How do I display timestamps in my chat windows?

I wasn't gonna reply to this thread at all but I feel that it's taking a turn in the wrong direction so...

People are always skeptical and afraid of new things, it's not surprising, but it saddens me that you, of all people, would take this stance being the author of gamparse, I'm sure if you released that today people would treat it with suspicion too, but everyone needs to start somewhere right? Instead of fighting me, you should join me and port your program to a eqaddon...

I created the addon system from scratch it calls the Everquest API which is well documented through the open source project you mentioned.

I wasn't prepared to announce the addon idea yet cause I wanted to discuss it in person with daybreak first, but now that the cat is out of the bag, well it is what it is.

Criticize my project all you guys want it's fine, you are the ones that will look stupid in the end,
I just want a addon system for Everquest, my intentions are pure and I spent the last year coding it cause I'm a huge fan of EQ and I think this would take a load of the dev team so they can focus on expansions while I add features that people want...

You did the same thing Beimeith, came up with a program that added value to the game, a dps parser, I don't see that what I'm doing is any different...

People wanted timestamps but they didn't want to use "that other program" so I created the addon system which doesn't do any bad things and can't be modified to to anything bad, it really is benign and only does what it's description says. Displays timestamps.
Best Regards
ProgRambo Creator of EQAddons

Might have more chance to lessen people's fears if you use your ingame main (instead of a brand new account) as your forum name.

Will the source be available so we can compile our own copies and look through the code?

It will be fully available to daybreak. I am not about to make the mistake of releasing source to a bunch of hackers that will modify it.
The idea of open source is a noble one, but it doesn't work for this type of an addon system unfortunately.

In a couple weeks or however long it takes to get the paperwork done I will be able to sign the executables with a code certificate and that should improve security so people know for sure its a real company and real people behind its development which I hope will alleviate some fears of running it, so stay tuned.

Also, another reason for not open sourcing it is my concern that people would modify it for malicious usage, add capabilities to it that are not daybreak approved and completely out of the scope for what I intend for it to be.

I feel strongly that we need to turn the page on the past and start out fresh when it comes to addons for EQ.
If people feel the need for open source there are other projects more suitable for it than this one, and I totally respect their choice in that case.

I'm sure some daybreak employees will see this post eventually and wonder how to proceed next, cause this is a new concept to them as well, but guys (hi btw ) I will contact you within a month or so when I'm ready to make an official presentation and hope you will be open to a discussion about this.

I am so sorry that I was being forced to "come out" this way, I should have informed you guys about my intentions privately first, but I'll be in touch soon enough, I promise.

My hopes are that my project won't be tainted or compared to any other third party tools, because it isn't doing what they do and I have a totally different approach and vision for it than others have had in the past.

I want to create daybreak approved addons.
I don't want to create something that's frowned upon.
I want to follow the rules.
I don't want to upset anyone.

And Gidono, we should talk about a Allakhazam addon for maybe quest info or something I'm open to suggestions. And I would obviously share YOUR addon source with YOU, and the same goes for anyone who comes with good intentions and wants a reasonable and daybreak approved addon coded.
You can contact me at ProgRamboAThotmail.com if you like, I would love some b2b between our sites.

Finally... Yeah I could use my ingame main to post here but I'm trying to keep my private life separated from my developer one and keep it simple so I'm just gonna have to stick to ProgRambo for now, my friends know who my main is in game /wave Macal. I have been playing since 2000. What matters in the long run is how well I can build my reputation as a dev for eqaddons.

In time, people will come to trust my brand and dev nick, I'm sure of it.

Best Regards
ProgRambo Creator of EQAddons

• I didn't create GamParse, I took it over from the original author after he no longer had the time to maintain and update it.
• Ain't nobody got time for that, even if I did trust you, which I don't since I don't know you and therefore you haven't earned any yet.
• It requires the same reverse-engineering of EQ protocols as the PTSNBN, but is somehow ok because you made it and not them? Check.
• Good luck on that. (They're most likely going to tell you to kick rocks).
• I was neither criticizing you nor your project. You might be a great person and your project the most well written bit of code ever made, but I was merely stating a fact that using such a program is a violation of the EULA/Code of Conduct and that my opinion is that anyone who would risk their account over something so trivial is an idiot.
• Your intentions can be as pure as fresh snow, but I give them a snowball's chance in hell of ever amounting to more than that. DBG is never going to just let you "add features that people want" on your own.
• As already mentioned I didn't come up with the program, but even if I did it wouldn't matter.
• The difference between them is very clear: one reads a log file and then interprets that into a usable format without modifying or touching the game in any way whatsoever. The other inserts information into the game, modifying it however innocuously, violating the rules.
• Just because it doesn't do the worse things doesn't mean it isn't also a violation.

