General Feedback

[Number Six]

This thread is for general feedback on the experience of installing / using the launcher. Bug reports should be created as separate threads to make tracking easier.

[Greycat]

Other than the previously mentioned "Firefox and Windows want to treat it like a virus," I'm going to say first impressions are good - though, as mentioned, I had to kill the install process and relaunch for it to create icons, but that's me. Everything else seemed to go fairly well.

 

Minor suggestions submitted in suggestions.

[WanderingAries]

Positive:

The launcher "fixed" whatever that Windows 7 "takes forever to load the server's character list" problem!

 

Negative:

IDK if this is something I've just missed in past updates (haven't played most the year) or because of the launcher (doubtful), but the auto-login file doesn't work on Tequila anymore yet the file exists. I'm guessing there's been an update and it's been disabled in both launchers for consistency.

Edited October 14, 2020 by WanderingAries

[Conviction]

3 hours ago, WanderingAries said:

Positive:

The launcher "fixed" whatever that Windows 7 "takes forever to load the server's character list" problem!

 

Negative:

IDK if this is something I've just missed in past updates (haven't played most the year) or because of the launcher (doubtful), but the auto-login file doesn't work on Tequila anymore yet the file exists. I'm guessing there's been an update and it's been disabled in both launchers for consistency.

 Both of these are unrelated to the launcher. Details about both are listed on the Patch Notes for October 6th

Edited October 15, 2020 by GM Conviction

[PeregrineFalcon]

Windows 10 didn't want me to install it. I overrode that and it installed in seconds.

 

I've had no issues whatsoever launching or playing the game.

[Ramp72]

Just tried this. Launcher installs, but when you click "Accept" to actually start it, nothing happens.  There's a crash report that it generated. Where should I post it? 

 

Edited October 15, 2020 by Ramp72

[Conviction]

2 hours ago, Ramp72 said:

Just tried this. Launcher installs, but when you click "Accept" to actually start it, nothing happens.  There's a crash report that it generated. Where should I post it? 

 

Hi there. Thanks for testing. Please create a new topic in the main Homecoming Launcher forum here with the details about the bug report. I'd say to help visually distinguish it from topics like this one, start the subject line with [Bug Report]. This is not a requirement just a recommendation.

[Glacier Peak]

Hello, this is general feedback:

 

First, I would like to say I really appreciate the volunteer team creating this new launcher. It feels like a legitimate game launcher now. Aesthetics aside (a point others have brought up about changing the launcher skins to match CoV/GR), every functionally important button is clearly labeled or easy to find. I downloaded all three items (game, pre-release, and beta) so effortlessly I actually reopened the launcher because I thought it didn't accept my command. So fast! My initial impressions were this: this launcher boots fast and gets me in the game very quickly, the login being tied to my forum handle feels secure, and the compatibility (aside from the annoying virus notifications, but I understand why) works seamlessly. 

 

Second, I tested this launcher using Windows 64bit and I did not notice any errors or hiccups, lag or bugs - literally the smoothest install and launch platform I have used since maybe Steam!

 

Third point - I also tested multiple account launching and it was perfect. I marked the multiple account box in the options ahead of time and tested how many accounts it would allow me to launch (I got to three and then figured that was enough!). 

 

Edited October 19, 2020 by Glacier Peak

[WanderingAries]

19 hours ago, GM Conviction said:

 Both of these are unrelated to the launcher. Details about both are listed on the Patch Notes for October 6th

I thought that might be why

[ShardWarrior]

The UI for this does not play well with UHD screen resolution.  The various settings are smashed together (see below).  The in-game UI is super, super tiny when logging in.  So small I am unable to use the mouse to select anything on it.  Game is also incredibly laggy for me using the launcher.  Via Tequila, it is perfectly fine.

 

[EmperorSteele]

Feedback: Fast and easy as advertised for me. Running Win 7, 64bit. Not a fan of "allow multiple instances" being disabled by default, but that's a tiny issue. Seems to have imported all of my data successfully (costumes/Architect stuff/screenshots/settings/etc)

I've also noticed that the launcher (as well as Tequila) stay on screen, in front of the game, on launch. I realize this can be mitigated by checking the "exit on launch" parameter, but why not have it behave like Steam where it hides in the background when launching the game? I realize they're two different beasts with different functions (Steam wants to stay open to allow use of an overlay, "Hangover" just wants to launch the game), but, I think that would be a nice thing to put in, especially if you plan on expanding the scope and function of the launcher to do, well, anything else that might require it to be run while the game is running.

[Glacier Peak]

Figured I would add a new post instead of editing my older one for more visibility:

 

Just noticed this issue today - when I open up the HC Launcher my framerate drops from 165FPS to between 10-30FPS.

 

The exact steps are as follows:

1. On desktop, with no other programs running, monitor refresh rate displays I am sitting at 165 FPS

2. When I open the HC Launcher, it immediately drops to 30 FPS, then stabilizes at 10 FPS.

 

Is this an isolated incident or does anyone else notice significant framerate decline after opening the HC Launcher itself?

[WanderingAries]

5 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

Figured I would add a new post instead of editing my older one for more visibility:

 

Just noticed this issue today - when I open up the HC Launcher my framerate drops from 165FPS to between 10-30FPS.

 

The exact steps are as follows:

1. On desktop, with no other programs running, monitor refresh rate displays I am sitting at 165 FPS

2. When I open the HC Launcher, it immediately drops to 30 FPS, then stabilizes at 10 FPS.

 

Is this an isolated incident or does anyone else notice significant framerate decline after opening the HC Launcher itself?

How are you getting your data? My best guess is that the app with the current priority (the app in the foreground) will determine the registered framerate based on its needs, but that's just speculation.

