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Takeshi HASEGAWA edited this page Jan 19, 2016 · 21 revisions

WinIkaLog Starting Guide

WinIkaLog

What can I do with IkaLog?

IkaLog (means Squid-Log in Japanese) is third-party software to support Nintendo's Splatoon game players.

IkaLog recognizes what's happening in the game through HDMI video capture devices, and outputs battle logs automatically.
In addition, IkaLog can also save screenshots of the scoreboard, post messages to Twitter/Slack, and record your gameplay with OBS!

What do I need to run IkaLog?

  • You need a video capture device that grab HDMI (or D4) video.
  • You need a HDMI splitter device to connect to both the TV and the capture device to the Wii U. (Some capture devices may have a passthrough mode. In this case you don't need a HDMI spitter)
  • HDMI cables to connect the devices

What do I need to configure on my Wii U to run IkaLog?

Configure the two parameters:

  • Set the resolution to HDMI 720p. OTHER MODES ARE NOT SUPPORTED.
  • Set the screen size to maximum. It's the default, but you may have changed it. If it's not configured correctly, you'll see black margins in WinIkaLog Preview.

This is not good:
black_margins

This is what you want:
no_black_margins

Before starting WinIkaLog, test the video capture device in 1280x720.

Obtaining WinIkaLog

Download the latest WinIkaLog binary from the site below.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14421778/IkaLog/download.html

Capture through AmarecTV

AmarecTV is useful for previewing, recording, and distributing the stream to several applications. IkaLog can also receive the stream from Amarec's Live feature. To enable the Live feature:

  • Enable the Live feature in preferences
  • Set the framerate to 30fps
  • Set the output resolution to 1280x720

amarectv

Capture from your desktop (Realtime desktop capture)

Another way to input your video to IkaLog is by recording your screen. You can use this with a preview window of OBS or Elgato's Game Capture software if your capture card isn't compatible with AmarecTV.

Make sure your software is set to show the preview at 100% or 1:1, and that it is set to 1280x720.

With your Wii U connected and the preview window open, open the HOME menu. Make sure the preview window isn't covered by any other window. In WinIkaLog, ensure "realtime desktop capture" is selected as the input source, then press "Calibrate" with the HOME menu visible. If it worked, the command prompt window in the background should say the calibration was a success, and the "Preview" page in WinIkaLog should show only the HOME menu from your video input.

Now that the software is calibrated, close the HOME menu and start playing the game. Everything should function as expected now.

If it was not able to calibrate, check the resolution of your video input, and make sure that no other window is covering the preview window when you are calibrating.

Keep in mind that when using realtime desktop capture, your notifications from Steam and other messaging applications may be visible, so close them while recording.

Running WinIkaLog

Extract all files from the ZIP file. Run WinIkaLog_en_NA.BAT to run WinIkaLog for North American copies of the game.

Configure the video source

Click "Options" button and configure those settings.

  • Input: Select your video source
  • Screenshot: Enable automatic screenshots of the scoreboard
  • CSV and JSON output: These output text files containing the scoreboard, map, and mode data of the processed games

Once you have changed the configuration, press Apply button to apply the configuration. Once you've applied the configuration, it's strongly suggested that you restart WinIkaLog before proceeding.

First run

  • Make sure your preview window shows the input from your Wii U.
  • Make sure your preview doesn't have any black margins.
  • Check your configuration in the Options tab.

If everything looks good, it's time to play Splatoon.

Twitter Integration

You can set up IkaLog to post a screenshot of your scoreboard to Twitter at the end of every game.

Setting it up

twitter_setup

Open the "Twitter" page under the "Options" page. Click the "Connect to Twitter" button, and copy the URL. Go to that URL in your browser, and log in with your Twitter account to allow IkaLog to post for you.

It will return an Access Token and an Access Token Secret. Enter these into their respective boxes in IkaLog.

Check off any additional options you may want at this time, then press Apply.

