RGB Support for Elite (almost any device)

[Arthur Z.]

UPDATE: Please use this thread for discussions https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/rgb-keyboard-support-for-elite.521011/

o7 Commanders!

Long time ago I've tried to create a Java app to support RGB keyboard lighting for my Logitech keyboard (the old thread). After some time it felt like a dead end so I moved to other things (thanks to @TomW1605 for somewhat keeping that project alive while I was gone!).

Long story short, I've decided to use Aurora (https://www.project-aurora.com/) to bring this project back to life with support for more devices and I am at a point where feedback is needed.

Current supposedly working features are:
1) Key binds are highlighted automatically from the game
2) Different color groups for different category of game actions
3) Some keys are pulsatingg when a cetain ship function is active (cargo scoop, lights, silent running, etc.)
4) Only keys, that can be used are highlighted (e.g. FSD keys are dimmed while mass locked or FSD in cooldown, etc.)
5) FSD countdown, hyperspace, hyperspace exit animations
6) Customisable colors for command groups
7) Some other stuff I may have forgot

Updated work in progress video:

All the information/discussion is here https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/rgb-keyboard-support-for-elite.521011/

 

[Schmack]

Looks cool, but I feel seasoned players know the keys by muscle memory and don't look at them anyhow. I have a Roccat keyboard that will do all of that, but I never needed it except in other games I am not that familiar with.

 

[Caramel Clown]

Do people actually use their keyboards this way? I know every RGB board these days can do these effects, but it's so horribly distracting IMO. Fun novelty, but completely useless in practice. At least to me. Would you really look at a keyboard to find a key? It's all muscle memory. And given the fact that there are like 5 different colour groups - it's just more useless stuff to remember instead of just knowing what are your keybinds Just my two cents.

 

[Ashnak]

Not for a keyboard (I currently play in VR, but... oh well, see below) - but did you manage in any way to extract the status information from the game (for the keys blinking/dimming), or does that rely on an external model of the game? The former would be very interesting for HOTAS status displays - or key sequence automation.


Ok, the but...
Will this also work for the built-in keyboards of laptops? Got one called "Erazer" with a "Control Center 3.0 (if that is 3.0, I don't even want to know what 1.0 looked like...).

 

[Arthur Z.]

Do people actually use their keyboards this way? I know every RGB board these days can do these effects, but it's so horribly distracting IMO. Fun novelty, but completely useless in practice. At least to me. Would you really look at a keyboard to find a key? It's all muscle memory. And given the fact that there are like 5 different colour groups - it's just more useless stuff to remember instead of just knowing what are your keybinds Just my two cents.

Well, I use EVERY key of my keyboard for Elite. Also, what do you mean by "more useless stuff to remember"? The highlighting is automatic. Combat related keys are red, defence keys (ECM, Shield cells, etc.) are in blue and so on.

It's basically color coding your keys automatically plus other stuff.

Ok, the but...
Will this also work for the built-in keyboards of laptops? Got one called "Erazer" with a "Control Center 3.0 (if that is 3.0, I don't even want to know what 1.0 looked like...).

Well, Aurora team is always adding support for new devices so it's more of a question if they support it.

 

[Caramel Clown]

Well, I use EVERY key of my keyboard for Elite. Also, what do you mean by "more useless stuff to remember"? The highlighting is automatic. Combat related keys are red, defence keys (ECM, Shield cells, etc.) are in blue and so on.

It's basically color coding your keys automatically plus other stuff.



Well, Aurora team is always adding support for new devices so it's more of a question if they support it.

By that I meant that if you simply know your bindings remembering what colour groups mean is just irrelevant. Maybe it's just grumpy me tonight, but I really can't fathom how people play with a christmas tree blinking on their desktop I often play ED in a dark room, my eyes would melt within 10 minutes of what was shown in a video.

 

[Arthur Z.]

By that I meant that if you simply know your bindings remembering what colour groups mean is just irrelevant. Maybe it's just grumpy me tonight, but I really can't fathom how people play with a christmas tree blinking on their desktop I often play ED in a dark room, my eyes would melt within 10 minutes of what was shown in a video.

