And the mask comes off.

[Arcana]

Single-player mode would be a clear DMCA violation. Not even DMCA, just copyright law in general. It would require duplicating and distributing content that the players never had locally -- mission scripts, any number of serverside xp or reward tables, NPC dialog, and so forth.

To amplify, the problem is that City of Heroes didn't have a single player mode, things like Icon notwithstanding.  The actual *gameplay* only existed as a conjunction of the game client and the game servers.  Without the servers, there is no real gameplay: no NPCs, no powers, no missions, no combat.  To get a "single player City of Heroes" you'd actually have to create something, not just "turn on" something: you'd have to create your own servers.  Even if those servers were designed for single player play, and only ran on a single player's computer, and didn't allow anyone else to connect to them, the act of creating them would be a copyright violation. 

If the City of Heroes game client actually contained all of that content, and had the ability to actually run missions and AI the NPCs around and execute combat and it was just turned off normally, you could maybe argue that turning it on would be a single player City.  But that doesn't exist in any form whatsoever in the game client.  Both Icon and Paragon Chat just enable the game client to do things it could always do, without adding any content the game client doesn't already have.

[ivanhedgehog]

There is no nice way to say this.  But no, be patient.  You are in no position to demand anything.

you can demand anything you want . just dont expect the demands to be met. and people are dying. people die every day. not from the game being gone but they do die.

I am standing on the platform waiting for the despair train. havent bought a ticket at this time but I am checking the schedule. oh well, have to just ignore it and check back every few months. vo is becoming the same thing. they tooted the hype horn way too soon and then no communication for weeks or months. soon(tm) was funny the first 50 or so times it was trotted out.

[JoshexProxy]

I think a pretty solid argument could be made that it's not just a dodge. I'm not talking about an obscure developer backdoor. It's the default mode of operation for the client. Logging in using the authentication server is optional.

I'm serious, try running Paragon Chat in -localhost mode. Do not log in to XMPP. In another window, run this command:

cityofheroes.exe -project coh

(you can use "-project asdf" you want, it just selects which registry key to load the graphics settings from. "coh" will load the ones you have already set)

It will ask for username and password -- the latter of which is ignored -- and then give you a server list with UNNAMED. Choosing UNNAMED will try to connect to the IP address of your own computer, whichever network card it finds first. If Paragon Chat is running in -localhost mode and windows firewall isn't blocking it, it will succeed.

The only reason PC doesn't use this method by default is that it's not quite as user-friendly, and the firewall can sometimes interfere.

The only way to make the client connect to an authentication server and actually validate the password is specifically ask it to by using the -auth option.

The only possible case to make is that the launcher always stuck -auth in there, but lots of players had been bypassing the launcher for years. I'd wager we could even find documented cases of support advising players to run the game directly with -project coh if the launcher was experiencing issues on their PC.

Obviously you'd want to explain this to a judge in easy to understand non-technical terms to avoid being painted as trying to find a loophole. It's not a play on 'effective' (the legal meaning of which is often misunderstood by people looking for loopholes), it's the fact that the game is very clearly designed for it.

I know it's off topic, but might you tell me how I can uncover what '-' commands can be used for another program? in specific I'm hoping I can use it to specify a location instead of the CD drive. kinda like -auth for online stuff, but this game is looking for a CD (virtual CD drives wont work, tried) so what steps are usually taken to find the dash commands?

[Aggelakis]

I know it's off topic, but might you tell me how I can uncover what '-' commands can be used for another program? in specific I'm hoping I can use it to specify a location instead of the CD drive. kinda like -auth for online stuff, but this game is looking for a CD (virtual CD drives wont work, tried) so what steps are usually taken to find the dash commands?

If it's not for City, then Google.

[Arcana]

I know it's off topic, but might you tell me how I can uncover what '-' commands can be used for another program? in specific I'm hoping I can use it to specify a location instead of the CD drive. kinda like -auth for online stuff, but this game is looking for a CD (virtual CD drives wont work, tried) so what steps are usually taken to find the dash commands?

Usually, opening the executables in hex readers would be the easy way to look for the string tables, loading it in a debugger would be the fancy-shmancy way of doing it.  But this is an advanced question ultimately requiring advanced skill to do in the general case, particularly when it comes to figuring out what the command line switches do, as opposed to just figuring out what they are in the first place.

