Call to Action: Archive EVERYTHING!

[TonyV]

Hey all, so there's pretty much zero chance that the game will be running on December 1.  That's the bad news.  I'm still not convinced that this is a permanent situation, but the thing is, it's going to at the very least be a while.

I know that a whole bunch of people are working to archive as much as they can about their personal characters.  Hopefully you've made a lot of progress with the Sentinel+ utility, screenshots, demorecords, etc.  But we also need a lot of game information archived as well.  One of our community, Chaos Ex Machina, is working on just such an effort.

What I'd like you all to do is to go read up Chaos's original post on the official forums, find something you can help out with, and jump in.  Chaos says that we have a particularly high priority need for completing the mission list, but really, anything in there you see blank could use some lovin.  Any help you could provide would be GREATLY appreciated!

Here's the original forum post in case the official forums get nuked:

http://bit.ly/VUiFOn

We can save a large portion of the game, at least video!

The project could make possible scripted web sites to insert a custom-built character in the content and support a video musuem.

The project has made impressive progress however I could use recruits.

Tips require help

Villain content could use a few more

Trials are especially important

The crusader line has a lack of video

Repeatables are not covered a lot

Standard original content has close to 1/3 completion

I could even use volunteers to speed jobs I could not complete quickly

[Quinch]

I'm in the process of downloading the open forums - I believe they are already archived online, but it can't hurt to have backups.

I've also tweaked the demo autorenamer a bit so it supports Live, Beta and Test servers as well - it's at https://dl.dropbox.com/u/33551029/CoH_Demo_Timestamper.exe . It's still unpolished visually, but it works.

[Little David]

Hey gang, just a heads up to anybody archiving mission contact dialogue:

If a contact's mission has several parts, the contact will often have multiple things to say at every step if you call them or talk to them again, and not just at the first step.

I keep forgetting about that (I try to screenshot all NPC dialogue in the game that I come across, something I"ve done ever since I started playing years ago).

[Jetfire99]

dumb question but is this stuff cut and pastable?

[Victoria Victrix]

dumb question but is this stuff cut and pastable?

In fact, most of the stuff in the dialogue boxes (not the balloons) is cut and pastable.  That's how I have been archiving mission texts.

[Chaos Ex Machina]

Top priority are tips especially TOURIST tips I only got those at level 50 and rogue.

[Victoria Victrix]

dumb question but is this stuff cut and pastable?

Sheesh I am an idiot.

To cut and paste the stuff in the balloons--

Make a tab in your top chat box that ONLY has NPC and Captions in it.
When you are done with the mish, click on that tab.
Cut and paste everything that shows up under that tab.  You'll have all the dialogue balloons that way, and captions if there are any (like "calls on the radio")

[Timelord Tom]

Sheesh I am an idiot.

You caught it, and fixed it. An idiot wouldn't have. Thus you are not an idiot. 

[sorinkon]

Hello all.  I would like to thank the dev's and GM's of COH that are passionate about saving the game i have been a COH supporter for 7 years and i would really like to see the game come back up.  if any of you dev's or GM's or anyone helping need help contact me at cohcity1@yahoo.com

[Mindscythe]

I did the Radio missions as audio recordings years ago, and I still have the scripts, as well as the recordings, for the entire Radio arc.

If that's helpful, just tell me who to send them to and how and I'll be happy to do so. -Mindscythe

[Chaos Ex Machina]

Despite desperate recruitment only several people have actually used the document or mentioned to me a summary of the records they got.  Are any others recording yet?  This is big.

[Jetfire99]

I did the Radio missions as audio recordings years ago, and I still have the scripts, as well as the recordings, for the entire Radio arc.

If that's helpful, just tell me who to send them to and how and I'll be happy to do so. -Mindscythe

You are awesome for doing that.

[Chaos Ex Machina]

Organizing has to happen not at the moment.  Thank you 'w' for a number of collections added since yesterday!  Speaking of which, collecting the contact information of the participants is important for the actual archiving.  So far there are 7 listed in the document.  Chase, Victrix, me, FLG are accessible here.  Is 'w' here?  Janessa I got.  @dvandom I still have a global but no other info and should ask.  Any others?  Please add a post.

