Elite Dangerous Cougar Display (ED:CD) User Manual
This user guide is designed to get you started as quickly as possible, with minimal clicks. If you’re reading this for the first time, then the Quick Start Guide will get you up and running in a minute, and even if you don’t read it then you’ll get to see something working even if you don’t know exactly what’s going on!
For those who want to customise the layout screens and voice synthesis options, you should skip ahead.
Table of Contents
Some
things you may want to consider before starting
Some
things you may want to consider doing at some point to get the most from ED:CD
Known
Issues / CubeSim Support
Running
ED:CD For the First Time
Positioning
and Sizing Windows
Additional
Notes for HotKey Assignments
Configure
Elite’s Default Folders
Changing
the Number of Displays
Role
Association / Number of Displays
Assigning
Joystick Devices to Displays
Setting
the Number of Displays
Viewing
All Panels – Panel List
Widgets/Materials
for Blank Panels
Switching
Between Custom Panels
Adding
a Panel Menu to the Custom Panel
Manual
Adjustments to the Custom Panel’s Menu
Customising
the Custom Panel Menu Colours
Fine
Tuning Key Press Responses
Touch
Screen Tablet/Monitor Support
Thrustmaster
MFD Cougar Support
Adding
Additional Custom Icons
Completing
Additional Icons – Editing XML
Editing
MFD_Iconset_custom.xml
Dedicated
Alpha Channel (Mask)
Sharing
Customisations with the ED:CD Community
Technical
details of publishing / installing
Installation
of Published Icon sets
Text
to Speech Synthesis (TTS)
Space
Radio Chatter / Air Traffic Control (ATC) Simulation
ATC
Script Editing – Conventions
TTS
Voices – Memory Consumption
Prioritising
EDDB Commodity Searching
Exploring
the Commander’s Database
Mining
Assistant - Searching for Pristine Metallic Ringed systems nearby
Import
Elite Dangerous Journal Logs
POI
/ Navigation Heading Assistant
Mission
Optimiser Route Plotting
WayPoints
/ Manual Route Plotting
Commodity
Searching / BGS Search / Station Facility Search
Enable
Joystick Button Press (whilst docked).
Files
not preserved during auto update
I know, you just want to get started without any hassle in the fastest possible time. From reading this to starting Elite with ED:CD should take no more than 2 minutes.
· You may want to change the Windows taskbar to auto hide.
· You might want to run Elite in Borderless Window Mode (using Elite’s settings menu) so that you have more control of window positioning and mouse/keyboard. I would recommend starting Elite at step 6 below, so that your main monitor doesn’t get too cluttered before you have a chance to see what’s going on.
· Plug in your Cougars and USB / additional monitors. Note – if you have touch screen monitors then the use of the Cougars are optional.
· Change your (control panel) region settings to use a period (.) as a decimal separator. Using commas can cause formatting issues when the app tries to convert lists of floating point number to and from string representations.
Now please read the following section: Running ED:CD for
the first time
To get the maximum benefit from ED:CD there are some tasks you may wish to consider doing, such as:
· Import your journal logs (from the Database tab on the Commander’s Log). This will help with way point plotting (Mission Explorer) as previously visited systems will be in cache. Additionally, you can now review all the systems/planets you’ve visited and analyse the results.
· Import EDDB files (Mission Explorer). This will help with the Mission Optimiser and Commodity Search functions.
· Select your Ship’s COVAS assistant (main app window, Speech Synthesis tab).
· Set up TTS voices for use by pirates and system authority (main app window, Air Traffic Control) – this will allow you to be precise which voices are to be used.
· Set up custom speech phrases and enable/disable the events – Speech Synthesis tab
· Setup custom panels to display yet more useful information
· Install custom panels created by other commanders.
Cube Sim make fantastic hardware for flight simulators – these are 8” display panels surrounded with a Thrustmaster MFD Cougar joystick.
It has been reported by some users with that the application fails to start (initialise and render into the OpenGL windows), other than after the initial setup, when using Cubesim or tablets attached as additional monitors.
Typically, these OpenGL windows are initially created on the main monitor and then the user moves them to their preferred position which is often a secondary, tertiary or dedicated Cube Sim monitor. It is then, upon application restart, that the issue shows itself – as blank (solid grey) windows and appears to hang.
The exact cause for this is unknown but investigation appears to indicate that the tablet/cubesim drivers are unable to properly pass through OpenGL requests onto the main graphics card for rendering.
If the OpenGL windows are moved back to the main monitor (before closing the app), then the app launches and runs on subsequent starts. To automatically perform this task, add the following to the MFDCougar.ini file:
[Cubesim]
MoveWindowsOnExit=1
This entry causes the application to modify the MFD.ini file and set the positions of the OpenGL windows to ensure they are within the main monitor bounds when the application is shutdown. However, the user is then expected to move the window positions to the destination monitor(s) each and every time after application launches.
The recommended solution (available from versions 1.20.0.1 and above) is to add the following to the MFDCougar.ini file:
[Cubesim]
MoveWindowsOnExit=0
MoveWindowsOnStart=1
The MoveWindowsOnStart entry attempts to create the OpenGL windows on the main monitor and then subsequently move them into their final destination position (as specified in the MFD.ini file). OpenGL double buffering is disabled which seems to resolve the issue of the application crashing when a tablet (or other device) is attached as a secondary monitor.
