Accessory Hardware Guide

Player Guide Notice

This article is a Player Guide. The Homecoming Wiki takes no responsibility for the content within.

Questions and concerns should be posed to the authors of the article using the article's talk page.

Overview

Past the System Requirements, as well as Homecoming Launcher installation steps, there are additional hardware considerations for playing Homecoming: City of Heroes on a modern system.

Graphics (overall game performance)

City of Heroes (the game) requires Graphics. Most systems with entry-level or video-centric graphics performance will be able to play the game, but will have a hard time taking advantage of high frame rates or Ultra Mode features.

Type

Integrated Graphics is becoming more frequent in computers due mostly to the desktop-to-laptop shift in the consumer market. Fewer and fewer households are regarding space for the computer as an appliance over using a laptop instead.

As simply as possible, here's what to know about each offering:

Intel

Use Xe Graphics. Older integrated graphics such as Iris Pro, Iris, GMA and older HD Graphics sets will have a more difficult time with gameplay. For Xe Graphics, lean on increasing framerate over using Ultra Mode.

NVidia

NVidia is out of the integrated market for graphics. Intel had a brief partnership in 2020 to include them as a laptop partner, but has since changed tack and developed their own GPU line. Any laptop advertising NVidia graphics is a discrete chip, not integrated.

AMD

Ryzen Processors with a processor number ending in G have integrated graphics that are varying in strength depending on the processor. All of them can handle playing in 1080 High Definition with up to 60 FPS (with occasional decreases depending on various factors.)

Integrated graphics will be difficult to compare. Usually, if you want better performance, speed bumps are done for higher numbered processors over lower ones:

• Intel graphics on a Core 3 will be lower performance than a Core 5 or Core 7 system.
• AMD graphics on a Ryzen 3 will be lower performance than a Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 system.

The release date is unreliable: both manufacturers sell new laptops with older chipsets present. You'd have to check the CPU release date as well; newer models will outperform older ones generally.

Discrete Graphics or dedicated graphics laptops will have a specific GPU chip inside meant to perform similar to a video card in a desktop computer.

Intel's Discrete Graphic line is called Arc. For Arc systems, aim for laptops with 500 or 700 model chipsets over 300. (Arc 330 will perform basically the same as Xe Graphics.)

NVidia Geforce and AMD Radeon Laptops will have various versions and numbering.

Graphic Card Model

The digit to pay the most attention to is the tens digit (NVidia) or the hundreds digit (AMD), which will put the laptop graphics in various classes:

• 9 - Maximum Performance - Most expensive, uses the most electricity. (Examples: GeForce 4090, Radeon RX 7900.)
• 7/8 - High Performance - Expensive, with cheaper models weighing more.
• 6 - Enthusiast Performance - Less costly, most models are lighter weight and more similar to "ultrabooks" (light weight, fewer ports, thinner in size) than gaming laptops. (Examples: GeForce 3060, Radeon RX 6600.)
• Any Gaming Laptop with a 5 in the tens/hundreds digit is the bare minimum for a Discrete Gaming laptop, with anything 4 and below intended for business use. (Prioritizing multiple monitor output and video playback over gaming usage.)

Any numbers ahead of the tens/hundreds digit will indicate release date: newer ones will usually always be higher numbered (unless the prior generation ran out of numbers and was a 8000 or a 9000. Both NVidia and AMD have done this, so they rearrange letters and names around every decade or so. But the above advice holds true for both manufacturers today.)

Most laptops will obscure this information in marketing materials and store placement. You may need to dig online to find models and specs that match and bring them to the retailer to ask informed questions.

The same applies to Graphics Cards for Desktop systems, except concerning Power Supply Unit specs over AC/Battery requirements which won't apply.

There will be odd models which will break this expectation: Radeon Pro and Quadro graphics are laptops intended for workstation use and will have mixed performance playing City of Heroes. (It may work, but it may not be well-performing enough to consider regular use.)

OpenGL Support vs. Vulkan

City of Heroes is an OpenGL 2.0 and 3.0 title. Graphic Cards with OpenGL compatibility should be compared on compatibility on older OpenGL titles over OpenGL ES, Vulkan, and other newer standards that will not necessarily translate to improved performance.

Monitors

City of Heroes will play on any monitor available today with a few considerations.

Resolution (determines maximum visible details)

The client was made in a time where CRTs were the primary method of display and LEDs were few and far between. Despite this, City of Heroes has no issue with any display resolution up to and including 4K, with a few caveats.

• 4K and beyond (8K, ultrawide resolutions, etc.) in fullscreen mode will have quirks with Base Editing. The easiest fix is going to Windowed mode and reducing the viewport, or dialling down the resolution to 2K (2560x1440 or less) instead.
• Borderless Windowed is recommended over fullscreen to retain task switching, multitasking, and streaming capabilities over running fullscreen and watching your displays reset on every Alt-Tab or mouseover and click on a 2nd monitor window.