[Glacier Peak]

1 hour ago, WanderingAries said:

How are you getting your data? My best guess is that the app with the current priority (the app in the foreground) will determine the registered framerate based on its needs, but that's just speculation.

Hi, I'm using my monitors built in frame rate counter. 

[Number Six]

The launcher is static and doesn’t draw any frames unless you’re interacting with it in some way and it needs to repaint. It uses Direct2D by default so if the GPU is sending less frames to the monitor it may be a video driver thing, possibly doing vsync when it does update. What if you also have something else running that is updating the screen more frequently?

 

You could try modifying the shortcut to start the launcher with a -nowdl flag. That will fall back to GDI rendering like any standard Windows application, though it may be slightly less responsive.

[Glacier Peak]

13 hours ago, Number Six said:

The launcher is static and doesn’t draw any frames unless you’re interacting with it in some way and it needs to repaint. It uses Direct2D by default so if the GPU is sending less frames to the monitor it may be a video driver thing, possibly doing vsync when it does update. What if you also have something else running that is updating the screen more frequently?

 

You could try modifying the shortcut to start the launcher with a -nowdl flag. That will fall back to GDI rendering like any standard Windows application, though it may be slightly less responsive.

Interesting! I have g-sync enabled if that helps line up with your reasoning. I have had nothing else running (aside from the normal background apps that windows forces everyone to run) and those are taking up less than 4% of my CPU performance and 0% of my GPU performance. 

 

I do notice that when I click away from the screen and open something else (say google chrome) my frame rate returns to 165 FPS. If I click back to the launcher, it drops back to 10 FPS.

 

It isn't a big deal for gameplay, as once I click the server the frame rate drop disappears and I go back up to 165 FPS. It was just something unusual I wanted to annotate.

Edited October 20, 2020 by Glacier Peak
more info

[ShardWarrior]

On 10/19/2020 at 12:59 PM, Glacier Peak said:

Figured I would add a new post instead of editing my older one for more visibility:

 

Just noticed this issue today - when I open up the HC Launcher my framerate drops from 165FPS to between 10-30FPS.

 

The exact steps are as follows:

1. On desktop, with no other programs running, monitor refresh rate displays I am sitting at 165 FPS

2. When I open the HC Launcher, it immediately drops to 30 FPS, then stabilizes at 10 FPS.

 

Is this an isolated incident or does anyone else notice significant framerate decline after opening the HC Launcher itself?

I had the same exact issue.

[Bopper]

I've been casually using it this week with no intentions to try to break things, just general playtesting to see if it serves its purpose. So far, the results are great. No issues, and the UI is very nice. A big upgrade over my Tequila experience. I also like the new file folder structure. It feels more intuitive to me.

[Kheren]

Launcher works fine except each time I drag my mouse on it it becomes dark and only shows what the mouse is directly touching. I'm operating on Win 7 family edition 64b

[grazerlor]

It ports all the stuff from my Tequila folder ok, Then when installing the rest I get this prompt that says "Could not load launcher bootstrap package. This may indicate an internet connectivity issue."

 

Any ideas? I did disable my anti virus for the install as well.

Edited October 25, 2020 by grazerlor

[Replacement]

hey @Number Six Let me know if this is a bug I should report (I feel like it's more likely some setup incompatibility).

 

I've been having weird stuff going on with my windows and scales since I swapped over to the HC launcher.

 

 

Particularly, for some reason all my text I type is out of alignment (above the line).

 

Also, all of my pop-up windows such as when I click on a Contact, all show up down and to the right of center instead of dead-center.  This also affected other windows like my Compass being off to the right, but most windows were corrected by saving window settings to file again.  But the pop-ups continue to default South East of correct on any new characters.

[scottostanek]

Switched to the new launcher on a fresh install directory. Noticed the 'default' options are back, video settings and such to optimal. Since it is in the middle of ToT, there are a lot of graphics effects kicking off and I have noticed two old friends* (frenemies really). 1) The sound looping bug is back (from Live) where the same sound effect can loop five or six times despite the person generating the sound wandering off into another mob --and my own effect sounds fail to play while this loop is going on. 2) DC after DC. I didn't have nearly as much problem with Tequila. But then I realized I had changed the graphics options there to much more conservative than the default optimal. 

 

TLDR: the optimal graphics settings seem to be too optimistic. It would be better if they noted the number of DCs happening (simply logging the last state when an account tries to reconnect while it is still already logged in should catch those) and offer to reduce video options incrementally until they stop happening? I mean it may be fine for normal play but anyone that does Rikti Mothership, Hamidon, ToT League will eventually start hitting graphics issues. Maybe an option to save an "event mode" version?

[Soyuz]

On 10/15/2020 at 2:55 AM, PeregrineFalcon said:

Windows 10 didn't want me to install it. I overrode that and it installed in seconds.

 

I've had no issues whatsoever launching or playing the game.

Same here, also on Windows 10.

 

I wouldn't say I disliked Tequila particularly, but the new launcher does seem better. Faster to launch and a cleaner, more useful UI. I particularly like being able to see shard status without having to log in to the game first, and the forum links etc. at the top are sometimes handy.

[WanderingAries]

@Number Six, confirming no installation or launching issues with MacOS 11 Big Sur (beta)!

[Heartsong928]

On 10/25/2020 at 10:40 AM, grazerlor said:

It ports all the stuff from my Tequila folder ok, Then when installing the rest I get this prompt that says "Could not load launcher bootstrap package. This may indicate an internet connectivity issue."

 

Any ideas? I did disable my anti virus for the install as well.

I had been using the new launcher fine for a week or so and now I get this message too.  Game still works fine if I launch with Tequila.