ArcDPS Guide

Official ArcDPS page: https://www.deltaconnected.com/arcdps/
Official Repository: https://www.deltaconnected.com/arcdps/x64/

 

Installing ArcDPS:
  1. Ensure Guild Wars 2 is not running.
  2. Download d3d9.dll.
  3. Place the downloaded file(s) into your Guild Wars 2 installation directory under the bin64 folder.
    • Guild Wars will often attempt to default to C:\Program Files (x86)\Guild Wars 2\bin64 but will vary depending on your installation/operating system.
  4. Start Guild Wars 2.
Checking Installation:

When launching the game after following the installation instructions you should see an ArcDPS meter at the character selection screen. It will look similar to:

If this screen loads, you should have ArcDPS installed correctly!


 

Updating ArcDPS

You should update ArcDPS to the most recent build suitable for the current Guild Wars 2 build. Running an older version of ArcDPS has a high probability of miscalculating damage and can cause program crashes.

The best way to update is to simply delete all the (.dll) libraries from your Guild Wars 2 installation and replace them once ArcDPS is updated. You can utilize the same installation procedure as outlined above once they are deleted. You do not need to delete any .ini files or additional files created from the ArcDPS libraries. Leaving these files will ideally keep certain settings in place between updates.


 

Chainloading with ReShade

Coming soon…

The following list is of commonly used default hotkeys that help control the windows of ArcDPS.
  • Alt+Shift+t: Open/Close the ArcDPS Options window.
  • Alt+Shift+d: Open/Close the Build Templates window.
  • Alt+Shift+b: Open/Close the Buffs window.
  • Alt+Shift+c: Open/Close the Area Stats window.
  • Alt+Shift+s: Open/Close the Self Stats window.
  • Alt+Shift+k: Unlock/lock target for stats.
  • Alt+Shift+o: Reload (some) config.
  • Alt+Shift+h: Universally display/hide all ArcDPS windows.

The expanded ArcDPS window will have a plethora of options and information for you to check out. This section will attempt to explain the various windows and their data as best as possible.

Expanded Menu:

 

Area Stats[+]:

The Areas stats [+] window will display the damage for you and your party/squad-group/squad respectively. If in a large squad these numbers can swap sporadically as large numbers of people handle different targets in different areas.


The bar will display (in order from left to right):

  • Rank (Example – 1:)
  • Profession (Example – (Gdn))
  • Player Name (Example – Axxrael)
  • Total Damage (Example – 2,862)
  • Damage Per Second (DPS) (Example – 329/s)
  • Percentage of total damage (Example – 100%)

 

Buffs:

The Buffs window will display which and how many buffs players are receiving. By default, this involves buffs they are receiving and outputting. As such it can be confusing and should be used when you are certain you need to hit specific numbers of a certain boon. Otherwise, most people will prefer DPS reports for more sensible uptimes.


The bar will display (in order from left to right):

  • Rank (Example – 1:)
  • Profession (Example – (Gdn))
  • Player Name (Example – Axxrael)
  • Boons
    • Boon Type (Example – Might | Fury | Retaliation)
      • These values will change by importance and what boons are present.
    • Boon Value (Example – 9.30 | 2.89 | 0.77)
      • These values are confusing at first but are related to the number of boons being shared per second. Hovering over the values will display the total number of simulated (or expected) total seconds the boon would have been active for. This number can highly depend on the party members in range, shared boons, and cannot predict boon sharing/corruption/removal until it occurs. (Example – 14.00 seconds predict / 4.84 seconds total)

 

Self Stats:

The Self Stats window will display stats that you are outputting in a minimalistic window.

