In-Development EDMC BioScan

CMDR Zashyn

CMDR Zashyn

BioScan plugin for EDMC​

BioScan is a utility for explorers and exobiologists that attempts to determine the possible species (and therefore value) of biological signals on bodies. It uses data such as the atmosphere, gravity, volcanism, surface temperature, body type, nearby nebulae, and local star type to make the best guess as to what types of flora will be present.

Once done, it will summarize the possible value ranges for all qualifying genera and species. This is typically extremely accurate and will often narrow down a specific species per genera and only a handful of extra qualifying genera (if any). Sometimes it will tell you exactly what's on a planet before even mapping it.

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After you've mapped a planet with biological signals, it will then pare down the list to the detected genera or species. And finally, once you've started to scan each species it will display the final type and value of the sample as well as indicate the scan progress.

Once fully analysed, the total system value (and possible first footfall value) will be shown at the bottom of the pane.

As of version 1.5, you can now choose to display a complete breakdown of the qualifying species in a genus if there's more than one match. This defaults off as it can take up even more display space.

Navigation​

The top of the pane will track all relevant bodies in the system, including a shorthand for the body type and the number of signals detected there. This can help you quickly determine a DSS target.

BioScan will track your movements and show just the relevant species data if you are currently located at a body of interest, to help reduce clutter and scrolling. After you initiate a scan, you will get a display of the required sample distance and your current minimum distance to a previous sample, which is updated in real time.

It will reset your scan progress if the previous scan wasn't completed and you start a different species. It can also track scans with the composition scanner and will lock in the final species of the genus without requiring you to scan biologicals one at a time. In this way you can lock in a species and value while competing the analysis of another lifeform.

Version 1.5+: Color Calculations​

As of version 1.5, BioScan now incorporates color requirements into the calculations. This helps to further refine possible species on a planet and is useful if you're trying to find missing entries in your codex.


EDSM Integration​

Once per system, you can attempt to fetch any data from EDSM. This is helpful if you log out in the middle of scanning a system and lose the data from the previous session. Unfortunately, EDSM's API does not currently provide access to biological signal info, so you will have to manually look up signals for planets that haven't been mapped yet. The journals do resend the detailed signal info from previously mapped planets, though you may need to relog or jump back into a system to trigger the journal event.

So if you were in the middle of scanning samples on a planet, fetching data from EDSM should get you the species list again. However, your scan progress will be lost so completed species will display as unscanned.

Requirements​

  • EDMC version 5.7 and above

Installation​

  • Download the latest release
  • Extract the .zip archive that you downloaded into the EDMC plugins folder
    • This is accessible via the plugins tab in the EDMC settings window
  • Start or restart EDMC to register the new plugin

Acknowledgements​

Conversion of system coordinates to regions thanks to klightspeed's EliteDangerousRegionMap.

Species calculations are based on various sources, primarily the Deep Space Network and the Codex NSP and Bio requirements spreadsheet.

Nebula locations pulled from the Catalog of Galactic Nebulae (thanks marx and contributors)

Procedurally generated nebula reference star coordinates pulled from EDSM's API

Roadmap​

  • Refinements to species requirements
  • Implement a cache system so we don't have to run the calculations every time the display is updated
 
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CMDR Zashyn

CMDR Zashyn
Version 1.5 was released which has added support for color detection. A number of other small additions, refinements, and bug fixes have been released since my last post.
 

CMDR Zashyn

CMDR Zashyn
Released a version 1.5.5 last night to fix some issues with the color (variant) support, then a 1.5.6 today to use the journal updates in Update 15. For example, I can now get the variant from ScanOrganic events. (Previously you could only get this by using the comp scanner.) You can see the changelog on the releases for complete info.
 

Saga286

S
This wont bring up any signals on a planet you already scanned? For example, I was trying to get this working and scanned a planet, then realized I didn't install the plugin correctly. Restarted the game and EDMC and Bioscan only tells me "No Signals Found"
 

CMDR Zashyn

CMDR Zashyn
You'll probably need to open the settings and import your journals, then. EDMC does not process old journal records. This is why I added the database and importer.

One thing to keep in mind is that it does record imported journal files, so if you do the import and it imports your active journal, it'll assume that journal's already been imported even if it's still being updated by the game. So if you somehow then close EDMC and miss a few journal events, BioScan won't record them and wont import them. I am considering adding a way to manually reset the journal import or allow you to reimport recent journals.

Alternatively you can import from EDSM (assuming you send data to EDSM or someone else already sent the data). You can get signal info for mapped planets in the journals again when you get close, just not the signal info from the initial scan.
 
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