Installing:
Download link: http://code.google.com/p/simulationcraft/downloads/list Make sure you get the .zip file for Windows.
There's nothing to install really. You download the .zip file (windows) and extract it all to a folder. I like to call my folder simulationcraft in my my documents folder but it doesn't really matter where you stick it.
Running:
Go into the folder and look for simcqt.exe That's the graphical version of simulationcraft and is the easiest to use.
When you open it, you are presented with:
This page gives you a very nice over view of what things mean. I'll go over each tab individually so that you can try to get the most out of it, without directly copying what's already in simulationcraft on the welcome page.
Options tab:
This is the Options tab and it's very important to check a few things here.
Globals sub tab:
Version: Live is obvious. If you're going to sim the PTR make absolutely sure your simulationcraft version is current.
Iterations: The higher this number the more accurately the sim will reflect what will actually happen in real life. If you're doing a quick dps run down use 10000, if you want actual stat weights, skip this option, we'll override it with a huge number in a later tab.
Length: 500 is a good number for Cata fights as it represents a fight around 8 minutes. Most of the Cata fights right now are long, especially given the gear level of most guilds right now. Use a number that fits what your guild is doing on a fight very close to tank and spank or with minimal add switching.
Vary Length: I usually ignore it, it'll randomly knock off or add the % you set here to the fight.
Adds: You can set a number of adds here and sim things like fel storm on them. Very useful.
Fight Style: This is where a lot of people are wrong about simulationcraft. You can sim a heavy movement fight by changing this to helter skelter. For pure raw scaling factors Patchwerk style is probably better.
Target Race: Pretty obvious what this does, change it according to what type of boss you want to sim against.
Player Skill: You want to sim closer to what you would do? Set it to your skill level. Want to see what you would do if you were a bot? Set it to elite.
Threads: Set this number to your cpu cores. Dual core =2, quad =4 single =1 and for you weird trip core amd people tricore=3. This merely acts to help load balance and make your sim run faster.
Buffs sub tab: Select which buffs are adequate to your raid composition.
Debuffs sub tab: Select which debuffs your raid comp can put on the boss
http://raidcomp.mmo-champion.com/ is a great way to help you fill in these tabs.
Scaling sub tab: This is the tab where you actually tell simulationcraft that you want it to tell you how your stats are and will affect your gear. Select the appropriate scale factors. I've selected the warlock ones for you
Plots sub tab: If you're a visual person you can plot scale factors on a graph. I generally don't use it as it makes the sim take even longer than it already does.
Import Tab:
There are a few different options for importing. Generally I like to see what I can do with what I have (BiS doesn't do me any good until I can reach it). Make sure you select the appropriate spec in the Globals sub tab before clicking import!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Simulate Tab:
This tab doesn't do much of anything unless you a) import a character or b) copy in a profile. This tab is very important. This is where we can see what would happen if we went back and regemmed all spirit (just kidding) or all haste.
I've taken the time to point out a couple of things with my KICKASS mspaint skills
1: This is general information about your character and what information in found during the import about glyphs, spec, etc etc. DOUBLE CHECK IT.
2: These are the actual actions your character will take during the simulation. You can change these if you want to sim something like “what happens if I fill with soulfire?” Obviously we'd change the actions+=/incinerate to soulfire as a filer spell. There's a particular part in my sim that I'd like all the hit > int people to look at because of cool downs etc”
“actions+=/immolate,if=(remains<cast_time+gcd|!ticking)&target.time_to_die>=4&miss_react”
The &miss_react tells simulationcraft to recast immolate if it misses because it's a key spell. But what about soulfire? It's missing that!
“actions+=/soul_fire,if=buff.improved_soul_fire.cooldown_remains<(cast_time+travel_time)&buff.soulbur n.up&!in_flight”
If you read it carefully, it basically says if the ISF buff isn't there, cast soulfire (and some info about precasting it to make it land as it falls off). If it misses, it will recast due to the missing buff.
3: Here you can test different reforges. As you can see, simulationcraft is smart and you don't have to add up the numbers for yourself. Just simply enter in the 2 stats you want to reforge.
4: Gems are a bit more tricky than reforging. You will want to enter the actual stat values of each gem with a _ in between.
5: You can also change the enchant. Some special ones may require text instead of stat values (look at my chest and main hand)
6: I highlighted this because it represents the overall picture of your gear. It probably should have been #3 but screw it, I'm too lazy to change it now.
7: These are comments (see the # sign). You don't have to change these if you want to screw around and give your chest 5000 intellect.
When you are satisfied with what you have in this tab, DONT CLICK SIMULATE YET. We aren't quite finished.
Overrides:
Here we can enter in any special commands we want. I'm not even going to try and post them all in this thread. Google is your friend and so is the Examples Tab. The main override we care about for scaling stats is iterations. The more the better.
iterations=50000 or 100000
we can also use it to simulate adds*!
raid_events+=/adds,count=(how many),cooldown=(how often?),duration=(how long are they there)
*This will override the adds setting from the global sub tab. It is an override afterall.
Once you have your extra iterations (and whatever else you want) You are free to click simulate!
The simulation:
It will take a while, especially with high iterations and it may bog your computer down some (hey it's a simulation, give it a break!) Once it's done you are presented with:
The Results tab:
A few things to note:
1: Overall notes about race/class/spec/level
2: Scale factors tells me a) where the damage I'm doing is coming from and b) where to focus my stats. You can see from my sim that int → hit → crit → haste → mastery is not necessarily the way to focus your gear
3: DPET gives me a rough idea of what spells are doing the most damage for what it costs me to cast them. I want to prioritize the spells that are higher on this graph (excluding special cases such as soulfire for ISF)
4: Again, simulationcraft gives us a nice graphical view of how our stats weigh in.
5: My stat values aren't as accurate as they could be because I did not use very many iterations.
Feel free to ask questions. Hope this was helpful!
---------- Post added 2011-01-07 at 09:39 PM ----------
Unfortunately I simply don't have the time to analyze everyone's logs. Please use the example below as a guide on the things to look at and compare.