The window will display three columns (in order from left to right):

  • Stat (Example – damage, healing, barrier)
  • Target Stats (Example – 361 DPS)
    • These stats are related to the direct target only. If there is only 1 target this will be the same as the cleave damage below.
    • Hovering over these stats will display the total number of stats and duration of the combat. (Example – 2,228 damage over 6.16 seconds)
  • Cleave Stats (Example – 361 DPS)
    • These stats are related to the primary target and additional targets. These numbers will ideally be higher with additional party members to heal and additional enemies to cleave.
    • Hovering over these stats will display the total number of stats and duration of the combat. (Example – 2,228 damage over 6.16 seconds)

 

Self Skills:

The Self Skills window will display a chart of your damage sources. This window is very helpful for determining the effectiveness of your damage sources and can help you identify the effectiveness of a build and its intended damage.

The chart will display four columns (in order from left to right):

  • Rank (most damaging source)
  • Skill/Effect Name (Example – Orb of Wrath)
  • Total Damage (Example – 1,070)
  • Percentage of Total Damage (Example – 47.2%)

In addition to sources, bars behind the text help visually identify the scale of effectiveness between abilities. Rank 1 will typically be a full bar as the most effective ability with the other bars as a percentage of that bar’s effective damage. Since Symbol of Punishment’s damage was approximately half the amount of damage as Orb of Wrath its bar is half that length.

Hovering over any attack/effect name will give you specific numbers to the targets.

  • hits (cmprs): The simplistic number of times this skill was cast.
    • This is not well defined by the developer. It appears to be the number of times a skill was “cast.” See: LANG_COMMON_SKILLS_HITSCOMPRESS
  • hits (dmg): The amount of targets/times this attack successfully landed.
    • This number increases with each target hit by the number of hits a spell has. (e.g., if a skill casts multiple projectiles or has an AoE it will potentially hit multiple times/targets per “cast”. If an attack misses (out of range/obstructed/invulnerability), is dodged, or is blocked it will not count.
  • hits (all): The amount of targets/times this attack could have landed.
    • This number is the amount of times an attack was made. It can be cut short by target removal, cancellation, downed state, etc.
  • Damage Stats: These numbers break down basic stats of the attack as a singular entity.

 

Healthbar:

This “window” exists as a number that is attached to standard enemy health bars in the top-middle of the screen. It will display a number of up to 2 decimal places for better representation of the amount of health remaining on an enemy.

Metrics:

The Metrics window shows your Frames Per Second (FPS) [F], Ping [P], and Refresh Rate [R].

  • F: Frames per Second (Example – 95)
    • FPS is essentially how many frames the game is attempting to push to your monitor. The higher the number the smoother your experience will be. Guild Wars 2 is known to be unoptimized and this number may require a fast CPU to reach desirable numbers compared to other games (60/100/144). Anything below 30 will most likely feel sluggish and your settings should be reduced for improved gameplay in more competitive environments.
  • P: Ping (Example – 37)
    • Ping is a measure in milliseconds it takes to send and receive a response from the server. Low numbers are desirable with anything above 100 being considered moderate and anything above 250 being considered poor. High numbers may make competitive environments and jumping puzzles more difficult than normal. There is very little you can do in-game to improve ping performance. Using a wired connection (as opposed to wireless) is usually the easiest way to improve network connectivity other than improving your network provider’s plan.
  • R: Refresh Rate (Example – 26).
    • This is not well defined by the developer. The lower the number the worse your response time is between the combat report and server ticks. A low number could cause combat damage to be calculated incorrectly to “real time” and can also effect ArcDPS directly in its reporting. A number below 17 may result in a loss in traffic and damage calculations. The only way to improve this number is to ensure you have the latest version of ArcDPS running.

Hovering over any portion of this window will display a separate window with advanced instance information.

