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What is the Arc Client?
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ACT Setup and use.
msicptn
Member Posts: 17 Arc User
Hey guys, 
Sorry for any confusion.
I suggest reading this post thoroughly to get the most out of the guide linked here. I have a few additions you may need to get up and running, as well as a couple of tips and tricks. Bear with me here, there is a lot to read but it is worth it.
ACT: Download < Grab the top file on the downloads list
Plugin: sto.cs <Right click, "Save target as/Save link as".
http://hilbertguide.com/ACT.html This is another possibly better plugin for ACT. Check out both of them on the page and save them the same way as the link above.
Download the files and run the installer forACT.
There is a list of Install/Download paths at the bottom.
For the "sto.cs" plugin for ACT. If you open the link you will be directed to a page full of text. Right click and save link as\save target as, to download the plugin required for ACT. Once you have it saved, find this file in your downloads folder, and move it to the install path of ACT (Cut/paste-Drag/drop). On Vista\7 you will be asked for administrator access to perform this action. This is fine, click "OK" or "Allow".
Loading the Plugin:If you have moved the plugin "sto.cs" to your ACT install folder, this step is easy. If it is your first time starting ACT IGNORE THE POP UP WINDOW, just close it. The wizard will not be needed. You will be at the "Options" Tab, click over to "Plugins" tab. Here you will see an open box, "Browse.." Button and "Add/Enable Plugin" button. Click browse to bring up a window to search for the plugin, by default it is set to the ACT install path. HEY LOOK! "sto.cs" is RIGHT THERE!!! Select it and click open. Now click "Add/Enable Plugin" You will now see a new box with sto.cs\ STO ACT plugin loaded and a check box "+Enabled" Wasn't that easy?
Next the Log file. If like me you went hunting in STO's directory looking for a log only to be frustrated to find nothing here is what you need to do!
Get STO up and running, and enter "/CombatLog 1" (Without quotes) into chat and hit enter. Nothing should happen, you shouldn't see it in the chat window. Now go blow up or kill something. When finished, type"/ComabtLog 0" (It's a Zero, and again, no quotes). You have just created a combat log in the directory listed above! Next head back into ACT. Under the "Options" tab, click "Miscellaneous". Click "Open Log" Button and find the directory path that matches your system, for the log file you created. They are listed above, remember!
Okay, so at this point you have a log, and a plugin! By using the "/CombatLog 1" command in chat you will render data into ACT and see all sorts of information. You could by all right stop here. If you want to understand this data, organize it, and possibly put it to use KEEP READING!
Now lets talk about sorting the combat data so you can utilize it easier and keep individual battles/missions seperate.
Under the "Options" tab, highlight "General" in the "Main Table/Encounters" tree. You will see four clickable boxes with descriptions. Make sure the top two options are selected, they are:
+Reverse Sorting order of the main table. (Descending order)
Main table update frequency | 5 | <This will make the graph/spreadsheet update quicker for those with multiple screens that wish to watch during gameplay.
+Show thousand seperators in the Main tables
TIMER SETTINGS
Here we need to take a moment to decide which method of turning on and off the parsing tool we use.
One method allows for you too have control by turning the combat log on and off from within STO. The alternate way (setup by default) is to use an internal timer to divide the encounters after no combat takes place for 6 seconds.
If you want control from within STO un-select the following settings.
-Number of seconds to wait after the last combat action to begin a new encounter | 6 |
-Use an internal timer count down instead of relying only on logfile timestamps.
Now the game will keep all combat activity in one encounter untill you tell it to end that encounter.
To do so you have two options.
1. In game in your chat window use the "/CombatLog 0" to stop the combat log recording.
2. In ACT "Main" tab at the bottom there is a button "End Encounter" , which manually stops the encounter in ACT. (To ensure there are no errors, I have been doing this.)
Now at the end of an encounter, the list will be populated and be given a name. ACT usually picks the name of a foe from the encounter. You can rename each encounter by right clicking it and selecting the rename option. A box will open to the right and give you a place to type the name into. For example: If you ran a Cure Space Elite STF, name it CSE-1. You can now organize your data!!! You can also do this to your merged data from the internal timing method.
Under the "Main" tab, at the bottom left there are several buttons to push, and two boxes to select/un-select.
