SWTOR Combat Log Parser RoundUp

37 Replies

I wanted to share a round-up of all of the combat log parsers, since so many people worked so hard on making tools for the rest of the community to use. Keep in mind, these parsers have had limited testing, so if you find a bug, feel free to report it. It’s helpful if you can provide a link to your log as well.

I was looking for several features as a user, and checked up on all of the parsers yesterday to get the latest features and screenshots.

  • Accurate: I tested the log with a Black Talon run, and a log from Zorn and Toth. I compared results and gave an accurate rating if the log was within 1% of the actual DPS (total damage / length of fight)
  • Share Log: can I get a permalink to share the report results with a friend or guild mate?
  • Merge Logs: can logs from various group members be uploaded and merged together to show overall boss fight numbers?

Grab the PDF of this chart.

You can find more information on Mr. Robot’s Combat Log Parser over here. Or just start playing with it now, or take a look at a demo version with some logs already loaded.

  • TonyMayes

    I’m the developer of the NotTheGuild combat parser. Damage / length of fight is not a proper DPS algorithm. That’s what I had at first, but then I realized that instant abilities and any ability less than 1.5 seconds needs to increase the dividend by 1.5 seconds due to the global cooldown. You also need to stop calculating damage per second when the character is not active (i.e. if you die in the middle of a fight, if you stop casting, etc.).
     
    Thanks for the reviews, but please look into the algorithms used by recount so that your table above can be more accurate in reviewing.

    • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

       @TonyMayes Good discussion point :)   For now, I can update the charts and show that you are doing an accurate calculation, it’s just different. Do you have a link to the recount algorithms that I can refer people to?
       
      We discussed the DPS numbers when building the tool out, and we stepped back and asked “What should DPS really mean?” There’s a couple of ways to do it.
       
      Option 1: Track DPS only while a player is active (the method you are using)
      Option 2: Track total damage divided by length of a fight (the method we are using) – we chose this because we feel is the more relevant measurement.
       
      We believe that one of the most important factors for determining a raid’s performance, is how active each of their team members is. If a team member stops casting for half of the fight because they keep running out of force power, that should be reflected in their overall contribution to the fight. If a player is dead for half the fight, that should also be reflected. This method also allows you to find out what classes shine of various boss fights.
       
      For example, if a boss requires a lot of running around, your DoT-heavy classes might out-DPS the long-cast-time-nuker classes. You’ll also have some player who are excellent at the shoot-run-shoot-run-shoot-run skill required for some boss fights, and other players do something like run-run-run-omgShoot-run-run-run.  With this method, the latter player will see a lower DPS score, and we feel that is relevant.

    • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

       @TonyMayes I updated the chart, reddit and swtor threads to list you as accurate :)

      • TonyMayes

         @Vee Tegen / Zoopercat Awesome – yeah, I ran with guildies last night of the same opinion you guys had. They think it’s more relevant as well, and to be honest, so do I. If you pop cooldowns and die in 2 seconds, you shouldn’t top DPS meters lol. I am adding an activity bar, like the one recount had, to the real-time version (coming in the next couple weeks), as well as a DPS total chart. They will be labeled DPS total and DPS while active. Thanks much again for the input!

        • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

           @TonyMayes Live meters, cool! I assume people will run an application to grab the data? Will it be a web-based live meter, or a desktop app?

        • TonyMayes

           @Vee Tegen / Zoopercat It’ll be a desktop App. It will roll out first for Windows users, and soon after that there will be a port for Linux and Mac users as well. It works similarly to a chat room. The way a user will connect is as follows:
           
          If you or your Op leader has created an Op on the server, you can put in the key and password for the Op
          If no Op instance exists on the server for your Op yet, you can Create a New Op ID and assign it a password
          The server will give you a unique ID that others will connect to your Op with, along with your password
          The app will have the option to sit on top of the game client if you choose (“Always On Top”)
          Because of the the server is mediating between everyone, it is taking more time than I’d like to have a proper algorithm for determining encounter boundaries. Until then, there will be a “save and clear” as well as a “clear” button for anyone that is an administrator to the Op on the server. All of the commands to the server will come from the desktop client.
           