[Hotaru]

Okay, I'm working Tips like a madman, getting screenies and demos of everything I can. I've taken several gigs of demos since the announcement, which I'll be happy to share once things settle down.
What I'm working on currently is getting all the missing tip info for the wiki:
20-29 Rogue Island tips for Villain/Rogues demoed all, screenies for missing Rogue info
20-29 Rogue Morality mission done
30-39 Rogue Island tips for Villain/Rogues about half done
20-29 Hero Morality (probably done--doing this from memory)
30-39 Hero Morality mission done

Next on my agenda is trying to grab as many tourist tips as I can in the 30-39 range, both sides.

[ukaserex]

Hmm...how to word this.... aren't most of these archives within Paragon Wiki? I know some dialogues are missing, but most of the story arcs I take my characters through are complete to the best of my recollection.

[eabrace]

We've only just finished capturing the text for all of the Signature Story Arcs on the live client.  Blondeshell has captured most of the text for the new arcs on the beta server, but the text for male characters in the Criminals of War arc hasn't been captured yet.

Full details here.

I'm not entirely certain all of the tip missions were ever captured for all possible alignments.

[Victoria Victrix]

When the servers are shut down is a good time to coordinate this and the Wiki, and find a repository for all those demos.

[Blondeshell]

The only contact I have yet to run through is Sgt. Schorr for Rogues (logging in to the game right now to work on that). Then everything will effectively be done for mission content released since Issue 21, aside from the previously-mentioned male runthrough of Mr. G.

It's been a busy six weeks or so:

http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,5283.msg68606.html#msg68606

If I can get this knocked out tonight, that'll give me three evenings to work on my one last major archive project. (Fingers crossed!)

T-minus 77.5 hours and counting...

[Shadowhawke]

When the servers are shut down is a good time to coordinate this and the Wiki, and find a repository for all those demos.

Where is the thread again on how to do a demo? I was not aware the game had this option, and now that I do, I intend to do a few if possible.

[eabrace]

The only contact I have yet to run through is Sgt. Schorr for Rogues (logging in to the game right now to work on that). Then everything will effectively be done for mission content released since Issue 21, aside from the previously-mentioned male runthrough of Mr. G.

It's been a busy six weeks or so:

http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,5283.msg68606.html#msg68606

If I can get this knocked out tonight, that'll give me three evenings to work on my one last major archive project. (Fingers crossed!)

T-minus 77.5 hours and counting...

And I'll say this now before I forget:  Thanks for capturing everything you've grabbed in the last few weeks.  I've had a hard time keeping up with work events the last couple of weeks and this week's killing me with an endless barrage of phone calls and emails from recruiters (first world problems, I know).  I'm not sure I'm even going to be able to finish recording all of my remaining characters on O-portal in time.

[cptbarcode]

I notice that the Praetorian Crusader arcs aren't done yet --  I'll work on those.

[saipaman]

I'm not sure if this is something that merits being put into the archives, but we took out two Ritki dropships last night on Freedom.

I recorded both take downs with FRAPS and the second one as demo file.

If you'd be interested in the demo file, let me know where to send it.

[Victoria Victrix]

Strangely enough, it turns out I had a toon sitting on the SaveStates arc that was in that brief window of time before Going Rogue and Who Will Die.  So I am demoing all of the mishes between saving Statesman and the end of the arc.  Which is quite a few, as it happens.

[Chaos Ex Machina]

Okay, I'm working Tips like a madman, getting screenies and demos of everything I can. I've taken several gigs of demos since the announcement, which I'll be happy to share once things settle down.
What I'm working on currently is getting all the missing tip info for the wiki:
20-29 Rogue Island tips for Villain/Rogues demoed all, screenies for missing Rogue info
20-29 Rogue Morality mission done
30-39 Rogue Island tips for Villain/Rogues about half done
20-29 Hero Morality (probably done--doing this from memory)
30-39 Hero Morality mission done

Next on my agenda is trying to grab as many tourist tips as I can in the 30-39 range, both sides.

