NCSoft's Stand on Log Parsers

I posted this on the Official Aion Forums last night and I want to put it up here as well. There are some people out there who are still reluctant to give KDM or ACT a try in fear of being banned for using third party software. So I'm hoping this may just clear up the air a bit.

If you're familiar with an End User License Agreement (EULA) then you'll understand that the game publisher is legally bound to it. Just as any player is. The community managers can't directly come out and say, "yes, these parser are acceptable." For the simple reason that KDM and ACT are third party software.

However, they are allowed to hint at it:

Tamat's Input on ACT - AionSource - DPS meters -- bannable?

Posted 14 January 2010 - 03:23 PM

"I've replied to similar threads in the past, but I don't mind reiterating my stance on this. I love DPS parsers! Heck, I use them myself. We don't ban people for using DPS parsers but rather for the use of third party software that manipulates your characters movements. The software rule is in place to stop botters, hackers and cheaters of an equal feather -- not prevent our community from coming up with helpful programs like ACT.

For those who see this as a great excuse to use after being banned for botting: we can see the difference between damage parsers and bot software. If you're botting, we'll know."

Tamat later went on to quote from the EULA to clarify that all use of third party programs is not allowed.

Ayase's Input on KDM - AionSource - King's Damage Meter

Posted 11 February 2010 - 04:57 AM

"The application does imply modification of the game client (I'm primarily referring to the System.ovr file) and is in doing so in breach of the User Agreement (liability ensues). We want to keep the game fair and never hesitate to go after cheaters, users who automate their game play or otherwise exploit/hack. There's however a ladder of priority, and I'd be lying if I said that going after people deploying this seemingly 'harmless' tool is on the top of that list at this point. "

Conclusion

Can they ban you for using KDM or ACT? Yes.

Will they? No.

I have openly spoken about KDM and I have never tried to hide my in-game identity. (I'm Keiden and Kingofspades on Nezekan server.) I have also emailed the community managers requesting that they feature KDM in the "Eye on Community" series from the same email that my NCSoft master account is registered under. KDM does nothing to try to "hide" itself on your computer from the game client's anti-cheating protection.

At this moment there have been 1,722 downloads and 0 reports of bans connected to the use of KDM. If they decide to ban any one, I'm sure I will be the first. =p

Now, go download KDM and have fun.

System.OutOfMemoryException

It's been brought to my attention that every one may start experiencing this bug soon if you haven't already. I'll avoid all the technical babble and skip to the fix.

For now, you can to delete your Chat.log file. Aion will create a new one. I immediately committed a fix for this in the source repository and it will be included in the next release.

On a separate subject, Walentyn has updated the system.ovr file that will be included in future releases. I think the issue had something to do with the encoding.

KDM 1.5.0

Hey all. I know it's been a couple weeks since a release and here it is. 1.5.0 comes with a lot of new changes and additions. I would also like to officially welcome Walentyn to the development team. He is really smart and is a big part in the direction KDM is heading.

Get it here: KDM 1.5.0

Change Log:

Version 1.5.0 Beta 6

• Added: Right click on a player and "Skills..." will now show a breakdown of their skills and how much damage each contributes.
• Added: Now keeps track of Kinah spent/earned, EXP and Abyss Points gained.
• Added: Player controls can now display damage, dps and percentage.
• Added: The You alias can now be changed from the options menu.
• Added: The zip package now comes with a basic system.ovr file.
• Added: The Copy All function is now Copy Macro. This allows you to copy all the players to the clipboard and paste into an ingame macro.
• Added: You can now flag players as friends. This will automatically add them to your group when they appear in the player list.
• Fixed: Interface translations are now accessible from the Options menu. This does not change the parser language.
• Fixed: Effect damage should be captured.
• Fixed: Sorting will now continue as the list is updated.
• Fixed: Moved some menu items to the main options menu.
• Fixed: Added some formatting to the numbers.
• Fixed: Reset Damage is now Reset Counts because it applies to more than just damage.
• Fixed: Made the checkboxes in the context menus a bit darker.
• Other: Probably some I forgot.