How sync works

Your data takes three hops to reach the website: the addon holds it in memory, the game writes it to disk, and the companion app uploads it. Knowing where each hop happens explains almost every “why is it not on the site yet” question.

The short version

Type /reload after a boss kill. The game writes the file, the app uploads it within a few seconds, and the website shows it.

The three hops

1. The addon records in memory

While you play, the addon keeps everything in the game’s memory: boss pulls, kills, wipes, who was in the group, loot, your guild roster and auction prices. Nothing has left the game yet. Addons are not allowed to send data anywhere themselves.

2. The game writes the file to disk

World of Warcraft saves addon data to disk only at three moments:

• when you type /reload
• when you log out
• when you quit the game

It does not save at any other time. If you kill a boss and keep playing, the kill exists only in memory. If the game crashes before a save, everything since the last save is lost.

The files are in your game folder at WTF\Account\(your account)\SavedVariables\. The app watches three of them: GuildPro.lua, PvPLedger.lua and MobMetrics.lua.

3. The app uploads the file

The companion app checks those files every two seconds. When one changes and has finished being written, the app reads it and uploads it. The Activity list on the Settings tab shows a line such as “uploaded — 1 raid, 42 new events”, and the bottom of the window shows the time of the last sync.

The website then shows what was uploaded. It only knows what has been sent to it.

What this means in practice

You see	Why	What to do
Boss is dead, site shows nothing	The game has not written the file yet	Type /reload, or log out
You reloaded, site still shows nothing	The app is not running, not signed in, or not watching that game folder	Open the app and read the Activity list
Only your own character’s night is missing	You were not running the addon, or it was not recording	Hover the minimap button in game and check the status line

One raider with the addon and the app is enough to put a raid on the site. Everyone’s exports of the same night merge into one raid, so more people running it is safe and fills gaps.

When the app syncs

• When a file changes. This is the normal case, shown as “(reload)” in the Activity list.
• When the app starts. It uploads whatever is on disk, shown as “(on start)”. Anything saved while the app was closed is picked up here.
• When you ask. Click Sync now in the window or in the tray menu. This re-reads the files on disk. It cannot fetch anything the game has not saved yet, so /reload first.

If an upload fails

• The site could not be reached, or was busy. The app tries again by itself: after 30 seconds, then with the wait doubling each time up to 10 minutes, until it goes through. The Activity list shows “trying GuildPro again in 30s”.
• The site refused the upload. The app does not retry the same file, because the answer would be the same. It waits for the next save. Examples are “upload failed — this computer is no longer connected — sign out and pair it again” (app 0.2.11 and earlier say “upload failed — token rejected — roll it at /import” instead) and “upload failed — this export is too large for the site to take”.
• You are not signed in. The list shows “not signed in — data stays local until you sign in”. Nothing is lost. Sign in and the app syncs everything.

Uploading twice is safe

Every recorded fact carries an id that is worked out the same way every time. Sending the same file again adds nothing: the result is “already imported — nothing changed” or “already up to date”. Totals such as gold earned are sent as absolute numbers and replaced, never added up.

Good to know

• The app stamps each upload with the game version it came from, based on the folder it read. This is how the site tells a Classic Era night from a Burning Crusade one.
• The app uploads every account folder and every watched game version, not only the character you are playing.
• Auction prices are collected by the GuildPro addon and travel only through the app. They are not part of a hand-pasted export. Turn collection off in game with /gp ah.
• The combat log file (WoWCombatLog.txt) is separate from all of this. The addon can start it for you with /gp log, and the app reads it for the Combat and WowIQ tabs.

Related

• Data not showing up
• Import by hand
• In-game commands
• Import too large