parser

[Crimsonflame]

ok ive heard alot about these things but im not sure if it is a bannable offense cuz isnt it just copying what was done?

[Mog]

Re: parser

It's a third party program. It doesn't matter what the program does.

[Crimsonflame]

Re: parser

thats what i thoguht k ty

[Yellow Mage]

Re: parser

That's somewhat misleading, Mog. I'm pretty sure that S-E have stated that FRAPs is kosher, as it doesn't touch the game itself.

[Mog]

Re: parser

That's somewhat misleading, Mog. I'm pretty sure that S-E have stated that FRAPs is kosher, as it doesn't touch the game itself.

I should rephrase then.

Anything that doesn't manipulate or use any the game's architechture is ok to use. Fraps being one of them. But parsers extract information from the logs, which I don't think SE would like too much.

[Crimsonflame]

Re: parser

so Fraps is ok? where could i get it at?

[Mog]

Re: parser

FRAPS show fps, record video game movies, screen capture software

[Mhurron]

Re: parser

I should rephrase then.

Anything that doesn't manipulate or use any the game's architechture is ok to use. Fraps being one of them. But parsers extract information from the logs, which I don't think SE would like too much.

They read plain text files. The specific wording in the ToS is 3rd party programs that alter the way the game runs. A parser has no need to do that.

[Mog]

Re: parser

They read plain text files. The specific wording in the ToS is 3rd party programs that alter the way the game runs. A parser has no need to do that.

Ahh, well that makes sense then.

[Lunaryn]

Re: parser

Although it's also worth noting that parsers that read the log files are old and rather dated. All the modern, currently-maintained parsers I've seen read the chat log out of FFXI's program memory instead.

I actually use an old abandoned parser written in Python though for keeping logs of stuff. It has some severe limitations but it's handy in that I can run it from a separate box (my server), just have to set up the FFXI Temp folder to be shared on the LAN.

[admx9]

Re: parser

i got windower just to try it out, and it shows exp/hour and recast and duration times of spells and ja's. if this also a reasonable bann? i havent used it since i found out my cousin got banned, but i think it was some plugin he downloaded that let him see through a few things.

[Durahansolo]

Re: parser

I've been using K-Parser lately. I started using it early last year because FFXI Parser broke somehow after an update. I think FFXI Parser didn't work on the fortifications either for some reason.

[Armando]

Re: parser

I don't see what all the fuss is about. The parser's not changing the game in any way. Even if you could get banned for it (doubtful), just don't tell anyone and you'll never get caught. It's not like you have much reason to say "hey guys, I'm parsing this party" anyways.

[Durahansolo]

Re: parser

i got windower just to try it out, and it shows exp/hour and recast and duration times of spells and ja's. if this also a reasonable bann?

*Calls the STF*

j/k but like Armando said, its a don't ask don't tell say nothing type thing. I think that see-thru plug-in comes with windower so it is possible that your cousin was doing something that was modifying the game.

[Lunaryn]

Re: parser

It's not a plugin, it's a rendering setting, there's an internal command that changes whether surfaces are rendered as points, lines (wireframe), or solid objects. It... has somewhat unpredictable results and is frankly more amusing than advantageous most of the time, but it can sometimes be used to see through walls and such. If you want to see an example, one of kaeko's old AV kiting strategies includes a wireframe shot of a terrain feature in sky I think.

This of course gets back to the fact that there's often a huge difference between how invasive a change to the game is versus how potentially advantageous it is. It takes a plugin altering internal game settings to improve the rendering quality of a zone purely for eye-candy benefit, yet the non-invasive practice of merely swapping one game file for another is purely cosmetic until someone gets the bright idea to replace chigoe with white rabbits or a coffer with a huge glowy mob that makes noises at you.

Incidentally, a lot of the stuff you describe suddenly having as a result of using said program are plugins. They can be deactivated trivially by commenting out their 'load' lines in init.txt. There's also a 'lite' version which is stripped down to only the basic windowing functionality (it's meant for debugging, but it's still useful in as much as SE's windowing implementation is terrible; seriously, taking a good solid second to start polling the input devices every time focus returns?)

Generally speaking, most people choose somewhere to draw the line, and then get pissy and berate the morality of anyone who draws theirs any further along. SE treats it in a generic 'low-priority' sense. They don't go looking, but if you point yourself out to them, they'll smack you down. As far as I know (and I do not have extensive knowledge, this is just something I pay attention to some discussions on), the only official sanctioned* plugin that does something SE can truly detect as something you shouldn't be able to do, on SE's end, is the IME plugin; SE can tell if you're using JP POL, NA POL, or EU POL, and you should only be able to type in Japanese if you're using JP POL. I've heard of people getting in trouble because they'd somehow attracted GM scrutiny, and the GM saw them typing in JP, but that they were flagged as NA.

*Sanctioned by the devs of the program, not SE; they have their own anti-cheating standards and don't support plugins or tools that they perceive as designed for cheating, though of course not everyone is going to agree with their judgment on what is or isn't. Officially, SE doesn't sanction anything; they keep the qualifications of a 'third party tool' deliberately vague so that they have the legal grounds to stop anything they decide they don't like without having to worry about consistency and ex post facto decisions. Anything people tell you is okay is something they don't think SE will go after you for, but nothing really guarantees they won't change their mind aside from what aggregate accountability they have to the playerbase (i.e. they won't do something that they think will cost them very large groups of customers, unless they think failing to do so will cost them even more).