Combatlog Broken

designedbyrng · February 2018

So when using the /combatlog 1 command in chat, it save each action in combat to a log file, but it seems some of these actions don't log properly, which corrupts the log file.

Forgemaster's flame currently has a carriage return at the end of the name. This displays in game as well if you place the power into chat. This completely ruins all logged entries of forgemaster's flame, since it cuts the line item in half.
Slayer marks have a comma in their name that is not properly escaped when placed into the log file. This ruins all data found after their name in the log, since it offsets the columns by one. All commas should probably be escapes from all line items in the log, not just slayer marks, since I believe others exist as well.
Radiant weapon, which is the custom effect created for several items in the firemane lockbox, does not have an owner in the log, which means it cannot be properly credited to anyone.
Several powers log a strange HitPoints line for 0 HitPoints. Shocking execution and conduit of ice are two of the many powers with this issue.
Hammer of fate logs a strange -1000 action points into the log
Maelstrom of chaos logs a strange -500 action points into the log if you cancel it
Both of the above issues would probably be fine if every daily gave a negative action points log item, instead of just two.
Control wizards smolder class feature doesn't seem to be owned by the correct wizard, it keeps changing ownership.
Many neutral effects like campfires and pvp potions don't have owners. It would be great if they were credited to the one standing in the campfire or picking up the potion.

nitocris83 · February 2018

Working on finding out who to report this to!

miasmat · February 2018

combatlog is a plain-text log, not a comma-separated value file. It just happens to look a whole lot like a .csv, which is unfortunate. You're right, it would be easier to automate the parsing of it if we wrote it as a proper .csv with all the escaping and quotation marks around fields. Remember that we don't write the combatlog parser that you're probably using to analyze the logs, so if we change the syntax at all, those devs will have to make a change make it read our new syntax.

For the idiosyncrasies of some powers, remember that we design the powers to work, not necessarily to show up in the combatlog in an easily understood/parsable way. Sometimes those idiosyncrasies are an indication that there's something broken with the power, but sometimes the power is that way to work around some restriction, or to make it play nicely with some feat/set bonus/game mechanic. I can get the Systems designers to look over these examples to see if there's something weird in there that we should be concerned with, but it's pretty low priority.

We'll forward your suggestions along to the right people.

PS: I just checked in a fix to all the power names that had a trailing newline (about 12 of them). Not sure when those fixes will go out.

designedbyrng · February 2018

miasmat said:
PS: I just checked in a fix to all the power names that had a trailing newline (about 12 of them). Not sure when those fixes will go out.

Thank you so much!

miasmat said:
Remember that we don't write the combatlog parser that you're probably using to analyze the logs, so if we change the syntax at all, those devs will have to make a change make it read our new syntax.

You mean me?

I asked because I was updating the ACT parser plugin trying to find out why a bunch of things didn't parse properly. Some of them I fixed, some I didn't see an easy fix for, so I posted them here.

(note that I did not write the original plugin, I have simply been modifying it lately)

miasmat · February 2018

If you want to work around the comma in power names, I'd suggest you look for ",Pn." that'll always be the next field after the power name.

designedbyrng · February 2018

Sorry, what I said was a bit misleading. I did fix the comma issue for the powers I knew of. I just don't know that I know all of them, so I considered it unsolved.

lordaeolos · February 2018

Here is a crazy idea... don't make any changes to the current CombatLog (no impacts to current parsing engines), but make a new one "combatlog2" which would be in a more easily parsed format... then dump everything and the kitchen sink in that log (buffs, heals, damage, controls and actual duration of items). I'm a Business Intelligence Architect IRL, and that would be my dream come true. The current combat log, and third party parsing software/ scripts make it difficult to tune and test (support classes in particular), due to data gaps, and insufficient documentation for writing our own log parsing scripts...

tripsofthrymr · February 2018

lordaeolos said:
Here is a crazy idea... don't make any changes to the current CombatLog (no impacts to current parsing engines), but make a new one "combatlog2" which would be in a more easily parsed format...

I was about to suggest the same, with the minor change /combatlog 2 (same switch, different parameter).

dragonsbite · February 2018

I'd rather the original combat log was changed. It's easy enough to change the parser. But the format needs to apply to all abilities unlike now where some are not logged the same as designedbyrng has pointed out.

Combatlog Broken

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