Release [Explorer's Application] Captain's Log

Genar-Hofoen · Dec 23, 2015

Armored said:
I see the AppConfigLocal.xml but it was not logging any of my jumps until i placed the VerboseLogging="1" into the AppConfig.xml file. Even when i started it up prior to loading Elite. Even when i tried running the scan it was stuck at the last amount of jumps for awhile there until i checked the AppConfig.xml and added in the VerboseLogging line then it started to record my jumps again.

It works fine for me. Very odd!

I just checked my AppConfig.xml file for Horizons and I don't have VerboseLogging="1" in it, but I do have a CL-generated AppConfigLocal.xml.

I have no idea what's happening with your system!

Very weird.

Regards

CMDR MALFETANO · Dec 23, 2015

Hi everyone. Ive been exploring for a little while now. Its taken me about 4 months to travel 3.5kly away from home. Im currently in diamondback explorer with 23ly jump range. my questions is since I roughly play 10hrs a week. do you believe it is best to return home now and try and get another ship with 1/3 bodies being scanned in each jump or keep on trekking into center? I would like to go back and buy a new ship but im almost half way to center..

Tychu9 · Dec 24, 2015

does this work if I play the Xbox One version? I can't seem to get past the configuration page. (and the page seems to be too big for my laptops monitor)

Armored · Dec 26, 2015

CMDR MALFETANO said:
Hi everyone. Ive been exploring for a little while now. Its taken me about 4 months to travel 3.5kly away from home. Im currently in diamondback explorer with 23ly jump range. my questions is since I roughly play 10hrs a week. do you believe it is best to return home now and try and get another ship with 1/3 bodies being scanned in each jump or keep on trekking into center? I would like to go back and buy a new ship but im almost half way to center..

I would say with only Y 23LYs i'd come back to upgrade if explorering is what you like ding. Also if you love to explorer and you haven't checked the upcoming event Distant Worlds Expedition;

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=198085

At just 10 Million credits and 32.61LY jump range (35.12LY Max @ 18% Fuel) this is a cheap entry explorer with 1 SRV, shields, scanners and 12 heat sinks. Using "A" rated Power Plant reduces ship over heating, with a 1:48 refuel time this will help reduce the risk of taken any damage from over heating. A rated power plants are normally always used when exploring, shields are only needed if you plan to land on planets as the wear and tear from touching down may become an issue with longer journeys.

http://coriolis.io/outfit/diamondba...AwRj4lmryA==.IwBj44u0SA==?bn=Diamond Explorer

If you are someone who does not own Horizons or does not wish to land on planets while exploring here is another build i tossed together. 11.5 Million CR Build;

http://coriolis.io/outfit/diamondba...j4lmryA==.IwBj44u0SA==?bn=Diamond Explorer v2

Anuranium · Dec 27, 2015

A tale of woe with a happy ending

Today I stumbled across a stream of a guy that was doing some exploring. Occationally he was bringing up this tool to note down the things he discovered - something that I am used to do with a pen and paper. This tool seemed so easy and intuitive - the perfect thing for me.
And so began a long (for me) journey in the world of computer programming.

The tool was of course Captain's Log - and here is what followed:

I have 2 harddrives - C:\ and D:\
C:\ = windows
D:\ = everything else, including Elite: Dangerous

1. Downloaded Captain's Log vs. 1.2.1 and installed it in D:\

2. Fired up Captain's Log and entered the config screen -
ERROR #1: For some reason I looked at the screenshots in the installation guide and thought that I should set the Elite: Dangerous Logs location to EDLaunch\Products\PUBLIC_TEST_SERVER_64\Logs
I know now that the correct location for me (Horizons) is EDLaunch\Products\elite-dangerous-64\Logs

In addition I set the Captain's Log Database file location into the same folder as as I installed it (D:\) in order to try to keep all the files for the program in the same place (D:\).