+Show checkboxes (Merge/Delete) < Selecting this will allow you to merge multiple encounters together for either reference on a daily total or organizing your data!
+Dis-able Table Auto-Refresh < Use this if you want ACT to use less resources during gameplay.
Note: At the top of the spreadsheet there is a button, with a mountain and sun like picture in it, which will allow for screen shots of the graph/spreadsheet/both to be taken and saved to a path of your choice, great for comparing builds/specs/team ups etc.
A few more things to note: If you leave the boxes checked for the internal timer, the merge function will become useful for compiling the information from individual encounters into complete mission long data tables.
The rest are buttons.
"Search" < You guessed it.
"Refresh List" < Used when Auto refresh is disabled.
"End Encounter" < Manual override.
"Clear Encounters" < Removes all data collected in graph and list.
Remember you can always switch to ACT and click "End Encounter" to manually override the combat log's trigger in game via "/CombatLog 0"
Exporting to clipboard settings.
+Export to Clipboard after combat <Selected
+For text exports, filter out combatants with spaces in their name. <Selected
Clipboard formatting >"Add Preset"
When the window pops up do as follows.
1.Allies Formatting>Edit directly>Empty this box>Save
2.Per-Combatant Formatting>Edit Directly>Clear this box>Save.
On scrolling list below..
3.Find "Name (15 Chars)">select>Append to Per-Combatant Formatting box
4.Find "Custom Text" >select>In blue text box that appears click and add ": " (that's a colon with a space after it.)>Append to Per-Combatant Formatting box.
5.Find "Encounter DPS">Select>Append to Per-Combatant Formatting box.
Your box should read {NAME15}{: }{EncDPS}
+Only Export allied combatants <Selected
+Prefix Allied statistics<UNSELECTED
Sort combatants by: EncDPS
Now click the "Add Text Format Preset" and close the window.
Back up to the drop menu "Clipboard formatting", select your newly created preset.
Now when you get done with an encounter, you can right click the enconter in the list under the "Main" tab, "copy custom to clipboard" and "Ctrl+V" paste it into chat in STO! Occassionaly you will get one or two enemy stats in there but I am working on that fix. Now as for the EQ2 Macro file section, I have no idea if we can use this yet, but I'm looking into it.
Tweaking Settings: I'll be adding to this in this thread as learn more about the program.
Some places in the "Options" tab that are useful!
"Miscellaneous"
CPU Priority of normal log parsing < Good for resource management on lower end hardware.
"Main Table/Encounters"
Encounter View Options. < A list of all the options that show up on the main list spreadsheet
"Output Display"
Graphing < Here you can switch between bar and line graphs, be careful to read all the information in this window as it can be CPU intensive.
"Selective Parsing"
Here you will find options to only allow ACT to parse information for specific players.
This is useful for large maps with 10+ players involved. If you are going in as a specific group as a fleet action or team, this allows you to add their @handles so ACT only parses information for these players. The options in the "Combat Limiting" section allow you to turn on or off features to control what information gets displayed.
Here are a list of install/download paths for different systems for STO\ACT.
[Note: If you set a custom install path for STO or ACT these will not help you.]
Downloads: This gets tricky, there are many different default download folders depending on browser and operating system, so lets go the most basic rout. Note I only cover the basic three, if you use a different browser the steps here are all fairly simmilar and can be reproduced in most browsers.
Internet Explorer: I highly recomend not using this browser, ever. However when you initiate a download the default folder will be displayed in the window that pops up. You should use this to go get one of the following two browsers.
Firefox: Open Fire fox, go to "Tools" > "Options" and you should see the Download folder right on the very first screen, this is your download path.
Chrome: Open Chrome, Press "Ctrl+J" On your keyboard, this opens downloads tab, then click "View Downloads Folder" link near top right of the window, this is your download path.