  • S: Server Time
    • Server time resets at 00:00 which will result in different local times for reset.
  • U: Map Uptime
    • Multiple instances of maps can exist as they become full. Uptime can help determine if new (standard) nodes are present or when events may be running. Combined with ID, you can also identify maps that may have been reset when previously bugged.
  • Map type:
    • This is not well defined by the developer. The type number helps identify the meta information of the map and what rules should be implemented. Can be important for build template item switching speeds and when certain logs/info can be ignored.
  • Map. ID:
    • This is not well defined by the developer. Identifies which instance of the map you are running.
  • Dist.cbt: Combat movement distance
    • This is the amount of distance your character has moved when in combat during the instance. Based on in-game “units.”
  • Dist.ooc: Out-of-combat movement distance
    • This is the amount of distance your character has moved when out of combat during the instance. Based on in-game “units.”
  • Time.cbt: Time in combat
    • This measures the time your character has spent in combat during the instance. Units in parentheses are totals since logging.
  • Time.ooc: Time out of combat
    • This measures the time your character has spent out of combat during the instance. Units in parentheses are totals since logging.
  • M.gw2: Memory used by Guild Wars 2 engine
    • Memory allocated to running Guild Wars 2. The units in parentheses are actively utilized allocated memory.
  • M.arc: Memory used by ArcDPS hook
    • Memory allocated to running ArcDPS. This can get quite large during large encounter such as GvG/WvW. The units in parentheses are actively utilized allocated memory.
  • B.gw2: Build version of Guild Wars 2
    • The current version of Guild Wars 2.
  • B.arc: Build version of ArcDPS
    • The current version of ArcDPS.
  • PID: Process ID
    • This is the PID your system gives to the Guild Wars process. It should match the PID for the executable in Windows Task Manager and is likely only useful for troubleshooting/diagnostic purposes.
Logs:

The Logs window shows advanced information in a similar manner as the standard Guild Wars 2 combat log.

Below the windows section are general options. This section will attempt to explain what these options are for as best as possible.

Expanded Menu:

Lock target to encounter NPC:

This option forces ArcDPS to ignore data coming from other sources than certain NPCs. This way even if you switch targets to random summons during a boss fight it will not reset your DPS on a raid boss. This usually only works for instanced content (i.e., it will not lock onto Open World bosses). This is a highly recommended option to have active.

 

Moving requires modifiers:

This option locks all windows in place and will respond only to changes to the position values in the file arcdps_imgui.ini. This is located in your Guild Wars 2 installation directory under addons\arcdps\arcdps_imgui.ini. This can help perfectly placed windows from being accidentally moved by the in-game interface.

 

Clicking requires modifiers:

This is not well defined by the developer. This option blocks interactivity in ArcDPS windows. To change settings you will need to edit values in the library. Currently not supported on an end-user level.

 

Esc closes windows:

When active, hitting the escape key will close the ArcDPS Options window. Most DPS windows ignore this. If you need the options window to stay open but still access the in-game options menu with the escape hotkey you will need to turn this off.

Below the general option section is the logging options. This section will attempt to explain what these logging options are as best as possible.

Expanded Menu:

Save EVTC logs after encounters:

This option will output a log onto your local storage for review at a later time. This is required to upload or process using alternative services. Flames of the Mist currently uses DPS Report for our raid logging. EVTC logs will only work for instanced content.

 

Compress logs with PowerShell (Win10):

This option compresses the logs which will save a significant amount of disk space and processing. It is, however, only supported on Windows 10 operating systems.

 

Use NPC Name in EVTC save path:

This option records the NPC name into the folder structure the logs are saved. This just helps with local organization of files.

 

Use Player Name in EVTC save path:

This option records the player name into the folder structure the logs are saved. This just helps with local organization of files.

 

Use guild in EVTC save path:

This option records the guild name into the folder structure the logs are saved. This just helps with local organization of files.

If the d3d9_arcdps_extras.dll library is present an extras section contains options for limiting the user interface. This section will attempt to explain what these interface options do as best as possible.

Expanded Menu:

Check recommended minimum version:

If this option is checked a window will pop-up when starting Guild Wars 2 that the versions are not compatible and will contain known accuracy issues or bugs. If unchecked you will not see this warning. It is highly recommended to use an updated version of ArcDPS to avoid inaccuracies and crashes.

 

Suppress objective achievements:

Removes the achievement tracking and list from the achievement Watch List on general objectives.

 

Suppress objective quests:

Removes the achievement tracking and list from the achievement Watch List related to quests such as Personal Story.

 

Suppress objective events:

Removes the achievement tracking and list from the achievement Watch List related to nearby events.