Thank you!  I got quite a lot of the medium level tips so you could save a bit of effort and redirect to another.  See the document.  In particular if you collected tourist lowbies!

The only contact I have yet to run through is Sgt. Schorr for Rogues (logging in to the game right now to work on that). Then everything will effectively be done for mission content released since Issue 21, aside from the previously-mentioned male runthrough of Mr. G.

It's been a busy six weeks or so:

http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,5283.msg68606.html#msg68606

If I can get this knocked out tonight, that'll give me three evenings to work on my one last major archive project. (Fingers crossed!)

T-minus 77.5 hours and counting...

Demorecords or exclusively text content you collected?  How impressive!

I notice that the Praetorian Crusader arcs aren't done yet --  I'll work on those.

Thanks.

I'm not sure if this is something that merits being put into the archives, but we took out two Ritki dropships last night on Freedom.

I recorded both take downs with FRAPS and the second one as demo file.

If you'd be interested in the demo file, let me know where to send it.

It definitely merits!

Strangely enough, it turns out I had a toon sitting on the SaveStates arc that was in that brief window of time before Going Rogue and Who Will Die.  So I am demoing all of the mishes between saving Statesman and the end of the arc.  Which is quite a few, as it happens.

Excellent!

Do any have the legacy version?

[John Phaser]

With french project called "RECITS" (his goal : recovering missions texts by advanced copy-past before the end of french and german localizations), we used 2 softwares : CoXlog Reader and Capture2Text.

You can try to understand (with google translate for instance) our method here : http://equilibre-coh.xooit.fr/t1080-Contribuez-au-projet-R-E-C-I-T-S.htm

[mikenovember]

I have a few very old story Arc's I've kept from days gone by that I'll be running with /demorecord and I've posted links on Facebook for people to do the same. 

This isn't good bye, it's just a very extended log out. 

[Hotaru]

Not that I think anyone's gonna run out and do them all in the next few days, but I should have all (or almost all) of the door missions from all 4 Shadow Shard TFs (run in the last month, so updated Mother Mayhem's in the mix).

Got a bunch of other stuff that might be interesting to someone: Rularuu invasions in AP, TI, and SC, a little 5th Column vs. Council action on the streets, end of COV beta, door missions from red and blue side Holiday event December '05... Plenty of time to talk about that stuff later, I guess.

20-29 Rogue Island tips for Villains/Rogues: COMPLETE
30-39 Rogue Island tips for Villains/Rogues: 4 tips to go (3 queued for today, minimum)
20-29 Paragon Tourist tips for Rogues: 9 tips out of 10* queued for today
              *Private Punishment dropped for me as a tourist tip, heroic options only
30-39 Paragon Tourist tips for Rogues: switching today to start this

I'd have updated the document to reflect this, but getting no love from this machine at work.

[MomentaryGrace]

I probably missed this somewhere but where to I send/submit demorecord files?

I just recorded Matthew Hashaby, it was listed as one not saved yet.

[Felderburg]

It's not just the forums and website that need to be archived; everything from Facebook and twitch.tv, and other sites: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=4429140#post4429140

[chaparralshrub]

Alas, I haven't had time - all I can do now is archive my characters. I'm going to try to take a trip to Croatoa, now, though.

[Keiphy]

Ok, i must admit i am slightly confused between this topic and the "Call To Action: The Community Media Project". If i have something done, let's say an Incarnate Trial (why are they mixed under Hauard, TF, Etc.?), what do i do then? Upload the demorecord somewhere? Just edit the linked table and wait to be contacted by pm for the actual collection of content?

If i do a mission solo, do i have to do anything to get everything or is it fine to rush? (The last point is about the <origin> 1 legacy arcs, i have some characters that i think can get those, and if someone can tell me EXACTLY what i have to do for them, i can do 1-3 tomorrow, depending on which of my ancient chars qualify.)

I know there is not much time left, but i'd like to contribute in a slightly more organized way than just grabbing demorecords of whatever i happen to be doing.

Edit: Does "Rikti including ship battle" (under events) mean a Mother Ship Raid?

