Getting Your Own Dataset

Install the package from Github, and load it with the following code

#install.packages("remotes")
#install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("ADC-405-S26/rlstats")

library(rlstats)

The usage of this package depends on having your own personal Rocket League gameplay data in the correct format. If you are interested in using this package, first check out the Rocket League Stats API. You will need to follow the instructions provided to begin recording your gameplay data. You will also need some sort of script to read in this data, and write it to a file for you to work with. Below is an example r script for this purpose. If using this script, it will need to be running locally. It will not work in an ide like Posit Cloud. You will also need to fill in your relevant port information towards the top. If you choose to write your own script, ensure that everything is formatted properly. The most important thing is that the column names are correct. Take a look at the dataset TDMZ443games in this package. All columns names of your personal dataset must match exactly the column names in this dataset. These match exactly to the field names in the original API. Once you get your own gameplay file, you’re ready to roll! Check out the homepage and the introduction vignette to learn more!

install.packages(jsonlite)
library(jsonlite)

HOST <- "127.0.0.1"  # or your gaming PC's IP if running remotely
PORT <- #FILL IN YOUR RELEVANT PORT
OUTPUT_DIR <- getwd()

cat("Connecting to Rocket League Stats API at", HOST, "port", PORT, "\n")

con <- tryCatch(
  socketConnection(host = HOST, port = PORT, open = "rb", blocking = TRUE, timeout = 10),
  error = function(e) {
    cat("ERROR: Could not connect.\n")
    cat("  - Make sure Rocket League is running.\n")
    cat("  - Check DefaultStatsAPI.ini has PacketSendRate > 0.\n")
    NULL
  }
)

if (is.null(con)) stop("Exiting.")
cat("Connected!\n")

csv_file    <- NULL
rows_written <- 0
current_guid <- NULL
output_path  <- NULL
buffer       <- ""

parse_messages <- function(buf) {
  messages <- list()
  buf <- trimws(buf, which = "left")
  while (nchar(buf) > 0) {
    tryCatch({
      msg <- fromJSON(buf, simplifyVector = FALSE)
      messages <- c(messages, list(msg))
      # consume only the first object by re-encoding and removing it
      consumed <- nchar(toJSON(msg, auto_unbox = TRUE))
      buf <- trimws(substring(buf, consumed + 1), which = "left")
    }, error = function(e) {
      buf <<- ""  # incomplete — wait for more data
    })
  }
  list(messages = messages, remaining = buf)
}

extract_rows <- function(data, timestamp) {
  game      <- data$Game
  match_guid <- if (!is.null(data$MatchGuid)) data$MatchGuid else ""
  game_time  <- if (!is.null(game$TimeSeconds)) game$TimeSeconds else ""
  frame      <- if (!is.null(game$Frame)) game$Frame else ""

  rows <- list()
  for (p in data$Players) {
    rows <- c(rows, list(data.frame(
      timestamp    = round(timestamp, 3),
      game_time    = game_time,
      frame        = frame,
      match_guid   = match_guid,
      player_name  = if (!is.null(p$Name)) p$Name else "",
      team_num     = if (!is.null(p$TeamNum)) p$TeamNum else "",
      score        = if (!is.null(p$Score)) p$Score else "",
      goals        = if (!is.null(p$Goals)) p$Goals else "",
      assists      = if (!is.null(p$Assists)) p$Assists else "",
      saves        = if (!is.null(p$Saves)) p$Saves else "",
      shots        = if (!is.null(p$Shots)) p$Shots else "",
      touches      = if (!is.null(p$Touches)) p$Touches else "",
      car_touches  = if (!is.null(p$CarTouches)) p$CarTouches else "",
      demos        = if (!is.null(p$Demos)) p$Demos else "",
      boost        = if (!is.null(p$Boost)) p$Boost else "",
      is_boosting  = if (!is.null(p$bBoosting)) p$bBoosting else "",
      speed        = if (!is.null(p$Speed)) p$Speed else "",
      is_supersonic  = if (!is.null(p$bSupersonic)) p$bSupersonic else "",
      is_on_ground = if (!is.null(p$bOnGround)) p$bOnGround else "",
      is_on_wall   = if (!is.null(p$bOnWall)) p$bOnWall else "",
      is_demolished = if (!is.null(p$bDemolished)) p$bDemolished else "",
      stringsAsFactors = FALSE
    )))
  }
  rows
}

on.exit({
  if (!is.null(csv_file)) {
    close(csv_file)
    cat("\nFile closed. Rows written:", rows_written, "\n")
    cat("Saved to:", output_path, "\n")
  }
  close(con)
}, add = TRUE)

while (TRUE) {
  chunk <- tryCatch(readLines(con, n = 1, warn = FALSE), error = function(e) NULL)
  if (is.null(chunk) || length(chunk) == 0) {
    Sys.sleep(0.01)
    next
  }

  buffer <- paste0(buffer, chunk)
  result <- parse_messages(buffer)
  buffer <- result$remaining

  for (msg in result$messages) {
    event <- msg$Event
    data  <- msg$Data
    if (is.character(data)) {
      data <- tryCatch(fromJSON(data, simplifyVector = FALSE), error = function(e) list())
    }

    if (event == "UpdateState") {
      guid <- if (!is.null(data$MatchGuid)) data$MatchGuid else ""

      if (is.null(current_guid) || guid != current_guid) {
        if (!is.null(csv_file)) close(csv_file)
        current_guid <- guid
        ts           <- format(Sys.time(), "%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
        safe_guid    <- substring(guid, 1, 8)
        output_path  <- file.path(OUTPUT_DIR, paste0("rl_match_", ts, "_", safe_guid, ".csv"))
        csv_file     <- file(output_path, open = "w")
        rows_written <- 0
        cat("Match started (guid:", guid, ")\n")
        cat("Recording ->", output_path, "\n")
        header_written <- FALSE
      }

      rows <- extract_rows(data, as.numeric(Sys.time()))
      for (row in rows) {
        write.table(row,
          file      = csv_file,
          sep       = ",",
          col.names = !header_written,
          row.names = FALSE,
          append    = TRUE
        )
        header_written <- TRUE
        rows_written   <- rows_written + 1
      }

      if (rows_written %% 500 == 0) {
        cat("  t=", rows[[1]]$game_time, "| rows:", rows_written, "\n")
        flush(csv_file)
      }

    } else if (event == "MatchEnded") {
      winner <- if (!is.null(data$WinnerTeamNum)) data$WinnerTeamNum else "?"
      cat("\nMatchEnded (winner team:", winner, ")\n")
      cat("Saved", rows_written, "rows ->", output_path, "\n")
      cat("Done.\n")
      quit(save = "no")

    } else {
      cat("[event]", event, "\n")
    }
  }
}