3. Fired up elite and nothing happened.

4. Discovered my error #1. Opened Database manager and clicked "Reconfigure Captain's Log". Upon entering the correct path, I could not for the life of me see the "ok" or "save" button, only the "cancel", so I hit "enter" on keyboard instead. When going back to check if my change was saved, it was still stuck in \PUBLIC_TEST_SERVER_64\. Did several attempts to change this (same procedure, but clicking the cancel button instead), but to no avail.

5. After being unsuccessful and losing my patience, I decided to uninstall Captain's Log and try a clean reinstall of it, hoping that I could set the correct config path right away -
ERROR #2:
Upon launching Captain's Log this screen appears:
http://imgur.com/hLeqG1R

Tried uninstalling the program again, and manually checking installation location (in D:\) for any leftover files that may cause the error - deleted the whole folder where it was previously installed and tried again - with the same result.

I know now that the installation also creates a file in C:\users\username\AppData\Local\CaptainsLog\
named captainslog.cfg and this has to be deleted before a fresh installation of Captain's Log can be installed.

6. After heavy guidance by Armored (again thank you), after finding and deleting captainslog.cfg, a fresh install was made and I successfully launched the program. Entered the correct filepath for logs location and FINALLY it worked - right off the bat

Suggestions:
1. Even though in retrospect after reading everything on the page - it says that the filepath for retrieving the logging is for beta. Perhaps changing the image to the default Horizons/1.5 path would prevent people such as me to make the same mistake again.
2. If you decide to keep the images as is - please explain how we can change the filepath in Elite: Dangerous Logs location - perhaps implement a save changes button: http://imgur.com/ewcQila
3. I would never have worked out that there was a file in C:\ linked to the program if it wasn't for the external help I generously recieved. Perhaps a notification or guide on how to uninstall/reinstall could come in handy?

I apologize my rude behaviour - and hope to redeem myself in this small explanation, in hopes that it will aid future CMDR's such as myself in using tools such as this.
Keep up the good work!

Thank you.

Armored · Dec 27, 2015

Anuranium said:
Today I stumbled across a stream of a guy that was doing some exploring. Occationally he was bringing up this tool to note down the things he discovered - something that I am used to do with a pen and paper. This tool seemed so easy and intuitive - the perfect thing for me.
And so began a long (for me) journey in the world of computer programming.

The tool was of course Captain's Log - and here is what followed:

I have 2 harddrives - C:\ and D:\
C:\ = windows
D:\ = everything else, including Elite: Dangerous

1. Downloaded Captain's Log vs. 1.2.1 and installed it in D:\

2. Fired up Captain's Log and entered the config screen -
ERROR #1: For some reason I looked at the screenshots in the installation guide and thought that I should set the Elite: Dangerous Logs location to EDLaunch\Products\PUBLIC_TEST_SERVER_64\Logs
I know now that the correct location for me (Horizons) is EDLaunch\Products\elite-dangerous-64\Logs

In addition I set the Captain's Log Database file location into the same folder as as I installed it (D:\) in order to try to keep all the files for the program in the same place (D:\).

3. Fired up elite and nothing happened.

4. Discovered my error #1. Opened Database manager and clicked "Reconfigure Captain's Log". Upon entering the correct path, I could not for the life of me see the "ok" or "save" button, only the "cancel", so I hit "enter" on keyboard instead. When going back to check if my change was saved, it was still stuck in \PUBLIC_TEST_SERVER_64\. Did several attempts to change this (same procedure, but clicking the cancel button instead), but to no avail.

5. After being unsuccessful and losing my patience, I decided to uninstall Captain's Log and try a clean reinstall of it, hoping that I could set the correct config path right away -
ERROR #2:
Upon launching Captain's Log this screen appears:
http://imgur.com/hLeqG1R

Tried uninstalling the program again, and manually checking installation location (in D:\) for any leftover files that may cause the error - deleted the whole folder where it was previously installed and tried again - with the same result.

I know now that the installation also creates a file in C:\users\username\AppData\Local\CaptainsLog\
named captainslog.cfg and this has to be deleted before a fresh installation of Captain's Log can be installed.

