hey "elite raiders"

[Rabbi_Hordo]

and those who held themselves above the righteous ways of Gornn were mightily smoted, a lot. And it was good.

And FUN too!

[Nott]

Even if that wasn't there, the pcap file would be HUGE as it sees every packet that would go across (assuming they are using UDP, if it was TCP it would be... OMG), and assuming that some how that information is transmitted in clear text so you could read it... it would still be such a major undertaking that it would be all but impractical.

If the data is truly in the clear, as another poster stated, then no decyphering would be taking place, thus no EULA violation.

As to the large capture file, proper filtering addresses that, but I'm not sure if PCAP's filters allow content filtering (allowing Wireshark, etc., to be the capture app) or if you'd need to write your own capture app. For anyone that's partially competent in C programming, libpcap is a pretty easy library to use.


Edit: when I played EQ, I wrote a real-time parser that fed from the chat log... back then CPU's were half as powerful, and in EQ I received not only my own combat log but everyones... there was no problem keeping up.

[Robnar]

If you think you need an ePeen parser, you know you have a dps problem. seek immediate ungimping medical attention.

Funny thing from FFXI though: other people ran parsers to check how gimp they were vs. my warrior or a friend's samurai. I'd typically do more damage in 20 seconds (and get plastered to the ground) over a 60s fight than others did that lived through it. The ongoing joke with my friend was, "So how long does Bison Steak last?" It's a decent STR and attack buff that was really cheap on the AH. The description said "3 hours" but we were lucky to get 5 minutes, counting the time it took for party arrangements and other buffing.

Long story short, I would not read between the lines of "deciphering" network traffic to mean breaking an encription as opposed to your "monitoring". While I doubt it's actually detectable it's still considered cheating by most. If you really have a concern with DPS there are plenty of posts with formulas based on STR and weapon damage...

[Daigaioh]

and they wonder why I don't join guilds.

[Loki]

and they wonder why I don't join guilds.

This thread set off your drama detector? Time to get that thing re-calibrated.

[LyrandarMemory]

I need a parser to properly evaluate my playstyle. I admit freely that I am having problems building a proper database. I am having issues even finding the proper readable file. You folks are all elite apparently, point me toward the proper file, I'll make it myself if I have to, and if you dont want to share, np at all, just toss me a bone it all seems to be write only or useless. Atm I cant even seem to find anything remotely useful so I need one of you serious raiders to point me in the right direction, I dont need my hand held but at this point, I do need an idea of what file(s) to look at, I am failing hard at my attempts.
If such a thing does not exist for ddo please do not take this post in the wrong fasion. But even a file name would be really helpful at this point.

OK, from the combat log you will get the information which spells were cast (and the caster level). You will get the information which spells have been resisted or failed otherwise. How many damage a certain spell delivered and the damage type (fire, cold, etc.). The same goes for melee weapons. You will see how often you missed, how much damage you dished out and what damage type the wepon delivers (e.g. blunt, pierce, slash, etc.). You will see the damage you received yourself and the healing.


It won't tell you where you were standing. Did you stand right behind the creature while someone else took the beating? Was somene blocking a door while the arcane bbq'ed the creatures from a safe distance? Did you use the wrong weapon on a creature (e.g. maces on zombies, swords on skeletons, etc.)? Did you forget to cast resists before a fight (e.g. getting killed by mephits)? Was a creature too tough because of a combination of causes (e.g. a vampire with regeneration, immune to weapons excpet made from silver and immunities to mind affecting spells, etc.)? The analyisis won't help you with puzzles. The analysis won't tell you if you know your way around or have lbeen lost in a maze.


I don't know how you could improve your playstyle with evaluating the log file alone.
Besides there are other indicators when a dungeon run goes bad (e.g. casters running out of mana a long way before the next shrine, usage of lots of wands, scrolls and mnemonic potions, etc.).
OK, you can gather statistical data and infer what saves a creature has, its ac, hp or immunities. Most of this data you can already get out of the D&D rulebooks (player's handbook, dungeon masters guide, monstrous manual, etc.) and I guess the DDO Wiki provides quite some additional informations about DDO "houserules".


