Source Released Last updated: 12/November/2009

Combat Log Analyser source code is available to anyone interested in picking up development. The source is provided without any warranty or support. Last time I checked, it could be built with Visual Studio 2005. This should still be the case.

Best wishes to the brave souls who take on the challenge :)

Download source code

Introduction Last updated: 05/December/2006

The EVE Combat Log Analyser (CLA) was written with a single purpose in mind, to provide me with easy means of analysing my EVE combat logs, in particular, how much damage I'm doing, to whom and when.

As you probably know, the EVE Client generates logs for just about everything that happens in the game, in particular, acts of aggression (such as firing your weapon(s) at a target). These log files can be found in the Program Files\CCP\EVE\capture\Gamelogs drectory. Stored as plain text, they can be loaded into a text editor for for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately, this is not the ideal solution if you want to see how much damage your shiny new 40M ISK 425mm Proto Gauss is doing comprared with it's unnamed counterpart. Even fishing out the wrecking hit entries can be quite a pain. Want to see how much damage a gun is inflicting on average? No chance..

This is where the CLA comes in. By extracting all of the relevant data from your combat log files, (date/time, weapon fired, target fired on, type of hit scored and damage done) and presenting you with lists that can be ordered, filtered and summarised, the CLA allows you to instantly dissect, slice and dice the information whichever way you like. It'll even draw graphs! And... if there's some other aggregation that you'd like see that's not supported by the application, no probem, just use the CLA to export the log file in csv format, load it into something like Excel have your wicked way with it.

Release Status

The CLA was first released back in August 2004. Back then, the application lived on the eve-i.com web site. Development on the CLA came to an end in early 2005 when I quit EVE but the binarys were available for download throughout 2005 until the EVE-I web site closed down. Having recently come back to EVE, I have started to make minor changes to the application to address specific issues. In the absence of EVE-I or a suitable alternative hosting site, this will remain its homepage for now. There are no dedicated forums for the CLA, if you would like to host some, please let me know in game :)

Download version 0.16 - Release Notes - ReadMe

What does it do?

Key Features

  • Parses and extracts combat data from EVE Gamelog files
  • Provides various breakdowns of damage information including:
    • Damage by weapon (or multiple weapons)
    • Damage by hit type (or multiple hit types)
    • Damage by target (or multiple targets)
  • Provides aggregate damage data including:
    • Total damage by weapon(s), hit type(s), target(s)
    • Average damage by weapon(s), hit type(s), target(s)
    • Hit rates e.g. actual and percentage ratings for hit vs. misses
    • DoT (Damage over Time) is coming Soon™
  • It draws purdy pictures - Okay, maybe not pretty but does produce some basic graphs showing damage by weapon by hit type
  • Very basic integration with EVE-I's object explorer e.g. Targets and Weapons can be cross referenced in the OE
  • Combat logs can be filtered by Character (useful if you have multiple accounts/characters) and Age (Today, last 7 days, last Month etc) hopefully making it easier to locate specific log files.
  • Multiple log files open simultaneously for side by side comparison

Exports

As mentioned above, there are bound to be situations where you want to look at the data in a particular way that is not supported by the app. In this case, combat logs can be exported in CSV format suitable for import into a tool like Excel or even into a database of your choosing.

I don't trust EVE utilities, they'll steal my login details!

Truth is, the vast majority are perfectly safe and trustworthy. However, this tool does not require your EVE Login details, it does not even require an internet connection. All of the files it needs to process are stored on your computer (usually in Program Files\CCP\EVE\Capture\Gamelogs\). It does include a configurable option to automatically check for updated versions. If this option is enabled, the application will query http://utter.chaos.org.uk/~dean/cla/VersionHistory.xml on startup

Limitations

The combat information provided in EVE log files is pretty limited. It is not, for example, possible to distinguish between multiple instances of the same weapon type i.e. If you have 4x425 Rails and 2x250's I can't tell which of the 425's or 250's fired a particular shot (it may be possible to infer some of this based on RoF vs. shot time but let's no go there just yet). In the same way, it is not possible to distinguish between multiple instances of the same target type e.g. I may attack and kill 5 Sansha's Butchers but this is impossible to determine from the log file. And finally, the log file does not contain information on which modules were fitted/active during the fight so there is no way for me to tell how many damage/tracking/cap mods you were using at a particular point in time.

It would be lovely if CCP decided to add some of this information to combat log files but, given the number of other things they've got on their plate, I'm not holding my breath.

Comments & Suggestions

If you have ideas or requests for changes to be made, your best bet is to either

  1. Offer to host official CLA forums for me :)
  2. Send an in-game mail to Hurg :(

Screenshots


Main screen


Filtering


Graphs