6. After heavy guidance by Armored (again thank you), after finding and deleting captainslog.cfg, a fresh install was made and I successfully launched the program. Entered the correct filepath for logs location and FINALLY it worked - right off the bat

Suggestions:
1. Even though in retrospect after reading everything on the page - it says that the filepath for retrieving the logging is for beta. Perhaps changing the image to the default Horizons/1.5 path would prevent people such as me to make the same mistake again.
2. If you decide to keep the images as is - please explain how we can change the filepath in Elite: Dangerous Logs location - perhaps implement a save changes button: http://imgur.com/ewcQila
3. I would never have worked out that there was a file in C:\ linked to the program if it wasn't for the external help I generously recieved. Perhaps a notification or guide on how to uninstall/reinstall could come in handy?

I apologize my rude behaviour - and hope to redeem myself in this small explanation, in hopes that it will aid future CMDR's such as myself in using tools such as this.
Keep up the good work!

Thank you.

In the installation guide @ http://scarygliders.net/captains-log/

They should inclue some important information, such like below;

B) Database Files Location.
Captain’s Log generates at least two database files and a configuration file. It also creates a CaptainsLog folder in your %LOCALAPPDATA% folder. The configuration file should always be located here. You can, however, set a different location for the database files (Note: do not save the "Database Files Location" inside the "Elite Dangerous" main folder), and this is what that setting is for. Click the Select button for this setting, and another folder selection dialog window will appear…

The default location is to use the Captain’s Log folder. Normally you would choose to use this folder. Some people may choose to store these database files in another location (for example, in their Dropbox folder). It’s entirely up to yourself. Click Select Folder once you have decided. NOTE: You can set the Database Files Location to save anywhere other then inside Elite Dangerous main game folder.

This is an honest mistake as one would see no issue with creating the database file location (or might think it is required) inside the games main folder. Also remember to create a new database and switch to it if you wish to keep all of your Distant Worlds Expedition data separate from your overall records.

@Genar-Hofoen

Requests,

Hotkey option for quick access of CL
Autoconvert ED screenshots
EDSM sync
3D Star Map viewer
Check at startup that your AppConfig.xml has the entries in it to allow verbose logging

b0rg9 · Dec 28, 2015

Hi, and thanks in advance for this program that's been fun to use for months.

I haven't played since 11/15/15. After playing again, I upgraded to 1.2.1 and let E

upgrade to the 64 bit version. I have not changed the locations of anything. But now Captain's Log doesn't update. It senses that the game is running but does not add the next jump.

I guess I'll try to read around to see where files have been tossed around along the way but my E

install has not changed since I initially installed it on my D: data drive (not boot drive) and I have always allowed captain's log to update over itself.

Armored · Dec 28, 2015

b0rg9 said:
Hi, and thanks in advance for this program that's been fun to use for months.

I haven't played since 11/15/15. After playing again, I upgraded to 1.2.1 and let E upgrade to the 64 bit version. I have not changed the locations of anything. But now Captain's Log doesn't update. It senses that the game is running but does not add the next jump.

I guess I'll try to read around to see where files have been tossed around along the way but my E install has not changed since I initially installed it on my D: data drive (not boot drive) and I have always allowed captain's log to update over itself.

Did you add the Verbose Logging to your AppConfig.xml file? Every time Elite updates you must do this. If you did, did you double check to ensure that there were no typos?

Copy and paste this to the bottom section of you AppConfig.xml file. Replace it over the entire <Network> - </Network> section.

Code:

<Network
	  Port="0"
      upnpenabled="1"
	  LogFile="netLog"
	  DatestampLog="1"
	  VerboseLogging="1"
	  >
	</Network>

D3vNu11 · Dec 28, 2015

Code:

<Network>
	  Port="0"
      upnpenabled="1"
	  LogFile="netLog"
	  DatestampLog="1"
	  VerboseLogging="1"
	</Network>

Correct version.
There was a typo (lonely ">" and the tag "<Network>" without the closing ">")

drkaii · Dec 28, 2015

Hi Genar, sorry if this has been asked before, but is there any way the app can cache the database so it doesn't need to spend a minute loading it each time you open it? It's a small annoyance that adds up

Also, could you find the flags in the code that make the database manager (and maybe other dialogs) stay on top in various situations?

