Release [Explorer's Application] Captain's Log

[Ron Kramer]

thanks for the quick summarization ( Alt-C ) - I'm a old coder and totally realize and appreciate the time involved as someone that wrote a 32,000 line turbo pascal forum before the internet. Oddly - the hot key wasn't given in any of the original web pages I used to set it up. I pass over all the msgs in this thread as 99% of them won't answer my question. Thanks for pointing out what I needed.
As luck would have it. I was sitting here his morning (before I read this) and unchecked overly thinking - why not just see if it runs on my 2nd monitor. So I'd have stumbled into it. But knew there had to be a hot key to bring it to life.

thanks for the hard work - I know coding is a challenge and a project like this is a passion - many would not share so generously to the community.
blessings-

 

[Cometborne]

Changelog:

- planet table should now be sorted in natural order, for systems with more than 9/10 planets robiting one star

This one is still broken, I am current at GNE basecamp 13 in Stuemeae FG-Y d8248, which has a total of 16 planets and one Y-class dwarf orbiting a central star, and the order in the table is 1,10,11,12,12a-f,...,16,17,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9.

 

[Fizzbin]

Having a small problem running beta 6 on my laptop. I want to run in overlay mode but for me alt-c is not working and has no effect other than to flash the windows mouse cursor.

Could it be because my screen res is smaller than the Captains Log interface? My screen res is 1266x768.

Thanks in advance
Fizz

 

[Ron Kramer]

Ok - still only seeing the jump log. When I jump it updates. (love how I can look back at my history).
Instructions say "click on a planet type". I don't see any graphics or planets. I just see the frame and the jump log?

Below I see

Stars
designation type

the box under this is just black. All boxes are black except trip jumps has text.
?

So you've selected Overlay mode then. Working as intended. If you have read this thread's last few pages you will have learned of the ALT-C hotkey for Overlay mode - which brings up the main window.

You would also have knowledge of how the overlay mode has been re-worked recently such that when in Overlay Mode, the main window disappears and the small overlay widget is displayed. And when you exit the game, CL2 comes out of Overlay Mode and displays the main window as normal.

In other words, if you want to see the main window whilst the game is running, either take it out of Overlay Mode, or use the ALT-C hotkey.



CL2 is in beta - that means it's usable but there will be bugs. If you understood the amount of work that went into moving from 1.x to 2.x beta, with a single developer (me), then you might have more symapthy

I'll take a look at that - last time I checked the colour customisation worked fine, but if there's a bug I'll see if I can sort it out and thanks for the bug report o7

Lastly, I have been working on a new web site devoted to Captain's Log, and I plan to produce a manual for CL2 - when I get the time, which at the moment is rare.

Being a lone developer is hard when you have a life and family

Regards.

 

[Straha Yeagar]

Ok - still only seeing the jump log. When I jump it updates. (love how I can look back at my history).
Instructions say "click on a planet type". I don't see any graphics or planets. I just see the frame and the jump log?

Below I see

Stars
designation type

the box under this is just black. All boxes are black except trip jumps has text.
?

In order for system bodies to populate, you have to scan them. The honk scan just reveals how many bodies are in the system, but they won't show up in CL until you actually scan them individually either with the normal ship scanner, or detailed surface scanner.

 

[Natoryous]

In order for system bodies to populate, you have to scan them. The honk scan just reveals how many bodies are in the system, but they won't show up in CL until you actually scan them individually either with the normal ship scanner, or detailed surface scanner.

First post, so hello forums!

I've been trying out Captain's Log 2 for a few hours now, and I simply can't get it to register any scans. I've tried the ship scanner on stars, planets, etc. Active and passive scans. No results. It only registers jumps.

So one thing I was thinking, is this possibly broken with the Steam version of the game? From what I gather, the log files are placed in different locations depending on whether you use Steam or not. Also, I've put my Steam data files on a secondary hard drive.

Anyway, the app seems like a great addition to the game, and I'm disappointed that it isn't working, but I realise it's a beta and I look forward to using it once the kinks are worked out. Just reporting my experience.

Cheers!

 

[AntidotE]

First post, so hello forums!

I've been trying out Captain's Log 2 for a few hours now, and I simply can't get it to register any scans. I've tried the ship scanner on stars, planets, etc. Active and passive scans. No results. It only registers jumps.

So one thing I was thinking, is this possibly broken with the Steam version of the game? From what I gather, the log files are placed in different locations depending on whether you use Steam or not. Also, I've put my Steam data files on a secondary hard drive.

Anyway, the app seems like a great addition to the game, and I'm disappointed that it isn't working, but I realise it's a beta and I look forward to using it once the kinks are worked out. Just reporting my experience.

Cheers!

1) What version of CL do you use? only 2.0 beta 6 has proper code which works with latest build of ED.
2) It does not matter what version of ED you use - standalone or Steam

 

[Cometborne]

Do you have a detailed surface scanner on board? Captain's Log 2.0 depends on the player journal entries, and Elite only writes these entries if you have a DSS.

 

[iain666]

Do you have a detailed surface scanner on board? Captain's Log 2.0 depends on the player journal entries, and Elite only writes these entries if you have a DSS.

Damn, I just turned mine off and scanned a planet and you're right. That's a bit disappointing that we don't get a journal with missing fields

 

[Natoryous]

Do you have a detailed surface scanner on board? Captain's Log 2.0 depends on the player journal entries, and Elite only writes these entries if you have a DSS.

Thanks for the reply!

I don't have a DSS as far as I know, it seems a bit strange that I would need a Surface Scanner just to register a new star, but okay. I'll get one and try it out.

