Author Topic: New efforts!  (Read 7211044 times)

Codewalker

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13760 on: December 21, 2014, 03:43:53 PM »
What they are not willing to sell is the source code.  This is
due to security issues with the COH source code and other NC Soft games that
use the same launcher and account management.

Nah, NCSoft doesn't want to sell the source code because NCSoft simply doesn't part with source code. Ever. It's one of those company policies from on high that everybody who works there knows, has been there since the very beginning, and no one dares question.

If they're saying it's for security reasons or whatever, that's just a convenient smokescreen. I have it on very good authority that the only part of the code that is even remotely connected with NCSoft is the authentication module (since it's based on the Lineage II auth code), and that's something that could be easily ripped out and replaced with a different protocol as it was bolted on at NCSoft's request after the rest of the game was completed.

And if that's what they're worried about, well, that's really silly since the auth protocol is the very first thing that was reverse engineered years ago, and there's at least 3 independent implementations of it in the wild that I know about, probably more. Not only in Lineage II emulators, but in SEGS and Woofers (well, an incomplete version in the latter that uses the wrong hash), and I've also published some documentation on the protocol. People already know all about its hardcoded Blowfish encryption key ( [;'.]94-31==-%&@!^+] ) and the bare RSA key that is wide open to man-in-the-middle exploits. They wouldn't be hiding anything that way.

The store is all Playspan and has nothing to do with NCSoft. I know at least one programmer from Paragon who was bitching about having to write the interface to it; it's not something that was given to them.

But the whole "security reasons" is just community speculation anyway. AFAIK the negotiating team hasn't been provided with a reason, simply, "No, we are not going to offer that under any circumstances."

FloatingFatMan

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13761 on: December 22, 2014, 07:49:18 AM »
As far as I understand, the deal was some other company runs City of Heroes in permanent issue 23, they take as much money as they need to run the servers, and the rest goes to ncsoft.

Nowhere have I seen anyone stating anything even remotely like that nonsense.

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13762 on: December 22, 2014, 08:24:57 AM »
Is this quarterly check they're going to receive be enough compensation for the loss of players of their current games? As far as i know a decent portion of the CoX community went to GW2.
I wonder how many die-hards went to another NCSoft game?   

I'm talking about the people who would come back if/when CoH comes back.   That can't be very many players.

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13763 on: December 22, 2014, 08:33:29 AM »

Your assumption is baseless. No one has made a comment supporting this idea. Maybe people should stop assuming things and presenting it as fact or supposition based on fact. No one in the know has even hinted at this scenario as a remote possibility....

As far as I understand, the deal was some other company runs City of Heroes in permanent issue 23, they take as much money as they need to run the servers, and the rest goes to ncsoft.

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13764 on: December 22, 2014, 12:59:31 PM »
Yep, being unable to reload saved games happens a lot when the game designers decide to change the formatting the save files use.  Only thing you can do there is start over and learn how the game works between save file changes until they finally stabilize them.

Yeah, but that doesn't account for why I can't even start a new game. Something in the final transition from loading resources to loaded and ready is borked.

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13765 on: December 22, 2014, 02:27:06 PM »
Your assumption is baseless. No one has made a comment supporting this idea. Maybe people should stop assuming things and presenting it as fact or supposition based on fact. No one in the know has even hinted at this scenario as a remote possibility....

I agree, the IP is what NCSoft is planning on leasing - they are selling the game. I would not doubt the game may have to pay a lease as well on the IP like any other company does. If you think this is unfair or unusual you have not downloaded the UnReal 4 engine. They state in their if you wish to develop and sell a game they get percentage points for using the engine. This is very common.

I have been in the seat that Nate sits in now and I can tell you that some of the folks out there won't listen, won't learn and it seems they do so willfully. From when I got the information from the old TFHM team in March, 2014 - I started working to decifer what really happened for the talks to fall apart and to find a way to get the game back and running.

Nate and friends had also tried in the past to get the game and failed , because NCSoft was not going to sell everything. Another company had tried to buy just the IP and backed out. This and other research showed me NCSoft was willing to sell a form of the game. This got a lot of people excited especially when they found the guy to talk to at NCSoft and then Nate and friends came up with the great Idea they had to split the IP and game up and get the basic game running and the IP able to be shared.

Then assured that NCSoft was interested and would sell - Nate made his announcement. It is going to happen and it is going to take a while. If you want to help do so by keeping calm and rational.

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13766 on: December 22, 2014, 04:09:20 PM »
I agree, the IP is what NCSoft is planning on leasing - they are selling the game. I would not doubt the game may have to pay a lease as well on the IP like any other company does. If you think this is unfair or unusual you have not downloaded the UnReal 4 engine. They state in their if you wish to develop and sell a game they get percentage points for using the engine. This is very common.