[Chaos Ex Machina]

Ok, i must admit i am slightly confused between this topic and the "Call To Action: The Community Media Project". If i have something done, let's say an Incarnate Trial (why are they mixed under Hauard, TF, Etc.?), what do i do then? Upload the demorecord somewhere? Just edit the linked table and wait to be contacted by pm for the actual collection of content?

If i do a mission solo, do i have to do anything to get everything or is it fine to rush? (The last point is about the <origin> 1 legacy arcs, i have some characters that i think can get those, and if someone can tell me EXACTLY what i have to do for them, i can do 1-3 tomorrow, depending on which of my ancient chars qualify.)

I know there is not much time left, but i'd like to contribute in a slightly more organized way than just grabbing demorecords of whatever i happen to be doing.

Edit: Does "Rikti including ship battle" (under events) mean a Mother Ship Raid?

You can rush though if you at least aggro any groups who have npc dialogue it could help.

EXACTLY get it running the moment you enter a mission map though if no NPCs trigger speech it could be any point of the mission.  Always use unique name.

Just add a note and we organize the collection later.

[Valjean]

The photos on the COH Facebook page should be archived too, if anyone knows how to do that.

[Moonfyire101]

If anyone has time i was recording the character creater, each part then rotate but i only got male heads, hair, detail 1 and ears done before all the madness started with johnny and dad....if anyone has time, please record all the character creater stuff with turns so we can see it later...my recorder sucks too cuase it's hypercam so if you have time redo what i did too.

[Keiphy]

[...]

Thx  - I haven't checked all chars yet, but i only have chars in atlas that might qualify, and no science/technology origins.

[cptbarcode]

I notice that the Praetorian Crusader arcs aren't done yet --  I'll work on those.

Got most everything; I might've missed a segment or two of video along the way, because I'm not used to this, but ran through Crusaders from start to finish.

[Keiphy]

Ok guys, I just pulled an allnighter, so I may not be 100% coherent atm and I expect to experience some kind of rl end crash rather soon. I have added the highlights of my collection in the google doc, feel free to sort it for me, otherwise I'll try and do it some time tomorrow;
I still haven't looked too closely into it and how it is structured. Overall, I have a very large number of demorecords especially for trials, but many of them are redundant.
They are also minimalistically labeled, it will most likely take me some time to properly sort them. I'll keep watching this for now, just don't expect me to be very active in the next 24h or so .

[Blondeshell]

If anyone has time i was recording the character creater, each part then rotate but i only got male heads, hair, detail 1 and ears done before all the madness started with johnny and dad....if anyone has time, please record all the character creater stuff with turns so we can see it later...my recorder sucks too cuase it's hypercam so if you have time redo what i did too.

The last big project that I wanted to tackle was archiving images of the costume pieces for inclusion in the Costumes article. That's why I wanted to get all of the contact/mission updates done a few days before Nov. 30 so I'd have enough time to do it.

I had only started grabbing screenshots of costume pieces Wednesday night after Arcana's beta server event, and by Thursday night I had over 1,300 after going through male/female head options, auras, and wings. The process was made trickier by the fact that some of the parts (Halloween, Freedom Freebies) were only unlocked on live, and other parts were not visible on the costume creator, but only in the costume 'editor' on specific characters.

Yesterday, the only thing I could think about at work was how efficiently and quickly I could get home and get started working on completing them. Once I finally did get started, I ended up spending the last eleven hours before shutdown on a "[PrtSc] --> Ctrl-V --> Save As" binge. I specifically decided to hold off on weapon customization pieces because I wanted to get regular costume pieces first. Nor did I have time to get shots of complete sets that weren't on the preselected list. Otherwise, I think I got everything... except, as I'm just remembering now, any parts for VEATS - *sigh* - and finished up at 2:45AM EST. At that point, I logged into live to spend the last few minutes of the game with other folks and be there for the end.

So now I'm left with a 2.6GB collection of over 3,700 costume piece screenshots that need to be cropped, uploaded, and worked into some kind of article format. Since these are just static pics out of the costume creator screen, and I was concerned about efficiency of time, most of them don't have views from the back. However, it's no different than most of the images of costume pieces that are already uploaded.

