As I find, answer, or remember, I will try to keep adding Q&A to this post for things I happen to notice are being encountered often.
Update: July 13, 2015: Added links to Roadmap and Known Issues, added note for /mapmove command
Update: July 12, 2015: Added note NOT to close the Paragon Chat login window.
Update: July 10, 2015: Added a trick offered to another player by Leandro on how to quickly find and delete the Paragon Chat databases to reset them, added note about being disconnected from the XMPP server, added additional option to relocate Paragon Chat config files, added location of official bug report thread
Update: July 9, 2015: Added two links to Codewalker's slash command post and command line switch post, in the "Where do I go for more information on Paragon Chat" section.
Common Questions and ProblemsGetting StartedHelp! I have no idea how to get started with Paragon Chat! See the quick start guide I've prepared here:
http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,10977.msg186547.html#msg186547Help! I am running Tequila or Island Rum, and getting various manifest download errors. It won't download Paragon Chat (or anything else)The Dropbox folders that previously hosted I24 client files overran their bandwidth limits when people starting slamming them for client updates. Both Tequila and Island Rum have been updated to point to new locations. See their respective threads for more information on how to update them (the quick start guide has links to both threads).
Problems running Paragon ChatWhen I try to start Paragon Chat, I get the error: "Paragon Chat was unable to start! You must start Paragon Chat from a folder containing a complete installation of City of Heroes"Paragon Chat must be copied to and run from the directory where the City of Heroes client is actually stored. That means the same folder that Cityofheroes.exe is located in. Also, it must be the latest I24 beta client.
When I try to start Paragon Chat, I get the error: "Paragon Chat was unable to start! Failed to initialize the database. Your ParagonChat.db file may be corrupt"If Paragon Chat was working before, and then suddenly you get this problem, its possible you may have left Paragon Chat running in the background the last time you exited. Closing the City of Heroes client does not shut down Paragon Chat. If a copy is running in the background, minimized or perhaps hidden behind another window, a second copy will not be able to start because the first copy will have the databases locked. Just use the copy already running, or shut that one down to start a new one.
If that doesn't help and you are certain no copy of Paragon Chat is running, even as a zombie process, then its possible your database might in fact be corrupt. This is still beta software. If you delete or rename the databases (I prefer copying them to a backup directory just in case later developments or testing show you can fix the problem), Paragon Chat will make new (empty) ones when it starts the next time. On Windows 7, those databases are located in C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Paragon Chat\Database.
Alternatively, this recommendation comes from Leandro, which should work on most versions of Windows: "Okay. Hold down the Windows key and hit R to open the Run dialog, then paste into it: %APPDATA%\Paragon Chat and hit Enter. It will open a folder with two folders inside, "Config", and "Database". Delete the "Database" folder, then try to launch Paragon Chat again."
I might recommend also renaming the Database folder if you have made a ton of characters you can't remember, on the off chance this could be repaired. But if you don't care and can easily recreate, deleting will solve most database corruption problems (by asking Paragon Chat to make new, clean, empty databases).
I deleted my Paragon Chat database files and it still gives me the same error.Some users have reported that on their computer Paragon Chat has difficulty reading and writing to the default directory that Windows uses for application settings. Changing that directory to something else has helped some players. To do this, use the -pcdir command switch option documented in Codewalker's command switch guide (linked in the Misc section of this guide). On Windows, make a shortcut for the ParagonChat.exe executable. In the properties, on the target line add "-pcdir C:\paragonchat" or change the directory name to what you want. If it doesn't exist, Paragon Chat will automatically make it. Because the default path includes the name of the user, users with Windows login names with characters other than standard letters and numbers might be particularly vulnerable to this issue. You can also add this switch in Tequila if you use that to launch Paragon Chat (under Options -> Launch Parameters).
I can't log into Paragon Chat You must use your Titan login and password (i.e. Arcana@chat.cohtitan.com). Also, your Titan account must be properly linked to Paragon Chat. See this post by Codewalker:
http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,10994.0.html which links to the announcement by Sekoia. Basically, use your account management page at
http://www.cohtitan.com/manage (requires Titan login) and check to see if Paragon Chat is listed in the linked apps.
