Q. Who are you guys/gals?
A. Former Citizens of Paragon, just like you. We’re just trying to rebuild our online home, one line of code at a time. We volunteer our time and skills to get the job done
Q. Are you guys for real? Not an April Fools?
A. Nope we’re real. We WERE going to announce on April 1st, but we waited an extra day because we didn’t want to come off as a prank.
Q. For reals?!
A. Yes.
Q: How is this different from ParagonChat?
A: PChat appears to be focused on providing an interactive chat environment using the CoX client. The chat platform they're building on will make things like combat extremely difficult, if not impossible. They are also working with the I23+ client currently. The SEGS team, on the other hand, is building a true server, designed to interface with multiple CoX clients. This will eventually allow for AI enemies and combat. Currently focusing on Issue 0 client, but with plans to eventually move to a newer client.
From a technical perspective, PChat is not an authoritative server, meaning it does not care what you tell it you're doing. A clever "hacker" can tell the server that he's wearing a Statesman costume and flying upside-down at superspeed, and the PChat server will just assume that's ok and send it out to all other clients. This poses some obvious challenges for combat and competitive types of play. In simplistic terms, PChat is a chat server that interprets client information to send back and forth, it really doesn't try to be more (yet?). PChat appears to be closed source.
SEGS however IS an authoritative server. This is the reason why we're still working on rubberbanding issues. The server must know what your character is doing at all times, and needs to ensure that you're allowed to do that. This means that both the server and client need to calculate interpolation for movement the same way. It needs to ensure your costume is legitimate and that you have the powers you're using. It makes development much more complicated, but also means that we can eventually have the game we all love and remember. Because SEGS is an actual c++ developed server, it also means that we can eventually have combat and AI and missions and etc.
Q: Are there any DMCA concerns from NCSoft for intellectual property? Are entities like Statesman and the like going to be genericized, much like player characters that too closely resembled The Hulk et all were back in the real game?
A: We don't think so. NPC definitions and such will either come from user supplied files, or converted client assets, and converted client assets are in the hands of the user base. We won't be distributing those. So pretty much like how Paragon Chat came about. And the clients were all freely available from NCSoft's own FTP server when the game was still active. We haven't modified it, or changed it in any way.
Q: So, is it possible to actually play City of Heroes?
A: As of right now, it's not's possible to play the full game. The current version of this server allows you to be able to log in create a toon and walk around Atlas Park. But the map doesn't know where anything or anyone is right now, so it will rubber band you.
Q. How do I create my own server?
A. Well, it’s not a complete server. More like 5%. By if you want to try what we have, you can download a Windows EXE file, or compile the code using QT Creator version 5.8+. Then using the I0 client, and an app to tell it what address to connect to, login, create a character and be in Atlas Park. More detailed instructions are in the Readme on our GitHub page.
Q. How do I get the client and address app?
A. There's torrent you can get it from. The link for the torrent is in the Readme. (Hint: reading the Readme file is VERY important. It has a lot of information.)
Q. Should I read the "Readme File?"
A. Yes. Several times. Commit it to memory. There will be a quiz next period.
Q: How can I help you guys?
A: Well, if you know C++ and are comforatble with Object Oriented coding, OO for short, You can go to the GitHub page, and look at issues, and pick a task that fits your knowledge. Some of them are marked as "good first issue". If you're not a coder, you can still help by downloading the EXE or compiling the code for your platform, and running it, and sending in bug reports. Plus there are a few non-programmer issues you might be able to tackle as well.
Q: How can I keep up with what is going on?
A: Follow us on Twitter (@segscode), stop by these forums often, or join us in chat. You can find the info for the chat and forums in the Readme on the GitHub page. http://github.com/Segs/Segs