WebSVN – vanilla-wow-addons – Blame – Rev 1

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office

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DamageMeters - A user-interface modification for World of Warcraft.

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Author - Patrick Cyr (wwdandelion@yahoo.com) (Dandelion on Whisperwind)

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Permissions - Do anything you want with it except take credit for it or make

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money from it.

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Credit To -

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Zoldan and Chakotay1357 for the German translation.

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Kurty and eXess for the French translation.

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Author(s) of DPSPlus and CombatStats for the parsing technique.

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Authors of Sky (for their assert function).

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Lead Tester - Tagamogi

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Thanks To - Rancor, Cyntax, Kixxs, Gileran, Dex, Zurai, Kotor,

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Sensi, Kon, and Pharaoh for help with testing.

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**Contents**

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I. Summary

II. How It Works

III. Features

1) Interface

2) Bar Counts

3) Quantities

4) Players

5) Event Data

6) Reporting

a) DMReporter.exe

7) Synchronization

a) Event Synchronization

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b) The Ready Command

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8) Memory Register

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IV. Version History

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I. Summary:

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DamageMeters keeps track of the damage you and nearby players does

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and shows the total damage as meters in a window on the screen. It makes it

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easy to compare the relative damage/healing output of members of a party or

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raid. At any time you can have the mod output the resulting information as

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text "say"s or to a channel of your choice.

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II. How It Works:

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DM works by analyzing (parsing) text messages of the sort you see in your

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"Combat Log" chat window. An example would be "You hit Onyxia for 10." This

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is the only way a mod can know what damage/healing anyone is doing/taking,

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which is unfortunate because parsing strings isn't terribly fast or easy.

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There is a VERY important limitation to DM: a player only receives combat

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text messages for those players that are near him. The distance varies quite

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a bit but it doesn't seem to ever be any higher than 45 yards or so. You

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are not guaranteed to get messages even for members of your own party if they

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are not near you. DM's Synchronization system provides something of a

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work-around for this problem.

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Also: it is a common misconception that you need to have messages turned on

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in your chat window in order for DM to work. This is not the case: they are

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entirely independent of each other.

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III. Features:

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1) Interface:

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DM appears as a frame (window) with a vertical stack of horizontal meters

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(bars). Each bar represents a value for a single player. Bars can be sorted

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in increasing or decreasing order, though almost always in the latter. The

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bar for the player with the highest value of a given quantity will always be

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at full length. Everyone else's bar will be some shorter length in proportion

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to the lead player's value. In addition to the bar itself, various text

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can be specified to be drawn over each bar, including the player name, the

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value, etc. Moving the mouse over a given person's bar brings up a tooltip

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which shows detailed information for a given player.

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There are two interfaces for setting program options: menus and console

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commands. There are two menus. The main menu is reached by right clicking

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on the title of the DM window. There is also a player menu which is reached

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by right clicking on a particular player's bar. Console commands all start

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with /dm and are entered like chat commands. Use /dmhelp to get a full list.

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The window can be moved by click-and-dragging on the title button. Lastly,

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clicking on a player's bar will attempt to target them.

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2) Bar Counts:

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When a player is detected doing something we are interested in, DM

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automatically adds it to its internal list. The internal list can have at

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most 50 entries, at which point it is full and NO new players will be added.

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The number of players in the list, though, is independant of the number of

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bars visible on the screen. Generally, there are two ways you can specify the

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number of bars: 1) as a hard number, or 2) as an up-to number. The latter

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is called the "auto-count" number, and it basically means "show as many bars

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as I have player information for, up to this number."

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Again, though, it is important to note: the internal player list is NOT

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limited by the number of visible bars.

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3) Quantities:

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DM monitors the following quantities:

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- Damage Done: The amount of damage done by a player.

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- Healing Done: The amount of healing done by a player.

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- Damage Taken: The amount of damage taken by a player.

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- Healing Taken: The amount of healing taken by a player.

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- Idle Time: The amount of time that has passed since the player has last

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done something (either done damage or done healing). This is useful for

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detecting when someone has gone ninja-afk.

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- DPS: The Damage Per Second done by a player. DM's DPS is averaged over

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the entire duration of the current fight. It is very difficult to determine

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the duration a fight in software. DM defines it like so: the first time

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a monitored person does damage is the start of combat. When you start

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regenerating health again (pretty much equivalent to when your portrait shows

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you leaving combat) signifies the end. It is NOT precise, it will NOT give

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good numbers all the time, but it is pretty good for most instances and is

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really only intended to give you a rough idea anyway.

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4) Players:

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DM, by default, monitors yourself, your pet, your party/raid members,

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any nearby friendly players, and miscellaneous things like totems. There is

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a menu option, "Only Monitor Group Members", which tells DM to reject nearby

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friendlies and miscellaneous things. There are valid reasons for having both

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options available. For example, in a pvp environment data from friendlys

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can quickly bury your own, and so you'd want to turn that option on.