Refresh Rate (determines maximum frame rate)

Remember: Your refresh rate should be twice the desired frame rate of gameplay.

For example: if you want consistent 30fps, you'll need to use a 60Hz display. A 144Hz display will be able to permit up to 72fps of gameplay, and a 240Hz display will support 120fps gameplay.

When shopping for monitors, remember two things:

• Easier fix: using the wrong connection for high refresh rates. Read your user manual; if it states high refresh rates are only available using DisplayPort or USB-C connection, using an HDMI cable will not deliver the desired results.
• Harder fix: your graphics card needs to also support the resolution and refresh rate as well.

Non-issue: most graphics cards have a high-refresh rate feature (GSync, FreeSync, etc.) that doesn't really matter anymore. Turning on the mode on the monitor will enable high-refresh, regardless of the card involved.

To repeat the statement in "resolution" above: Due to the age of the graphics engine, City of Heroes is unlikely to recognize displays capable of higher than 240Hz as that was the technical limit of CRTs back in the 2000s. (Future displays with even higher refresh rates will likely not exceed 120FPS in the game engine.) The ShowFPS command shows a maximum frame rate that is estimated based on current performance factors, so values well above your hardware spec are possible in the client even if they are not realized with your hardware setup. (Just because ShowFPS says 300FPS doesn't mean you are seeing it.)

Hard Drive (impacts loading times between zones)

While most laptops are phasing out platter hard drives (magnetic disks), there are still pitfalls to be aware of.

Type

• eMMC - Slowest. eMMC are essentially flash chips embedded into a motherboard or daughterboard module. These will be used in laptops where cost and weight are a factor, and will perform the same as platter-based drives.
• SATA - Fair. SATA only M.2s are in use on cheaper models and will be limited by the SATA bus. These are considered usable for gaming than eMMC, but will have similar write speeds to USB drives.
• NVMe - Fastest. NVMe drives also exist in M.2 form, but use the PCI Express bus instead of SATA. These come in a variety of speeds, but the cheapest can easily outperform SATA.

Most laptops sold will indicate what hard drive type is present on the box sticker. If it doesn't, ask.

Theoretical Speeds vs. Actual

• eMMC - Tops out at around 250Mbps, but are limited in write capacity and cannot handle multiple streams of data.
• SATA - SATA III tops out at 600Mbps.
• NVMe - Using PCIe 4.0, up to 4000Mbps. (Mac users with Apple Silicon are essentially in the same class as NVMe drives.)

In the real world, speeds will vary. eMMC will edge on the slow side, sure, but SATA will be the only choice to improve older laptops and desktops without NVMe support. And NVMe has the same issue as RAM -- classes of devices exist that may not meet the maximum limit, such as budget NVMe drives that cost less than their higher performing counterparts.

Network Interface (decreases lag, improves reaction times)

Wi-Fi

Formerly the domain of the laptop, Wi-Fi being present in desktops opens up household placement of systems without running labor intensive wiring to each location.

Network Version

• 802.11g (what would be Wi-Fi 3) - No longer advised. Speed limitations and range make this impractical for most households with more than 10 devices present using Wi-Fi.
• Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) - Theoretical 600Mbps. Uses MIMO. On the way out.
• Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) - Theoretical 3.5Gbps. Uses MU-MIMO. Most networks in homes today use Wi-Fi 5.
• Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) - Theoretical 9.6Gbps. Uses OFDMA. Currently on store shelves everywhere.

The most important thing to remember is matching the Wi-Fi type to devices: Wi-Fi devices can be OLDER than a router (Wi-Fi 4/5 devices on a Wi-Fi 6 router) but may slow down throughput for newer devices that can use the higher speed (a Wi-Fi 6 device on that same router will not be as fast as when those devices are upgraded or removed from the network.)

Wi-Fi devices can be NEWER than a router (Wi-Fi 6 devices on a Wi-Fi 5 router) but will not realize speed increases until the router is upgraded. This is irregardless of other devices being Wi-Fi 5 or 6 compatible, however Wi-Fi 4 devices can degrade performance for either of them.

The most affordable way to troubleshoot speed issues with multiple devices is disabling Wi-Fi on every device and turning them back on one at a time until the culprit is found. If an older device makes performance drop elsewhere, it may be time to upgrade it with a Wi-Fi adapter that is faster (if possible) or to let it go.

Network Type

Conventional Wi-Fi Network - Router and multiple end-user devices.

• Pros: Simple, best for an apartment or single user with multiple devices in a confined area. Affordable.
• Cons: Multi-room/multi-floor performance may be weak, outside use has a sharp drop off. Maximum number of devices possible is shy of 20-30 total.

Mesh Wi-Fi Network - Router, multiple "mesh" devices, end user devices.