Also, you're assuming such command line switches exist at all.  Most of the time, they don't.  We've known since forever that they existed for City, because we were even told explicitly to use them back in the old old days of beta testing.  It was command line switches that told the client whether it was a beta test or live client, and which file set and patches to use, and what directories to use, etc etc etc.  These kinds of things were necessary to make the client do what the devs wanted.  I don't think its safe to assume there would be a command line switch to bypass copy protection for a random game.  That would seem to be rather silly.

[Felderburg]

vo is becoming the same thing. they tooted the hype horn way too soon and then no communication for weeks or months. soon(tm) was funny the first 50 or so times it was trotted out.

I suspect they saw an opportunity to gain a larger base of potential players for their game before they had to go on the market as a fantasy game (or whatever they were before). I suppose the trade off is that by grabbing CoH players early with the transition to superheroes they've announced things too early? I don't know, I haven't followed them. It does seem unusual to me that they allow people into alpha...

[Paragon Avenger]

When I read that the mask had came off, I knew that it was Tommy B. from "The Story of THeM Part 1"

[Netzahualcoyotl]

Wow! Nothing for almost a year here.... am I missing a more pertinent thread, maybe?  :)

[Vee]

Wow! Nothing for almost a year here.... am I missing a more pertinent thread, maybe?  :)

Depends on what you mean by 'more pertinent', but new efforts is the active general chat one now.

[LaughingAlex]

Not to mention the new efforts thread gets a lot of activity.  Know, we'll have to make sure to tell MWM and the valiance online teams to include a badge for the new efforts thread :).

[Angel Phoenix77]

Not to mention the new efforts thread gets a lot of activity.  Know, we'll have to make sure to tell MWM and the valiance online teams to include a badge for the new efforts thread :).

that would be awesome :D

[Surelle]

Wow! Nothing for almost a year here.... am I missing a more pertinent thread, maybe?  :)

Nothing new at all has happened on the "CoH Rez" front, no. 

You'd be best off signing up for the "Wake me when there's news" thread that is pinned to the top of this sub-forum.  The last post in it is over a year old, but if anything ever does happen with rezzing CoH, you'll get an email about it. 

[Paragon Avenger]

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net%2Fwreckitralph%2Fimages%2Fd%2Fdc%2FRalph.png

Wait, I don't wear a mask.

[Tahquitz]

Nothing new at all has happened on the "CoH Rez" front, no. 

You'd be best off signing up for the "Wake me when there's news" thread that is pinned to the top of this sub-forum.  The last post in it is over a year old, but if anything ever does happen with rezzing CoH, you'll get an email about it.

Already have.  I keep waiting for wakies to drop, but I haven't found any since 2012. :(

I still buzz on here to let someone know a fan of CoH is still alive and breathing. Not that anyone asks such things. That and to look for any "We Need Your Help" type communiques or Anniversary Meetups (Mostly CoH's anniversary/Loregasm and NCSoft's Shutdown anniversary.  Biannually the latter happens, nothing in years for the former.) 

Perhaps a voluntary mailing list or newsletter is possible in the future on Titan Network once one of the Plan Z projects moves into Beta so drumming up interest isn't as hard as it is now.  No need for it at the moment, natch.

For the most part, it's just us die-hards who say "Hi" once in a while.

[Aggelakis]

(Mostly CoH's anniversary/Loregasm and NCSoft's Shutdown anniversary.  Biannually the latter happens, nothing in years for the former.)

The shutdown anniversary happens twice a year? ???

The loregasm has happened every year since 2012. http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Lore_AMA Though I have a feeling it won't be happening this year unless it gets started soon.

[Felderburg]

The shutdown anniversary happens twice a year? ???

The loregasm has happened every year since 2012. http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Lore_AMA Though I have a feeling it won't be happening this year unless it gets started soon.

Not to worry, it's a month away, and I just made a thread: http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php?topic=11829

...even though I still haven't finished the sorted sub page.

[Angel Phoenix77]

Wish the very best for the buyers :)

[Vee]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRI2GOHLet6BpvYZI1DBAVSBV7-_PkGRt11Os8nVRA43v27y9_whQ

[Paragon Avenger]

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7428/27521908076_21540ebe43_o.png

[Voltixdark]

So it's been almost two years. I wonder what NCSoft is thinking right now concerning the game. It might not be their priority at the moment, but I am curious what the heck is going on.