To be honest, it's more immersive. Or do you think that actual airplane and space ship cockpits don't look like "christmas trees"? In a dark room it actually makes me feel like I have a dashboard to control a space ship in front of me.

I mean I get where you coming from, like most lighting profiles are just useless. But I tried to actually make it functional.

P.S.
By the way, if you don't like the "christmas tree" effect, you can always set all color groups to a single color.

 

[Caramel Clown]

To be honest, it's more immersive. Or do you think that actual airplane and space ship cockpits don't look like "christmas trees"? In a dark room it actually makes me feel like I have a dashboard to control a space ship in front of me.

I mean I get where you coming from, like most lighting profiles are just useless. But I tried to actually make it functional.

I use backlit keyboard, just not with all the multicoloured flashing. That's not how airplane cockpits work What I would like actually is if brightness of backlight could be automatically adjusted depending on the brightness of what's on the screen. Sort of autoexposure. You know when you play in a dark room, and picture on display changes from something very bright to very dark light from your keyboard is suddenly blinding? Yea. What if this utility dimmed keyboard accordingly. Now, that I could use

 

[TomW1605]

I use backlit keyboard, just not with all the multicoloured flashing. That's not how airplane cockpits work What I would like actually is if brightness of backlight could be automatically adjusted depending on the brightness of what's on the screen. Sort of autoexposure. You know when you play in a dark room, and picture on display changes from something very bright to very dark light from your keyboard is suddenly blinding? Yea. What if this utility dimmed keyboard accordingly. Now, that I could use

is it the colours that you dont like or the animations? you keep mentioning flashing colours however except for the jump animation there are only a few keys that flash and they usualy only flash when somthing is active that isent usualy active (like charging FSD or night vison).

as for the comments about muscle memory. for alot of people you are probably right so this program might not be for them. however there are plenty of people who ether don't play often or regualey enough to develop muscle memory or who play with a HOTAS most of the time but sometimes want to play for a bit without setting it up and there for dont know all the keybinds. it is also helpfull for functions that are not often used such as (in my case) the keys for targating wing members. personaly eaven when i am playing with a HOTAS i still have this on but with only the toggle/status keys enabled so i can use my keyboard as sort of a status readout (this was with the old app thati ran from sauce and would edit the code to acheive this).

did you manage in any way to extract the status information from the game (for the keys blinking/dimming), or does that rely on an external model of the game? The former would be very interesting for HOTAS status displays - or key sequence automation.

im not entirly sure about the new program but i know the old Java one was constantly watching the player journal files and the flags file to get the status of the game.
feal free to look at the code for the old app: https://github.com/DrParanoia/ed-rgb
and here is some (i think unofficial) documentation on the player journal files: http://edcodex.info/?m=doc

 

[TomW1605]

Ok, the but...
Will this also work for the built-in keyboards of laptops? Got one called "Erazer" with a "Control Center 3.0 (if that is 3.0, I don't even want to know what 1.0 looked like...)

i beleave it should work in built in keyboards as long as they have been added to the app and i beleave that any keyboard with a control api should be able to be added.
for a full compatabilaty list please see the Aurora GitHub page: https://github.com/antonpup/Aurora#natively-supported-devices
if your device is not supported then you can request support by opening an issue on the same page.

 

[Arthur Z.]

Thise RGB implementetaion uses the Journal API to read the game state. So basically there is no "hacking", but it's also a bit limited by the information I can get from the Journal.

 

[Arthur Z.]

So, here is a more recent work in progress video:

 

[mewn]

Don't listen too much to those other guys, this is excellent stuff!

I can no longer get the Elite G19s Companion App to work with my Logitech G910, so this is exactly the kind of thing I have been looking for.

 

[Arthur Z.]

Thanks @mewn! Please leave some feedback on how it works for you if you get to try it out. I haven't played Elite lately. Also, there is a thread in the "Tools" section of this forum https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/rgb-keyboard-support-for-elite.521011/. Maybe a goot idea to post there or on the issue tracker on github.

 

[MrE.]

HI there,

This would be fantastic for learning where the keys are...would love to use it with my daughter (she is still in a sidewinder) - will try the link to current build, and I will let you know if anything breaks

MrE.

 

[MrE.]