[Note: to check if you have a 32/64 bit version of windows look under Control panel>System]
STO: Windows Vista / 7 64bit\32bit
Non steam
"C:\Users\Public\Games\Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online" <Both 64bit\32bit
Steam
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online" <64bit
"C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online" <32bit
STO Windows XP
Non Steam
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online" <64bit
"C:\Program Files\Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online" <32bit
Steam
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online <64bit
"C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online <32bit
ACT Windows XP\Vista\7
"C:\Program Files\Advanced Combat Tracker" <64bit
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Advanced Combat Tracker" <32bit
Log File Windows XP\Vista\7
Non Steam
"C:\Users\Public\Games\Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online\Live\logs\GameClient"
Steam
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online\Star Trek Online\Live\logs\GameClient" <64bit
"C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online\Star Trek Online\Live\logs\GameClient" <32bit
I realize there is a lot I have not covered here, but it is because I simply do not know! The more I learn the more this guide will be updated and refined. User input is welcomed and if you have any questions PM me or find me in game @MSiCptn
-MSi
Sorry for any confusion.
I suggest reading this post thoroughly to get the most out of the guide linked here. I have a few additions you may need to get up and running, as well as a couple of tips and tricks. Bear with me here, there is a lot to read but it is worth it.ACT: Download < Grab the top file on the downloads list
Plugin: sto.cs <Right click, "Save target as/Save link as".
http://hilbertguide.com/ACT.html This is another possibly better plugin for ACT. Check out both of them on the page and save them the same way as the link above.
Download the files and run the installer forACT.
There is a list of Install/Download paths at the bottom.
For the "sto.cs" plugin for ACT. If you open the link you will be directed to a page full of text. Right click and save link as\save target as, to download the plugin required for ACT. Once you have it saved, find this file in your downloads folder, and move it to the install path of ACT (Cut/paste-Drag/drop). On Vista\7 you will be asked for administrator access to perform this action. This is fine, click "OK" or "Allow".
Loading the Plugin:If you have moved the plugin "sto.cs" to your ACT install folder, this step is easy. If it is your first time starting ACT IGNORE THE POP UP WINDOW, just close it. The wizard will not be needed. You will be at the "Options" Tab, click over to "Plugins" tab. Here you will see an open box, "Browse.." Button and "Add/Enable Plugin" button. Click browse to bring up a window to search for the plugin, by default it is set to the ACT install path. HEY LOOK! "sto.cs" is RIGHT THERE!!! Select it and click open. Now click "Add/Enable Plugin" You will now see a new box with sto.cs\ STO ACT plugin loaded and a check box "+Enabled" Wasn't that easy?
Next the Log file. If like me you went hunting in STO's directory looking for a log only to be frustrated to find nothing here is what you need to do!
Get STO up and running, and enter "/CombatLog 1" (Without quotes) into chat and hit enter. Nothing should happen, you shouldn't see it in the chat window. Now go blow up or kill something. When finished, type"/ComabtLog 0" (It's a Zero, and again, no quotes). You have just created a combat log in the directory listed above! Next head back into ACT. Under the "Options" tab, click "Miscellaneous". Click "Open Log" Button and find the directory path that matches your system, for the log file you created. They are listed above, remember!
Okay, so at this point you have a log, and a plugin! By using the "/CombatLog 1" command in chat you will render data into ACT and see all sorts of information. You could by all right stop here. If you want to understand this data, organize it, and possibly put it to use KEEP READING!
Now lets talk about sorting the combat data so you can utilize it easier and keep individual battles/missions seperate.
Under the "Options" tab, highlight "General" in the "Main Table/Encounters" tree. You will see four clickable boxes with descriptions. Make sure the top two options are selected, they are:
+Reverse Sorting order of the main table. (Descending order)
Main table update frequency | 5 | <This will make the graph/spreadsheet update quicker for those with multiple screens that wish to watch during gameplay.
+Show thousand seperators in the Main tables
TIMER SETTINGS
Here we need to take a moment to decide which method of turning on and off the parsing tool we use.
One method allows for you too have control by turning the combat log on and off from within STO. The alternate way (setup by default) is to use an internal timer to divide the encounters after no combat takes place for 6 seconds.
If you want control from within STO un-select the following settings.
-Number of seconds to wait after the last combat action to begin a new encounter | 6 |
-Use an internal timer count down instead of relying only on logfile timestamps.
Now the game will keep all combat activity in one encounter untill you tell it to end that encounter.
To do so you have two options.
1. In game in your chat window use the "/CombatLog 0" to stop the combat log recording.
2. In ACT "Main" tab at the bottom there is a button "End Encounter" , which manually stops the encounter in ACT. (To ensure there are no errors, I have been doing this.)
