Beta Testing Shards
The test server is a server where developers deploy beta version of City of Heroes before moving the version to the live server. It is a sandbox where players may test changes to their characters or play new content before it is pushed out to the general public.
Reasons to Play on the Test Server
There are two main reasons players may want to play on the test server instead of a live server:
- To test permanent changes to their characters before those changes are actually made. For example, if a player earns a powers respecification, he or she can copy that character to the test server, respecify his or her powers, and try them out. If the player is unsatisfied, the changes are not reflected on the live servers. If a player wishes to test a different respecification, he or she may delete the character on the test server, recopy the character from the live server, and test further changes.
- To play new content. The test server receives new content before it is pushed to the live server. If a player wants to play the latest and greates publically available content with the knowledge that his or her characters on the test server cannot be copied to the live server and that the program may be a bit buggy, he or she may play on the test server.
How to Play on the Test Server
Important note: You must have space on your hard drive to handle a completely separate copy of City of Heroes for this process to work!
To play City of Heroes on the test server, copy the existing icon for the City of Heroes program executable. In the copy, edit the properties so that the target contains the parameter -test at the end. The command line should appear as:
"(path)\CohUpdater.exe" -test
When this shortcut is run, City of Heroes will prompt you for a path, and a new test copy of City of Heroes is downloaded and installed to the path specified. When this program is run after installation and a player logs in, he or she will see only one entry in the server list: Test Server. Select this server and play as normal.
Copying a Character to the Test Server
In addition to simply creating new characters on the Test Server, a player may opt to copy an existing character to the test server. This process is a one-way copy; characters cannot be copied from the Test Server to any live server.
To copy a character, log in to the CoH Character Transfer page and follow the instructions. After a few minutes, your character will show up on the test server.
Notes
- Characters retain no influence when copied from a live server to the test server. This is by design.
- If a character already exists on the test server with the name of the character selected, either from another live server, from a new character creation, or because a player has already copied the character to the test server at least once, a sequential number will be appended to the character's name.
- A player's global chat name on the test server may be different from his or her global chat name on the live servers. By default, it will be the same as the first character that a player uses on the test server. If that character's name has a number appended to it because of the above note, so will the player's global chat handle. Just as on the live servers, a player's global chat handle may be changed once on the test server. No chat may take place between live servers and the test server.
- It is possible for an existing character to immediately obtain new badges due to the copying process because of lowered requiremenets on existing badges or because of requirements for new badges already being met.
External Links
- News bulletin from NCsoft regarding how to use the test server.
- CoH Character Transfer page
- FAQ article about copying characters to the test server