Basic Questions
What does Splasher do?
It takes an image and does some technical mumbo-jumbo, which results in that image becoming your City of Heroes (or City of Villains) Login screen, or Character Selection screen. The image can be in BMP, JPEG, GIF or TGA format.
It can also take a sound file and set it as the background music for the login screen, the Pocket D dance floor, or any of the BoomBox tunes. The sound file can be in MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4, M4A, AAC, OGG, WAV or WMA format.
The "Splash Randomizer" feature allows you to have random screens each time you start City of Heroes.
What does it not do?
It can't convert WMA or MP4 files if they're copy protected with DRM.
Does this break the EULA or Terms of Service?
No. You are not modifying, replacing or even looking at the game files. The thread about this program is even a sticky in the official US forums!
Can I see an example?
How do I use it?
Open Splasher and click the "Browse..." button. Locate your image, and click Open. If the file was opened correctly, a preview image will appear.
The program will have automatically detected the path to your City of Heroes client; if it didn't, or if you want to apply the login screen to another client (such as the Training Room), go to the "Settings" tab to configure it.
At this point, the four buttons to save your screen will become available. Click any of them, and start the City of Heroes client to see the results!
What are "Image Frames"?
By default, Splasher will add black bars at the top and bottom to your Login image, letterboxing it and displaying the game's logo in them. Similarly, the Character Selection screen will add a round border to your image. If you don't want Splasher to modify your images in any way, uncheck "Overlay image frames" in the "Screens" tab.
Note that removing the frame from the Character Selection image is not recommended, as that image is shared in many places (such as your Enhancements screen) and it might not look very good without it.
What's this "Randomizer" thingy?
The Randomizer allows you to change your screens randomly every time you start the game. In order to use it, you need to first load images into it from the Randomizer tab, as if you were adding them normally. The images you add will NOT be set as your current login screen; they will just be added to the random pool.
Once you've added a few images to the randomizer, quit Splasher. Then, click the "Splash Randomizer" icon in the Splasher start menu. It will pick a random file from the ones you've loaded, and then start the City of Heroes updater so you can play the game.
Can I view the screens I have placed in the Randomizer and remove them if I want to?
Sure! You'll need to install a small viewer for their file format, however. Click here for details.
Can I drag the "Splash Randomizer" icon to my desktop and rename it "City of Heroes"?
Sure! Then you'll never know the Randomizer is there... except for the changing screens!
I love Splasher and I want to throw money at you!
Be my guest! I'll use it to keep my City of Heroes subscription running, and it'll certainly motivate me to add more stuff to Splasher!
I have another question or request.
You can either email me at leandrotlz@gmail.com, contact me in-game with the global handle @Leandro (US servers only) or send me a private message from this page.
Labels: faq
Posted by Leandro, 8/15/2007 04:29:00 PM
