Developer Builds Aion 2 DPS Meter by Reverse-Engineering Game's Network Protocol

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A developer has built a real-time combat analytics desktop app for the MMO Aion 2 by reverse-engineering the game's undocumented TCP network protocol. The tool, written in Rust with a Tauri v2 frontend, passively captures and parses game traffic using npcap without touching the game client through injection or memory reading. One of the toughest engineering challenges was correctly tracking player identity, as character IDs shift between encounters, causing data from healers and buffers to be misattributed or lost entirely. The app also implements a custom damage attribution model called rDPS, which credits support players for the amplified damage their buffs generate across the party. Additionally, effective healing is calculated by cross-referencing cast amounts against actual HP changes, ensuring healer rankings reflect meaningful contributions rather than raw output.

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