Advice for (Possible) Reinstall?

[Attache]

My SSD seems to be acting funky and while I am hoping it is just some corrupted boot files I can repair, I may have to reformat or get a new hard drive. It's a long story but since the drive is showing as healthy even though something is obviously wrong, I probably don't want to just clone it and will just do a fresh reinstall of, well, everything.

My question is while I definitely want to save things like costumes, screenshots, etc, what files in CoH constitute how your characters are ordered and how the individual UIs are laid out? I know it's kind of crazy but I have over 100+ characters arranged alphabetically in alternating alignments and while it would only take a couple minutes to fix each one again, doing that for 4.5+ hours on top of everything else that goes with a reinstall sounds sad and filled with sighs.

I am, of course, aware that I don't have to be this persnickety about the characters and how they are arranged but it is the way my mental issues manifest themselves. Thanks in advance!

[Captain Fabulous]

Just copy the entire Homecoming folder to a backup device. That way it's all there.

[Attache]

4 minutes ago, Captain Fabulous said:

Just copy the entire Homecoming folder to a backup device. That way it's all there.

 

Or....THAT!

[Attache]

Out of curiosity though, are there separate files that govern how you lay out the UI? Or are they just part of the character file? Being able to template that and drag it over to any new character would be cool.

[AboveTheChemist]

18 minutes ago, Attache said:

are there separate files that govern how you lay out the UI?

 

Yes there are. You can save your window layout using the /wdw_save command. That will save your window layout to the default location as wdw.txt and any new characters created will pull their window layout from that file. You can also use the /wdw_load command to load that layout to an existing character. There are also commands for saving/loading to/from a custom filename, namely /wdw_save_file and /wdw_load_file.

 

There are a similar suite of save/load commands for chat (e.g. /chat_save), options (e.g. /option_save), and binds (e.g. /bind_save) that will allow you to save and load your chat channel setup, your option settings (i.e the settings you see in the options menu), and your keybinds. That way you can save your customizations as you like them and they'll be loaded like that for all new characters, or can be loaded onto existing characters.

 

For example, I've saved a set of basic keybinds to the default keybinds.txt file that is used for every character, then I have a separate set of character- and powerset-specific keybind files for each character that I can also load to further tailor the keybinds for each character. That same principle applies to the chat, options, and windows file, if you want to get that far into the weeds of customization. The links to the wiki I included above should at least get you started with more detail, though.

 

 

[Captain Fabulous]

1 hour ago, Attache said:

Out of curiosity though, are there separate files that govern how you lay out the UI? Or are they just part of the character file? Being able to template that and drag it over to any new character would be cool.

Yes, wdw.txt in the settings>live folder. You'll also find text files for your keybinds, chats, game options, client options, and graphics options in there. IIRC the settings in these files aren't per character, but what's used when you create a new character. I don't think the per-character settings are stored in a file.

Character slot order is in playerslot.txt located in the accounts>account name folder.
 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Captain Fabulous

[WanderingAries]

Keep in mind that the files mentioned for layout are great if you use the same for each character, but if you're like me and do things like change the colors when on a different 'side', then you'll end up needing to segregate those files. Checkout my migration link for information on the files and where they're at.

[Attache]

Thanks, all! Super nice and helpful!