VisitedStars cache and ImportStars.txt

Caydran

Caydran
I don't know if this is a bug or known issue, but....

I looked in the elite directory where the "visitedstarscache.dat" file lives, and there is none.

The only file there is my "importstars.txt" file.

So, does running Elite in either Horizons or Odyssey create the visitedstarscache.dat DB and update it each time you jump?

Does putting the file "importstars.txt" file in the same directory actually get imported into the cache as some have suggested?

For me, none of this works, regardless of which game I play, the game never generates a visitedstarschache.dat database.

I think there must be a bug here.

EDIT: Apparently, you need to jump at least once before the file visitedstarscache.dat is created, but since it does not import the importstars.txt file, it only records jumps since the creation of the database. If it is lost or deleted, it's empty.

This is still a bug and broken as I get very few visited stars in GM, but not the volume of stars I visited listed in importstars.txt

EDSM can keep track of the my visited stars, yet the creator of the game cannot find or display them.

This is a mess.
 
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varonica

varonica
Paul Eddington said:
So, does running Elite in either Horizons or Odyssey create the visitedstarscache.dat DB and update it each time you jump?

Does putting the file "importstars.txt" file in the same directory actually get imported into the cache as some have suggested?
Click to expand...

Each time you jump it adds the star to the visited stars list, it should create it when you first run Elite in any mode.

It did once, it's been broken for a long time.
 

Evoflash

Evoflash
Suremaker said:
The "importstars.txt" does not work. If you have a list of star systems in format of id64, you can import them with an app I created: https://github.com/Suremaker/edsm_scanner#visitedstarcachemerger

Here is some background story for the tool: https://github.com/Suremaker/edsm_scanner/wiki

And here are the details on how to download it: https://github.com/Suremaker/edsm_scanner#usage

O7
Click to expand...
This is exciting!
However I'm not there yet, could you possibly help me understand how to get star systems in id64? I only have importstars.txt.
 

Evoflash

Evoflash
Yeah this
GraphicEqualizer said:
Check this out, got this working
Click to expand...
this is understood if you have a backup file. Some of us didn’t have backups of user folder so the option isn’t open to us, however - frustratingly - the data is held in our journals so now the request to FDEV would be to help us recreate visitedstarscache.dat from our journal.
 

Caydran

Caydran
In 2016, Frontier announced how visitedstarscache.dat and importstars.txt was supposed to work.

Now, all of this is an exploit, for which Fdev quietly stepped in and disabled?


Neilski said:


Well, the FD person QA-Jack used the word "exploits" without saying what they meant by it. You reckon that's what was meant? (Not sure why programming your ship about visited stars should be regarded as an exploit.)
(Precise quote: "This functionality was disabled in 2020 to prevent exploits")
Click to expand...


Maolagin said:


From others who have worked with these, the changes seem to include A) a file format that includes CMDR-specific information, and B) the game client rejects the file if it contains significantly more stars than server-side tracking thinks you've visited. That sounds like it was aimed pretty specifically at people who were downloading a new VSC from external sites. It's not really clear why they considered that an exploit (that it potentially allows PC players an advantage over console players has been suggested but not confirmed), but I agree that's probably the "exploit" QA-Jack is talking about.

Following that logic, I don't imagine they're going to care if you use 3rd party tools to restore your own cache after a reinstall or similar. But it's definitely at your own risk, I wouldn't really expect them to clarify further what's allowed vs not.
Click to expand...
In conclusion, the import of stars to the cache has now been disabled by FDev. The cache still works and will collect your current game visited stars, but importing them (your history) is now disabled.
 

Evoflash

Evoflash
Paul Eddington said:
In 2016, Frontier announced how visitedstarscache.dat and importstars.txt was supposed to work.

Now, all of this is an exploit, for which Fdev quietly stepped in and disabled?






In conclusion, the import of stars to the cache has now been disabled by FDev. The cache still works and will collect your current game visited stars, but importing them (your history) is now disabled.
Click to expand...
Correct, sadly we can’t presently retrieve our visited stars from the journal to form the filter in galmap.
 

Suremaker

Suremaker
I have updated the linked edsm_scanner project to support merging the VisitedStarsCache.dat with file having list of system names. It will attempt to resolve the system identifiers using EDSM api.

