faq Homecoming: GMFAQ (GM Fiddleback Answers Questions)

[GM Fiddleback]

This is by no means official, but it DOES answer some of the most frequently asked questions I’ve seen in the game so far.

Making It Work

How Do I Install / Setup / Run The Game?

Have you followed all the steps here: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,950.0.html Top to bottom. Read and do all of them. Seriously. You’ll save yourself a lot of trouble.

What is Tequila?

Aside from the obvious answer, a delicious adult beverage, Tequila is what the Launcher for City of Heroes is called. A Launcher is just a program used to make sure files are up to date and then start the game for you. If you are following instructions, you’ll need to let it run and download all the files for City of Heroes the first time you run it. Grab a sandwich and an age appropriate drink, this may take a while. Fortunately, it will only need to download the whole game once. Assuming you are following the instructions. If you aren’t following instructions, I’m not sure we can be friends.

Why Is Tequila Telling Me Something Is Wrong?

Because something is wrong.

 

First and foremost, if Tequila is throwing errors, begin by revalidating your installation. In Tequila click Options and then Revalidate.

 

One of the things that is usually wrongest when using Tequila is that you’ve chosen to install the game in a folder that has special properties attached to it. Properties that restrict Tequilas ability to actually install or run the game.  To correct this, make sure you’ve installed the game where you were instructed to in… yup… this guide: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,950.0.html See how useful that’s turning out to be?

 

Another very common problem is that the files you installed were somehow set to ‘read-only’. We’re not saying it’s your fault, but…

 

Anyway, read-only means that the game can’t write new information when and where it needs to in order to actually let you play the game. Things like character names and costume data, among others, need to be written and updated as you get into the game, so having things read-only means the game can’t actually work and Tequila will throw an error at you. Make sure your files aren’t set to read-only.

Why can't I log into The Game?

Remember where we told you to follow all the steps here: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,950.0.html ?

We can already tell you exactly which ones you didn’t follow. Forum accounts and game accounts are not the same, even though you need a forum account to set up a game account.

How Do I Reset/Change My Game Password?

Finally, an easy one. Sign into the forums with your forum account here: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/ and find “Sign Up” in the right hand corner. Then just go to https://forums.homecomingservers.com/gameaccount/ put in your game account name and adjust your password as needed.

Help, Something Is Technically Wrong

Why Does Everything Look Weird and What Happened to All the Buttons and Things?

Look, we know 4k screens are almost yesterday’s news already, but you have to realize, when City of Heroes came out they didn’t exist. So, when you try to run the game on a 4k screen it sometimes (depending on graphics card, monitor, and in-game graphics options settings) doesn’t respond well to whatever it is you’re trying to make it do. In fact, sometimes it doesn’t even know what to do with your weird widescreen settings whether they’re 4k or not.

 

The first step is to kick the game out of full screen mode because your UI is technically still there, it’s just in a place you can’t see it. Probably offscreen eating all the craft services donuts. Press Alt+Enter. That should restore you to something you can then use to make further adjustments via the options menu in game. Hint: The game can usually handle 1080 resolutions just fine.

 

If that gives you no joy and the game still wants to pretend it doesn’t know what’s going on, try the following from user Nilt (who knows about these sorts of things, apparently.):

 

1. Go to your installation folder.
2. Right click Homecoming.exe and choose Properties. (If you only see Homecoming without the exe part, that's OK. Pick the one that does NOT have a folder icon.) 
3. Click the Compatibility tab and click the "Change high DPI settings" button. 
4. Make the settings look like this:

 

 

Why Does the Game Lose Focus When I Click On The Bottom Row of My Powers?

Because Windows 10 hates you? Okay, probably it’s just indifferent to your presence, but still, it’s a Windows 10 problem. We’re not sure exactly what causes it, maybe it’s tabbing in and out of game a lot, but what’s happening is the Windows Taskbar is invisibly covering the bottom bit of your game screen. If you watch carefully you can see where the cursor changes from your game cursor to your Windows cursor. Fun, yes?  Fun, no! Sadly, the only known solution for this is to entirely restart your computer. If you know of a better one, please tell us.