          Future:
          There will also be a real-time feed to a javascript version on the site, for those with 2 monitors, and a mobile version soon after that, for those who do not want the client on top of their game, the web-based real time version will come after the initial release.

        • TonyMayes

           @Vee Tegen / Zoopercat 
          Initial release should be ready tomorrow or early this next week.
           
          Here’s a screenshot of the app:
           
          http://nottheguild.com/images/swtor-combat-parser.png

        • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

           @TonyMayes Very cool :)

        • TonyMayes

           @Vee Tegen / Zoopercat http://swtorcombatparser.com/download beta Windows client is now live

  • http://www.methodical.enjin.com Wugan

    This is very promising, and the interface is miles ahead of anything else I’ve seen in terms of polish.  Things I noticed right away:
     
    - No ability to delete logs that I want to get rid of
    - No ability to manually merge a log that I know should be joined, but your search can’t find
    - With multiple merged logs from different time zones, the fights do not match up, and thus the main benefit of merging is lost.  I’m sure this is a huge challenge, but does not appear to be working yet.

    • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

       @Wugan Hey, thanks for leaving the feedback, I have a few responses:
      1. You are right, we don’t have a way to delete logs. Are you looking to have a clean ‘my logs’ list? Or are you trying to do something else with delete?
      2. I want to make sure you did this part right (we tried to make it simple, but might need to improve on some messaging). Click the ‘merge logs’ button in the upper right corner of any report screen. You will get a window that lets you type in someone’s name to search for the log. As long as that log is uploaded, it will find it and merge it*  (*assuming no bugs). Read through the tutorial here that  I just published, see if that helps at all: http://blog.askmrrobot.com/2012/04/mr-robots-combat-log-analyzer/  
      2.b. If you can email me your logs, I’ll test it out for bugs.
      2.c. All logs need to have the same date, server, and zone selected (with the respective time zones) as well. The guild does NOT have to match.
      3. The logs do cross over time zones – you’ll notice in the upload process, we ask the person for their time zone. As long as people select their own time zone, it’s all good. You can also upload several logs at once, as long as they are from the same raid. Then you need to select the time zone for ONE of the logs (be sure to select the right name in the drop down, and the associated time zone). Then Mr. Robot will automatically assign time zones to the rest of them, by looking for a fight in each log that lines up.
       
      That all being said, email me your logs if you don’t mind. I’d like to take a look. vee [at] askmrrobot dotttt com.

    • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

       @Wugan Also, if you’d like to test it out again, try to reupload some logs (since you can’t delete them).. you can upload it again but pick a different server, then upload each log under that new server.

    • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

       @Wugan Annnnddd, one more thing ;)   I just realized some people might be choosing the time zone of the server, not their own time zone. We need the player’s time zone, since the logs are written on their computer’s time. I will update this messaging in our upload process to make that very obvious :)

      • http://www.methodical.enjin.com Wugan

         @Vee Tegen / Zoopercat Alright, thanks for the reply, and let me try to get to all that. :)
         
        1.  I mostly want an option to delete because of some of the problems I’ve run into when trying to merge logs.  It would be great to be able to start over without having to pretend we’re on another server. :)
         
        2.  I did try to use the merge tool.  I have a log saved for one of the people on the list that it says it’s searching for, but the merge tool just can’t find it.  A manual merge option would help in that case.  
         
        2b.  I have too many logs to easily email I think (16 player raid), but my username is the same as my name here if you’re able to log in on the back end and take a look.
         
        2c.  The problem is that I can’t select the same time zone for every log because (a) when I upload multiple logs, I can only select one time zone and (b) we have people from several different time zones in our raid.  
         