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However, if you are a soloing shaman you could be interested in how much

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healing your totems are doing, for instance, so you'd want the option off.

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Note: there is no easy way to distinguish totems from players, and

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there is no way at all to determine who dropped a particular totem.

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Pets present challenges for DM which require some understanding on the users

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part for best results. DM CANNOT distinguish someone else's pet from a random

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friendly player. If "Only Monitor Group Members" is on you will not see

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other players's pets. DM CAN tell if something is YOUR pet. Your pet is

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always shown.

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The "Treat Pet Data As Your Data" option is meant to help people determine what

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their total (themselves plus their pets) contributions are. When this option

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is on, any data that registers for your pet is treated as if it came from

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yourself. If you accumulate data from one or more pets with this option off,

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then turn the option on, the pet(s) data will be AUTOMATICALLY merged into your

own.

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5) Event Data.

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DamageMeters can be configured to record stats on an event-by-event basis.

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[I'm using the term event to refer to a specific damage/healing source, such

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as a melee attack or spell.] While the information displayed isn't terribly

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in-depth, it can still be handy for quickly determining how much various

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abilities are contributing to someone's totals. Event data for a player is

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displayed in their bar tooltip.

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The downside to event data is that it takes up quite a bit of memory to

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store, so by default DM only saves event data for one's self. It also makes

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sync'ing take a *lot* longer (see the section on synchronization).

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Here is an example of some DamageTaken events:

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Fireball = 300 (75%) 0/2 0% 150 (0 Fire)

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[Melee] = 100 (25%) 1/2 50% 50

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The entries are:

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"Fireball" - Event name

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"300" - Total from this event (in this case, total damage taken)

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"(75%)" - Percent that this event contributes to this quantity

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"0/2" - Crits/hits

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"0%" - Crit percentage

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"150" - Average

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"(0 Fire)" - The magic type and your average resistance (only if applicable)

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6) Reporting.

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DM has a system for reporting its data to other people. It is accessible

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using the "Report" menu or via the /dmreport command. The former is quicker,

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but the latter is much more flexible.

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The basic syntax for the /dmreport command is:

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/dmreport [X[#]] [tell target|channel]

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X is the report destination, and can be one of the following:

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c - Console: Chat messages that you only can see. This is the default.

s - Say

p - Party

r - Raid

g - Guild

w - Whisper - For example, /dmreport w dandelion

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h - cHannel - Use the channel name, not number: /dmreport h mychannel

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f - Frame - Shows results in a frame (window), which you can use to copy the

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text to the clipboard.

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# is optional. If specified, it limits the number of people reported to the

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top #. For example, to output the top 10 to raid, use:

/dmreport r10

As far as doing reports via the menu: it works the same as the console

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command, though of course the Whisper and cHannel report types are unavailable.

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Also, note that when using the menu it will only report up to the number of

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bars you have visible. [I only did this to cut down on the amount of spam

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it was generating in my raids, heh.]

a) DMReporter.exe

DMReporter.exe is a stand-alone application that generates reports without

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having to cut-and-pase from the report frame. To use, just run it: the first

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time it runs it will ask you where your SavedVariables.lua file is. After

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that, it uses the scripts in DMReporter.lua.default to generate report files

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for you. If you want to change the options or even try generating your own

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reports, you can copy DMReporter.lua.default to DMReporter.lua. The program

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will always load the latter file if it exists.

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A note about virus safety: the ONLY approved version of DamageMeters comes

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from www.curse-gaming.com. If you get it from somewhere else I cannot vouch

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for the safety of DMReporter.exe.

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7) Synchronization:

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The Sync system is an attempt to work around the fundamental problem of

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people not receiving messages from people who are too far away from them.

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It was made with raid groups in mind, and so this discussion will focus on

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how raid groups can best use it.

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Here's how it works: in principle, the only source of errors in DM are from

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someone being outside of your range and so you miss their messages. For

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example, a raid that is attacking a mob normally has a melee guys close to

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the mob and casters standing back. A caster is very likely to miss messages

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from melee guys, and a melee guy is very likely to miss messages from a caster.

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However, if you took the melee guys' numbers for the melee players, and the

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caster's numbers for the other casters, you'd likely have a very good set of

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data.

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Thats basically what synchronizing does. The actual mechanism is very simple:

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everyone transmits all their numbers, and then people just take whatever

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numbers are HIGHEST. In theory, each player has perfect data for himself, so

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if everyone was involved in the sync'ing you would have a perfect picture.

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In practice, thats probably overkill...a handful of people who play different

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positions should be fine--maybe a healer, a melee'er, and a hunter.