Characters / Toons / Avatars

I Can’t Wait To Get My Character From Live Up and Running Again…

Uhhhh…  Got some bad news for you there. See, your character on Live is… Well, it’s gone to a happier place. A place where superheroes and supervillains are allowed to roam free and enjoy all the things they like best. A place where they are happy and content and don’t ever have to worry about things ever again.

 

There is no database containing all your old heroes that you can just log into and access again. Partly because such a thing was never part of the data released into the wild, and partly because, even if that data was out there, Homecoming would have got rid of it anyway. There was a lot of personal information attached to those characters and accounts. That sort of stuff. It’s better this way, really.

Feel free to rebuild them though. JimmyTwoToes 2.0 can be even better than before.

There is A Character Missing From My List of Characters.

Have you looked everywhere? Under the couch? Out in the garage? On one of the several different tabs of your character list?

 

If so, and they are still missing, try logging completely out of the game and then back in.

 

No? Log out again and this time go find the file called playerslot.txt in your main City of Heroes folder under the account name you used to sign into the game. So, for example, C:\City of Heroes\CaptainAmazotron\playerslot.txt. Now, delete it.  That’s right delete that bad boy. Then log back into the game. No, don’t replace it with anything, just delete it and log back in. You’ll have forced the game to recreate the file from scratch and actually look at all the characters attached to your account instead of rebuilding based on a broken file. You should see your character back in the list.

I’ve Decided That 2 a.m. On A DRUNKEN Saturday Night Is No Time To Be Naming Characters And Would Like To Change The Name of JimmyTwoToes to something Reasonable, Like… I dunno, Susan. How Am Do?

Back out on the Character Select Screen there is a pencil icon at the top of the screen. Select JimmyTwoToes then click the pencil. Then just type in the name you want in the box offered. And, because there will be more drunken Saturday nights, you can do this as many times as you like to as many characters as you like.

Speaking Of Drunken Saturday Nights, I Accidently Deleted My Account / Character And I’d Like It Back Please.

Oof. Maybe you should cut back a little, you know?

 

This is a bit trickier, depending on how long ago you did this we might be able to get your character back for you. There are regular database maintenances that occur and, if you happen to realize the mistake between one maintenance and another, we might be able to help. But if you miss the window, your character has probably moved to a farm in upstate New York, as it were.

 

As for your account? We cannot encourage you enough to not accidently delete it under any circumstances. Once that baby is gone, it is effectively gone for good. And before you come in with ‘but my little brother…’ There’s a reason we recommend not letting anyone else use your account. Practice good account security and this won’t happen to you.

What Gives? I Can’t Name My Character CRxxx/GMxxx/Sister Psyche? How Can I Build the Exciting New Character CringleFingers If I Can’t Name Them That?

Sorry, some names, and even elements of names, are reserved for special use. In particular CR is reserved for Homecoming’s Community Reps so that you can easily identify them in game. Usually you’ll see it like CR Mugsy, or possibly CR_Guido.  Same thing with GM. That’s for the game masters to use. Like GM_OhWattaHat or GM SnarkBritches. That said, we’re happy to help you get your requested character name as long as it doesn’t bump up against those particular reservations. We’re happy to help rename your character to CringleFingers if that’s what you really want. Just file a ticket and let us know what you need.

 

Names already in use in the game as NPCs (Non-Player Characters) like Statesman and Lord Recluse are off limits and always will be. The game needs those names reserved exclusively for its own use.  For reasons. We will be unable to help you get those names.

Look, I just Really Need The Name Chipper Squeakington But Another Character Has It and I Heard You Had a Name Release Policy So I’d Like That Name Now, Please.

There has been a proposed name release policy, but it hasn’t been implemented yet. For the time being, the best you can do is mail the character with the name you want and ask if they will turn it loose for you.

So, It Was Saturday Night… And Uh, Long Story Short, My Character Is On The Wrong Server / Shard. Can You Help?

The first step is to admit you have a problem….

