It's back

[Furiously]

Someone just dumped the source code on a group.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrs_B6WRRJM&t=110s

[ezrast]

What's it like technically? Fully rebuilt from original source code, or is some reverse engineered? Are content and assets intact? Latest version from before shutdown or something earlier?

I'm keen but also lazy.

[Furiously]

It looks 15 years old. Still has a great character creator. I have not gotten passed deciding what to try.

[Trippy]

God I had so many characters in that game.

[Zetor]

What's it like technically? Fully rebuilt from original source code, or is some reverse engineered? Are content and assets intact? Latest version from before shutdown or something earlier?

I'm keen but also lazy.

Basically there are two versions floating around, both of them based on the original source code + server content as of the shutdown:

• Issue 24: This is the state of the game as it was when it shut down, including the latest beta patch (Issue 24) that sat for 6+months on the beta server and was basically finished, only there was no point in moving it to live because of the shutdown. Compared to I23, it has better survivability for blasters, more powerset proliferation, travel powers at level 4 (I think that was an I24 thing?) and improvements to power pools -- like, there is a fifth power in each pool that's pretty strong.
• Issue 25: This is a homebrew patch of the game on top of I24 by the person operating the 'super secret servers' since 2013. Many of the changes are arbitrary, but some of them are based on stuff developers said in the past (there was supposedly a closed test build of i25 in the works when the shutdown news arrived). It has a new archetype (sentinel - blaster primaries, tanker secondaries), a new zone (Kallisti Wharf), some new powersets, and a bunch of QoL features added (no more microtransactions, lot more storage for enhancements, all Mission Architect story arcs can get full rewards, ...). You can find the full change list here
  

Both versions come with a full server-side database + data files, so all content is as you'd remember it. The secret I25 server (that operated between 2013 and 2019) had the full character database too, but that one needed to be nuked as soon as people learned about the entire thing. This means that characters and user-provided content (Mission Architect) is not there anymore, but all dev content is as it was.

Due to the, uh, logistics of the entire situation, binary versions of I25 were distributed first, and this is what's running on the current large set of servers (Homecoming, with ~6k concurrent players). There have been some other servers popping up very recently that are based on modded I25 as well as test deployments of I24 (this took some time because the code is ARCHAIC, as in 'Visual C 2005 with legacy dependency hell' archaic). There is a very active dev community called Ouro that is porting, documenting, and modernizing the code.

Apparently some people (TonyV - the manager of the Titan Network fansites from way-back-when, and Leandro - the maintainer of the super sekrit I25 server who released the code a few weeks ago to everyone else) are in talks with NCSoft to possibly get a legal solution and either a Project 99-like semi-official status, or tacit acceptance without legal threats in the future (like with SWG emus). This will probably take at least a few more weeks to shake out, one way or another.

[Furiously]

I can see how people are angry there have been 3k people playing since the servers shut down.

[Teleku]

F13 City of Hero's server?

[Rendakor]

I would 100% be down.

[Reg]

Me too.

[Velorath]

I would be down to play it for about 3-4 days before remembering what a slow, repetitive grind that game was.

[ezrast]

Thanks for the rundown Zetor.

One of CoX's strengths was it was really good at letting you group with randoms without a lot of level/questline barriers so maybe picking a populated server to start a SG on would be better than having our own ghost town. I'm interested either way though.

[HaemishM]

I would be down to play it for about 3-4 days before remembering what a slow, repetitive grind that game was.

If there was a way to speed up XP by about 10-fold like on a Conan Exiles server, I might be down. I gave up on the game after 15 levels because the grind was intolerably slow.

[Rendakor]

I've heard people talk about double XP servers so it seems like something that can be tweaked Haem.

[Reg]

If we could somehow bring back the old regen scrapper I'd never stop playing. 

[cironian]

I've heard people talk about double XP servers so it seems like something that can be tweaked Haem.

Yeah, XP multiplier is just a line in the server config. You can set that to anything.

[Rendakor]

I made a toon on Everlasting, one of the Homecoming servers. It runs surprisingly well and everything seems to work; I made a MM and got to level 8 or so. Vyl is my IGN, I'm on redside if anyone else wants to play.

[schild]

if there are decent admin tools (which there probably aren't) and I could kill the grind (which is probably impossible) and it was easy to run (it won't be)

sure, yeah, f13 server

[Reg]

I've got a scrapper on Everlasting too.

[Trippy]

I may have time next week to look into this.

[schild]

I may have time next week to look into this.

I feel like forum software takes precedence lol 

[Rendakor]

City of Heroes sparks joy. Forum software does not spark joy.

[schild]

City of Heroes sparks joy. Forum software does not spark joy.

Forum software absolutely sparks joy. City of Heroes literally didn't spark enough joy to keep the business open.

[Trippy]

Did we decide which forum software we wanted to switch to?

[schild]

Nyes

Hop in discord around 8-9pm your time and we can hash it out.

[Teleku]

Yeah, I'd be all down for an F13 server only if it was setup/modded so we could do 10x EXP gain and other custom stuff.

Years ago I jumped on an EQ emulated server just to fuck around for nostalgia's sake.  They had modded it so you could get buffs and equipment that super powered your character so you could solo things really easily and regen mana, letting you fly up levels really fast.  So if they could do that with EQ, you'd think it wouldn't be hard for people to do this with CoH.

[cironian]

You can do a lot just by using GM commands to grant yourself powers already in the game. For an overpowered example, there is a cool trio of auto powers from the Incarnate intro mission. One just makes you completely invulnerable (boring), but the other two give you a massive boost to every attribute in the game and make you proc irresistable damage on every hit.

You can also grab all those interesting NPC powers in the same way, such as the special Lightning attacks all the Statesman variants have.

There's also a funny testing power called "The I Win Button" which just nukes everything on the current map.

[Reg]

I've just gotten to level 11 and so far I'm not finding it a drag at all. For newbies they have something called P2W (Pay to Win) vendors that hand out free useful travel powers and awesome level 10 enhancements that buff damage, accuracy and recharge rate. It makes a huge difference to the low level grind. I wish it hadn't taken me to level 7 to find the damned thing.

[Strazos]

If we had an f13 server I'd definitely give it a whirl.

[Reg]

It doesn't sound like schild has any desire to play. Is there any interest in an F13 supergroup on Everlasting? From what I've seen they're running the game like pros and there's no whining for money aside from the occasional note that Paypal can be used. Make a character now while there are tons of good names not taken yet.

[schild]

I'd probably play a good bit but I'd rather us upgrade the site than play a game from 2007 atm.

[cironian]

But now we can have both superhero games and forums that both look like they are from 2007! 

[Strazos]

I'd probably play a good bit but I'd rather us upgrade the site than play a game from 2007 atm.

If it's a money issue...how much would it cost to do both? Do we need to kick a few bucks into the f13 fundraiser?

[schild]

It’s not, it’s a time issue. I’m not saying no, I’m just saying we need new forums. Badly.

Also, I mean it might be a money issue? I haven’t looked into the coh server bullshit.

[Strazos]

Well, at least for now, I've rolled up a recreation of my original DM/SR scrapper on Everlasting.

[Reg]

Get in touch with me using @Reg if you want to group up sometime.