Personally I don't like to what the automated analysis of comabt logs leads to. Most probably to some kind of DPS meter (it is arguable how accurate the analysis is, given the diversity of spells and their implementation, creature immunities, inability of people to perform the analysis and to understand and evaluate results, etc.). What I really wouldn't like to see is lfms like "ww elite, 5k dps required" in the future.

[Mts]

lol - This thread is chock full of win.

[Harncw]

If the data is truly in the clear, as another poster stated, then no decyphering would be taking place, thus no EULA violation.

As to the large capture file, proper filtering addresses that, but I'm not sure if PCAP's filters allow content filtering (allowing Wireshark, etc., to be the capture app) or if you'd need to write your own capture app. For anyone that's partially competent in C programming, libpcap is a pretty easy library to use.


Edit: when I played EQ, I wrote a real-time parser that fed from the chat log... back then CPU's were half as powerful, and in EQ I received not only my own combat log but everyones... there was no problem keeping up.

yeah been awhile since I have played with ethereal...

In the past I used it to figure out who the smurfs where in total annihilation kingdoms.

I'm surprised there isn't much info on packet sniffing this game.
I may have to take a snort.

[Yagi]

Yeah I figured there was gonna be some huge thread-wide acrimony with further allegations by haters that a certain a guild was full of hackers and cheaters but happily, I was wrong.

Disclaimer: The certain guild in question, to my knowledge, is not full of hackers and cheaters. They are some pretty good players with whom I like to run occasionally.

I wasnt infering anything of the sort, I just heard that it was supposedly the top raiding guild on the server (I know next to nothing about guilds or politics in this game/on the server. I just said "supposed" beacuse I imagine progression is a bit harder to monitor in an instanced game) and figured if it existed, they would know about it and that addressing the post to them would be good for a bump or two, which it was, and thanks for the clarification all.

[Yagi]

OK, from the combat log you will get the information which spells were cast (and the caster level). You will get the information which spells have been resisted or failed otherwise. How many damage a certain spell delivered and the damage type (fire, cold, etc.). The same goes for melee weapons. You will see how often you missed, how much damage you dished out and what damage type the wepon delivers (e.g. blunt, pierce, slash, etc.). You will see the damage you received yourself and the healing.


It won't tell you where you were standing. Did you stand right behind the creature while someone else took the beating? Was somene blocking a door while the arcane bbq'ed the creatures from a safe distance? Did you use the wrong weapon on a creature (e.g. maces on zombies, swords on skeletons, etc.)? Did you forget to cast resists before a fight (e.g. getting killed by mephits)? Was a creature too tough because of a combination of causes (e.g. a vampire with regeneration, immune to weapons excpet made from silver and immunities to mind affecting spells, etc.)? The analyisis won't help you with puzzles. The analysis won't tell you if you know your way around or have lbeen lost in a maze.


I don't know how you could improve your playstyle with evaluating the log file alone.
Besides there are other indicators when a dungeon run goes bad (e.g. casters running out of mana a long way before the next shrine, usage of lots of wands, scrolls and mnemonic potions, etc.).
OK, you can gather statistical data and infer what saves a creature has, its ac, hp or immunities. Most of this data you can already get out of the D&D rulebooks (player's handbook, dungeon masters guide, monstrous manual, etc.) and I guess the DDO Wiki provides quite some additional informations about DDO "houserules".


Personally I don't like to what the automated analysis of comabt logs leads to. Most probably to some kind of DPS meter (it is arguable how accurate the analysis is, given the diversity of spells and their implementation, creature immunities, inability of people to perform the analysis and to understand and evaluate results, etc.). What I really wouldn't like to see is lfms like "ww elite, 5k dps required" in the future.

I mainly wanted to parse to see how the subtle differences in weapons that rely on rng compare to eachother in real time with a way to easily and completely factor in variables beyond my control, and also I have found ways of moving in combat that *appear* to increase my outgoing potential, but I dont know if this is simply a matter of my perception or if there are tangible benefits, and some solid parses would save me a lot of time.