 

Oh, you meant help get your character to the right shard. Actually, you have to help yourself here, too. Go back to character select, pick the character you want to move and click that double-headed arrow at the top of the screen. Then you’ll be asked to select the shard/server you want to send it to. Easy.

 

Do be aware that you can only transfer 5 characters at a time, but the transfers refresh every three days. So, you can do up to 5 today, then 5 more in three days’ time, and so on.

A Rose By Any Other Name

I Still Need To Rename A Character

Do see above in the Characters / Toons / Avatars section.

What’s a Global Handle? Why Do I Have One? And How Can I Change It?

All right, slow down….

 

A Global Handle is assigned to you when you log into the game for the first time with a character. By Default, it is the same as the name of your first character. It lets people find you and send you mail and do various other things regardless of what character you might be on at any given time. Basically, it’s like a master ID within the game. All your characters on the account are associated with that Global Handle.

 

You get one free Global Rename, because some people will log in Doctor Snorkledanker as their first character and then realize that that isn’t so handy to type in. Or maybe it doesn’t reflect the way they’d like to be perceived. Or maybe they spelled it wrong. Or possibly it’s very rude.  It sounds rude, doesn’t it?

 

Anyway, you get one free rename. That’s it. No more. Nada. Zip. One and done.  Except if you file a ticket and ask politely someone will probably let you off the hook and grant you another one. But try to keep this to a minimum. If you find yourself asking for a rename every week or better, maybe don’t. Pick one and stick with it.

Help! I named my Super Group The Cheese Express: Stilton Division and now we’re not as into cheese as I thought we were. How do I rename it?

Well, sadly, you don’t. At present there is no means for you to rename a Super Group in game. This is for, I am assured, very technical reasons having to do with databases and trained monkeys.  At least, I think that’s what they said.

 

What you can do, however, is file a support ticket explaining you would like a less cheese-centric name and what that name might be. A GM will get in touch with you, probably ask a few questions to verify you are allowed to rename your Super Group and then set to work renaming it.

Trouble and How To Deal With It

Wait! You Never Said We Could Get In Trouble For Stuff Here.

Ahh. But we did. In fact, at present, you have to agree to abide by our Code of Conduct in addition to a few other things each time you log into the game to play. It’s part of our User Agreement and looks a lot like this:

 

 

And, you should read the whole Code of Conduct (CoC) even if you are the sort of person who would never, ever do anything wrong. Knowing what we prohibit and restrict will help us help you when and if the time comes. You can do that here: https://forums.homecomingservers.com/code-of-conduct/ . Honestly, it’s required reading and even if you don’t do the reading you are still held to it. So do the reading.

 

While you’re there, don’t miss the thrilling read which is the User Agreement at https://forums.homecomingservers.com/user-agreement/ and the even more thrilling and twice as nice at half the price Privacy Policy https://forums.homecomingservers.com/privacy-policy/. Seriously, all very important stuff you should know. Don’t say we didn’t tell you.

Okay. I read the CoC and I think I saw someone doing something that was prohibited. What do I do next?

You have two main courses of action you can take whenever a violation occurs. You can either go to Homecoming’s Discord Server, or you can go to the Homecoming Forums.

 

On the Discord server ( https://discordapp.com/invite/cityofheroes ) you can go to the #in-game-help channel and make a general request for help and let someone with  a ‘GM’ or ‘CR’ know that there’s a problem that needs their attention.

 

On the forums the Support link at the top will take you to the Ticket System ( https://forums.homecomingservers.com/support/ ) where you can start a New Request, fill in a few details and submit a report.

Okay. But Which Do I Do For What?

Fair question. By and large, which one you use will depend on the urgency and the seriousness of the problem.

 

Serious, immediate threats should be filed in the ticket system because this guarantees it is seen by someone who can do something about it as soon as possible. Then, look at Discord and see if a GM is on. (Hint: Tagging your message @On-Duty will find any GM or CR who is present and active.) Let them know, if you can, what the issue is and that you filed a ticket on it.