I don't mean to sound hostile, but since you felt the need to call me out I felt the need to respond.
That said, having timestamps in game has been literally #2 on my list of things I'd like them to add to EQ (#1 is tabbed chat windows) for 3 years. (That list is currently 5.5/22 added fyi). I, too, want that functionality, but I'm not going to violate the rules to get it, nor would I advise anyone else to either, just need to wait until they get around to it.

From the EQ rules in the Support section (which was last edited 1/24/2017 - does anybody remember an announcement about the rules changing?):

That would seem to apply to gamparse as well, implying that it violates the rules too.

From the EULA:

To my knowledge, "addons" and the like are not modifying the software in any way. They change how it runs, but the original files are not being modified. In my view, the 3rd-party add-ons are simply "post processing", just like a volume control or an equalizer in your MP3 player. They simply modify the presentation of the data (in this case, the data is the software provided by DBG, and the "player" is my computer and anything used to playback the software). And keep in mind that this same thing happens all the time, since your gameplay is always affected by your graphics driver, which is 3rd party software. And what about those Teamspeak and GINA overlays that present information on your screen? Are those not doing the same thing?

If DBG doesn't want you to use 3rd party software, they will stop you from using it. Trying to decide that one kind of software is OK and another kind is not OK, based on what DBG has said, is an unjustified leap in logic. DBG have TrueBox code, they see everything you are running on your computer, and if they cared they could stop you from using it (by simply not letting you log in while the questionable software is running). Making accusations or judgements about one type of software being OK and another software being "cheating" are very short-sighted. The only people with the authority to make those calls are DBG (and they have no list of approved software, to my knowledge).

Beimeith, you mad bro?

I guess I cant please everyone afterall, you are the taxi company and I'm Uber... sorry...

You're injecting into the process - in every way, this is a no-no. It's not complicated.

How about a carnival example:

DBG is the carnival. They sell tickets to you, and you can then use those tickets to go on DBG's rides (when they aren't broken). Of course, DBG also sells you lots of high-priced food, candy and toys, some that may make your visit more comfortable and some that are totally frivolous (concessions and vendors and game prizes).

In that example, the tickets are the software and the rides are DBG's servers.

And in this example, 3rd party software makes up your shoes, your phone, and your wallet. DBG may decide that your phone is a hazard on some rides, but they know that if they take away too much of your 3rd party software, they will lose your wallet too.

DBG is also the ticket taker, and looks at each ticket and decides if it is valid or not. The guy behind you in line is not the ticket taker, he's just a drunk heckler upset because you have a nicer pair of shades.

It does not. You have misunderstood what it said.

GamParse is not related to EQ. It is in no way associated with DBG or any software they make.

It is a text parser that reads text files. That would be like saying "Microsoft Notepad" violates their rules simply because it can read a text file.

Xanathol already covered this.

Your view is wrong, or at least, it is not the same view that DBG has expressed, ever. Changing the presentation is like making text larger, or changing the font. You are talking about adding [sadfjhksi] something into the game that is not there normally. That is not changing the presentation, that is adding something new that should not be there and doesn't belong.

Overlays (depending how they are implemented) do not modify the game. They are a transparent window that is on top of the game window. This is why they don't work if you play full screen.

Not even remotely.

I find the whole thing rather humorous actually, but despite that I'm probably going to stop replying since I expect this thread will get locked eventually and they will probably tell me I should know better than to post in it.

You are wrong it IS complicated and I just spent the better part of last year creating a Addon API for a game which doesn't have one.
How to best take advantage of that will be discussed using the proper channels.
Fortunately for me it's not up to you to decide how to proceed from here.

I believe in one form or another that addons ARE the future and they will prolong the life of EQ as well as giving the players new features without daybreak having to spend a single minute or dollar on developing them, which company would say no to that?
Fan driven projects like this one is the dream for all game developers, not something to fight against, but something to embrace. We push their game in social media, we promote it in magazines and on our fansites, and it's all free PR for them...