Now at the end of an encounter, the list will be populated and be given a name. ACT usually picks the name of a foe from the encounter. You can rename each encounter by right clicking it and selecting the rename option. A box will open to the right and give you a place to type the name into. For example: If you ran a Cure Space Elite STF, name it CSE-1. You can now organize your data!!! You can also do this to your merged data from the internal timing method.
Under the "Main" tab, at the bottom left there are several buttons to push, and two boxes to select/un-select.
+Show checkboxes (Merge/Delete) < Selecting this will allow you to merge multiple encounters together for either reference on a daily total or organizing your data!
+Dis-able Table Auto-Refresh < Use this if you want ACT to use less resources during gameplay.
Note: At the top of the spreadsheet there is a button, with a mountain and sun like picture in it, which will allow for screen shots of the graph/spreadsheet/both to be taken and saved to a path of your choice, great for comparing builds/specs/team ups etc.
A few more things to note: If you leave the boxes checked for the internal timer, the merge function will become useful for compiling the information from individual encounters into complete mission long data tables.
The rest are buttons.
"Search" < You guessed it.
"Refresh List" < Used when Auto refresh is disabled.
"End Encounter" < Manual override.
"Clear Encounters" < Removes all data collected in graph and list.
Remember you can always switch to ACT and click "End Encounter" to manually override the combat log's trigger in game via "/CombatLog 0"
Exporting to clipboard settings.
+Export to Clipboard after combat <Selected
+For text exports, filter out combatants with spaces in their name. <Selected
Clipboard formatting >"Add Preset"
When the window pops up do as follows.
1.Allies Formatting>Edit directly>Empty this box>Save
2.Per-Combatant Formatting>Edit Directly>Clear this box>Save.
On scrolling list below..
3.Find "Name (15 Chars)">select>Append to Per-Combatant Formatting box
4.Find "Custom Text" >select>In blue text box that appears click and add ": " (that's a colon with a space after it.)>Append to Per-Combatant Formatting box.
5.Find "Encounter DPS">Select>Append to Per-Combatant Formatting box.
Your box should read {NAME15}{: }{EncDPS}
+Only Export allied combatants <Selected
+Prefix Allied statistics<UNSELECTED
Sort combatants by: EncDPS
Now click the "Add Text Format Preset" and close the window.
Back up to the drop menu "Clipboard formatting", select your newly created preset.
Now when you get done with an encounter, you can right click the enconter in the list under the "Main" tab, "copy custom to clipboard" and "Ctrl+V" paste it into chat in STO! Occassionaly you will get one or two enemy stats in there but I am working on that fix. Now as for the EQ2 Macro file section, I have no idea if we can use this yet, but I'm looking into it.
Tweaking Settings: I'll be adding to this in this thread as learn more about the program.
Some places in the "Options" tab that are useful!
"Miscellaneous"
CPU Priority of normal log parsing < Good for resource management on lower end hardware.
"Main Table/Encounters"
Encounter View Options. < A list of all the options that show up on the main list spreadsheet
"Output Display"
Graphing < Here you can switch between bar and line graphs, be careful to read all the information in this window as it can be CPU intensive.
"Selective Parsing"
Here you will find options to only allow ACT to parse information for specific players.
This is useful for large maps with 10+ players involved. If you are going in as a specific group as a fleet action or team, this allows you to add their @handles so ACT only parses information for these players. The options in the "Combat Limiting" section allow you to turn on or off features to control what information gets displayed.
Here are a list of install/download paths for different systems for STO\ACT.
[Note: If you set a custom install path for STO or ACT these will not help you.]
Downloads: This gets tricky, there are many different default download folders depending on browser and operating system, so lets go the most basic rout. Note I only cover the basic three, if you use a different browser the steps here are all fairly simmilar and can be reproduced in most browsers.
Internet Explorer: I highly recomend not using this browser, ever. However when you initiate a download the default folder will be displayed in the window that pops up. You should use this to go get one of the following two browsers.
Firefox: Open Fire fox, go to "Tools" > "Options" and you should see the Download folder right on the very first screen, this is your download path.
Chrome: Open Chrome, Press "Ctrl+J" On your keyboard, this opens downloads tab, then click "View Downloads Folder" link near top right of the window, this is your download path.