 

Suppress floating combat text:

Text related to damage, healing, and effects will no longer appear. This can significantly clean up the amount of clutter during a fight.

 

Slow worldstep when window inactive:

This is not well defined by the developer. Clearly this means something… O_o

One of ArcDPS’ most useful utilities is the build templates window. If the d3d9_arcdps_buildtemplates.dll library is present an additional Templates window can be brought up. This section will attempt to explain how this window works as best as possible.

Build Templates:

Traits, Gear, Skills:

The top three tables are lists of the saved templates for traits, gear, and skills respectively. You can left+click any item per table to highlight it for loading. You can delete any item on any list at any time by clicking the X to the right of the relative item.

The input boxes below the Skills table load a string identifier based on the traits and skill combinations that are saved. These string identifiers can be copied to be utilized by yourself or others to easily copy portions of a build template. When highlighting a Trait or Skill template the relative box will automatically populate the string identifier. Gear is too varied to work with an identifier of this nature.

You can load a template based off of any combination of traits, gear, and/or skills. Only what is highlighted will be changed. When you have your desired combination of templates selected hit the Load button to have your characters build start to change.

  • Build templates will load traits first before loading gear and then skills. This ensures profession specific options will be available.
  • In maps such as cities or non-combat instances build templates can load 10 elements per second making most switches near-instant.
  • In maps where combat can take place, build templates enforces a 500ms (0.5 seconds) delay between elements. This is mentioned as a yellow warning above the load button when applicable.
    • If you enter a state in which you could not legitimately change a build (such as combat) the templates will stop loading wherever their change order left off. You will have to reinitialize a switch once available. The window will state its inability to load.
    • If items are not available from the list of gear the template is given it will simply skip the appropriate entries and continue until complete. No errors or warnings are given when this occurs.
      • Items are swapped on a 1 by 1 basis with the inventory item requested. This window does not organize your inventory in any other manner.

You can discover more information about the relative template item by hovering over it. It will list the traits, gear, or skills it will be attempting to load.

 

 

  • Traits (hovered)
    • The menu will show a list of traits that will be loaded when you switch to this template.
  • Gear (hovered)
    • The list shows what gear (with upgrades) will be loaded when you switch to this template. Gear with highlighted names is gear that you already have equipped.
  • Skills (hovered)
    • This list shows the skills that will be loaded. A highlighted list beneath this will show what skills are currently loaded.

In order to create a template, you can set up your character with the traits, skills, and gear as you normally would. To save your current setup choose a name at the bottom of the window and check the boxes for the relative items you’d like to create a template for, then hit Save. If you would like to update an already existing template just utilize the same name and hit Overwrite instead.

If you have a large number of builds it can help to organize them alphabetically. To do this right+click on the menu and ensure the box Sort Alphabetically is checked. There are also a few other options that could be useful in this menu.

My windows no longer show up and alt+shift+t doesn't bring anything up.

It is possible to hide all windows (while still having them otherwise active and running). You can toggle hidden windows with alt+shift+H.

I get an error that ArcDPS "failed to create config dir"?

This error usually occurs when the system cannot write to the installation directory which may be due to space or permissions. You will need to ensure you can create folders in your Guild Wars 2 installation directory. You can manually create a folder for Guild Wars 2\addons\arcdps or try running Guild Wars 2 in administrative mode.

Is there a window that tracks healing stats?

Unfortunately, a large portion of healing effects are NOT reported by the server. Without these numbers being reported any meter would depend on almost purely simulated numbers, which is most likely going to be too inaccurate to be useful. Until this limitation is changed it is unlikely there will ever be an accurate Healing Meter.

Can I stop ArcDPS from reading my damage?

No. There is no supported method to “encrypt” or otherwise hide your data specifically from the party/group you are in. Most of the group’s combat information is sent to the servers and this is where ArcDPS hooks into it. If anyone in the party is actively running ArcDPS they will have access to the whole party’s combat data. This type of collection is what makes the DPS meter questionable (TOS) but highly accurate.