Genar-Hofoen · Dec 28, 2015

b0rg9 said:
Hi, and thanks in advance for this program that's been fun to use for months.

I haven't played since 11/15/15. After playing again, I upgraded to 1.2.1 and let E upgrade to the 64 bit version. I have not changed the locations of anything. But now Captain's Log doesn't update. It senses that the game is running but does not add the next jump.

I guess I'll try to read around to see where files have been tossed around along the way but my E install has not changed since I initially installed it on my D: data drive (not boot drive) and I have always allowed captain's log to update over itself.

Armored said:
Did you add the Verbose Logging to your AppConfig.xml file? Every time Elite updates you must do this. If you did, did you double check to ensure that there were no typos?

Copy and paste this to the bottom section of you AppConfig.xml file. Replace it over the entire <Network> - </Network> section.

Code:

<Network Port="0" upnpenabled="1" LogFile="netLog" DatestampLog="1" VerboseLogging="1" > </Network>

Captain's Log always does the following upon startup...

1) Checks for the existence of AppConfigLocal.xml , which Captain's Log can generate itself.
2) If AppConfigLocal.xml does not exist, generate one, including the option for verbose logging.

The game always checks to see if AppConfigLocal.xml exists (at least it's always done in the past. Also a Dev previously mentioned that an AppConfigLocal.xml file would not be touched when the game is updated, but in reality it seems the launcher always removes this file upon every update).

Therefore my advice is to always start Captain's Log before running the game.

On saying that, I will add further checks to see if verbose logging is switched on, and I'll see about adding a warning message if CL detects that verbose logging is somehow not activated for a running game.

Regards o7

Genar-Hofoen · Dec 28, 2015

Armored said:
In the installation guide @ http://scarygliders.net/captains-log/

They should inclue some important information, such like below;

This is an honest mistake as one would see no issue with creating the database file location (or might think it is required) inside the games main folder. Also remember to create a new database and switch to it if you wish to keep all of your Distant Worlds Expedition data separate from your overall records.

Hi Armored, and thank you for helping others out with CL, by the way!

Armored said:
@Genar-Hofoen

Requests,

*gets the toilet paper out to add to The List*

Armored said:
Hotkey option for quick access of CL

Hmm. I've tried that in the past but my previous look at it didn't produce much success. I'll have a fresh look at that and see if I can conjour something up.

Armored said:
Autoconvert ED screenshots

I've been looking into that recently. May not happen in the next version of CL (coming Soon[tm]) but it will be added.

Armored said:
EDSM sync

3D Star Map viewer

Oh is that all? Why haven't you asked before!

I'm still very wary of adding stuff that talks to external sites like EDSM - for one it sounds like Work, for another - whilst I think sites like EDSM are a neat idea, what concerns me is seeing "This is subject to change. Documentation & API written September 24th, 2015." in their API documentation, and if Something Changes in their API that means I have to leap into action updating Captain's Log code to cope with that. That's one concern.

Another concern is I'm loathe to tie CL's functionality to some external site. Yes, I could tell CL to stop trying to communicate with any external site API upon no response or if there's an error, but it's still a lot of bother and I like to Keep It Simple. That's not to say adding EDSM stuff will never happen, it's just that for now I'm simply Not In The Mood.

As for a 3D Star Map Viewer... I've never done 3D programming before. I've looked it up over the last year and superficially it looks interesting and I could see where I could make a really cool thing for CL, but I simply don't have the will/energy right now to sit down and learn all the Stuff I'd need to learn in order to implement something like that.

