Homecoming Launcher Public Beta

[Dazou]

Well for me, Windows 7 64bits too, I can play, launch dual box. For that part it works great.

 

Now, I cannot log in throught HC launcher. I don't see Shards status, got "error retrieving shard status", and today news don't load.

I tried by desactivating antivirus, autorize through firewall, check malwares... Nothing does the job.

And oh yes, if I close the launcher, I cannot launch it again : "Could not open launcher log file. The launcher may already be running".

I got to kill the processus first to launch it again.

 

Update: I was thinking something, which ports are involved with HC Launcher? Because here where I live, we have "Shared IP". That means 4 users can share the same IP. Precisely 4 users who don't live in the same place, they just not share the same ports range.. And I know I have just access to ports from 0 to 16383. That could the reason why my HC launcher cannot acces to those informations.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2020 by Dazou

[Jacke]

EDIT: As of today, 2020 Nov 09 Monday, hcinstall.exe has been updated and this has changed.  Now the only files not copied are *.storyarc.backup, which appear to be no longer created when using the HC Launcher.  I've updated this post below to reflect this.

 

Hi @Number Six, @GM Tahquitz.  Thanks for all your work and assistance with the new Launcher.  I'm finding it an improvement over the previous launchers.

 

I have questions about the HC Launcher installer copying local architect files from a Tequila install.  I'm writing a guide for my gaming guild and I want to be thorough.

• Is my list below of local architect files complete?
• Are all the needed files transferred?
• Do the files work correctly and completely on the HC Launcher install?

I did some testing.  As I haven't done any of my own architect work and local backup, I had to do some research to determine what the local architect files are, primarily in the Wiki here:

https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Mission_Architect_Files

as well as in @WanderingAries's topic here.

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/23315-filesystem-migration-where-does-this-file-go-now/

 

In an old install, excluding the .costume files (which I know already transfer correctly), I believe these are all the source local Architect files.

	<old City file root>\Custom_Critter\*.critter
	<old City file root>\CustomVillainGroup\*.cvg
	<old City file root>\Missions\*.storyarc
	<old City file root>\Missions\*.storyarc.backup
	<old City file root>\PlayerCreatedSouvenirClues.txt

Running the HC Launcher installer, these are the files that were transferred and to where.

	<new City file root>\architect\critters\*.critter
	<new City file root>\architect\villaingroups\*.cvg
	<new City file root>\architect\missions\*.storyarc
 	<new City file root>\architect\PlayerCreatedSouvenirClues.txt

The *.storyarc.backup files weren't copied.  They appear to not be created now when using the HC Launcher.

 

As I mentioned, I've not done my own architect work, so I'm not sure of the answers to my questions above.  I'd appreciate you looking at this.  Thanks!

Edited November 9, 2020 by Jacke

[Ukase]

I didn't see an option to use it for the beta server. One thing at a time, I'm guessing. 

 

[Jacke]

14 minutes ago, Ukase said:

I didn't see an option to use it for the beta server. One thing at a time, I'm guessing. 

 

Do you mean access the Beta Shards from the HC Launcher?  Already built in.

 

After the Launcher is installed, it looks like this.

 

The Homecoming Game Profile is always installed (and is in progress here).  To install the Prerelease and Beta Profiles, click on their down arrows.  Then it'll look like it does in the original post and you'll be able to log in on the Beta servers.  If you want to transfer characters there, there's information in the Beta section of the forums.

[Ukase]

Thanks, Jacke. The "buttons" to click on to get the Beta downloaded was smaller than I would have expected. 

It's not very intuitive to me to figure out how to get into the game - though I did figure it out. The little arrow on the right should probably be larger - but I am more than a bit off with my eyesight. 

 

[Jacke]

8 hours ago, Ukase said:

Thanks, Jacke. The "buttons" to click on to get the Beta downloaded was smaller than I would have expected. 

It's not very intuitive to me to figure out how to get into the game - though I did figure it out. The little arrow on the right should probably be larger - but I am more than a bit off with my eyesight. 

 

 

Glad I could help.