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Sync Quick-Start Guide:

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1) Someone (I'll call her the Sync Leader) chooses a channel name and joins

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it, ie. /dmsyncchan ourchannel.

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2) The Sync Leader then calls /dmsyncbroadcastchan. Anyone who is running

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a sufficiently recent version of DM will automatically be joined into

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that channel.

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3) Once everyone is in the channel, but before the activity begins, the Sync

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Leader should call /dmsyncclear to make sure everyone's data is cleared.

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4) Play! Collect data!

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5) Finally, the Sync Leader calls /dmsync whenever she wants the raid to

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share data. Since it can cause a little slowdown it is best to do this

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between fights (though not necessarily between every fight).

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Note: There is nothing special about the "Sync Leader": any player can

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perform any of these commands. It just seems simpler to have one person

in charge of it.

In addition to the above steps, I'd recommend that everyone doing sync'ing

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use the following settings:

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* "Only Monitor Group Members" ON: Totems, pets, and such can make the

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internal tables reach their limit, potentially preventing actual raid members

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from having their data recorded.

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* "Treat Pet Data As Your Data" ON: If you are a pet using class, this is

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the best (only) way to make sure your total contribution is counted.

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a) Event Synchonization

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There are menu options which allow you to separately specify how much

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event data you want to record and transmit. This may seem a bit

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like overkill, but there are two very important reasons for this. First,

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there is a *ton* of event data. The normal (quantity) data for a person all

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fits into one message, but event data takes much more--anywhere from say 1

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to 100. Second, Blizzard seems to have a mechanism in place that

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automatically disconnects players that send too many messages too quickly.

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Because of this, DamageMeters queues up all of its sync messages and streams

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them out rather slowly to avoid dropping anyone during syncs.

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These two factors taken together mean that full event sync's can take a

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*long* time--up to a couple minutes. Its for this reason that by default

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only one's own event data is recorded and transmitted--event data isn't the

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main point of this mod, and it is unreasonable to make sync'ing go much slower

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for something that most people will not need.

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b) The Ready Command

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To avoid parsing healing done while not in combat, /dmsyncready has been added.

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Basically, /dmsyncready tells everyone to pause, but unpause immediately as

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soon as any damage (done or received) is detected. In addition, the person(s)

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who detects the damage will broadcast an unpause event. The idea is to "ready"

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after a wipe so that none of the healing done while recovering will count.

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Ready will make it so you don't have to remember to unpause once you start

combat.

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8) Memory Register:

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DamageMeters has a second table of information, the Memory Register. It

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functions pretty much exactly like a memory button on a calculator. Its

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purpose is to have a place for you to save a set of information (for example,

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the data from your last raid).

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There is a menu option, "Accumulate Data", which makes it so whenever data

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is added to the main table (ie. when it appears in your bars), it is also

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added to the MR. One possible use of this is in conjunction with the

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"Reset Data When Combat Starts" option. If both options were on, for example,

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you could do an instance run and see what the data is for each fight

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individually, and then at the end look at the memory data to see what the

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totals are.

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A quick note about event data: at the moment, event data is -not- stored with

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regular data. Most memory functions, therefore, don't work with event data.

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Swap does. Save does. Everything else (especially merge and accumulate) don't.

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IV. Version History:

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3.2.0 - 9-16-05 : Fixed bug which caused just under half of all sync'ed

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events to be ignored. Sorry. :( Added /dmsyncleave command. Added

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/dmready, /dmsyncready, and /dmsynckick commands. Added resist averaging

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stuff.

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3.1.0 - 8-02-05 : Added more count options to the Bar Count menu. Added

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"Clear when joining" menu option. SYNC VERSION CHANGED. Simplified event

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and sync options a bit. Added "e" option to /dmsync which specifies that

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events are to be transmitted.

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3.0.0 - 7-20-05 : Event Data system added. Synchronization system made much

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more user friendly. Too many bugs fixed and small features added to list .

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DMReporter.exe now included with DamageMeters.

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2.3.0 - 6-7-05 : SYNC VERSION CHANGED: This version will not

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be able to sync with older versions. Added alphabetical sort option.

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Fixed major bug: all non-melee damage done to friendly characters

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was being ignored. Hit/crit counts now shown for all main

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quantities, not just damage. Added "Show Total" menu option. Fixed bug

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where invisible bars could still be clicked and would block mouse messages

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intended for ui elements beneath them. Added "% of Leader" text option.

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2.2.0 - 6-3-05 : Added /dmtotal, which displays the current quantity's

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total in a small button beneath the frames. Reports now list a total

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at the bottom. Added keybinding for /dmswap. Added /dmsyncmsg for sending

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msgs to other people in the same syncchan (assuming that everyone will have

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that channel's messages hidden). Reordered Report menu a little. Added

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/dmmemclear and menu option. Fixed bug with all spells and effects with

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"'s" in the name (Ramstein's Lighting Bolts, etc). Created a new Position

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menu which contains a few old position options and two new ones; "Resize Up"

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and "Resize Left". These determine the way the window moves when it changes

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size. Added /dmshowmax and keybinding for it.