Little-known fact: The Post Apocalyptic set was visible in the costume creator at the end, but wasn't listed on the Paragon Market to purchase. I know there were weapon customizations available for it because I saw one katana option that looked like a four-foot-long chainsaw blade. Sadly, I won't have pics of them.

Edit: Just realized I also forgot to grab pics of animal feet. Grr...

[eabrace]

What you did manage to do is more than anyone could ask of you on the last day of the game, Blondeshell.  Don't sweat the things you weren't able to grab.  I know it's not going to make a difference to say that, because I'd be forever annoyed by something like that too, but just the same, we all appreciate what you were able to save off.

[JanessaVR]

My name is Janessa (Global JanessaVR, active on Protector and Virtue).  Ever since the shutdown was announced, archiving was my top priority.  Despite having to work 12-14 hour days (I could frequently not be able to log into CoH Mon thru Thu nights due to needing some sleep), I've used BandiCam (and some Fraps) to record everything I could.  I've burned the candle at both ends and driven myself to the edge of total physical and emotional collapse for 3 months (really, ask my friends if Janessa's been a total bitch for 3 months straight!).  The results:  810 recordings comprising 1,540 GB; I had to buy a 2TB external HD recently.

I primarily focused on Praetoria (including First Ward and Night Ward), Croatoa, and any Oranbega story arcs.  I tried getting lots of little things as well - character creation blue and redside, working with Paragon Rewards, Paragon Market, Wentworths, etc.  And that's just off the top of my head.  It will take sometime to sort thru it all.  I also did zone tours at the end, but unfortunately ran out of time and didn't get a few.  For the last 2 weeks I took off early from work every night (burning additional vacation time) - filmed all through Thanksgiving / the day after and last weekend, and took vaction Thu and Fri this week as well, filming non-stop with only 6.5 hours sleep Thu night up until The End.

For what it's worth.  This was my part.

Video Recording Specs:
MPEG-1 (VBR)
Full Size, 60 fps, 100q

Audio Recording Specs:
MPEG-1 L2
48KHz, stereo, 192kbps

I'm *very* sorry I could not get more.  If I had a job with fewer hours, I would have gotten TWICE as much, at least.  But I'm a Developer DBA and that makes me "always on duty" for everything including desktop tech support for a small firm.

Today, I'm resting and recovering...though I didn't get much sleep last night.  It's like someone chopped off an arm or a leg...I feel crippled now and I'm not sure what to do with the rest of my life.

Janessa

[Megajoule]

As a personal project and memento, I spent the last couple of months grabbing demos of (almost) every zone in the game, along with lots of screenshots.  If someone can tell me where to put 'em, I'll be glad to upload the demo files for the public.

Atlas, Galaxy (Echo), Kings, Perez, Hollows, Skyway, Faultline, Steel, Boomtown, Indy Port, Terra Volta, Talos, Striga, Croatoa, Brickstown, Crey's, Founder's, Eden, Peregrine
Midnighter Club, Cimerora, Pocket D, Rikti War Zone, Dark Astoria (live and echo)
Ouroborous
Outbreak(!)
Firebase Zulu, Cascades, Chantry, Storm Palace
Mercy, Port Oakes, Cap, Sharkhead, Nerva, St. Martial, Grandville
Bloody Bay, Recluse's, Siren's, Warburg
Nova Praetoria, Imperial City, Neutropolis, Underground Imperial(*), First Ward, Night Ward
 (* chosen to be representative, not comprehensive)

You can either take my on-rails tour, or push F2 and explore as a free-roaming camera.

[Lily Barclay]

Since the announcement I've grabbed screen shots of every sign in the game that I saw, even in missions. The signs in this game were always something that made it special to me, so I wanted my own archive of them. I think I got most of them outside of praetoria (though I did get a few there), particularly in the rogue Isles. I'm pretty sure I have all the red side signs.

[Scitenik]

As a personal project and memento, I spent the last couple of months grabbing demos of (almost) every zone in the game, along with lots of screenshots.  If someone can tell me where to put 'em, I'll be glad to upload the demo files for the public.