I have been in the seat that Nate sits in now and I can tell you that some of the folks out there won't listen, won't learn and it seems they do so willfully. From when I got the information from the old TFHM team in March, 2014 - I started working to decifer what really happened for the talks to fall apart and to find a way to get the game back and running.

Nate and friends had also tried in the past to get the game and failed , because NCSoft was not going to sell everything. Another company had tried to buy just the IP and backed out. This and other research showed me NCSoft was willing to sell a form of the game. This got a lot of people excited especially when they found the guy to talk to at NCSoft and then Nate and friends came up with the great Idea they had to split the IP and game up and get the basic game running and the IP able to be shared.

Then assured that NCSoft was interested and would sell - Nate made his announcement. It is going to happen and it is going to take a while. If you want to help do so by keeping calm and rational.
i agree wolf it seems as though some people just cannot help but be negative. Just because its not going by their time frame on when the deal should get done.
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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13767 on: December 22, 2014, 04:33:53 PM »
I used CIT before they even joined the Titan network! But then I left for a long ol' time, and came back. Now I edit the wiki.

I'm working on sorting the Lore AMAs so that questions are easily found and linked: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Lore_AMA/Sorted Tell me what you think!

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Sugoi

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13768 on: December 22, 2014, 04:52:40 PM »
Yeah, but that doesn't account for why I can't even start a new game. Something in the final transition from loading resources to loaded and ready is borked.

Ouch, that's even more messed up than I had assumed.  I just did a quick check on Steam's Community page, and the Dev's for the game have posted an info questionnaire there to get data from users having problems so they can isolate the cause(s) and get the game up and running for you.  I'm sure the official game page at the Dev's site will have one as well in their game forums.

And on the CoH side of things, I'm waiting patiently for the negotiations with NCSoft to conclude (hopefully on a positive note), so we can all get back to the old neighborhood.  In the meantime, I've tried out Valiance Online this week after the open Alpha test was announced.  I showed it to a RL friend of mine who also played CoH in the past, and he remarked on how similarly VO's initial area represented Atlas Park's layout.  Yep, there's the AE Building, Vanguard Building, Hospital, and even the cross-town tunnel... and look, goons to beat on hiding under the overpasses!  Grin!!!
« Last Edit: December 22, 2014, 05:00:50 PM by Sugoi »

Aggelakis

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13769 on: December 22, 2014, 11:19:42 PM »
Split out a bunch of Valiance Online chatter and moved it over to the Plan Z section: http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.0.html

Feel free to continue there.
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Sugoi

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13770 on: December 22, 2014, 11:41:14 PM »
Thanks, Agge!

Safehouse

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13771 on: December 23, 2014, 01:52:30 PM »
Split out a bunch of Valiance Online chatter and moved it over to the Plan Z section: http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.0.html

Feel free to continue there.

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13772 on: December 23, 2014, 01:57:05 PM »
Split out a bunch of Valiance Online chatter and moved it over to the Plan Z section: http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.0.html

Feel free to continue there.

I thought Tony V. already retired the Plan Z forums because he wanted gamers interested in any of those games to go to their developers' forums instead, no?

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13773 on: December 23, 2014, 02:04:42 PM »
I thought Tony V. already retired the Plan Z forums because he wanted gamers interested in any of those games to go to their developers' forums instead, no?

There's still a general area, but all the game specific sub forums were removed.
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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13774 on: December 23, 2014, 05:56:54 PM »
It just occurred to me that when CoH comes back, unlike most moves from one game to another in the past, I won't be needing a new video card!  I am currently running an nVidia 460, which I bought when CoH was still running, and I was able to run everything at their highest settings with nary a quiver in the picture.  When CoH went into that good night, I moved to SWTOR, and the 460 is still running that game at its highest settings as well.

So, now when I move back to CoH, I will still have no real need to upgrade my video card unless it dies of old age!  Perhaps when one of the new iterations of CoH based on the Unreal 4 engine make their way to the market, I will have to update at least to a 760 to keep ahead of the curve.  I very much look forward to both!
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Safehouse

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13775 on: December 23, 2014, 06:06:34 PM »
It just occurred to me that when CoH comes back, unlike most moves from one game to another in the past, I won't be needing a new video card!  I am currently running an nVidia 460, which I bought when CoH was still running, and I was able to run everything at their highest settings with nary a quiver in the picture.  When CoH went into that good night, I moved to SWTOR, and the 460 is still running that game at its highest settings as well.