So my next question: is there a way to manually add stars, planets etc? I would like to manually populate the database with systems I've already visited.

Cheers!

 

[Cometborne]

I don't have a DSS as far as I know, it seems a bit strange that I would need a Surface Scanner just to register a new star, but okay. I'll get one and try it out.

Without the DSS, you do not get most of the important information about the stars and planets. If you are into exploration, a DSS is one of those "never leave home without it" tools.

So my next question: is there a way to manually add stars, planets etc? I would like to manually populate the database with systems I've already visited.

There is no function in CL2 (yet?). Of course, if you can write complex scripts, you could take the list of stars and planets you have visited, use the EDDB API to retrieve all the data that is required, and then create faked player journal entries to simulate you jumping around and scanning things. Of course, this will only work if the planet or star in question has been scanned by somebody with a DSS and active EDDN upload after the release of 2.2.

 

[Lynfeyh Wighnut]

I cannot get it to work. It does not find my Elite Logs. I can only change the directory of the database. I tried to edit the ini-file, like in the 1.x Version with manually entering the path... no result.

EDIT: ... The Author will add the ability to change the location of the Player Journal. [up]

 

[Unuk Elhai]

First thing first, thank you so much Genar for this amazing tool (and for the time and dedication you put in this project).
Have being using it for a while now and really enjoyed it !

One question though...
I installed CL 2.0 beta6 yesterday, used the "Scan all logs and import it to DB" option, seemed to work fine but once back in the main screen, I checked the trip jumps records and it only showed my ED 2.2 jumps.
All the jumps i did during 2.1 are missing...
Do you have any idea why ?

 

[disorganise]

First thing first, thank you so much Genar for this amazing tool (and for the time and dedication you put in this project).
Have being using it for a while now and really enjoyed it !

One question though...
I installed CL 2.0 beta6 yesterday, used the "Scan all logs and import it to DB" option, seemed to work fine but once back in the main screen, I checked the trip jumps records and it only showed my ED 2.2 jumps.
All the jumps i did during 2.1 are missing...
Do you have any idea why ?

CL2 is specifically for ED2.2 and above.
CL1 can be used in parallel for pre 2.2 logs

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...aptain-s-Log?p=4694931&viewfull=1#post4694931

 

[Unuk Elhai]

CL2 is specifically for ED2.2 and above.
CL1 can be used in parallel for pre 2.2 logs

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...aptain-s-Log?p=4694931&viewfull=1#post4694931

It seems i missed that one... Thank you for bringing it to my attention

 

[disorganise]

You're welcome. It's easy to miss I *think* the reason is CL2 only reads the journal whilst CL1 only reads the netlogs.

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

Thanks to all those who are answering questions from folks - most grateful.

I'm currently suffering from burnout - of the game and of programming. It happens.

Anyway I'm sort of slowly but surely doing stuff to CL2 - not as fast as the 5 weeks solid I spent turning 1.x into 2.x, but things are being done.

Anyway, I just wanted you all to know that as CL2 is in Beta, this means that I may have to change the GALAXY.db schema, hopefully very rarely, but it could happen.

This would mean you might have to remove the .db files. But you wouldn't have lost any data, as you hopefully haven't deleted any of the Player Journal files the game has generated, and you can reconstruct the GALAXY.db and your trip DB's by using the 'scan all logs' feature.

The reason I say this now, is I don't want too many people relying on CL2 whilst they're on their Epic Journeys Into The Void and then after an update I get inundated with "OMG why!?"

This is a message I should have stated with CL2.0 beta 1, to be honest, I just assumed most people would realise the 'risk' of running with a beta/pre-release/still in development version.

For example: In the current betas, I actually have low and high values for the various types of stars and system bodies, in the GALAXY.db schema. This is because I had already planned to implement estimated values as per Captain's Log 1.x. In the 1.x series, the values were located in their own separate clvalues.db file. I decided with 2.x to just incorporate those values right into the GALAXY.db, which would be the central database of all the systems, stars, and planets you encounter whilst using CL2. The trip db's basically are simple timestamp, system_id, and jump notes, which are used against this central GALAXY.db.

Anyway - one of things I forgot to do when I came up with that schema, was to actually set the star and planet values to what they were in CL1.x, so, currently, any GALAXY.db generated with the current versions of CL2.x beta x have '2400, 2400' as low and high values - for everything. Just an oversight.

For those of you who don't want to go to the hassle of removing all .db files and reconstructing them via 'scan all files' I will be adding a DB function which when you click the button, will set those values to what they should be. I think I have that as "recreated values.db" in 1.x anyway - this will be similar, except it'll write to the GALAXY database.

Just a heads-up.

I don't know when the next version of CL2.x beta will be released - probably some time next week - hopefully by then my burnout will have burnt out. I also hope to have the beginnings of a CL2.x manual set up, Soon[tm].

Regards

 

[AntidotE]

Thank you for updating us about current stage
I know how you feel - I have encountered such situations several times

But let me put my 2 cents about database versioning: of course, I do not know internal structure of your project and cannot advice something detailed.
I would suggest you to do some kind of versioning table/field in Galaxy.db. And add version check module in project.

 

[VerticalBlank]

Seconded, take as much rest as you need. I've been there too: programming can be incredibly draining.

Database versioning definitely a good idea. Thanks also for bringing home the importance of preserving the journal files: I hadn't thought about that before now and I have lost netlog files in the past due to FD's sloppy updaters just nuking the whole directory. Time for me to put them under version control I think.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Take a much deserved break. The game will still be here.