        3.  So, I’m guessing this part is not working as well as hoped, because I did what you have outlined here, but some of the logs just did not line up.  We had 17 attempts on Toth and Zorn hard mode on 16 player, but when I uploaded about half the logs, it was showing 26 attempts, with lots of attempts with only one or two players.  

        • http://www.methodical.enjin.com Wugan

           @Vee Tegen / Zoopercat Oh it also seems as though merging a log into a group that already has that log will just add that info on top, making the person look like they are doing twice the DPS, taking twice the damage, etc.

        • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

           @Wugan Deleting makes sense, we’ll see about adding that in. The problem we run into is permissions. If someone isn’t logged in (or doesn’t want to make an account) – who can delete that record? Perhaps we can put that feature in for anyone who’s logged in.
           
          On #2.c: you only need to know the timezone of one of the logs if you’re uploading them as a group. When you upload them, select all of them at the same time by holding down the ctrl key when clicking. Then, you only have to know one time zone, and Mr. Robot will take care of the rest. We look for several fights, then apply a time zone offset.
           
          That being said, it’s possible that isn’t working well. Do you have a drop box account you can drop the logs into? Or maybe you can zip and email it?

        • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

           @Wugan I made a google site, you can try uploading the logs there if you want: https://sites.google.com/site/robotcombatlog/upload-combat-logs

        • http://www.methodical.enjin.com Wugan

           @Vee Tegen / Zoopercat The google site is a good idea, but I don’t see the link to actually add files.  I can try to email, where should I send them?

        • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

           @Wugan Weird, the page says ppl can upload stuff. Oh well. Email feedback@(oursite).com. You know, replace ‘oursite’ with askmrrobot.

  • Adirelle

    Hello, could you add a column about “foreign” langage (and Unicode) support please ? I have the feeling some parsers are unable to parse non-english logs and most of them do not display Unicode-encoded spell names properly. I could provide some French logs if need be. Great work (both this article and Mr. Robot Parser) anyway.

    • Bladrak

       @Adirelle For information, the SWTOR Log Analyzer (BlackSheep Troopers) alledgedly supports all languages : tested with French combat logs.

      • Adirelle

         @Bladrak Actually most tools properly parse the logs but few ones display the non-ASCII characters right. BlackSheep Troopers’ is one of them.

    • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

       @Adirelle Adirelle, if you know which ones already support french logs, I’d love to add that column. Also, if you give me some french logs, I can do some testing as well. Post a link to dropbox, or email me: feedback@askmrrobot.com

  • Bladrak

    Hi,
    I’m the developer of “BlackSheep Troopers” log analyzer.
    I’d like to add few details : you can share logs through the page link, even though it’s not currently specified in the web application : the link is a permalink.
    Since the 1.0 version you can merge logs through the guild panel, or without a guild through the creation of a grouped log.
    Finally : I’d like to see what you used to compare the DPS, this might be an issue and I would need this information to correct this if it’s the case. Maybe you’ve looked at the DPS over the combat log, and not the fight, in that case this would be normal as the combat log DPS is the mean of the fights DPS.
     
    Thanks !

    • Bladrak

      A detail I did not mention : currently the grouped logs on different timezones are not supported. It’s something I’m working on.

    • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

       @Bladrak Hey Bladrak, I’ll update all posts accordingly tomorrow, thanks for the notes. I used a lowbie BT run I did, and looked at the GXR-7 fight. The log is here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/58652057/Zoopercatz_BT_3-29.txt
       
      I also used someone’s raid log and looked at the last Zorn / Toth fight, that log is here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/58652057/Ajay_Denova_4-4-12.txt  However, I couldn’t get this log to upload to your site, so I wasn’t able to use this fight in my comparisons.
       
      I wanted to update the original thread(s) with any guides or FAQ’s people have for the various parsers. If you have anything, send me a link and I’ll get that added in too!
       
      Re: Grouped logs in different time zones: yeah… man this merging is not an easy problem to solve! We’re still refining ours as well.

