FAQ
General
Section titled “General”What operating systems does BARAS support?
Windows, macOS, and most modern Linux distributions.
Is this against the SWTOR Terms of Service?
No. BARAS is an external application that only reads data from combat log files. All information in the combat logs is intentionally offered by the developers for the player to use.
BARAS is not a mod. It does not read information from SWTOR or modify the application in any way. There is no direct interaction between BARAS and the SWTOR game client.
It uses the exact same data available to other parsing tools, like Starparse and ORBS, which have been used by the community for over a decade.
How does BARAS interact with my machine? Is it safe to use?
BARAS is an open source project and the source code is available on GitHub for anyone to review.
BARAS only interacts with the following external services and file directories.
Directories accessed:
- The log directory set by the user
- The application configuration directory
Process monitoring:
- The “auto-hide when not live” feature monitors evaluates if
swtor.exeis running in the process manager
External services:
- GitHub — BARAS checks once on application start for available updates.
- Parsely.io — The user can choose to upload specific files/encounters to Parsely.
I get warnings that this application isn't trusted on Windows/macOS. Why?
Microsoft and Apple will display warning messages if an application doesn’t have a code-signing certificate. This is a common security practice to ensure the downloaded file is from the actual software developer.
However, code signing certificates cost anywhere from $100-300 dollars per year to purchase and maintain. Since this is a small, non-commercial project maintained by a single developer I am not able to maintain code-signing certificates.
Timers
Section titled “Timers”SWTOR crashed — will timers still run?
It’s best to either reset combat logging or log out and log back in when a crash occurs. The game will create a file that causes difficulties identifying the local player and current area after a game crash or disconnection.
Do timers continue working even if I die?
Yes. Even fights with troublesome behavior should have special handling to ensure that in-combat deaths are handled properly.
Certain timers don't seem to be showing up, even though other timers are working in the same fight. Why?
The most common reason for this to occur is that AbilityActivated events for NPCs will not appear in the logs until the local player (you) direct casts an ability on that NPC.
Any timers based on boss ability casts are susceptible to this issue. It is prevalent in multi-boss encounters and when the player is a healer that doesn’t target the boss.
Other known issues include:
- Activity is not logged if the boss is in stealth
- Some instances have distance mechanics, such as being trapped in the Styrak nightmare, that interfere with event logging
Timers seem to be firing too early or too late or de-syncing. Why?
Boss ability casts and mechanics can be slightly delayed based on target changes, movement animations, and their ability priority order. For example, Propagator Core has around 5 abilities with the same priority value that can be off-cooldown at the same time. In this case the next ability cast is randomly chosen.
Standard timers are not able to predict this. BARAS has an experimental Ability Queue feature that attempts to visualize the boss’ ability cool downs and predict the next cast.
A specific timer seems to be misconfigured. What do I do?
Please report any default timers that are broken or inaccurate due to configuration issues. In the meantime, all timers — including the default built-in timers — can be fully edited in the Encounter Builder.
Effects
Section titled “Effects”What does alacrity do? Why can I set it in the application?
In-game alacrity condenses the duration of ticking HOTs/DOTs and reduces the cooldown time of offensive abilities. In order to get accurate displays for abilities such as the Operative’s Kolto Probe, BARAS should be set to your character’s current alacrity.
Is GNOME supported?
No. GNOME is one of the few Linux desktop environments that does not implement the zwlr-layershell protocol, which is required for BARAS overlays to run on Wayland. Overlays will not work, however the rest of the application will function.
The application won't work on my Linux distribution!
Due to the nature of Linux, it’s impossible to ensure compatibility with every possible configuration. The BARAS AppImage is compiled on Ubuntu 24.04, and older versions of common distributions may not have the required libraries to run BARAS. Support for non-current or niche distros will not be provided.