Armored said:
Check at startup that your AppConfig.xml has the entries in it to allow verbose logging

Yep - check my post above this one, I'll add further checky goodness to the already-present check for verbose logging. Currently I'm not catching some edge cases and it is an improvement which wouldn't take up too much time.

Anyway, thanks for your help and I appreciate your comments very much

Best regards o7

Genar

Genar-Hofoen · Dec 28, 2015

drkaii said:
Hi Genar, sorry if this has been asked before, but is there any way the app can cache the database so it doesn't need to spend a minute loading it each time you open it? It's a small annoyance that adds up

Also, could you find the flags in the code that make the database manager (and maybe other dialogs) stay on top in various situations?

Hi drkaii!

It not a case of caching the database. It's the populating of the Jump Table that takes up the time!

If you know anything about GUI programming and more specifically the Qt toolkit, then this will make sense...

I use a custom QTableWidget and have to build each row from the database. It's a custom job in order to do cool things like double-clicking a row to add a Bookmark, changing the colour of the row number on the far left for bookmarked systems, adding star icons to the row, and so on. These are things I can't do using a standard Qt widget.

It's time-consuming to load the jump table, that's for sure. But that's the price for having cool stuff in CL. Believe me I've spent a few days just trying to get the table to build faster, but to no avail.

There is, however, something I haven't tried yet, and that is to try and somehow save a generated QTableWidget to a binary file on the hard disk, and re-load it when CL starts.

It's a scary idea I've just thought of, probably fraught with danger and crashes, but I'll see if I can do something like that, as it sounds like a Plausable Thing To Do.

I'll play around with some code and see if I can get something like that to work.

Regards

SnugglySocks · Dec 28, 2015

Genar-Hofoen said:
Hi drkaii!

It not a case of caching the database. It's the populating of the Jump Table that takes up the time!

If you know anything about GUI programming and more specifically the Qt toolkit, then this will make sense...

I use a custom QTableWidget and have to build each row from the database. It's a custom job in order to do cool things like double-clicking a row to add a Bookmark, changing the colour of the row number on the far left for bookmarked systems, adding star icons to the row, and so on. These are things I can't do using a standard Qt widget.

It's time-consuming to load the jump table, that's for sure. But that's the price for having cool stuff in CL. Believe me I've spent a few days just trying to get the table to build faster, but to no avail.

There is, however, something I haven't tried yet, and that is to try and somehow save a generated QTableWidget to a binary file on the hard disk, and re-load it when CL starts.

It's a scary idea I've just thought of, probably fraught with danger and crashes, but I'll see if I can do something like that, as it sounds like a Plausable Thing To Do.

I'll play around with some code and see if I can get something like that to work.

Regards

another technique that you may wish to look into (if you haven't already) is pagination. The fixed interface size means that only so many entries are loaded on the screen. so maybe on startup you only need to generate the last 20 entries into the widget or load the last three pages (for convenience).
My DB is getting quite large and take a while to load, I have actually gone the route of splitting the sqllite files (teehee) when they reach a certain size.

Genar-Hofoen · Dec 28, 2015

Mungler said:
another technique that you may wish to look into (if you haven't already) is pagination. The fixed interface size means that only so many entries are loaded on the screen. so maybe on startup you only need to generate the last 20 entries into the widget or load the last three pages (for convenience).
My DB is getting quite large and take a while to load, I have actually gone the route of splitting the sqllite files (teehee) when they reach a certain size.

It's a good suggestion, but doing it in CL isn't a viable option for reasons too numerous and boring to state here

Regards

b0rg9 · Dec 28, 2015

Genar-Hofoen said:
Captain's Log always does the following upon startup...

1) Checks for the existence of AppConfigLocal.xml , which Captain's Log can generate itself.
2) If AppConfigLocal.xml does not exist, generate one, including the option for verbose logging.

Thanks everyone for helping!

With a fresh eye on it this morning (well, it's morning for me now, anyway) it appeared the fix was simple. I just needed to go into the DB Manager and use the "Reconfigure Captain's Log" utility to point it to the new Logs folder that's in a different place now with the 64 bit version.