 

Less immediate problems can be taken straight to Discord and mentioned to the GMs. Bear in mind that Discord scrolls text away in a busy channel and can make it difficult to keep track of. The advantage here though is that many people provide assistance who are not directly GMs and can help you decide how serious the problem is and whether to file a ticket on it.

 

Note: It is ALWAYS okay to use the system you are most comfortable with. The above is only to help you decide how urgently your issue needs to be addressed. For very serious problems, get any help you can as quickly as you can, even if that means pinging a GM directly on Discord. Just be aware that there is not always a GM watching Discord. We may be there, but in another channel helping someone else, in-game helping someone, or simply signed off for the night and asleep. A ticket filed ALWAYS alerts whomever may be available.

 

Also Note: It’s okay to contact a GM, by ticket or Discord, even if you aren’t sure something is a violation. We like to head off trouble before it really gets rolling, so if it makes you feel yucky, weird, uncomfortable, threatened, or anything else you don’t want to be feeling, do not be afraid to get in touch.

What Do You Need From Me To Address A Problem?

Generally speaking, the more information you can provide, the better.

 

Especially when filing a ticket:

 

1.      Start by telling us who your character is in-game and what Server/Shard you are on. For example: I’m Captain Leg-Day on Everlasting.

2.      Next, tell us who or what the problem is. Be as complete and specific as you can. “King JerkFace is yelling at people about his Hot Dog franchise in Help Channel and won’t stop despite numerous requests,” is better than “Some guy keeps yelling.”

3.      If you have screenshots, please attach them. We prefer screenshots over cutting and pasting the relevant text, but if that’s all you’ve got, we’ll take that, too.

4.      Please do not immediately report something and then abandon ship. Sometimes we have follow-up questions or need clarification in order to understand the situation. If you can, give it at least 30 minutes before you sign-off to allow us to look into things and get back to you if need be. We don’t always need to, but when we do it’s usually for a good reason.

 

If you are letting us know on Discord, many of the same things will apply. Particularly, if you contact us on Discord, at least check back every few minutes to see if we’ve responded or had a question.

Can I Find Out What Action You Took Regarding Captain Monkeyknuckles?

Sorry, but no. Generally speaking, except in cases where we do need some clarification or have a question, you probably won’t hear back from us on what we did or how the situation was corrected. It’s possible to infer what action was taken, of course, but we can neither confirm nor deny that any particular course was taken.

This Game Has Issues

Something is Broken/Wrong With The Game, Fix It.

We’re trying. Honestly.

 

And frankly, the game is currently in a much better state now than when it first relaunched back in April. A number of fixes and optimizations have been made that mean the experience is better for everyone overall. And even more are coming. That said…

I keep getting lag, stalling on zone/door entry, taking forever to load characters, etc.

These are network issues. As such, there are a number of things you can try to fix things from your end. And yes, we know of one issue that seems to affect more than just a few of you. There’s a bottleneck that our service provider is looking into.

 

What you can do though is try a few of these potential solutions to alleviate any problems from your end of things that may be affecting your connection:

 

1. Turn it off and on again: The game. Your computer. Your router. Your modem. Make sure none of these are hanging things up just by cycling them.
2. Occasionally, setting up a VPN has proven useful. If you are comfortable doing that, it may be worth a try.
3. There has been an unverified suggestion that turning off IPv6 can correct some connectivity issues. There has been no thorough testing of this, but, again, if it is something you are comfortable doing, it may be worth a try.

 

Other than that, we can but wait and hope the provider sorts things out on their end.

I’m In My Super Group Base. No, I Mean Really In. Like, Stuck In The Floor as soon As I Enter.

Your Secret Entrance is a smidge too low. Probably you accidently bumped it while editing your base at some point. Remain calm. Enter Base Edit Mode. Gently lift your Secret Entrance up to floor level. Leave your base and come back in. Viola! Violin! Cello!

I Tried To Go From One Zone/Instance To Another And Now My Character Is Stuck In The Negative Zone And I Can’t Log It In!

Restart the game to see if this fixes it.

 

If not, remain calm. Contact a GM, either by Ticket or Discord, and let them know your particulars. One will be along shortly and, as a prize, send you to Pocket D for a nice dance session.

