WowAce

can't recall if this happened before 8.1, let's assume it didn't,

when i log in and check my guild chat log i can see the name of the person + the timestamp but the text is always the same: "UNKNOWN".

i have tried to reset the guild log from within the addon and even actively deleted the .lua and .lua.bak from savedvariable

looking into one of the .lua files after typing something on gchat (just text, not an item link) and i found this line

["arg1"] = "|Kv53|k",

the file seems to have the same content on toon-swap but the addon is able to grab the correct text, i have several lines with:

["arg1"] = "|Kv1|k",

["arg1"] = "|Kv2|k",

["arg1"] = "|Kv3|k",

["arg1"] = "|Kv4|k",

but inside the addon i can see what was being said... so weird

I've just run into this same issue as well, specifically in guild officer chat; the past few sessions' worth of logs just say "Unknown", with the same "|Kv#|k" signature in Elephant.lua. I haven't ever noticed it happen before now, but searching elsewhere in that file I see the same thing happened a few times before in regular guild chat as well, the earliest recorded occurrence for me being December 11th.

I have been having this issue for months as well, hoping updates would destroy it etc., but so far, nothing. But my issue is far worse than yours, it seems - literally ALL I get is Unknown, or at least almost always.  Right now, I'm looking at a chat log of 100% Unknown in elephant.  Curiously, for the first time yesterday, I saw ONE instance of 'Unknown' in my non-elephant chat log.  But this was odd, in that I saw some chat, and then 10 minutes later I scrolled back up to it, and it had been REPLACED with 'Unknown'.

Has anyone figured anything out as to how to fix this?  

Unfortunately, this is an artifact coming from privacy protection made by Blizzard in the game (which is good, but then has some drawbacks).

Let me explain. When a Battle.net friend talks with you, the AddOn catches the message in order to log it. In order to protect people's real name from being "sniffed" from AddOns, the Blizzard API automatically replaces the full name with an ID. That's the ones that you've mentioned above, for example "|Kv#|k".

As of before, for sure, these ids seemed to be unique per person. For example, "John Smith" would always be identified by "|Kv1234|k". In recent updates of the game however, the same ID can be used for several people, and AddOns have absolutely no control over it.

Additionally to this, Battle.net names that correspond to an ID such as "|Kv#|k" are ONLY shown if a the corresponding person (whoever it is, as decided by the game) is online when you're reading the logs. So, for example, if "John Smith" sent you messages in your previous game session but is not logged in when you read the logs, then the name might appear as "Unknown". Or worse, as "Julie Nobody" if there is another person logged in that is considered by the game, at that time, to be that person.

tl;dr - The game assigns IDs to Battle.net friends that are not consistent, so names sent by Battle.net friends can be swapped seemingly randomly. Also, if your Battle.net friend is not connected at the time you check the logs, their name might appear as "Unknown".

As of a few weeks back I've started getting "Unknown" in officer chat as well, it seems to only apply the UNKNOWN after a relog, during the session the text appears to be captured correctly.

It is only affecting officer chat, all other channels appear to be fine, even if it's the same people talking. To be clear - it's capturing WHO is speaking fine, it' not capturing WHAT they say.

Have you tried to run the addon by itself with toons that happen to see this? I wonder if another addon isn't causing this (in 99% of the case it's the case).

I've just realised that my officer chat isn't showing either.  It's showing the name of the person talking, but then in place of the actual chat, just "unknown".

I have a quick look at the lua and this is there:

{
["arg2"] = "Shezbeth-Lightbringer",
["type"] = "OFFICER",
["time"] = 1582149593,
["arg1"] = "|Kv21|k",
["clColor"] = "ffa22fc8",
}, -- [549]
{
["arg2"] = "Poisonenvy-Lightbringer",
["type"] = "OFFICER",
["time"] = 1582149634,
["arg1"] = "|Kv22|k",
["clColor"] = "fffefefe",
}, -- [550]
{
["arg2"] = "Poisonenvy-Lightbringer",
["type"] = "OFFICER",
["time"] = 1582153898,
["arg1"] = "|Kv23|k",
["clColor"] = "fffefefe",
}, -- [551]
{
["arg2"] = "Poisonenvy-Lightbringer",
["type"] = "OFFICER",
["time"] = 1582153913,
["arg1"] = "|Kv24|k",
["clColor"] = "fffefefe",
}, -- [552]
},
}, -- [6]
{
["enabled"] = true,
["hasMessage"] = true,
["name"] = "Guild",
["logs"] = {
{
["arg2"] = "Atomicbetty-Lightbringer",
["type"] = "GUILD",
["time"] = 1580765659,
["arg1"] = "[KJ] i personally dont like the fast and furious movies except maybe the 1st 3 movies ",
["clColor"] = "fff38bb9",
}, -- [1]
{
["arg2"] = "Luknobra-Lightbringer",
["type"] = "GUILD",
["time"] = 1580765684,
["arg1"] = "phew, not a bad run, who's joining for |cffffffff|Hitem:171208::::::::120:259::::::|h[Suntouched Amulet]|h|r?",
["clColor"] = "fffef367",
}, -- [2]
{
["arg2"] = "Atomicbetty-Lightbringer",
["type"] = "GUILD",
["time"] = 1580765690,
["arg1"] = "[KJ] i am",
["clColor"] = "fff38bb9",
}, -- [3]
{
["arg2"] = "Atomicbetty-Lightbringer",
["type"] = "GUILD",
["time"] = 1580765692,
["arg1"] = "[KJ] logging ",
["clColor"] = "fff38bb9",
}, -- [4]

I've just typed in officer chat, "officer chat test" .. and that shows up in elephant (prior to relogging) however, it seems to have inserted itself on the top line of every day's chats on that channel.  Unfortunately I tried to copy it, but all that shows up in the copy box is:

 

Logging started on 02/03/2020 at 20:52:17.


Logging started on 02/05/2020 at 20:03:05.


Logging started on 02/12/2020 at 20:01:24.


Logging started on 02/14/2020 at 20:17:57.


Logging started on 02/14/2020 at 20:58:12.


Logging started on 02/19/2020 at 20:08:37.


Logging started on 02/20/2020 at 09:34:25.

I could reload and my text chat in officer chat was still showing, but when I exited completely, it changed to the unknown.

I went to a different character, that has different addons.  Same problem.

I typed in officer chat "officer chat test with addons" - exited, came back in .. unknown.

I then stopped all addons other than elephant, typed "officer chat with no addons" .. before I logged off, i checked elephant, and it tracked that, but also had replaced the previous message, that was originally "officer chat test with addons", then "unknown", with my new message "officer chat with no addons".

I then exited wow - I only have elephant running - and it has changed both the above test chats to "unknown".  I wonder if this is more to do with the actual "restricted" nature of officer chat?  They've already done it with some chats - like the bnet ones.  Effectively guild chat is all on the same platform now, judging by the fact that, when something goes wrong with the servers, guild chat is disconnected too.

I'v e just realised that you've actually addressed this some time back.  I'm not sure why it's something I've only just noticed though.  I fairly regularly flick through my various elephant chats - but perhaps I've just missed that.

Is there any way around this?  because officer chat is one of those very important chat channels I'd like to keep some record of, at least in the short term.  And I realise I can just screenshot the default chat log, but that's a pain.

Do you happen to only have people that are Real ID friends in your Officer chat? Your log is very interesting:

["arg1"] = "|Kv21|k",

The fact that "arg1" is inside the saved data means the AddOn actually receives the text message, but it only sees "|Kv21|k".

Let me explain with more technicality. The documentation of CHAT_MSG_OFFICER is here: https://wow.gamepedia.com/CHAT_MSG_OFFICER

The first argument is the text message. This argument and all the other ones are received by Elephant in the HandleMessage() method: https://github.com/AllInOneMighty/Elephant/blob/790e12019c4e4706b19d0f7cd1624e5dfc404bc2/Event.lua#L46

The arguments (represented by "...") are then unpacked in different variables as shown here: https://github.com/AllInOneMighty/Elephant/blob/790e12019c4e4706b19d0f7cd1624e5dfc404bc2/Event.lua#L55

...the first one being "message" (as expected). The message is then saved as "arg1" in the saved data: https://github.com/AllInOneMighty/Elephant/blob/790e12019c4e4706b19d0f7cd1624e5dfc404bc2/Event.lua#L137

I can't see anything wrong with the logic. Everything seems to be working as intended, i.e. the AddOn receives the message as-is and saves it as-is. Then, when trying to display it back, it sends "|Kv21|k" which is then converted to real text by the WoW engine. Unfortunately, if the WoW engine decides to not have it in memory (seems to be when you logout/login), then it shows "unknown".

The only way I see to "fix" this is to have people in the officer chat not being Real ID friends. But... that's under the assumption that you are talking, indeed, to RealID friends. If hope this does not happen with regular users...

In any case, there's nothing I can really do to fix this due to Blizzard API security :(