It's working again now.

Armored · Dec 29, 2015

D3vNu11 said:
Code:

<Network> Port="0" upnpenabled="1" LogFile="netLog" DatestampLog="1" VerboseLogging="1" </Network>

Correct version.
There was a typo (lonely ">" and the tag "<Network>" without the closing ">")

The body of the code is within the opening of the Network tag. So the one i put is correct and has no errors in it. No issues with below code. It is also the default format in which AppConfig writes it anyways.

Code:

<Network
	  Port="0"
      upnpenabled="1"
	  LogFile="netLog"
	  DatestampLog="1"
	  VerboseLogging="1"
	  >
	</Network>

Arnoldo · Dec 29, 2015

D3vNu11 said:
Code:

<Network> Port="0" upnpenabled="1" LogFile="netLog" DatestampLog="1" VerboseLogging="1" </Network>

Correct version.
There was a typo (lonely ">" and the tag "<Network>" without the closing ">")

Armored said:
The body of the code is within the opening of the Network tag. So the one i put is correct and has no errors in it. No issues with below code. It is also the default format in which AppConfig writes it anyways.

Code:

<Network Port="0" upnpenabled="1" LogFile="netLog" DatestampLog="1" VerboseLogging="1" > </Network>

I was curious as, at first glance, D3Nu11's corrected version looks to be more correct 'XMLish' however, opening the AppConfig shows that my copy is the same as Armored's version - Network is more an old fashioned HTML tag with arguments in the tag than an XML section header...

D3vNu11 · Dec 29, 2015

Strange Arnoldo ...
part of this file is XMLish, like the tag "<Display>".
Let me explain:
i'm used to setting the verboselogging by myself, and since beta i've this version, which i "copy&paste" every game update:

Code:

	<Network>
	  Port="0"
      upnpenabled="1"
	  LogFile="netLog"
	  DatestampLog="1"
	  VerboseLogging="1"
	</Network>

During "Distant Worlds" mission preparation, i've installed "Captain's Log" that "automagically" modifies the appconfig.xml file with the var declaration "inside" the tag "Network".

Then i've checked a fresh installation of the game on my laptop (on my rig i've the installation of Beta,Elite Dangerous 32bit, Horizons 64bit; on my laptop only Horizons 64bit) and i've noticed that the "original" version of this file is the one with the declaration inside the tag "network".

TL/DR

Apologize, it seems that the correct version is

Code:

<Network
      Port="0"
      upnpenabled="1"
      LogFile="netLog"
      DatestampLog="1"
      VerboseLogging="1"
      >
    </Network>

Mine is working too, but the original file brought by Horizons installation have declaration inside the tag, not outside (like XML style).

Sorry again.

Armored · Dec 30, 2015

D3vNu11 said:
Strange Arnoldo ...
part of this file is XMLish, like the tag "<Display>".
Let me explain:
i'm used to setting the verboselogging by myself, and since beta i've this version, which i "copy&paste" every game update:

Code:

<Network> Port="0" upnpenabled="1" LogFile="netLog" DatestampLog="1" VerboseLogging="1" </Network>

During "Distant Worlds" mission preparation, i've installed "Captain's Log" that "automagically" modifies the appconfig.xml file with the var declaration "inside" the tag "Network".

Then i've checked a fresh installation of the game on my laptop (on my rig i've the installation of Beta,Elite Dangerous 32bit, Horizons 64bit; on my laptop only Horizons 64bit) and i've noticed that the "original" version of this file is the one with the declaration inside the tag "network".

TL/DR

Apologize, it seems that the correct version is

Code:

<Network Port="0" upnpenabled="1" LogFile="netLog" DatestampLog="1" VerboseLogging="1" > </Network>

Mine is working too, but the original file brought by Horizons installation have declaration inside the tag, not outside (like XML style).

Sorry again.

No need to be sorry bro! Both ways work

Its no biggie at all, was just saying that the way i posted was not "wrong" nor is yours