Addons are gonna bring in MORE players, it will KEEP existing customers playing the game longer and excite the community if done properly.

Daybreak will have creative input and final word on every single one. If I don't do this someone else will. And that someone might not be as reasonable as I am when it comes to what should be released and what shouldn't. We have seen this before haven't we?

Now, I would LOVE to run this thing internally if there was resources for it, but we all know there isn't and DBG is really doing a superb job considering how much content they put out with so few devs. I don't really have any other choice at this point than to run it externally, at least for now.

Best Regards
ProgRambo Creator of EQAddons

While i do wish this functionality existed in game, your approach is turning into:

by trying to comparing it gamparse, particularly given the fact the addon affects the game itself.

I find it hilarious that someone had a remote notion that Gameparse was remotely in play to be against the rules, Beimeth's analogy of notepad described it best. Gameparse does not in any way shape or form inject itself into the game itself, its programming or it s code. I cant imagine the person who compared it to being the same was sober at the time, but hey thats just me.

While I would like to use this functionality today and I don't have any reason to doubt ProgRambo's intentions, I have a difficult time justifying the use of this right now. Having a Daybreak staffer roll out of bed the wrong way and decide to ban my decade+ old accounts for a stupid reason would be a major pile of suck.

We all want timestamps. Good luck in your quest. It's not your code that concerns me but rather outdated and inflexible policies.

Your example is terrible. Here is a better one:

EQ (the software) is a house. The inhabitants (players) in the house produce garbage (data) and dump it into cans (text files) on the street. Once the garbage (data) is in the cans (text files) on the street, anyone (3rd party) is free to look at it and go through it. But that same 3rd party CANNOT BREAK INTO THE HOUSE to get any garbage (data) they haven't yet dumped outside, nor can they BREAK INTO THE HOUSE even if they just look around and don't break anything, nor can they BREAK INTO THE HOUSE even if they leave the inhabitants a nice watch (timestamp) as a gift.

Do you understand the difference now? There is a clear demarcation between passively reading something that is open to everyone, and forcibly breaking into something even if your intentions are good.

I don't know how this can be explained any more clearly, so with that, I'm out. You guys do whatever you want, lol.

EDIT: (Yes, I am aware some localities do actually prohibit going through other peoples' garbage, but generally speaking in most places it isn't illegal).

I think of EQ as a library, its open to the public and you are allowed in, you can borrow some books and read the newspapers (play the game), but don't destroy anything or break anything (malicious hacks). I give the librarian my book and say, look, this book is a good book, it's very well written and your visitors will want to read it, you are allowed to put this on your shelves if you like, so others can borrow it and read it as well.

The librarian is of course allowed to say sorry we don't want it, but Gamparse is a book in the library right now, as well as GINA and eqemu servers. I just want my book in there as well and it would be nice if some visitors said, look we read it, and its awesome, please add it to your collection. Maybe someone will, maybe not, but it's available for anyone to pick up as of now. Who knows what the future holds, maybe I will be allowed to add it? Maybe I won't. But I hope so. And that's the best I can do for now. Lead the horse to the water etc.

SMH

Context dude - the idea that injecting into a process is not against the EULA is what is not complicated.
As for the technical part of it, spending time locating function entry points to redirect calls from without symbols is certainly time consuming - and in & of itself against the EULA - much less injecting a module to hijack calls & alter functionality.

I want to make it clear that I love Gamparse and Beimeith's efforts to keep it great.

My point is that it is so vague that nobody but DBG can claim to know what it means, and everybody else trying to interpret it needs to admit that their interpretation is no more valid than anybody else's (in the absence of DBG to provide more clarity).

I hope you clarify that, because as it is worded, it is absolutely silly. Of course GamParse is related to EQ and it's primary function is based off of the software DBG makes. Is there another game (or even another type of text file) that GamParse would meaningfully parse?

Actually, since Microsoft Notepad is included in Windows, which is listed as a requirement, it would be perfectly acceptable on completely different grounds.

The timestamp data IS included in the game, in the exact same place that GamParse uses: the logs. The addon simply changes the presentation of the data.

Spent a year writing it from scratch eh? You missed a spot removing references from the "other program you're using"...

Nice try though. It may be a stripped down version of it, but it's still the same ol thing.

$ strings * | grep
an exception occured in InitializeMQ2Detours

(heh, I'm sure you know what to replace the ** with)