Why is ACT using bandwidth?

embersept

I've recently started using ACT for FFXIV but have no interest in uploading logs.  I don't know why ACT needs to be using my network when it should just be reading the combat log, calculating and then displaying the numbers.  Is it possible to disable network access, if so how?  

EQAditu

ACT by default does not use any networking if you have auto-updates disabled.  If you have them enabled, then of course it needs network access upon startup.  The FFXIV plugin also honors this setting... but it is not recommended that you turn it off.  FFXIV breaks every game patch, so keeping automatic updates is advised.

If the FFXIV plugin is using deucalion, it probably only uses IPC to gather game data... so it should not appear as network traffic.  If you are using default network capture, it's possible that the raw sockets the plugin opens may attribute any game received traffic to ACT's process as well.

I cannot claim anything about other plugins you might have.

You should use something like Fiddler or Wireshark to determine what is actually happening.  I cannot account for every thing you might have loaded in ACT.

embersept

ty for the reply. It is indeed plugins. Tried mopimopi, ember overlay and kagerou.  They all act like a web browser for whatever reason, periodically sending me packets.  ACT itself does not so I guess ill just use that on a second monitor

EQAditu

OverlayPlugin overlays are webpages.  They are loaded by a Chromium-based browser called CEF.  Most overlays are hosted on the internet and once loaded by CEF, they talk directly to ACT over a local websocket.  But when they load, they're free to retrieve any resources they want.  Images for class icons, stylesheets for layout... or even ads.