Homecoming Installation Folder Locations
Understanding Folder Paths
In order to know where a folder or file is on your computer, or navigate to it, you first have to know how a computer stores data. A computer storage drive is the device where a computer stores all of your information and data, and the drives are usually named by a single letter (A-Z) followed by a colon (:) in Windows. A computer can have more than one drive. Once formatted, the entire storage drive is turned into one big folder (also known as a directory), and the symbol for folders is a slash (\). So, a brand new storage drive that's ready to hold stuff would usually look like C:\
. This tells us that the name of the drive is C: and that it has one folder (\). This first folder is called the "root folder" but doesn't have any name other than the slash (\). This is the starting point for organizing all the files and folders on a computer. Most folders added after the root folder also have names which are typed before the slash. For example, Box1\
. This tells us there is a folder (\) named "Box1".
There are 2 ways to think about folders. The first is that a folder is like a box that holds stuff, and just a like a real box you can also put other boxes inside it. Folders inside of folders, boxes within boxes. If we wanted to put another box named "Box2" inside the previous Box1, it would look like this Box1\Box2\
. This tells us there is a folder named "Box2" inside a previous folder named "Box1".
The other way to think about folders is that each folder is like a street that has houses on it. A folder is like a street, and a file is like a house. Let's say we have 2 connecting streets named "Box1" and "Box2", and we want the computer to go visit a house on Box2 street. If you tell a computer to go to Box2 street, it won't know where Box2 is and will just stand there and do nothing. In order to get the computer to Box2, we have to give it very specific directions and name every street in-between the starting point and Box2. We would have to say, "Computer, first go to Box1 street. After that, go to Box2 street." So the path the computer would need to follow to get to Box2 street would look like Box1\Box2\
.
Now, we would also need to tell the computer which drive to go to as well. So the full path would look like C:\Box1\Box2\
. This tells the computer to go to the C: drive, then the root folder \. After that go to the Box1\ folder, and lastly go to the Box2\ folder.
Files are stored within folders, and every file has a name. Let's say we have a file named "MyDoc.txt" and it's inside the Box2 folder. A computer will look for any name typed after a slash. Using our examples, the full path to this file would be C:\Box1\Box2\MyDoc.txt
.
The computer always starts at the beginning in the root folder and never starts anywhere else. It then goes from there sequentially from one folder to the next. If you were to map all the folders on a drive, it would look like a giant flow chart with connecting branches spreading outward from one point. Folders can hold multiple files but folders can also hold multiple folders, and files can be inside all or none of the folders. The way to get to a folder is called a "folder path". The way to get to a file is called a "file path". In either case it is a "path" the computer has to follow to get to where you want it to go, and is also where the folder or file you want is located on your storage drive.
Install Directory/Folder
For a standard Windows installation of the game using the Homecoming Launcher, the game files can be found at the following location on your computer’s storage drive:
C:\Games\Homecoming\
- Note: Different versions of the game, and different versions of the Homecoming Launcher (i.e., Tequila), may have installed the game in different locations on your computer.
For MacOS, the game files are typically installed in the following folder:
Macintosh HD/Applications/coh/
However, if the full path is needed for a slash command to save or load files into the game on a Mac, it might look something like this: Z:\Applications\coh\
.
The location of the game files is often referred to as the "COH Install Folder" or <COHInstallFolder>. Folders enclosed by greater-than and less-than brackets (< >) mean that the folder name could be variable or specific to the individual installation/player.
The location of the COH Install Folder can be determined by opening the Homecoming Launcher app, and then clicking on the Settings gear icon in the upper right. The COH Install Folder will be listed near the top under "Install Location".
Homecoming Folder Structure
Game files within the installation folder are stored in the following hierarchal folder structure consisting of folders and sub-folders:
<COHInstallFolder>
- ↳\accounts\
- ↳\<Username>\
- ↳\builds\
- ↳\logs\
- ↳\maps\
- ↳\<Username>\
- ↳\accounts\
- ↳\architect\
- ↳\critters\
- ↳\missions\
- ↳\villaingroups\
- ↳\architect\
- ↳\assets\
- ↳\beta\
- ↳\issue24\
- ↳\launcher\
- ↳\mods\
- Note: The "mods" folder is sometimes created by players to store various mods to the game.
- ↳\live\
- ↳\assets\
- ↳\bin\
- ↳\win32\
- ↳\beta\
- ↳\live\
- ↳\win64\
- ↳\beta\
- ↳\live\
- ↳\win32\
- ↳\bin\
- ↳\cache\
- ↳\launcher\
- ↳\shaders\
- ↳\cache\
- ↳\costumes\
- ↳\crash\
- ↳\data\
- Note: the "data" folder is usually empty unless the player has added folders themselves. Two commonly added folders are listed below:
- ↳\customwindows\
- Note: This folder is used to store custom windows.
- ↳\texts\
- ↳\<language>\
- ↳\menus\
- Note: This folder is used to store popmenus.
- ↳\menus\
- ↳\<language>\
- ↳\customwindows\
- Note: the "data" folder is usually empty unless the player has added folders themselves. Two commonly added folders are listed below:
- ↳\data\
- ↳\logs\
- ↳\beta\
- ↳\live\
- ↳\logs\
- ↳\powercust\
- ↳\screenshots\
- ↳\settings\
- ↳\beta\
- ↳\launcher\
- ↳\packages\
- ↳\profiles\
- ↳\live\
- ↳\settings\
Player Data
Files containing customizations and player-specific data and settings can be found in the following folders:
\accounts\<username>\ \architect\ \assets\mods\ \costumes\ \data\ \powercust\ \screenshots\ \settings\live\
If creating a clean or additional installation of City of Heroes: Homecoming, it would be a good idea to save or backup all of the files in these folders, and then copy and paste them into the new game installation folder(s) to retain all of your player data.
Default Settings Files
The default and/or customized settings for the game are stored in 4 files located in the \settings\live\ folder:
chat.txt (chat settings) keybinds.txt (custom keybinds) options.txt (options settings) wdw.txt (window and User Interface settings)
Playerslot.txt
located in the \accounts\<username>\ folder is another customizable file that sets the order in which your characters will appear in the login screen.
Installing the Game
To download the Homecoming Launcher visit this web page https://forums.homecomingservers.com/getting-started/
- Note: City of Heroes: Homecoming is a completely self-contained and "portable" app, meaning the game can be installed anywhere (even on a flash drive). Homecoming's version of City of Heroes also no longer interacts with or stores any settings in the Windows Registry.
File Browsers
To see, manage, and manipulate your folders and files, you'll need to use a file browser app such as Windows Explorer (in Windows OS) or Finder (in MacOS). Alternately, a command line app could be used such as Command Prompt or Powershell (for Windows OS) or Terminal (for MacOS), however these are not as intuitive as the graphically based file browser apps.