Discussion Adding to the NetLog Output - what and why

It's pretty clear that any additional work on the ED API is going to be a very long way away. Given this, the idea of writing additional information to the netlog is a much more viable approach to take for Frontier to allow third-party developers access to some basic information. I'm going to start with a list of a number of entries that should be easy enough to write out, along with details of their format and why they are being written.

The idea of this is that it gives Frontier not only an idea of what we want, but what we can do with it. The focus here is items that make sense to be written to a log: amount of ammo remaining in a kinetic weapon has a lot of possibilities but would flood the log as it changes so frequently, so it doesn't make sense to ask for this as a log entry.

The following items allow users with advanced VoiceAttack scripts to keep in sync with the reality of the client. Right now many people do this with variables, but it's complex to manage and quite error-prone. The idea solution would be a real-time query of status, but as we can't have that this would go a long way to making more interesting scripts viable.
  • Landing gear:{up/down} This is written whenever the state of the landing gear changes. The first parameter is the new state of the landing gear
  • Cargo scoop:{up/down} This is written whenever the state of the cargo scoop changes. The first parameter is the new state of the cargo scoop
  • Lights:{on/off/full} This is written whenever the state of the lights changes. The first parameter is the new state of the lights
  • Hardpoints:{on/off} This is written whenever the state of the hardpoints changes. The first parameter is the new state of the hardpoints
  • Docked:{station} This is written when the commander docks. The first parameter is the name of the station where the commander has docked.
  • Undocked:{station} This is written when the commander undocks. The first parameter is the name of the station from where the commander has undocked.

The following items would allow for users to build their own text-to-speech systems. We've seen that these can add to the feeling of immersion (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDFrVgo03yM)

  • Entered system:{system name}:{x/y/z}:{supercruise|normal space|surface} This is written when the commander enters a new system, or a new location in a system. The first parameter is the name of the system in which the commander finds themself, the second parameter is the x/y/z co-ordinates of the system, and the third parameter is their location in that system (with 'surface' meaning in an SRV).
  • Criminal status:{criminal status} This is written whenever the commander's criminal status changes. This could be through a change of system (so written out after the 'Entered system' message) or if the commander carries out an act to make them wanted
  • Docking request sent:{station} This is written when the commander sends a docking request. The parameter is the name of the station to which the request was sent.
  • Docking request accepted:{station}:{pad} This is written when the a docking request is accepted. The first parameter is the name of the station to which the request was sent. The second parameter is the pad assigned for docking
  • Docking request rejected:{station}:{reason} This is written when the a docking request is rejected. The first parameter is the name of the station to which the request was sent. The second parameter is the reason given for the rejection
  • Communication received:{direct-Sender|local|wing}:{Message} This is written whenever the commander receives a message (i.e. something that shows up in their comms panel). The first parameter is the recipient of the message and the second is the message itself. This would allow for addon developers to build their own text-to-speech systems with in-game data.

The following items would again allow for more interesting interactions and advanced text-to-speech. I've broken these out as they provide information that could be considered combat-related and hence unfair, although none of the data requested is more than a panel away.
  • Contact:{ship model}:{ship name}:{combat rank}:{criminal status}:{bounty} This is written when you finish your contact scan of a ship. The first parameter is the model of the ship (e.g. Eagle), the second parameter is the name of the ship (NPC or commander), the third parameter is the combat rank of the ship (e.g. Dangerous), the fourth parameter is the criminal status of the ship (clean or wanted) and the fifth parameter is the local bounty on the ship (0 if clean)
  • KWS completed:{ship name}:{bounty} This is written when you finish a KWS scan of a ship. The first parameter is the name of the ship (NPC or commander) and the second parameter is the total bounty on the ship across all jurisdictions
  • Hostile scan started:{ship model}:{ship name} This is written when a ship starts to scan you. The first parameter is the model of the ship (e.g. Eagle) and the second parameter is the name of the ship (NPC or commander)
  • Hostile scan aborted:{ship model}:{ship name} This is written when a ship stops scanning you before completion. The first parameter is the model of the ship (e.g. Eagle) and the second parameter is the name of the ship (NPC or commander)
  • Hostile scan completed:{ship model}:{ship name} This is written when a ship stops scanning you at completion. The first parameter is the model of the ship (e.g. Eagle) and the second parameter is the name of the ship (NPC or commander)

I'm sure that there are a huge number of other items that people would like. If others would like to add items please do so below and I'll try to keep this up to date.
 
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I have been, and always shall be, supportive of dumping to log. My signature as historical document. :D
 
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Would like to suggest adding system coordinates as well as the name. This would allow explorers (and, well, everyone) to visualise the route they've taken around the galaxy using external tools.
 
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