 

From what I've read and my own testing, once you have a Game Profile installed, its whole item is a button, not just the right-pointing arrowhead and the "Ready" widget.  Click on it to hilight it with a brown background, then click on it one more time to launch its City client program.

 

You may want to post in either the Suggestions post that the size of the widgets for download (the down arrow) and the submenu (the 3 dots to get at Verify/Settings/Uninstall) should be larger.

[blueEmpathy]

On 11/1/2020 at 9:52 AM, blueEmpathy said:

Hi! I just installed the new launcher, but when i go to use it and click 'Accept', nothing happens. Can anyone help me out with this?

update:

• reinstalled and moved it to different locations
• made sure firewall and antivirus weren't blocking it
• ran as administrator
• ran in windows 8 compatibility modes

no dice, nothing continues to happen after clicking 'Accept'

[Jacke]

12 minutes ago, blueEmpathy said:

update:

• reinstalled and moved it to different locations
• made sure firewall and antivirus weren't blocking it
• ran as administrator
• ran in windows 8 compatibility modes

no dice, nothing continues to happen after clicking 'Accept'

I think after clicking 'Accept' is where the installer switches to the Launcher to finish downloading files.

 

The launcher programs are here.

 

<City file root>\bin\win32\launcher.exe
<City file root>\bin\win64\launcher.exe

 

City file root is where you tell the installer to put the new files used by the HC Launcher.

 

As well, in my experience, you need to security whitelist not just the installer but the launcher.exe as well, easiest being to whitelist the whole bin folder if you can.

 

    <wherever you've got it>\hcinstall.exe
    <City file root>\bin\*

Edited November 6, 2020 by Jacke

[GruntledDave]

I'm getting an error when the launcher tries to download... the manifest, I guess? Bitdefender says the page the launcher is accessing is infected Threat name: Gen:Variant.Fugrafa.6013

[Jacke]

48 minutes ago, GruntledDave said:

I'm getting an error when the launcher tries to download... the manifest, I guess? Bitdefender says the page the launcher is accessing is infected Threat name: Gen:Variant.Fugrafa.6013

See the technical deep dive under Security Features:

 

The launcher cryptographically checks what it downloads from Homecoming to ensure they're legit from Homecoming.  That's likely your security software giving a false alert.

 

I had to whitelist the launcher programs or their folder with my security software Comodo to prevent issues.  Either:

 

<City file root>\bin\win32\launcher.exe
<City file root>\bin\win64\launcher.exe

 

Or what I settled on, the whole bin folder to cover the .dll files as well.

 

<City file root>\bin\*

Edited November 7, 2020 by Jacke

[Voltor]

While working on a friends Win 7 box that needed some cleansing i decided to test the vid card and went to install CoH,  on a whim I decided to try the beta launcher.   Installed it no problems, and it worked after clicking accept.

 

This PC did not have Tequila or CoH already on it.

 

So am I going to have to remove Tequila and reinstall the game on my gaming rig?

[Jacke]

1 hour ago, Voltor said:

While working on a friends Win 7 box that needed some cleansing i decided to test the vid card and went to install CoH,  on a whim I decided to try the beta launcher.   Installed it no problems, and it worked after clicking accept.

 

This PC did not have Tequila or CoH already on it.

 

So am I going to have to remove Tequila and reinstall the game on my gaming rig?

No, you shouldn't have to remove Tequila.  The HC Launcher install is completely independent of Tequila, which is why it goes in a new empty location on you computer.  If the installer detects a Tequila install by looking in the Registry, it will ask if it can copy files from there, stock ones it checks and your own configuration, just to speed things up and give you the same City customization as before.

 

If this is the same issue you mentioned before, that after clicking "Accept" the install doesn't proceed, then it's likely something to do with the switchover from the installer program to it starting the actual HC Launcher to continue downloading its City install.

 

Can you whitelist the launcher programs in your security software?  Take a look at the post I wrote just before yours, 2 back from here.

 

If that doesn't work, try launching the HC Launcher directly yourself.  You should have a desktop link to it.  If that doesn't work, then it's one of these:

 

<City file root>\bin\win32\launcher.exe
<City file root>\bin\win64\launcher.exe

 

where <City file root> is where you told the installer to put the HC Launcher install.