• Pros: Best for a multiple bedroom apartment, multi-floor household, or for a large family with frequent guests. Can manage up to 100 devices.
• Cons: Price, some have monthly fees, upgrades and outages become more difficult to troubleshoot. Stability is not speed - mesh networks do not speed up an otherwise slow connection, such as DSL or Mobile Broadband.

Notes:

1. These have nothing to do with Wi-Fi Version. Mesh Networking kits have been in existence since 802.11g in one form or another.
2. Wi-Fi Repeaters are not Mesh devices. Repeaters extend a signal reach but they do not boost it in any way.

Cellular Hotspot. Requires a phone or hotspot device (resembles a puck or small pocket battery pack with a screen.)

• Pros: Works anywhere there is a mobile signal. Hotspots can accommodate multiple devices, and have their own battery input/power source so they can work independently of the user device.
• Cons: Works only where there is a mobile signal. If a phone has no service in a particular spot, the hotspot will have the same luck in the exact same location. Expensive compared to home internet, usually has a cap of usage that cannot be exceeded without overage fees, speed drops, or disconnection.

Wired Network - Router, most home Internet gateways accommodate 4-6 devices, permitting wired switches to add more.

• Pros: Most Stable. Ethernet wire is copper and can run anywhere a cord can go. Radio issues such as Microwaves, appliances and radio devices are less of an issue.
• Cons: Must do a cable run to the device. Susceptible to physical damage, not an option for rental properties that forbid tenant cabling work for semi-permanent placement or in-wall installation to cover it up.

Keyboards & Mice (affect input and reaction)

Additional features such as key switch types, key caps, percentage sizing of keys, mouse size, tracking type, etc. affect physical traits which have more to do with the user and less to do with the client itself, so that will be left to a reader's preferences.

Keyboard Features to look for

Key Rollover. Key Rollover is how keyboards handle more than a few keypresses at a time for typography. In gaming, n-Key Rollover is desired (a keyboard accepts multiple keys at once and displays them in press sequence in real time.) However, most keyboards available commercially only implement Multi-Key Rollover, which 'zones' keypresses together to isolate several zones of keys as able to be independently struck at once with no issues, with key-ghosting (pressing or key-jamming occuring when these zones are overused. (In a three-key event where a fourth keypress that didn't happen is read, it's called ghosting. If only two of the keys are read and one is dropped, it's called jamming.)

Polling Rate. The polling rate is how frequently a keyboard reports activity to the computer. The higher the rate, the more frequent the report is made.

• 800Hz - 8ms (common with most consumer keyboards)
• 1000Hz - 1ms
• 8000Hz - .125ms

Connection Type. Wireless is attractive for modern desktops looking to reduce clutter, but greatly impacts polling rate capability. Wired keyboards are always going to have better polling rates and connectivity uptime. (This also affects mice as well.)

Mouse Features to look for

Sensory Medium. Mice will either use optical or laser tracking. Optical is a sensor resembling a low-light camera placed at the bottom facing a mousing surface to track movement changes. Laser uses a laser diode to send a beam to the surface and read surface refraction to report movement.

• Optical mice are lower cost and have a lower DPI detection radius than a laser mouse. They require a mouse pad or mousing surface to operate effectively on, with glass and highly reflective surfaces being unusable.
• Laser mice are higher cost, have a higher DPI detection radius (up to five times more sensitivity), and can work on any surface including glass.

The type used may be preferential. Professionals have sought both: optical mice are preferred for someone who has broader movements, whereas laser mice are desired for users who moved a mouse smaller but more precisely while gaming. Laser mice have been known to lose sync and drop broad movements as a 'pickup' reset when used too roughly, and optical mice have a lower DPI which may cause a laser mouse user to feel like having to drag and reset position more often in critical moments.

DPI. This is the amount of sensitivity a mouse offers in detecting movement with the sensor. Lower DPI devices may be harder to move for someone who is used to high sensitivity mice, where high DPI devices may move too fast for users who aren't use to smaller movements. DPI also affects energy use: turning up the DPI on an optical mouse uses more energy for a wireless mouse from battery over using a lower setting.

Wired vs. Wireless. Specific to mice, laser gaming mice tend to be wireless over wired, where as optical mice tend to be wired over wireless. While there are wireless optical mice that are close to or exceeding the polling rates of a wired optical mouse in the same class, another factor of wireless vs. wired is weight (battery weight on a wireless mouse cannot be mitigated for someone who prefers a lighter device; wired may be the better option.)

Side keys, programmability. MMO Gaming mice generally all have extra thumb-actuated keys on the side for a player to use in place of pressing keys with the left hand for movement or basic attacks. For those mice, support software is critical to expose the additional key inputs, which is generally not detected on plug-and-play install by Windows. (A mouse driver or support app is required to expose the extra keys to the game to be programmed.) Historically, City of Heroes has support built-in for the Razer Naga line of mice, although any mouse that takes key bindings and emulates a USB HID device should be fine.