Atlas, Galaxy (Echo), Kings, Perez, Hollows, Skyway, Faultline, Steel, Boomtown, Indy Port, Terra Volta, Talos, Striga, Croatoa, Brickstown, Crey's, Founder's, Eden, Peregrine
Midnighter Club, Cimerora, Pocket D, Rikti War Zone, Dark Astoria (live and echo)
Ouroborous
Outbreak(!)
Firebase Zulu, Cascades, Chantry, Storm Palace
Mercy, Port Oakes, Cap, Sharkhead, Nerva, St. Martial, Grandville
Bloody Bay, Recluse's, Siren's, Warburg
Nova Praetoria, Imperial City, Neutropolis, Underground Imperial(*), First Ward, Night Ward
 (* chosen to be representative, not comprehensive)

You can either take my on-rails tour, or push F2 and explore as a free-roaming camera.

You could host them on Dropbox as one potential option, or even mediafire. I, for one, am very interested in having the demo files of all the zones. I was recording things towards the end with a very specific purpose in mind, so I don't have records of a lot.

[Tahquitz]

I think ParagonWiki or Ouroboros Portal may be able to do this as part of it's file upload mechanism, if it's cool with Titan Network to use the wikis for that purpose.

Something like upload file, link to it in an appropriate page (don't just upload the file and take off), and we the community organize and collate the links (so someone out of haste or ignorance doesn't dump links to Atlas Park tours in the list for Villain zones, etc.)

It would be easier to use existing systems than make a new section of the Titan Network just for demorecord submissions I feel.  I might be wrong and something like that is already in the works (COHTube? XD)

[healix]

The month that never happened....from the CoX forums

[Megajoule]

I've zipped up all the zone records I have.  The package comes to 50.5 megs.  I don't have a dropbox (et al) account; should I get one, or do you have other options/suggestions?

[Tahquitz]

Self hosting seems to be the only option for now.  If you want to share it now at least. (Dropbox, Google Drive, box, etc.)

A centralized option would be great, but when it happens, it happens.

[Daimyoshi]

I host the Zip at my site but then I need to get the file some how. If we can some how work and exchange I will host it on my Remembrance Site for CoX.

[Megajoule]

Let me see if I have this right, then:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B0rmU0UrIINISHpfTjFOU3pWeEU

[Daimyoshi]

Thank you

[Scitenik]

Awesome, very much appreciated!

[Tahquitz]

Very nice!  Thanks for sharing!

As for the representative not comprehensive part, once the map is fully loaded, I hit P, then F2 in the Demorecord mode, which lets me move around the map as I please.  The tours are helpful, but anyone with these files can go "self-directed" if they like.  (The program Cameraman also helps greatly: http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,5623.new.html#new)

(Edit: You got the Ski Chalet!  AWESOME! :DDD)

[dwturducken]

I'm downloading it. I hope there aren't any viruses, cuz GMail can't scan it... 

 

[Megajoule]

Given that it came from my machine, I sure hope it's not virus infected too.
You are, of course, welcome to scan it yourself once it's downloaded.

Tahquitz:  What I meant was, I didn't get all three Underground zones, just that one.  Like I said, this was a personal project.

[healix]

-A piece of history for newer players.- Those kiosks that were all over were once the Facebook of Paragon. You could get information about who had the top stats for tanks, healers etc. The top ten were displayes for the day, week and month.
Here is a screenie with my Double Healix listed. There was something really cool seeing your name on the lists. I was bummed when the devs disabled them, but it must have been a pain to keep up with it all.

[Victoria Victrix]

*Sobs*

Megjoule, you will never know how much this means to me.  I wanted desperately to demorecord all the zones so I could walk through them again, but we were so busy on the Disney Pitch I never got even half of them done.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Tahquitz]

Sorry to necro this post, but a possible Demorecord repository is in the works outside of Titan Network.

http://rememberingparagon.com/

There's a link to his demo records as well.

Also, someone is working on a demorecord converter for any .costume or Sentinel+ files you have to aid in making your own Demorecord edits later. https://twitter.com/EpicDuckStudios/status/276743837924339712

Nevermind that static: it's ready! http://demolition.mcuznz.ca/