So been using it (kind of) for a few days - doesn't launch most of the time...binds show in Aurora, but only once or twice on the keyboard (when ED launches).
What info do you want/need to debug (if that is of interest)?

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

o7 Commanders!

Long time ago I've tried to create a Java app to support RGB keyboard lighting for my Logitech keyboard (the old thread). After some time it felt like a dead end so I moved to other things (thanks to @TomW1605 for somewhat keeping that project alive while I was gone!).

Long story short, I've decided to use Aurora (https://www.project-aurora.com/) to bring this project back to life with support for more devices and I am at a point where feedback is needed.

Current supposedly working features are:
1) Key binds are highlighted automatically from the game
2) Different color groups for different category of game actions
3) Some keys are pulsatingg when a cetain ship function is active (cargo scoop, lights, silent running, etc.)
4) Only keys, that can be used are highlighted (e.g. FSD keys are dimmed while mass locked or FSD in cooldown, etc.)
5) FSD countdown, hyperspace, hyperspace exit animations
6) Customisable colors for command groups
7) Some other stuff I may have forgot

Updated work in progress video:

Current (IN DEVELOPMENT) build: https://ci.appveyor.com/api/buildjobs/u8hxatn4diwfvp7g/artifacts/Build/Aurora-v0.6.4b-2.zip
Issues/requests can be posted here: https://github.com/DrParanoia/Aurora/issues

Please let me know what you think. Is this something you'd like to see? Is it worth it? Thanks!

Thi is awesome, such a pity I play in VR, with twinsticks otherwise I'd be all over this like a rash. But I have to say, even as a VR player this is awesome, right on CMDR! o7

is it the colours that you dont like or the animations? you keep mentioning flashing colours however except for the jump animation there are only a few keys that flash and they usualy only flash when somthing is active that isent usualy active (like charging FSD or night vison).

as for the comments about muscle memory. for alot of people you are probably right so this program might not be for them. however there are plenty of people who ether don't play often or regualey enough to develop muscle memory or who play with a HOTAS most of the time but sometimes want to play for a bit without setting it up and there for dont know all the keybinds. it is also helpfull for functions that are not often used such as (in my case) the keys for targating wing members. personaly eaven when i am playing with a HOTAS i still have this on but with only the toggle/status keys enabled so i can use my keyboard as sort of a status readout (this was with the old app thati ran from sauce and would edit the code to acheive this).


im not entirly sure about the new program but i know the old Java one was constantly watching the player journal files and the flags file to get the status of the game.
feal free to look at the code for the old app: https://github.com/DrParanoia/ed-rgb
and here is some (i think unofficial) documentation on the player journal files: http://edcodex.info/?m=doc

I've been playing four and a half years, and were it not for the fact I play in VR, I'd be all over this not for the tutorial value of "now press the green iluminated key" but more for the immersion value of it.

 

[Arthur Z.]

Thi is awesome, such a pity I play in VR, with twinsticks otherwise I'd be all over this like a rash. But I have to say, even as a VR player this is awesome, right on CMDR! o7

I've been playing four and a half years, and were it not for the fact I play in VR, I'd be all over this not for the tutorial value of "now press the green iluminated key" but more for the immersion value of it.

Thanks! Yep, indeed, the immersion is real. I've started this project just for myself because I wanted more interaction for my actions. Now I can't imagine playing without it.

 

[MrE.]

So been using it (kind of) for a few days - doesn't launch most of the time...binds show in Aurora, but only once or twice on the keyboard (when ED launches).
What info do you want/need to debug (if that is of interest)?

Okay, think I have worked out the problem(s):

1. If my machine goes to sleep it sometimes forgets to launch Aurora on wake
2. More importantly, the version of G-Hub that deployed a week ago must have had a bug, because the new version (over the weekend) fixed it...

On G-Pro only the column of keys from G-ESc-Tilde-Tab-Caps lock-L Shift-L Ctrl animate when the ship is in hyperspace (looks right when charging)

Otherwise amazing, and now my Daughter wants a new keyboard

MrE.

 

[[PS4 Pro - PC] earthtone99]

Great stuff there Commander, very immersive, would love a keyboard like this one day (PC upgrade is on the cards).

I need to do this with the colour LED lighting behind the HDTV screen, imagine that living room light show!!!