Note: its possible for your Titan forums password and your actual Titan network password to be different, so make sure you can actually log into your account management page. That is the password that Paragon Chat needs, not the forums password (which could be the same or different depending on circumstances).
When I try to select the "127.0.0.2" server, nothing happens and the game client eventually times outYou may have a firewall issue or antivirus/firewall combo software issue where your firewall or AV is blocking attempts by the City of Heroes client to connect to Paragon Chat on your computer. On Windows systems some have reported resolving this issue by adding a "-localhost" option in Tequila to the launch options line, which effectively tells Paragon Chat to listen on 127.0.0.1 instead of 127.0.0.2. As more solutions become well known, I will try to add them here.
NOTE: some users have reported that they were closing the Paragon Chat login window after the City of Heroes client starts up, thinking they didn't need it anymore. DO NOT CLOSE THE PARAGON CHAT WINDOW. Its actually the server that makes everything happen. If you do, the client will fail whenever it tries to do anything that requires server presence, like zone into the game. You may get past the character creator with it closed, but you will fail to get past that point.Issues within Paragon ChatHelp! I made a bunch of characters yesterday, and today they are all gone!Paragon Chat allows you to use any name as the Account Name when you log into the City of Heroes client, and it treats every different name as a different account with different characters. If you log in with one name today, and another different name tomorrow, you won't see the characters from yesterday. You have, in effect, created a new account. This is by design, to allow people to make as many accounts as they want, with as many characters as they want.
Note: there are two nasty ways this can happen by accident. First, Paragon Chat is case sensitive. So if you log in with "Arcana" today, and "arcana" tomorrow, those will be two different accounts. Second, I have noticed that under certain as yet not fully defined conditions, the City of Heroes client will default your account name to the last name you used
when you were still playing the game. This is probably remembered in a regkey somewhere. But if you accept the Account Name without checking it to see if it really was the same one you used yesterday, you might inadvertently use a different one, which again will make it look like all your characters have vanished.
Note 2: Characters are really just costumes. Save costumes, and if something goes wrong with your characters you can always remake them quickly.
Help! I'm apparently invisible when in Paragon ChatAt the moment, that's the only super power working. Seriously, its a subtle bug Codewalker is still tracking down. Some people have reported that under some circumstances, logging out and back in helps. However, there are some known bugs with certain costumes in certain circumstances causing the bug. You may have to change your costume to temporarily work around the problem. Some players have reported that even when practically stripped naked, the problem persists. Codewalker is working on it (the bug, not the fact there's a lot of naked invisible people running around).
[Note: I believe Codewalker may have snagged this bug, or at least one if its primary causes. The next release of Paragon Chat may resolve this issue]
Help! I cannot see anyone else, and there is no one talking. Its like I'm completely alone!Its possible, depending on when you're reading this, that you are alone. However, it is also possible that Paragon Chat was disconnected from the XMPP server. If that happens, your City of Heroes client will continue to run, but from that moment on you won't see anyone else doing anything else. If that happens you can close everything out and restart everything, or there is a slash command you can type while inside Paragon Chat to command Paragon Chat to reconnect to the XMPP server; it is /xmpp_connect. Note if for some reason you want to continue running around inside Paragon Chat but no longer see updates from everyone else, you can also disconnect using /xmpp_disconnect. For more slash commands, see Codewalker's slash command link below in this guide.
Help! I can't fly/superjump/teleport. I can only jog around, and it is slowWell, at least you can turn invisible. Movement powers require special support for modes that Icon could hack, but Paragon Chat must implement in a totally different way to make them work. Movement power support is high on Codewalker's TODO list, and a future version of Paragon Chat will almost certainly support movement powers at some point.
In the meantime, you do not need to jog to everywhere. You can use /mapmove to move to any zone Paragon Chat supports. /mapmove will dump you to a convenient starting location, then its time to jog. /mapmove takes a number, and that number corresponds to a zone.