ArcDPS Disclaimer

Page updated: December 6, 2018

You can bring up important changes, inaccuracies, and/or corrections in the comments section at the bottom of this guide.

ArcDPS is a third-party developer add-on for Guild Wars 2 that provides several utilities for players. It is developed by Deltaconnnected and utilizes a hook with client network data to have access to useful functions. Although no changes are made to game files, this method of data extraction is in direct violation of the Guild Wars 2 – Rules of Conduct, particularly rules 15 and 20.

15.) You will not attempt to interfere with, hack into, or decipher any transmissions to or from the servers running Guild Wars 2.

20.) You may not use any third-party program (such as a “bot”) in order to automate gameplay functions, including playing, chatting, interacting, or gathering gold or items within Guild Wars 2. You may not assist, relay, or store gold or items for other players who are using these processes.

As such this software cannot be fully recommended or endorsed by the guild as the no-tolerance policy for such activities could result in the permanent deletion or removal of accounts from users.

However, there is an unofficial “agreement” that has been reached between Deltaconnected(ArcDPS) and ArenaNet. Sources:

1.) Reddit AMA, Chris Cleary* – Wednesday, February 8, 2017 (17:28:52 EST)

You are correct. Combat data is defined as any information that is created due to the usage of skills or impact on players due to skill usage (by the player/s or an outside source).

Edit/Update: These statements are particularly targeted at a “DPS Meter” or functionality built around the capture of combat data. Features outside of that most likely fall under “Quality of Life” changes and should be removed from DPS meters if they want to be considered compliant with our rules.

2.) Reddit Thread, Chris Cleary* – Friday, April 21, 2017 (04:21:31 EST)

Good questions here, but nothing I haven’t already answered. I’ll go ahead and rebump previous info given out here.

ArenaNet authorizes the use and development of 3rd Party tools under the banner of a “DPS Meter”. “DPS Meters” is defined as the collection and processing of combat related data in order to develop a statistical and visual representation of that data. This combat data maybe collected from anyone inside of your immediate social group. Social groups are defined as including the player character, and current party and/or squad.

Combat data does not include current entity status, including current Buffs/Debuffs/Health/Stats/Location or any other data that is not generated due to the usage of skills or impact on player characters due to skill usage (by the PC/s or an outside source).

The collection and processing of data in the client must be limited to the scope of the “DPS meter” and should not exceed it. Visualization of this data must also limited to the scope of the “DPS Meter” which includes visualizations, logging, and processing/visualization of logging.

* – The above comments were posted by a known and verified Reddit account, u/ChrisCleary. As of October 31, 2018 Chris’ Reddit account was deleted. The particular comments were not deleted themselves, but their association has weakened. No current statement has been made regarding this.

In its current state ArcDPS is a commonly used third-party application whose developer has kept the program in a state where it has followed ArenaNet’s guidelines to be considered acceptable. Flames of the Mist has several members who utilize this program and will typically be able to provide combat logs and info during raids and fractals for members who would prefer to understand their performance without compromising their accounts. You will never be barred from events, runs, or raids for a refusal to utilize this program.


For those players that are interested in utilizing this program for their own benefit or to better understand their performance from raid logs, the tables below contain information as comprehensive as possible collected by the leadership of Flames of the Mist.

Thanks

Firstly, thank you to Deltaconnected for creating this useful and powerful tool.

Also, thank you to anyone who submitted info or helped with testing/confirmation.

  • VariableFlame#2067
  • DrClutchMcSwagDaddy#7799
  • Bonchi#2366
  • img
    May 1, 2020 @ 17:55 pm

    Ive come across a problem recently. Healing numbers are not showing up. They show up in the log but not in the UI. I get damage and barrier, but no heals. Ive updated and repaired everything. Still no good. I keep thinking I inadvertently set off some switch and cant figure it out. Any help would be appreciated.

  • img
    JN Reply
    May 6, 2020 @ 15:24 pm

    May 6, 2020

    Healing still does not show up in “Self Stat” Window after update.

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