Using your own ConsumerSecret/ConsumerKey

If you wish to use your own keys, you may do so by selecting the "Use your own Consumer Key" radio button in IkaLog.

https://dev.twitter.com/

Testing it

Once you've entered everything correctly, you can test it by using the "Test" button. Make sure you press "Apply" before you test posting.

Example

This is what a Twitter post will look like:

twitter_example

Security Notice

Your Twitter authentication details will be stored in plain text in the IkaConfig.yaml file. Do not share this file!

Slack Integration

You can also integrate a Slack bot to post match results into a Slack chat.

Setting it up

slack_setup

All you need to do is enter the WebHook API URL into IkaLog, and enter the bot's name. Check the box if you want a screenshot of the scoreboard attached to the message, and you're done.

Example

It will look like this when configured properly:

slack_example

stat.ink Integration

stat.ink is a website for tracking statistics from your Splatoon matches, like your favorite weapon, and overall games won and lost. IkaLog can upload data directly to stat.ink as soon as your game finishes.

Please note that while the accuracy of recognizing weapons and scores is reasonably good, it's not 100% perfect.

note: Slack integration supports Japanese only, as of today.

Setting it up

stat.ink_setup

All you have to do is go to your account on stat.ink, get your API Key, and paste it into the "stat.ink" page on the "Options" page. Then hit Apply.

Make sure the "Post game results to stat.ink" box is checked, otherwise nothing will be posted. If you want to try out some of the experimental Ranked Mode features, check those as well, but keep in mind that they are still in development and may be buggy.

FAQ

IkaLog does not detect my Elgato capture device!

We've investigated the issue for a while and concluded that Elgato Game Capture series have some compatibility issues. Technically IkaLog can detect any DirectShow compatible capture devices but Elgato devices don't show up. Unfortunately core developers don't have the device and no plan to support the device directly, since it seems to be device specific issue. However, We still have several options to get the those work:

  • Use ScreenCapture (aka Desktop Capture) to grab the image from the bundled software.
  • Use PURCHASED VERSION of XSplit. It seems the company worked with Elgato closely, XSplit can handle Elgato devices. XSplit can also re-distribute the video to IkaLog. XSplit is also useful for streaming/recording with/without IkaLog. Note that the free version draws a watermark that disturbs IkaLog.
  • Some capture devices reported are listed in en_CaptureDevices.

If you succeeded in adding Elgato support for IkaLog, let us know. Elgato actually have DirectShow driver but we need device-specific device initialization hacks. Probably you will need knowledge of DirectShow, Python, OpenCV, Numpy and ctypes to do this.

WinIkaLog preview shows the video, but nothing works while playing...

Review your Wii U configuration if you already had Wii U video showing in the WinIkaLog preview.

IkaLog crashed my PC!

IkaLog is just an application. Technically IkaLog runs on user-mode, it means the software is under control of the operating system, such as Windows and Mac OS X, and it's actually quite hard to make your system crash. In most cases, the video capture framework in the OS and/or device drivers are the root cause of the crash. We are unable to do anything about it, and suggest you contact your computer's manufacturer.

IkaLog causes an Application Error when I try to close it!

It's under investigation but also harmless.

IkaLog fails to recognize my weapon/rank/level/kills/deaths!

Since Cause of Death detecion is WIP, it may show some wrong results.

Due to the design of IkaLog we cannot assure 100% accuracy, but IkaLog has been tested by Japanese users for several months and proved its accuracy to recognize Weapons, Rank, Level, and K/Ds. The en_NA localization team also did great work. If IkaLog is having trouble recognizing these things a lot, something is probably wrong with your setup.

If you are really sure there are bugs in the software, contact the development team below:

https://github.com/hasegaw/IkaLog/issues

You will need to provide us enough information to reproduce and isolate the issue.


## Special Thanks - @apricot385 - clovervidia - eli - @Deathmetalland - @ExceptionError - @fetus_hina - @gleentea - @itoooon - @kshimo69 - @mzsm_j - shinh - XenonAbe