Guides and Tools for Explorers
Here's a collection of guides, tools, and links I've collected over the months as I've played Elite: Dangerous. At the bottom of this thread are a few scripts and tweaks I use with Elite: Dangerous. I'll update this thread as I come across new and useful things.
Fly safe! o7
CMDR galaxyutii
Distant Worlds Links:
Guides:
Masterposts:
Meta:
Infographics:
Tools:
Scripts & Tweaks
Screenshot Macro with AutoHotKey
This customizable script will tell Elite: Dangerous to take screenshots at a specified interval, for either a certain length of time or until the user tells it to stop. I use this in conjunction with my timelapse assembly script (below) to create long timelapses without recording hours of video footage.
My AutoHotKey script template is located in this Gist. In order for you to use it, you'll have to change the variable placeholders (delimited with $VARNAME) as directed in the documentation in that gist.
Usage:
Ctrl+L - Toggle between capture mode and idle mode
Ctrl+M - Exit script
Example script: HD - 20s - Auto.ahk
Bash Scripts
My bash scripts for timelapse assembly and image watermarking are located in this Gist. The documentation for their use is located in that gist as well.
The timelapse assembly script can process either a folder of individual frames or a preexisting video, speed it up, and optionally watermark the output video.
The image watermarking script will resize all png files down to 4k and 1080p (if applicable) and watermark them, then delete the original image. If you're interested in keeping your 8k HD images, I'd recommend copying all the images you want to watermark and resize to a separate folder and running the script in that directory.
If you want to watermark and convert .bmp files, I'd recommend using an application like ScreenShotChanger (see above for link) to automatically rename and convert any raw .bmp files that Elite: Dangerous saves as they're created.
NOTE: These scripts use Bash, which comes preinstalled on Linux and Mac OS X, but not on Windows. I take screenshots on my Windows machine and process them on my Mac, so I haven't tried running Bash on Windows. From a quick google search, possible solutions include Cygwin, win-bash, Babun, or Git for Windows. I haven't tested any of these myself, but if you're interested in trying these scripts, I'd be happy to help you test any of them. Just shoot me a PM.
Edit config files
Game Paths
Here's a collection of guides, tools, and links I've collected over the months as I've played Elite: Dangerous. At the bottom of this thread are a few scripts and tweaks I use with Elite: Dangerous. I'll update this thread as I come across new and useful things.
Fly safe! o7
CMDR galaxyutii
Distant Worlds Links:
- Announcements Thread
- Official Thread
- Background Thread
- Prospecting Central
- Cartography Thread
- Photo Gallery Thread
- FGE Astrographics Thread
- Progress Tracker (Google Sheets)
- EDSM: Expedition Summary | Travel Map | Participants
Guides:
- Exploration 101
- Explorer's Guide to the Galaxy
- Horizons SRV Guide
- Planet Sounds
- System Survey Tips
- Route Plotting in the Core
- Prospecting Guide
- Wave Scanner Guide
- System Map & Hologram Icons Guide
- Density & Goldilocks Zone Calculations
- Badlands Warning
- Finding Planetary Coordinates
- Wing Planetfall
- Exploration Data Formulae
Masterposts:
Meta:
- Exploration: Age of Pioneers
- Galactic Mapping Project
- Decoding Universal Cartographics
- Distant Worlds Explorer Society Proposal
Infographics:
Tools:
- Bindings Reference Sheet Generator
Example reference sheet (my bindings) - EDDiscovery
Keep track of your path, plot it on maps, and sync your progress with EDSM. - Captain's Log
Keep track of what you've scanned in a system. - AutoHotKey
Automatically send keypresses to applications.Screenshot macro script listed below. - ScreenShotChanger
Automatically convert your screenshots to different formats.You can use it to auto-convert your .bmps to .png (recommended)Example formatting string: %s (%Y%m%d-%H%k%t) - CMDR galaxyutii %r - Wave Scanner Interactive Simulation
Quick reference for different signals on the SRV's wave scanner. - Elite Dangerous Star Map
Save your travel logs online and submit distances. - ExplOCR
Save the data gathered with the DSS!
Scripts & Tweaks
Screenshot Macro with AutoHotKey
This customizable script will tell Elite: Dangerous to take screenshots at a specified interval, for either a certain length of time or until the user tells it to stop. I use this in conjunction with my timelapse assembly script (below) to create long timelapses without recording hours of video footage.
My AutoHotKey script template is located in this Gist. In order for you to use it, you'll have to change the variable placeholders (delimited with $VARNAME) as directed in the documentation in that gist.
Usage:
Ctrl+L - Toggle between capture mode and idle mode
Ctrl+M - Exit script
Example script: HD - 20s - Auto.ahk
Bash Scripts
My bash scripts for timelapse assembly and image watermarking are located in this Gist. The documentation for their use is located in that gist as well.
The timelapse assembly script can process either a folder of individual frames or a preexisting video, speed it up, and optionally watermark the output video.
The image watermarking script will resize all png files down to 4k and 1080p (if applicable) and watermark them, then delete the original image. If you're interested in keeping your 8k HD images, I'd recommend copying all the images you want to watermark and resize to a separate folder and running the script in that directory.
If you want to watermark and convert .bmp files, I'd recommend using an application like ScreenShotChanger (see above for link) to automatically rename and convert any raw .bmp files that Elite: Dangerous saves as they're created.
NOTE: These scripts use Bash, which comes preinstalled on Linux and Mac OS X, but not on Windows. I take screenshots on my Windows machine and process them on my Mac, so I haven't tried running Bash on Windows. From a quick google search, possible solutions include Cygwin, win-bash, Babun, or Git for Windows. I haven't tested any of these myself, but if you're interested in trying these scripts, I'd be happy to help you test any of them. Just shoot me a PM.
Edit config files
Game Paths
- GraphicsConfiguration.xml
Located in the same directory as AppConfig.xml (refer to link).
Increase the graphics settings for the "Ultra" preset. Find the different sections in your GraphicsConfiguration.xml file and change them like so to improve your graphics performance. The only performance hit I experience is a 2-second stutter upon entering hyperspace.Make a backup of your original GraphicsConfiguration.xml file before you make these changes!
We are not responsible for anything you do to your game, although I will do my best to help you fix any problems. - Settings.xml
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Graphics- Change field of view
Find the <FOV> tag. The game's settings allow you to set it between 0 and 60, but I've seen people tweak the value here up to 90. I currently have mine set at 68. - Change Alt-F10 screenshot resolution
Find the <HighResScreenCapScale> tag. By default, it's set at 4. This tells the game to render the game at 16x your current resolution (4*width x 4*height) and save it to a file. With a 1920x1080 resolution, high-resolution screenshots are saved at 7680x4320, which is technically an 8k photo.
Attn. Distant Worlds Photography team! If you don't want to have to manually downsize to 4k, set your <HighResScreenCapScale> to 2!
- Change field of view
- View attachment AppConfigLocal.xml
Located in the same directory as AppConfig.xml (refer to link).
This file, located in the app install directory, tells Elite: Dangerous to write each system it arrives at to a file, letting programs like EDDiscovery, ScreenShotChanger, and Captain's Log track your progress.This file is automatically created by both EDDiscovery and Captain's Log.
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