Here is the direct link to the release version: https://github.com/Suremaker/edsm_scanner/releases/tag/1.0.4
After unzipping binaries, it is a matter of locating the VisitedStarsCache.dat (as described in https://github.com/Suremaker/edsm_scanner#visitedstarcachemerger) and executing VisitedStarCacheMerger.exe [path to VisitedStarsCache.dat] [path to importstars.txt] from the directory where VisitedStarCacheMerger.exe has been extracted.

As I do not have an original importstars.txt, I could not check if it works, but I implemented the feature based on the assumption that the file has a list of the system names, separated by the new line.

O7
 

Evoflash

Evoflash
yikes - I just read "please note that VisitedStarsCache.dat is limited to hold up to 3876 system entries."

So only the last 3876 entries are recorded in the filter? I feel like I've misunderstood.
 

Caydran

Caydran
Suremaker said:
I have updated the linked edsm_scanner project to support merging the VisitedStarsCache.dat with file having list of system names. It will attempt to resolve the system identifiers using EDSM api.

Here is the direct link to the release version: https://github.com/Suremaker/edsm_scanner/releases/tag/1.0.4
After unzipping binaries, it is a matter of locating the VisitedStarsCache.dat (as described in https://github.com/Suremaker/edsm_scanner#visitedstarcachemerger) and executing VisitedStarCacheMerger.exe [path to VisitedStarsCache.dat] [path to importstars.txt] from the directory where VisitedStarCacheMerger.exe has been extracted.

As I do not have an original importstars.txt, I could not check if it works, but I implemented the feature based on the assumption that the file has a list of the system names, separated by the new line.

O7
Click to expand...
Thanks for this. I was playing with your previous tools and thought, why not just merge the inportstars.txt into the visitedstarscache.dat, but the importstars.txt has no id64 content, so my attempts failed. Did you re-write VSCM to do some magic with importstars.txt?

I just add all of your tools to the directory for VSC and Importstars.txt and run it from there.

Testing this now.
 

Suremaker

Suremaker
Paul Eddington said:
Thanks for this. I was playing with your previous tools and thought, why not just merge the inportstars.txt into the visitedstarscache.dat, but the importstars.txt has no id64 content, so my attempts failed. Did you re-write VSCM to do some magic with importstars.txt?

I just add all of your tools to the directory for VSC and Importstars.txt and run it from there.

Testing this now.
Click to expand...
Yes, I have updated it today to handle the star system names. Please let me know if it works for you :)
 

Evoflash

Evoflash
Has definitely imported some systems. I’m away from pc for an hour but will check it out to see if it has worked.
 

Suremaker

Suremaker
Evoflash said:
yikes - I just read "please note that VisitedStarsCache.dat is limited to hold up to 3876 system entries."

So only the last 3876 entries are recorded in the filter? I feel like I've misunderstood.
Click to expand...
Yes, it is the case. It looks like it is the internal limitation implemented on VisitedStarsCache.dat. When I tried to apply more, the additional entries were truncated after the game restart.
The console app does not apply any limit on the generated VisitedStarsCache.dat so you can try to discover it yourself ;-)

One more note. The merger tool uses EDSM api to determine the system ID based on its name. As the EDSM Api has rate limiting, loading many systems will cause the tool to hang when the quota is reached. It may need to be re-run then after a while to fetch the remaining systems. If that would become a significant challenge, I will take a look if there is a better method to resolve the system ids.
 

Caydran

Caydran
Suremaker said:
Yes, I have updated it today to handle the star system names. Please let me know if it works for you :)
Click to expand...
This version hangs and times out. It worked one time, but I used the wrong ImportStars.txt and had to start over. It also helps to delete the .cache folder if you have to re-run it.
Suremaker said:
I have just pushed a new version that uses a simpler EDSM endpoint. It should load the system Ids faster and have no rate limiting I mentioned above.

New release link: https://github.com/Suremaker/edsm_scanner/releases/tag/1.0.5
Click to expand...
This version works perfectly. No hangups and now I have a valid VisitedStarsCache.Dat file I will make a copy of and store elsewhere.

Have not tested whether Horizons or Odyssey will see the results in the GalMap filter.

Great work. Thanks.

You do know Fdev may shut down the use of the VSC if folks start abusing your tool, as they abused the previous Frontier version!.
 
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