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2.1.0 - 5-30-05 : Synchronization data now has a version number (2), meaning

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it will no longer be possible to synchronize with people with older versions.

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Improved "total" reports: now shows rank of each person for each quantity.

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Total reports also show who contributed to the report (if sync'ing was involved).

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Fixed parsing for party/friendly players using Julie's Dagger. Group-only option

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now defaults on. Added text cycling and quantity cycling menu options. Added

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/dmversion. /dmsyncchan will now attempt to automatically join the channel you

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specify. Added a "Help" option to the Report menu. Added "Accumulate Data"

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toggle to the memory menu.

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2.0.0 - 5-21-05 : Text options now settable via the menu. Fixed bug

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when reporting idle time. The colors associated with various quantities

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are now settable via the "Visible Quantities" menu. Reordered the quantities

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a little, thus requiring a version change (so once you install this

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any saved data will be wiped). Added key binding to cycle quantity

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backwards. Added DPS quantity. /dmsyncclear now clears your own meters

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as well. LOCALIZED FOR FRENCH AND GERMAN VERSIONS. Renamed /dmsyncreport

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to /dmsyncsend (the way it was listed in the help). Syncing now

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works while paused. Reports now automatically omit characters with 0

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of the given quantity. Fixed huge bug in sync'ing--pretty much everything

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but damage done was being computed wrong. Idle time is now only reset

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by "active" values (damage done, healing done). Updated the help file to

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be more...er, helpful. Added "Frame" report option. Fixed bug with

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pet damage being added to player multiple times during syncs. Added

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key binding to open report frame.

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1.1.0 - 5-6-05 : While help was in for /dmpause before, it is actually

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implemented now. Added /dmlockpos and menu option for locking the

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position of the meters. Paused and hidden states now save. Added

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/dmgrouponly and menu option for making it so anyone who isn't yourself,

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your pet, or a party or raid member is ignored. Added /dmsyncclear.

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Damage done to pets now tracked. Spell damage done to self and party

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now tracked. Added /dmaddpettoplayer command. Fixed display bug when

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there are an odd number of bars over 20.

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1.0.1 - 4-22-05 : Bug fixes: Saved tables weren't having their time

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reset, could pulse continuously after load. Character classes weren't being

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found for raid/party members.

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1.0.0 - 4-17-05 : All known bugs fixed. Version added: if saved data is of

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a different version the data will be cleared.

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0.9.9 - 4-15-05 : Added tracking of healing and damaged received. Improved calculation

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of crit percentage. Removed dmsynclear, dmsyncleader, dmysncinfo. Added

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dmsyncsend. dmsync now does both a send and a receive.

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0.9.8 - 4-13-05 : dmpop command no longer clears the list. Added dmlock.

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Added dmpause. Added dmsyncclear, dmsyncleader, dmsyncinfo. Both the regular

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and memory data lists are now persistant. Title button no longer visible

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when interface is hidden with alt-z.

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0.9.7 - 4-11-05 : Added dmsync, dmsyncchan, dmsyncrequest commands. Added

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dmpop command. Completed fixing up the code in preparation to be

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localized, though no localization has been done yet. Hiding the window no

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longer leaves the title button visible. Added a few key bindings. Added

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rank text option.

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0.9.6 : Forgot...oops.

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0.9.5 - 4-08-05 : Removed dmfilter from the help list. Fixed bug which was incorrectly

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making friendly characters appear as though they were in your party. Added

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/dmvisinparty, /dmautocount, /dmlistbanned, and /dmclearbanned commands.

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Added drop down menus. Added title button for easy moving and clicking on.

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Added ability to ban damage sources.

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0.9.4 - 4-02-05 : Removed /dmfilter, as it seems to be unlikely to ever work as

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intended. Window background now colored to reflect quantity being shown. Added

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g dmreport option for reporting to guild chat. Improved time text display.

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Believe I am catching all healing messages now, though in order to do so I am

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getting some enemy heals too.

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0.9.3 - 4-01-05 : Added h dmreport option for reporting to a chat channel.

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Reporting now reports on the current quantity (damage, healing, etc).

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0.9.2 - 3-31-05 : Separated functionality of dmsort into dmsort and dmquant.

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Healing done is now tracked, just like damage dealt. Fixed bug where melee

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damage done by non-party members was being lost. Added detection of damage

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shields (thorns, etc).

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0.9.1 - 3-30-05 : Removed Cosmos dependency. (Was using their Print function.)

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0.9.0 - 3-30-05 : Released to guild for testing.

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vanilla-wow-addons – Blame information for rev 1