Feature request - log raid attendance

[myxiplx]

Hi,

Does ShowEQ have any way of reading the members of the current raid? Reading attendance directly seems a much better idea than DKP log parsers, but I'm not sure if there is any software around capable of doing it.

Myx

[purple]

It could, but right now there are no handlers for the raid attendance packets. Does the dump option in the EQ Client not do enough for you?

[myxiplx]

The dump option works, as do log parsers (as I have full logging on all the time), the problem is I'm a perfectionist. Dumping the attendance is a manual step that's a pain if you're awarding points in 15 min intervals, and while log parsing is better, every guild I've seen run log parsers have a procedure for people to post mistakes it if they've been missed (easily done if the person joined the raid while someone else was zoning).

A proper protocol handler would seem to be a much better idea. You can log in real time the exact attendance of the raid, with confidence that nobody has been missed and that you're recording accurate dkp.

To get it really reliable it would also need a fair bit of work on the database side of things. You would need to allow for the RL / person monitoring going LD, so would need a way of merging the results from more than one person. Fairly easily done if you use game time to sync the logs though, and if I had a packet parser I could do the database stuff myself.

There would be several immediate advantages to a technique like this:
- Less work for the raid leaders
- 100% accurate attendance logging
- To the minute logging possible (although 5 mins would be more sensible)
- Potential for members to earn points in real time, instead of the days points being awarded at some future point when the RL gets around to it.

And of course ShowEQ already has the ability to monitor loot, so you've potentially got the ability to record loot automatically too, even to the extent of displaying the value of items automatically in SEQ as soon as the mob drops.

I can appreciate it's probably a mammoth task, but thought it was worth suggesting in case you liked the idea :D

[purple]

If I have time I might peak at it just for curiousity's sake, but I can't imagine having the time to do it right.

What are you actually envisioning?

I assume you don't just want a raid window in SEQ that you'd have to hit a dump button on because that would be just like the EQ client's raid window. So to be functionally better than that, it would have to dump automatically (Example 1 below, a version of the dump button you don't have to press) or not lose data while zoning (Example 2, a version of parsing the log file but not missing joins/disbands while zoning).

Example 1:
Or are you thinking you want a config option that says "Dump raid members every [ ] minutes" and it creates an appropriate XML dump that is interoperable with the EQ one? So if you had this turned on and set to 5 minutes, you'd get raidattendance.20070322-0930.xml and then raidattendance.20070322-0935.xml and then raidattendance.20070322-0940.xml, etc...

Example 2:
Are you thinking like a raid member log which just logs additions and removes and is smarter than the EQ version and then you can parse this? Something like:


[2007-03-22 09:32:03] Showequser joined the raid.
[2007-03-22 09:32:03] Healsugood joined the raid.
[2007-03-22 09:32:03] Leeerrrrooooyyyy joined the raid.
[2007-03-22 09:32:03] Bilboo joined the raid.
[2007-03-22 09:32:03] Balbo joined the raid.
[2007-03-22 09:32:03] Lagolaz joined the raid.
[2007-03-22 09:32:03] Legsoless joined the raid.
[2007-03-22 09:32:03] Laygerlez joined the raid.
[2007-03-22 09:34:32] Imbatman joined the raid.
[2007-03-22 09:34:37] Splatburfler joined the raid.
[2007-03-22 09:35:11] Arnoldswarzenegger joined the raid.
[2007-03-22 09:35:31] Healsugood left the raid.
[2007-03-22 09:38:54] Arnoldswarzenegger left the raid.


The benefit being that the list of raid members in kept in memory in seq and when you zone and get the full contents of the raid window, it is diffed against the in memory list of people and join/left audits are written so you don't miss anything.

Or are you thinking of something else entirely?

[myxiplx]

lol, wasn't thinking of anything like that at all, however option 2 is an inspired way to do it :-D

I was thinking of a live update to a website, or log to a local database, but dumping it to text is a far better idea. It's easier to code, and has the benefit that everyone can use their familiar DKP parsers to get the info into their database / websites. It's completely DKP neutral so all existing systems will work with it.

I reckon you've hit the nail on the head with that option. It's just like the regular EQ way of doing things, only more reliable, and with a much smaller log file :-)

It also means there's no need to worry about how to handle things if the person logging goes LD. Just have a couple of people doing that job, if one goes LD you use the other person's logs instead. Even if the worst comes to the worst and they both go LD, with it being text based it should still be possible to recover, and much easier to edit than full logs.

Thinking about that how would you want to handle the person running ShowEQ going LD? Would the best technique be to log a comment saying they've gone LD, and then log everyone as leaving the raid? Very easy to pick up again when they come back online, and that could be easily edited out of the log if they get back online quickly.

[purple]

Really I'd just ignore going LD and when things are re-established, you'll get joined the raid again for everyone. This will end up looking like everyone has joined the raid again, but joining the raid is a two-state thing. So doubly joining still means you're there. I'm not familiar with most DKP systems. I'd hope they'd deal ok with this.

[myxiplx]

I did wonder about keeping the state going, but thought it might be a lot more work.

Thinking about it though I guess it isn't, and I don't think you'd get duplicates with your idea. You're doing a diff anyway and only recording changes, so all that will happen is anyone who arrived while you were LD would be added to the log when you return. ShowEQ would still have you logged as present in the raid so shouldn't duplicate yourself either.

The only thing that might be nice for handling LD's would be to put the time you went LD and the time you returned in the log, and to give any new arrivals while you were LD the earlier time rather than the later.

[myxiplx]

Know you're busy getting SEQ working with the latest patches, just using this as a place to keep all my thoughts together.

Thinking a useful feature would be to log the zone people are in when tracking raid attendance, to prevent people going afk but collecting DKP without contributing to the raid.

Not sure the best way to track this, but SEQ could certainly see which raid members are in the same zone as the person tracking DKP attendance. You could simply discount anyone not in the same zone. 5-15 minutes grace before stopping the count would be enough to cope with the raid moving & zone times. I'm guessing you could even use distance to player as a way to see if they people are actively part of the raid, and not just standing around at the entrance to the zone.

That would again simplify attendance checking, and make it more reliable.

Not expecting any major work on all this, but if I ever learn enough about linux to start coding there I might have a go at all this myself :)

Myx

[Whizzie Wiz]

I strongly suggest you do not try for this route. Instead, look for activity from the person in regular EQ logs in /rsay, or whatever channels you use. Otherwise, if you ever have to explain how you do your calculations, you're in the position of having to explain that you are actually using ShowEQ -- and have potentially made yourself a blackmail victim should someone decide to report you.