I Tried To Respec My Character But It Failed And Now All My Enhancements Are Gone!

Oh dear.

 

As always, try restarting the game to see if it fixes itself.

 

But honestly, if this happens to you and they are genuinely gone gone, there isn’t much we can do about it. There’s no way for us to return to you what you once had. Do file a ticket though and let us know it happened and what appeared to have gone wrong with your respec. This is a potential bug that we’d like to know more about.

I Successfully Respec’d My Character, But Now All My Enhancements Are Gone!

Mm-hmm.

 

See, what’s happened here is that sometimes people overlook very important pieces of text displayed on their screen. For example, in this instance there is a bit of text warning you, at the end of your respect as you are being asked to place your enhancements in the various slots you just assigned to your various powers, that any enhancements not slotted in or placed back in your inventory will be deleted. Gone. Not around anymore. And then, when you go to advance the screen and complete the respect, it warns you again with another pop-up box. It wants to be really sure you really understand. Really.

 

Sorry.  Not a thing we can do about that.

I Mailed A Thing To The Wrong ACCOUNT; Can I Get It Back?

Well, No. And Maybe. So, possibly, Yes.

 

We can’t get it back for you. So gone is gone.

 

But…

 

We strongly recommend that you mail the person you sent it to and politely ask for them to send it back to you. Most people in the game are pretty nice and recognize the mistake. Heck, a good percentage of them have probably made it themselves. The only problem is, if they don’t, we still can’t do anything about it.

I Mailed A Thing To The Right Account But It Hasn’t Shown Up; Can You Help?

Are you sure you mailed it to the right account? Really, really sure? You didn’t leave an @ off a global name? Or slightly misspell the correct name? Or forget to include the thing you were mailing?

 

Naturally this only happens with huge amounts of influence and extremely precious, irreplaceable enhancements. It pays to be exceptionally careful and double-check everything before clicking ‘send’.

 

But assuming you’ve done everything correctly, it still might take time to receive even mail you’ve sent to yourself, let alone anyone else. Why? Well, for extremely complicated, technical reasons (we presume) the mail and chat system are tied together inextricably, and this seems to cause no small amount of problems with timely receipt of mail. Sometimes you only have to wait a few extra minutes. Other times you have to wait literal days.

 

As with other mail problems, it’s not something we can correct for you. We can’t reimburse influence or enhancements. Fortunately, in all the cases we’ve had follow-up on, the missing items seems to have arrived belatedly, but intact. Take heart!

So, it was Saturday Night Again and uh… I Accidently Spent/Lost/Used/Etc. A Thing I Would Rather Not Have. Can You Recover It For Me?

Is this a frat party thing? Is that why it keeps happening?

 

Generally speaking, no. There are some very small, specific instances where, while we can’t recover the item in question for you, we can assist you in successfully completing the mission which requires said item. For instance, the Cure Stick for the Cure The Lost mission frequently does a runner on people. We can help you complete that mission and advance the storyline. But that really is the extent of item recovery.

I Bought/Sold Super Dingus X On The Auction House. Super Dingus X/The Influence is not in My Inventory. Why Am I Being Singled Out In These Questions?

It’s tradition. You are the surrogate.

 

Are you really certain you did what you thought you did?

 

Here’s a collection of reasons we’ve accumulated as to why things ‘disappear’ from and around the Auction House:

 

1. I bought a recipe when I meant to buy an enhancement.
2. I bought an enhancement when I meant to buy a recipe.
3. I forgot to actually press the button telling the Auction House to Sell my Super Dingus and it’s just sitting there in storage.
4. I forgot to actually press the button telling the Auction House to Collect my Super Dingus, etc. etc.
5. Ditto, ditto, ditto, collect the influence, ditto, ditto, ditto.
6. I’m looking at the wrong tab in my inventory.
7. I’m on the wrong character.
8. Math bad.

 

Now, if all of that doesn’t apply to you, and you’re really sure that something has gone wrong with the Auction House and your Super Dingus and/or its profits have gone missing, the next step is….  Yup. Log out and back in again, then double check.