To find which numbers correspond to which zones, you can look at the zone config file for Paragon Chat. On Windows 7, this is located in C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Paragon Chat\Config\zone.cfg. It will be stored in similar appropriate locations on other platforms. The zone.cfg is a text file that contains the name of every zone Paragon Chat currently supports, and what its zone number is. As Paragon Chat adds new zones, this file should be updated with the latest information. Also, Paragonwiki has a list of zones:
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Paragon_Chat#Changing_MapsNote: as of Version 0.97 there is a /mapmenu command that opens a list of all zones you can jump to.
Can I /search for my friends?Not at the moment. XMPP servers do not have global search features that Codewalker could use to make that command work correctly. /Search is probably a TODO feature for subsequent releases.
Note that if you connect with a chat client, you can see who is a member of any particular room, and see all the members of the global channel. But even with that there's no global search capability as such.
Uh, I clicked on a door and it said it hit me in the face.http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,11069.0.htmlMiscellaneousIs this legal?I am not a lawyer. Having said that, this project probably falls into the same grey area as Star Trek fan movies and other such fan projects.
Technically NCSoft has legal rights which could grant them the technical legal right to shut this all down. In practice, its extremely unlikely and no one is going to jail for turning the CoH game client into a chat client. At worst, NCSoft might ask everyone to stop. At best, everyone will ignore them completely.
Note: not legal advice. Act on your own conscience.Can I connect to Paragon Chat and talk to people without the Paragon Chat software, like from a chat client or smartphone app?Yes. You need a chat client that supports what Paragon Chat needs. So far, I've found that pidgin works. Your mileage may vary. To use a normal chat client, you set your chat protocol to XMPP, log in with your Titan login name, set the domain to be chat.cohtitan.com, and connect to the server. If prompted, you want to connect to the paragon.chat.cohtitan.com conference server. Then browse for rooms.
In particular, the paragonchat room is the "global channel" that Paragon Chat users are connected to automatically when they first log in (you can leave it later). That maps to a City of Heroes paragonchat global chat channel you can talk on within the City of Heroes client. Most other chat rooms are associated with zones: the atlaspark chat room is the room that anyone who is zoned into Atlas Park is in, and broadcast traffic within that zone would show up here.
You obviously cannot see anything that's going on within those zones, because your chat client cannot display anything of what Paragon Chat players are seeing. But you can chat with people, and see what people are talking about.
Where do I go for more information on Paragon Chat?Paragonwiki has a Paragon Chat page:
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Paragon_Chat. It is also being discussed in various threads within the Paragon Chat section of the Titan forums:
http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/board,190.0.html. In particular, there is a FAQ thread:
http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,10977.0.htmlCodewalker has posted two informational posts on Paragon Chat:
Command line switches for Paragon Chat:
http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,11088.0.htmlSlash commands you can use in Paragon Chat:
http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,11090.msg186764.html#msg186764There is also a Development Roadmap:
http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,11126.0.htmlAnd a Known Issues List:
http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,11127.0.htmlIs there an official bug reporting thread for Paragon Chat?There is now:
http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,11078.0.htmlWhere is all my data stored? Is it stored on the Titan servers?No. Everything Paragon Chat stores, it stores on your computer in a sqlite database, located in the folder C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Paragon Chat\Database (on Windows 7, its in other analogous locations on other platforms).
Can I run Paragon Chat from multiple computers?Yes. However, those other computers will not have your local database, and thus will not have any characters you built on other computers. If you copy the database files from one computer to another, you should have access to your characters on that system. You can also play games with syncing programs like Dropbox (or rsync, if you are so inclined).
Can I use my old costume files from the game in Paragon Chat?Yes. Just find the costumes directory from your old game client, and copy that entire directory into your Paragon Chat directory. Those costumes should work fine regardless of how old the game client is. If those old costumes are using parts I24 did not have or altered, you may have to fix the costumes after you load them. No different than when the game was running and a new Issue sometimes broke old costumes.