 

If you have a 64-bit Windows, try the win64 program.  If you have a 32-bit Windows, or the 64-bit launcher.exe doesn't work, try the win32 program.

 

[Voltor]

11 minutes ago, Jacke said:

No, you shouldn't have to remove Tequila.  The HC Launcher install is completely independent of Tequila, which is why it goes in a new empty location on you computer.  If the installer detects a Tequila install by looking in the Registry, it will ask if it can copy files from there, stock ones it checks and your own configuration, just to speed things up and give you the same City customization as before.

 

If this is the same issue you mentioned before, that after clicking "Accept" the install doesn't proceed, then it's likely something to do with the switchover from the installer program to it starting the actual HC Launcher to continue downloading its City install.

 

Can you whitelist the launcher programs in your security software?  Take a look at the post I wrote just before yours, 2 back from here.

 

If that doesn't work, try launching the HC Launcher directly yourself.  You should have a desktop link to it.  If that doesn't work, then it's one of these:

 

<City file root>\bin\win32\launcher.exe
<City file root>\bin\win64\launcher.exe

 

where <City file root> is where you told the installer to put the HC Launcher install.

 

If you have a 64-bit Windows, try the win64 program.  If you have a 32-bit Windows, or the 64-bit launcher.exe doesn't work, try the win32 program.

 

Already whitelisted it and have tried many times with the short cuts and actual files to launch, it just closes after hitting accept.

So despite that it should import files from Tequila,  I am going to use my old XP box as a test and remove tequila from it and then reinstall the launcher and see what happens.

[CaptainLupis]

1 hour ago, Voltor said:

Already whitelisted it and have tried many times with the short cuts and actual files to launch, it just closes after hitting accept.

So despite that it should import files from Tequila,  I am going to use my old XP box as a test and remove tequila from it and then reinstall the launcher and see what happens.

Yeah I had tried before as well and it wasn't AV related, as I even tried shutting that down and stopping all its services just to make sure.

 

I've also tried installs with and without tequila and it didn't make any difference, once I click accept (or reject just for that matter) it just closes and does nothing.

[Voltor]

1 minute ago, CaptainLupis said:

Yeah I had tried before as well and it wasn't AV related, as I even tried shutting that down and stopping all its services just to make sure.

 

I've also tried installs with and without tequila and it didn't make any difference, once I click accept (or reject just for that matter) it just closes and does nothing.

Hm, did you also uninstall the game as well as Tequila?   I'm wondering if maybe Tequila corrupted some CoH files?

[CaptainLupis]

No, but I had verified the files so none of them should be corrupted. By unistall tequila do you mean delete it (I have tried that)? As it doesn't show an actual unistall option anywhere.

[Jacke]

1 hour ago, Voltor said:

Hm, did you also uninstall the game as well as Tequila?   I'm wondering if maybe Tequila corrupted some CoH files?

Here's three things to check.  <City file root> is where you told the installer to put the HC Launcher.

 

1.  Log file here in case the HC Launcher is dying in the background before it opens its window.  If you find the log file, post it here.

 

<City file root>\logs\launcher\launcher.log

 

2.  Run the hcinstall.exe again but say "No" to copying files from Tequila.  Then it's only the installer and HC Launcher involved.

 

3.  After #2, look for the log file in #1 again, wherever you told the installer in #2 to put the new files.

 

4.  What security software do you have?

There's a chance that despite whitelisting the programs, your security software is silently blocking the vital step of hcinstall.exe starting up launcher.exe.

 

You should have better results with Windows 7 than with Windows XP.  And it is highly unlikely that the presence of Tequila is the root cause of this issue.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Jacke

[CaptainLupis]

27 minutes ago, Jacke said:

Here's three things to check.  <City file root> is where you told the installer to put the HC Launcher.

 

1.  Log file here in case the HC Launcher is dying in the background before it opens its window.  If you find the log file, post it here.