[Note: to check if you have a 32/64 bit version of windows look under Control panel>System]
STO: Windows Vista / 7 64bit\32bit
Non steam
"C:\Users\Public\Games\Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online" <Both 64bit\32bit
Steam
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online" <64bit
"C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online" <32bit
STO Windows XP
Non Steam
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online" <64bit
"C:\Program Files\Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online" <32bit
Steam
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online <64bit
"C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online <32bit
ACT Windows XP\Vista\7
"C:\Program Files\Advanced Combat Tracker" <64bit
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Advanced Combat Tracker" <32bit
Log File Windows XP\Vista\7
Non Steam
"C:\Users\Public\Games\Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online\Live\logs\GameClient"
Steam
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online\Star Trek Online\Live\logs\GameClient" <64bit
"C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online\Star Trek Online\Live\logs\GameClient" <32bit
I realize there is a lot I have not covered here, but it is because I simply do not know! The more I learn the more this guide will be updated and refined. User input is welcomed and if you have any questions PM me or find me in game @MSiCptn
-MSi
"I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos."-Walter
Post edited by msicptn on
0
Comments
Yes. Stop the Patch, close the Launcher, reopen the Launcher, start the Patch. You do not have to redownload the parts of the patch that you already have; you will just snag the part that you froze on before.
Am I missing anything?
Missing the good ol' days of PvP: Legacy of Romulus to Season 9
My List of Useful Links, Recently Updated November 25 2017!
My biggest problem is DPS. Sometimes I have a lower DPS than I probably did, and sometimes much higher.
Last log for example. I was using my sci officer, in a wells (not the kind of ship for top DPS). I swaped my romulan beam array for another plasma dual beam banks, and planned to see if it was worth it. My DPS before that was around 4-5K, not much, I know, but my other char are full DPS, and I wanted a support role for this one.
However, when I parse the last fight, I reach 12K+ dps. Either my dual beam bank have 8K DPS more than my romulan beam array, I suddenly became a powergamer, or something is wrong. Not using fire at will or torpedo spread.
EncDPS : 8K, charDPS : 7480, DPS 12k (!).
Also, I was top parse of the STF, and we beat the optional. I mean, me, top DPS, with a wells, and beating the optional ? Something is wrong.
Finally, I used Beam overload, and it simply don't show on the log. Same for TSS (HE is on the parser). Nowhere to be seen. Others skills seems to be the one I used.
Anybody can tell me what's wrong, and how to make it work ?
ACT seems to have trouble differentiating in/out of combat time with STO, so a match where you spend more time flying between objectives or evading or whatever doing lower or no DPS will skew results. If you want an accurate peak output test, you'll need what in WoW they called a "Patchwerk" (referring to a certain encounter where nobody had to move and only tanks too damage). Start and stop the log while fighting a stationary object like a gate, or one that might as well be stationary like a tactical cube. Peak numbers can be better for build optimization, but not necessarily for performance comparison.
I just plan to improve myself, not be the best.
It doesn't happen too often and is easily spotted. So just look out for this anomaly and you should be fine parsing.
I have the same issue, ACT doesn't even show the times of the encounter, tho it captures and displays the data correctly if left running in the background while a battle is going on in STO. Once the log is closed and re-opened it again displays no data other than a idle log message and some sort error. STOICS opens the log just fine and all the sessions are there as well as the data but it's tricky pulling out the useful data.
So I also seemed to have missed an important setup step.
Awoken Dead
Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
That's comical. It's more than useful. It's practically the bible.
I have tried a few things and I cannot reproduce this issue. I am sorry it is not working..
You could try and use the alternative method of the internal timer 6 sec shutoff in between encounters but then you have to merge multiple sections together inside the ACT interface to get a complete picture of your performance.
Also I find that the timer method is more practical for the large maps when you spend more time flying around. where in ISE, it's less important. I will amend the guide with both ways,
If Combat is over, you need to load the log using the Import Log section, not from the Miscellaneous Open Log area which is for real time updating of combat currently in progress.
Well I have the same problem,but I found a workaround as my per combatant paramaters didn't quite turn out like MSI's.
after you get done fighting go to the import/export tab,then click import file;)