Mids' developer. If you need technical help, post in the Mids' forum.