 

<City file root>\CityHC\logs\launcher\launcher.log

 

2.  Run the hcinstall.exe again but say "No" to copying files from Tequila.  Then it's only the installer and HC Launcher involved.

 

3.  After #2, look for the log file in #1 again, wherever you told the installer in #2 to put the new files.

 

4.  What security software do you have?

There's a chance that despite whitelisting the programs, your security software is silently blocking the vital step of hcinstall.exe starting up launcher.exe.

 

You should have better results with Windows 7 than with Windows XP.  And it is highly unlikely that the presence of Tequila is the root cause of this issue.

My logs always end at:

jsonobjdl: Trying url http://manifest.cohhc.gg/profile/beta.json
jsonobjdl: Trying url http://manifest.cohhc.gg/profile/live.json
jsonobjdl: Trying url http://manifest.cohhc.gg/profile/pre.json

 

The trouble is I don't know if that's where the log should end, my guess is there should be something after that, but I have nothing to compare it to.

[Voltor]

31 minutes ago, Jacke said:

Here's three things to check.  <City file root> is where you told the installer to put the HC Launcher.

 

1.  Log file here in case the HC Launcher is dying in the background before it opens its window.  If you find the log file, post it here.

 

<City file root>\CityHC\logs\launcher\launcher.log

 

2.  Run the hcinstall.exe again but say "No" to copying files from Tequila.  Then it's only the installer and HC Launcher involved.

 

3.  After #2, look for the log file in #1 again, wherever you told the installer in #2 to put the new files.

 

4.  What security software do you have?

There's a chance that despite whitelisting the programs, your security software is silently blocking the vital step of hcinstall.exe starting up launcher.exe.

 

You should have better results with Windows 7 than with Windows XP.  And it is highly unlikely that the presence of Tequila is the root cause of this issue.

Well on my XP box I archived everything and cleaned out the game folder.   Reinstalled launcher, hit approve and nothing, here is the crash log.  

So another win 7 box that doesn't belong to me took the launcher no problem and installed and booted the game.   Yet my PC's with Tequila in them keep crashing the launcher before it even launches.  Maybe its not Tequila but I don't know what else the problem is.

 

{
  "id": "7z05tt4a22v5znarcjexfj436k",
  "pid": 1240,
  "name": "launcher",
  "build": {
    "arch": "x86",
    "branch": "release",
    "commit": "9e0439aedd5e0cbcd8a985b2eb08df7100033288",
    "config": "final",
    "pipeline": 2688,
    "platform": "win",
    "target": "win-x86"
  },
  "crash": {
    "crashmode": 4225,
    "exceptionaddr": "0x438b5e",
    "base": "0x400000"
  },
  "internal": {
    "exceptionthread": 992,
    "exceptioninfo": "0x19cfa04",
    "blackbox": "0x7850c0"

[Jacke]

It's important that when you post a log file or a crash report, you include the file, not quote all or part of it.  It gets hard to figure things out when there's only part of the information.

 

I've attached the launcher.log file from another test install (completed okay) of the HC Launcher on my computer as an example.

launcher.log

 

When you're replying, look down and you'll see a bar at the bottom of the reply box that say's "Drag files here to attach..."  On your computer, drag the log file or crash report to the bar so it's uploaded to the Homecoming forums.  Once it's uploaded, click the "+" at the right end of the bar to insert the file into the body of your reply.

 

22 minutes ago, CaptainLupis said:

My logs always end at:

jsonobjdl: Trying url http://manifest.cohhc.gg/profile/beta.json
jsonobjdl: Trying url http://manifest.cohhc.gg/profile/live.json
jsonobjdl: Trying url http://manifest.cohhc.gg/profile/pre.json

 

The trouble is I don't know if that's where the log should end, my guess is there should be something after that, but I have nothing to compare it to.

To be sure, I'd need to see all of the log file, but comparing it to mine, the installer is handing off to the launcher, but the launcher can't contact the Homecoming servers to get files for the next steps.

 

Something is blocking access to those Internet addresses, likely your security software or a firewall, either software or hardware.