So, now when I move back to CoH, I will still have no real need to upgrade my video card unless it dies of old age!  Perhaps when one of the new iterations of CoH based on the Unreal 4 engine make their way to the market, I will have to update at least to a 760 to keep ahead of the curve.  I very much look forward to both!

When I purchased the components for my PC, I made it my point to get a really awesome graphics card so that I could play CoH on the ultra quality settings across the board. That thing can play ultra mode Skyrim with 200 mods loaded with nary a hitch (unless there's a problem with my mod load order).

It excites me to think I will be perfectly set up to return to City without problems when it comes back :). Thanks for the reminder!

If, when City does go to UE4, you're looking for a good card, I recommend the MSI Hawk 5770. It has served me very well and, by then, it will probably be very cheap.
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LaughingAlex

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13776 on: December 23, 2014, 06:48:50 PM »
When I purchased the components for my PC, I made it my point to get a really awesome graphics card so that I could play CoH on the ultra quality settings across the board. That thing can play ultra mode Skyrim with 200 mods loaded with nary a hitch (unless there's a problem with my mod load order).

It excites me to think I will be perfectly set up to return to City without problems when it comes back :). Thanks for the reminder!

If, when City does go to UE4, you're looking for a good card, I recommend the MSI Hawk 5770. It has served me very well and, by then, it will probably be very cheap.

That won't be enough for UE4, thats a card released in 2010, if i'm reading things right from my end.  UE4 is a 2014 engine and it's UNREAL engine.  You always want at least 1-2 years current or you will be far behind, trust me on that, when it comes to anything like settings.  Unreal engine is always brutal like that.

A more recent card though made by the same people around say 2012 might be more feasable though.  Or maybe even 2013 the price may be down significantly.

Edit: Another thing I should mention, don't think overclocking will help you run any UE game better.  Unreal engine has a long history of not reacting well to overclocking, I wouldn't expect UE4 to be any different.  Instability from the game engines themselves from UE1 to 3 is something I remember people complaining about when it comes to overclocking.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2014, 06:53:57 PM by LaughingAlex »
Currently; Not doing any streaming, found myself with less time available recently.  Still playing starbound periodically, though I am thinking of trying other games.  Don't tell me to play mmohtg's though please :).  Getting back into participating in VO and the successors again to.

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13777 on: December 23, 2014, 06:53:26 PM »
That won't be enough for UE4, thats a card released in 2010, if i'm reading things right from my end.  UE4 is a 2014 engine and it's UNREAL engine.  You always want at least 1-2 years current or you will be far behind, trust me on that, when it comes to anything like settings.  Unreal engine is always brutal like that.

A more recent card though made by the same people around say 2012 might be more feasable though.  Or maybe even 2013 the price may be down significantly.

Hmm, I might be misremembering the numbers then, because the one I got was definitely 2012. I bought it brand new right before the announcement about City's shutdown (le sigh). I always forget the exact model that I have, haha. But that's really good advice. I've been wondering if I ought to upgrade my GPU, especially with more and more next gen stuff coming out. I'll keep the 2013 models in mind for when I start shopping.
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LaughingAlex

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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13778 on: December 23, 2014, 07:01:19 PM »
Hmm, I might be misremembering the numbers then, because the one I got was definitely 2012. I bought it brand new right before the announcement about City's shutdown (le sigh). I always forget the exact model that I have, haha. But that's really good advice. I've been wondering if I ought to upgrade my GPU, especially with more and more next gen stuff coming out. I'll keep the 2013 models in mind for when I start shopping.

Go figure, it's something we'll need to see as the game gets closer to the port to UE4.  I'm honestly expecting to have to upgrade myself, as I only have a GTX 645(darn my keyboard, had to hit the 4 key ten times there!).  While the card runs UE3 games like mass effect and UT3 fine I do see some limits in some newer games.  Heck I still remember the core reason UT3 was as unpopular as it was; people couldn't run the game within any reasonable extent without the best hardware.  It made it on the PS3 but not on the PC.

It's something we should definitely keep in mind as the transition to UE4 comes closer to a reality for CoX.
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Re: New efforts!
« Reply #13779 on: December 23, 2014, 07:04:42 PM »
Hmm, I might be misremembering the numbers then, because the one I got was definitely 2012. I bought it brand new right before the announcement about City's shutdown (le sigh). I always forget the exact model that I have, haha. But that's really good advice. I've been wondering if I ought to upgrade my GPU, especially with more and more next gen stuff coming out. I'll keep the 2013 models in mind for when I start shopping.

That's why I was thinking nVidia 760 for the GPU.  Not the newest, or most powerful GPU, but a new enough to be a good trade-off between performance and price.  Right now, it runs between $200-250 depending on the speed grade, and memory compliment.
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