character order on selection screen

[Deathrite]

I spent some time putting all my characters in order so I could see just how many I had of what AT. I get on today and they are totally random. all that time I spent organizing them gone. I have over 160 alts. It helps me to have them in some kind of order. Is there a setting I can click to automatically do this based on level or AT or days since played? or will I have to take the time each week to reorganize everything? 

[Oklahoman]

Did you log on from a different computer than the one you used to organize them? I think the order is stored on the computer, not the server.

[Zect]

37 minutes ago, Oklahoman said:

I think the order is stored on the computer, not the server.

 

This is right. Specifically, it is in Homecoming\accounts\accountname\playerslot.txt which you can edit manually. I play from multiple devices often and all my accounts have this file mirrored to the cloud so that I can get the same layout in the character select screen wherever I log in from.

[lemming]

Zect pretty much answered, but note that on the player select screen, you can do a search by Name, AT, and/or Powers

[Honorbridge]

Note also you have to have “Remember me” (or whatever the check box is to automatically enter your user name) checked for playerslot.txt to be referenced.

[WanderingAries]

10 minutes ago, Honorbridge said:

Note also you have to have “Remember me” (or whatever the check box is to automatically enter your user name) checked for playerslot.txt to be referenced.

 

This, even if on the same system, not clicking this will cause it not to retain the order.

[BlackSpectre]

Some players make the playerslot.txt file READ ONLY so that the game will not rewrite the file and mess up the order. Of course, if you do this any new characters would t be listed.  So then you’d need to make the file able to be written over again. Then lock it down again. Kind of a hassle. 
 

However, for the most part my order has been retained after I edited the file. The game doesn’t seem to be putting my characters in random order like it used to. Could just be me though. 

[GM Crumpet]

Click remember me, and make sure you log in with one of the alts when you are finished so it creates or edits the playerslot file which is saved on your machine. Also make sure it's not read only. No idea people even did that, or why they think it's necessary. 

 

Pro tip, if you play on more than one machine you can email yourself a copy of the playerslot file and just drag it into the folder so you don't have to reorganise everything again.

[Derek Icelord]

9 hours ago, GM Crumpet said:

No idea people even did that, or why they think it's necessary.

 

So when I inevitably fat-finger drag a character out of position, and fail to notice, my character list is still the way I want it.

[Deathrite]

i got the remember me clicked. i will look for that file. but why would it change to randomly organized? i don't touch the order once it is done. i only play on one computer. one account. has anyone else had this happen? i am always making new toons so read only is not a great option for me. but a good idea. 

 

thank you all for the insight. 

 

EDIT: ok found the file but it is empty. can someone show me the structure of how the file should look and I will try to recreate it. trying to see if there is an "over write" switch to turn off. if I find something will update more. 

Edited February 2 by Deathrite

[Luminara]

2 hours ago, Deathrite said:

why would it change to randomly organized?

 

It's not random.  When the character slots file can't be written to, the server defaults to displaying characters by creation date.

 

Make sure the file isn't set to read-only, make sure the drive that it's on isn't full or erroneously reading as full, and run a drive integrity scan (the file could be in a bad sector).

[lemming]

1 hour ago, Luminara said:

the server defaults to displaying characters by creation date.

Not quite true.   They are in Server Join Date & Time.

If they get transferred to a server, they get a new ID (I think) which seems to always put them after everyone else.

[Luminara]

4 hours ago, lemming said:

Not quite true.   They are in Server Join Date & Time.

If they get transferred to a server, they get a new ID (I think) which seems to always put them after everyone else.

 

That's a result of the transfer process.  Transferred characters aren't physically moved, they're just copied, and both character order and creation date are shard-specific attributes.  The character data is copied, a new character which is otherwise identical is created, using the copied data, on the selected shard, and the original is deleted.  The timestamp on the transferred character is the date of the transfer, not the original creation date, because it's a newly created character on that shard.

[lemming]

45 minutes ago, Luminara said:

That's a result of the transfer process.  Transferred characters aren't physically moved, they're just copied, and both character order and creation date are shard-specific attributes.  The character data is copied, a new character which is otherwise identical is created, using the copied data, on the selected shard, and the original is deleted.  The timestamp on the transferred character is the date of the transfer, not the original creation date, because it's a newly created character on that shard.

That's what I thought.   Though creation date doesn't change should be noted.   My theory is it's a character ID, not a timestamp.   (Character copy has IDs listed, so I think that's right)

 

It amounts to the same thing really