 

22 minutes ago, Voltor said:

Well on my XP box I archived everything and cleaned out the game folder.   Reinstalled launcher, hit approve and nothing, here is the crash log.  

So another win 7 box that doesn't belong to me took the launcher no problem and installed and booted the game.   Yet my PC's with Tequila in them keep crashing the launcher before it even launches.  Maybe its not Tequila but I don't know what else the problem is.

 

I need the whole crash file.  I also need the log file if you can find it.  If the installer gets to the "Accept" screen, it should have written a log file somewhere.  Try searching for "launcher.log" if you can't find it here.

 

<City file root>\CityHC\logs\launcher\launcher.log

Edited November 7, 2020 by Jacke

[Voltor]

5 minutes ago, Jacke said:

It's important that when you post a log file or a crash report, you include the file, not quote all or part of it.  It gets hard to figure things out when there's only part of the information.

 

I've attached the launcher.log file from another test install (completed okay) of the HC Launcher on my computer as an example.

launcher.log 43.26 kB · 1 download

 

When you're replying, look down and you'll see a bar at the bottom of the reply box that say's "Drag files here to attach..."  On your computer, drag the log file or crash report to the bar so it's uploaded to the Homecoming forums.  Once it's uploaded, click the "+" at the right end of the bar to insert the file into the body of your reply.

 

To be sure, I'd need to see all of the log file, but comparing it to mine, the installer is handing off to the launcher, but the launcher can't contact the Homecoming servers to get files for the next steps.

 

Something is blocking access to those Internet addresses, likely your security software or a firewall, either software or hardware.

 

 

I need the whole crash file.  I also need the log file if you can find it.  If the installer gets to the "Accept" screen, it should have written a log file somewhere.  Try searching for "launcher.log" if you can't find it here.

 

<City file root>\CityHC\logs\launcher\launcher.log

My previous post was a copy past from the crash folder, here is the launcher.log from my win 7 box

launcher.log

Edited November 7, 2020 by Voltor

[Jacke]

1 minute ago, Voltor said:

My previous post was a copy past from the crash folder, here is the launcher.log from my win 7 box

launcher.log 28.22 kB · 0 downloads

Thanks!

 

I think the crash log from Windows XP means it can't run the installer, hcinstall.exe.

 

Reading your launcher.log from Windows 7, the installer grabs its initial files from http://cdn.homecomingservers.com/....  It eventually switches to the launcher.exe.

 

Which fails to get more files from http://manifest.cohhc.gg/....  Several times.  It doesn't even get a reply to the Internet connection requests.

 

My test install running about the same time got those files (as you can see in my launcher.log), so the server is up and delivering out files when requested.

 

@Voltor and @CaptainLupis, in both your cases, something is blocking access to the Internet address manifest.cohhc.gg , either security software or a firewall.  You'll have to find it and change its configuration to be able to install the HC Launcher.

[Jacke]

7 hours ago, GruntledDave said:

I'm getting an error when the launcher tries to download... the manifest, I guess? Bitdefender says the page the launcher is accessing is infected Threat name: Gen:Variant.Fugrafa.6013

@GruntledDave, as I mentioned before, that security alert is almost certainly a false alert, which do happen.

 

You might be able to fix things by either telling the security software about the false alert or telling it to whitelist the Internet address manifest.cohhc.gg.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Jacke

[Jacke]

15 hours ago, blueEmpathy said:

no dice, nothing continues to happen after clicking 'Accept'

@blueEmpathy, can you reply with the log file launcher.log?  <City file root>\logs\launcher\launcher.log

 

Like the others, I think the problem is something, security software or firewall, is blocking Internet address manifest.cohhc.gg.  I'd need the log file to be sure.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Jacke

[CaptainLupis]

29 minutes ago, Jacke said:

@blueEmpathy, can you reply with the log file launcher.log?  <City file root>\logs\launcher\launcher.log

 

Like the others, I think the problem is something, security software or firewall, is blocking Internet address manifest.cohhc.gg.  I'd need the log file to be sure.

I have a suspicion it is most likely firewall related, although I have tried adding exceptions and so far no joy. Log attached though in case you can see something there I can't.

launcher.log