a solution to the NCSoft Launcher problem has been provided by Mark on the WineHQ page for City of Heroes located here: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=2980
this is a PERL script he wrote. the original page will list the dependencies needed to be installed in order to run correctly. it is located here: http://www.carnildo.com/cohlaunch/index.html
it will download a new version of the client if placed into an empty folder. i recommend downloading a new client with the PERL patcher instead of trying a fresh install from CD/DVD.
when i installed straight from the DVD, no version.ini file was created. this file is needed to tell the patcher the upgrade path. from what i gather, the file is initially created when connecting to the upgrade server through the official launcher. Since we can't use the official launcher anymore, it's no longer a viable path.
to install a new copy of City of Heroes, first create a new winxp bottle with CrossOver Games.
then make sure to place the script inside your intended City of Heroes install folder (ie. where you want the game to be) and run the script from there. for example, mine is located here: /home/<USERNAME>/.cxgames/City of Heroes/drive_c/Program Files/City of Heroes
open a terminal at the location of the script and run it. since there is no copy of City of Heroes present, the launch script will download the most recent version it can find on the server. It will place the new copy of CoH into the empty folder you placed the script into.
to update an existing copy of City of Heroes, first make sure there is a valid version.ini file present in your CoH folder. if there is, then place the script into the same folder as CoH and the version.ini file and run it. the script will check for updates, update as needed, and then launch the game.
i have made a minor adjustment to the script so that it will launch CoH using CXG. in order for this work you must first:
1) open your Manage Bottles window in CXG.
2) highlight the City of Heroes bottle that you've made.
3) click on the Advanced tab.
4) Check the box that says "Use This Bottle as the Default for the Command Line"
that should sort it out. you can grab my CXG specific version of the patcher here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/30531972/cohlaunch.pl
all i did was change the wine call at the end of the script to the cxgames specific method of a command line call.
NOTE: the script assumes you installed CXG with the generic .bin installer. if you used a .deb or .rpm installer, you will need to first locate the directory where the CXG program was installed, and then edit the call at the bottom of the perl script to call the correct directory.
for example, user Vauluur tells us this:
"Thanks, I was able to find the cxgames directory. It installed to /opt. So I modified the script to call /opt/cxgames/bin/wine and it now functions perfectly."
Enjoy!