      • Bladrak

         @Vee Tegen / Zoopercat Thanks for the details ! There was some issues on some logs, most of them should be fixed now, however the server is a bit slow and doesn’t deal well with logs > 1MB. I’m considering migrating to a more powerful server though. Another important point is that the web application parses the date from the combat log file name, so the naming format of the file must be the same than the one generated by the game. I did this to get the date even after Bioware took it out of the combat log itself.
         
        I have a guide in French, I’ll try to translate it to English and will provide this to you !
         
        About the time zones, I’m still hoping Bioware will deal with it on the log side anytime soon, this is a major issue for everyone… Your solution is probably the best, however this doesn’t deal with minutes shifting if the time is set manually on the computer for instance, and I don’t see any solution but to take the time from the user’s computer on the upload, and convert to server time. However, doing this means you can’t upload combat logs from another computer. Such a mess!
         
        Anyways, thanks for all the work you’re putting into this !

      • Bladrak

         @Vee Tegen / Zoopercat Hi again ! Here is the link for the user guide : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1floYRW2jygySoDbbwBfzq167DE4VFeuyb_AThTBD4LE/edit ! Thanks again !

      • Bladrak

         @Vee Tegen / Zoopercat Thanks for your logs, I managed to see why there was so much differences between the DPS stats. Actually there are 2 reasons :
        1. At the time you did the tests, I wasn’t dividing the log into fights, which meant that the DPS was the overall DPS on the entire log duration. This has changed now, you can view DPS per fight (and those are much closer).
        2. Our fight division is different : I’m stopping a fight when I get the End Fight event, or the next Start Fight event. It seems you are stopping the fight when the player dies. I think those are different choices : I choose this solution so we could have the fight in the same log if the player is resurrected during the fight. But this also means that if the player died during the fight, it will be longer in my application, and so the DPS will be lower than yours. I am studying a solution to stop the fight if the player died and wasn’t resurrected, but I have to find a log with a resurrected player to do so.

        • Vee Tegen / Zoopercat

           @Bladrak Re #1: makes sense.
          Re #2: If a log is not merged, we end DPS when someone dies, but when a log is merged we end the DPS when the fight ends (like you are describing). In the test log I used, I didn’t die, so the stats should match up, right? What DPS are you seeing on the GXR-7 droid fight now?

        • Bladrak

           @Vee Tegen / Zoopercat #2 Indeed, in the first log, the DPS were a match (I have 117.16 DPS vs 118.0 on ask mr robot so 0.007% differences). As said on the bug tracker, there is an ongoing maintenance right now, but this will soon be over and you’ll be able to test it :)
           
          Thanks again for your amazing work!

        • Bladrak

           @Vee Tegen / Zoopercat The maintenance is over, you can test it if you’d like :)

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  • GuildStats

    Im the developer behind GuildStats ( http://www.guildstats.net )
     
    I have released the version version supporting SWTOR and would love to see in reviewed along the other parsers.

    • GuildStats

       @GuildStats 
       
      Forgot to post the feature list, for those that did not use Guildstats before :)
       
      GuildStats.NET client reads and parses combat logs. It’s primary use is for PVE grouping and raiding. It allows you to sort player performance based on damage done, damage taken, healing done, healing taken and deaths, including detailed attack and healing information on a per player basis. All statistics are also viewable on an per encounter based timeline. Best of all this is COMPLETELY FREE to USE! 
       
       Features Publish logs to the to the web.
       Charts for Raid,players or in real time.
       Plugin support, allowing the community to add their own features.
       Show damage done, damage taken, healing done and healing taken + much more .
       Automatically finds your party/raid members ( And can filter the players outside your party away)
       Minimal UI mode that can run on top of the game in windowed mode. Kill on Sight list ( KoS ) list in game.
       Link damage from pets to spesfic players Show DPS / HPS on a pr player or entire raid basis. 
       Show in game reports on stats or other useful raid information. Show statistics on a per event/encounter basis.
       Show statistics on a per player basis. Show statistics on a per ability basis. Show statistics on a per damage type.