Many people use programs which can read util.dat and display it graphically. Examples of such programs are EchoView, VPA 3.61 and PCC.
Since util.dat contains mostly the same information as the subspace messages, it is somewhat redundant to have both. In addition, player messages can become overwhelming, especially in the later stages of the game, when mine scan messages, sensor sweep messages, dark sense messages, etc. can leave a player with over 200 messages to deal with.
The idea behind message filtering is that the utilities mentioned above will display the information they got from util.dat, and present the information to you visually, so there's no need to read it textually.
Players can turn on message filtering themselves, without host intervention, using the filter command. When filtering is enabled, the following messages will be suppressed:
- Mine Scan reports (but not sweeping or laying)
- Dark Sense reports
- Super Spy reports
- Exploration reports
- Sensor Sweep and Bioscan reports
- Wormhole scans
- Meteor shower messages