 

Sadly, as ever, we cannot reimburse or replace the items or influence you may have lost.

I Tried To Do Mission X But It Won’t Complete. What The Heck, Game?

This happens sometimes. There are a number of very complex hamsters involved in powering this game and occasionally one of them falls out of its little wheel and becomes tangled in the machinery. It’s okay, there is a farm in upstate New York…

 

Look around very thoroughly. Check all the nooks and crannies in your mission maps. Generally, it’s right about the time, or very shortly thereafter, that you contact a GM when you suddenly find the thing preventing your mission from completing successfully. Glowing Boxes, Hidden Minions we call it. Sometimes bad guys get stuck in walls or ceilings (AoE at them if you can), humming boxes fail to hum or just didn’t get put in the shipment, Big Bads deliver their speeches and then run away in fear. If you have the time and don’t mind the additional XP, try leaving the mission and resetting it by selecting a different mission and then reselecting the current one. This generally helps.

 

If it definitely isn’t working right and you’re stuck, file a ticket or hit the discord and someone should be along shortly to assist.

We Tried To Do The Synapse Task Force But It Keeps Sending Us Back To Do The Same Mission Over and Over. Why Does Synapse Hate Us?

He doesn’t. He doesn’t even really know you. How can he possibly hate you?

 

Have Everyone log out and then back in again. You’ll still be in the Task Force, but the missions should now advance properly.

 

Honestly, it’s not personal.

Help! We’re stuck in a Task Force / Team / League / Etc.! We can’t get out!

You sure yell help a lot.

 

Try typing in /leaveteam and see if that helps. A Task Force turns out to be the tricky one to leave if you’ve never done it before. Usually bringing up your team window and quitting the team will get you out of it. Try that. But for your industrial strength team leaving, /leaveteam is definitely the go to.

Hel—I mean uh… Pardon Me Good Sir, Might You Have An Explanation Regarding Missing Badge X?

Indeed, I do. It is quite likely, my fine fellow, that said badge is, in fact, in a new location. An Echo of its former designated locale. To whit and most especially Echo: Faultline, which one may find by entering the portal located behind the large building in the location described most accurately as Ouroboros. Other such Echoes exist as well and may be found in the same manner, allowing one to access badges not otherwise available in the rest of the game.

Look, I’ve Been All Over This Place Looking For A Key To Open This Door And—

It’s the USNF Base, isn’t it? Yeah. Lots of people sort of miss the hint.

 

Look on the floor for the spoilerspoilerspoiler. Right in front of the computer, usually. Yup. Click it and there’s your key.

Hey, Do You Guys Know About All These Trucks And Cars in Kallisti Wharf That Are—

— just circling around?  Oh yeah.  Where do you think we keep all the influence and enhancement we’ve been slowly siphoning off the Auction House? You should see what's in the tram.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2019 by GM Widower

[GM Fiddleback]

Reserving

[GM Fiddleback]

Reserving

 

[WanderingAries]

Quote

Hint: Tagging your message @On-Duty will find any GM or CR who is present and active

So...is this only a Discord thing or is that an actual in-game handle? If the former, then I've got to update my info.

[GM Capocollo]

That's a Discord role.

[justicebeliever]

OK Fiddleback.  That was informative and hysterical...Above and beyond...

 

I expect informative from Capocollo, and Hysterical from Widower...but you have really raised the bar

 

*Raised Glass to Fiddleback*

Thinks Capocollo and Widower might read my snarky remark...

 

Oh year, and a toast to Capocollo and Widower to, for like, other awesome things they do, but aren't making me roll on the floor laughing right now

[RogerWilco]

Your humour is great and the FAQ also gave me the answer I was looking for.

 

Thanks.

[GM Tock]

I miss Fiddleback. 

 

But there's quite a bit in this that needs updating.  I'll put this thread in Tupperware for when he returns.

 

...what?  Well, it's called GMFAQ - not GMTEGMFAQ, that sounds horrible.

(GM Tahquitz Edits GM Fiddleback Answering Questions.)

Edited September 24, 2020 by GM Tahquitz