Running the application is as simple as the following 8 steps:
1. Double-click the application to launch
2. Wait 1-3 minutes for the application to initialise (TTS voices, EDDB downloads)
3. Ensure correct Elite folder locations are shown on the main form
4. Reposition Windows
5. Minimise to taskbar
6. Start Elite Dangerous and load CMDR profile (Solo, Open, etc.)
7. Use Taskbar applet to “start” ED:CD
8. Configure Key bindings (optional)
The first thing that happens when ED:CD runs is that multiple windows open (may take a few moments to completely initialise):
· Main Application screen
· Commander’s Log
· Mission Explorer
· Chat Log
· Splash screen (hopefully on top) detailing the current background task.
On the very first run, the following happens in the background:
· TTS/SAPI Initialisation
Each and every (SAPI) TTS Voice in your system is tested and default voices for NPCs, System Authority NPCs and your ship are assigned. This task takes about 30 seconds, but is system dependant. You may want to consider adding more voices to your installation (covered later on).
· Downloading Files / building database
Additionally, since you’re are running for the first time, updates from EDDB are downloaded – for this a splash screen shows the progress of the task. This takes approximately 3 minutes and can be skipped via the settings tab (Mission Explorer) on future launches.
These database imports run in a background thread and you are freely able to minimise the application to the system tray. Mission Explorer commodity searches will not be fully functional until the import process is complete. As from version 1.12.0.0 the commodities database is not loaded until user interaction.
Activate the main window and click the minimise window icon.
At this point you should have move all other windows to their respective locations.
Left clicking the Cougar Display icon within the system tray brings up a menu, and clicking Start executes the rendering thread and makes the application respond to in-game events.
Note: Since Cougar Display reacts and tracks journal state, it is best to ensure the app is ‘started’ after the “loadout” event in the journal – i.e. just after selecting Open or Solo mode in Elite.
Clicking Pause temporarily freezes the rendering thread and displays the MFD Cougar windows as regular ‘windows’ so that you can adjust positions and dimensions as necessary.
That’s it! You’ve finished the quick start guide and are hopefully enjoying the experience.
Note: Please ensure your system clock is synchronised with the internet. The app reads from Elite’s journal files and relies upon an accurate system time in order to decode the events.
Note2: The application is setup to decode the journal files
produced by Elite. Since Odyssey update #11 the journal file naming convention
has changed and so you must configure the application to read either the
Odyssey journals or the Legacy mode 3.8 journal files. See Legacy Mode and/or the Troubleshooting
section at the end of this guide if you are using the older Elite 3.8 client.
The next most important step is to position and resize the windows to their respective monitors and ensure the Cougar joysticks are placed over the monitors for the MFDs.
The very first time Cougar Display is executed the MFD Cougar windows are displayed with their windows titles showing – allowing you to move, size and place the windows on your desktop.
Upon subsequent launches, a file called “autostart” will have been created and the presence of this file prevents the window titles from showing. If, for some reason, you have issues with the pause/start procedure (below) then delete the “autostart” file and restart the application.
Note: pause/start menu items have no effect when the MFD Cougar windows are showing the window titles.
Left click the system tray icon, and select Pause menu item. The MFD Cougar windows now have their window titles visible so that the positions can be set via mouse drag. Left click the system tray icon, and select Resume menu item to allow the application to resume.
These window settings are saved to an INI file in the application root folder “MFD.ini”.
Note: If a monitor is unplugged, or a window is positioned such that it’s partially off-screen, the next time Cougar Display is started, the window position is reset back to the main monitor. This is done on purpose so that windows are not “lost” in a region of desktop not covered by any monitor.
Ensure all windows are fully inside the bounds of all monitors. The utility file (available on the website) MFDWindowTest.exe can be used to quickly display and position all the OpenGL windows the application creates.
Also note that even if a single pixel of the window is
positioned beyond the monitor boundary then the application will move the
window back to the main monitor. In some cases the window may appear to be
fully within the monitor bounds, but actually it’s overflowing. Try moving the
window inwards when testing window positioning.
The Application will auto shutdown when Elite closes. This behaviour can be changed by setting the value to 0 in the MFDCougar.ini file.
[Shutdown]
AutoShutdown=1
When the main application window is closed, the following may show:
· Saving EDDB listings (splash screen)
· Warning – Import in progress
The EDDB databases are downloaded (from the internet) and imported on a schedule defined on the Mission Explorer (settings tab). A cached copy of the listings database is loaded from a file upon application start-up, and at the same time (via a background thread), the remaining database files are imported if needed.
You can exit Cougar Display by clicking on the No button to force an early exit – but this is not recommended since the database import process is incomplete.
Cougar Display is designed to run without any specific configuration and works ‘out of the box’. However, by its very nature, the icons representing actions within Elite are dynamically assigned to the different screens according to the game status. Therefore, the same Cougar button press needs to be dynamically bound to different Elite key bindings. With twenty joystick buttons per Cougar, and 4 or 5 screens of icons, we are looking at hundreds of key bindings.
To simplify the whole process, the built-in layout designer has a quick key binding option to automatically map the virtual Cougar buttons/icons to Elite keyboard bindings. With once click, all the key assignments can be made by finding unused bindings for actions within the Elite key bindings file. If there are no unused bindings, then the application will overwrite the keyboard binding, starting with the secondary binding.
Note: Elite must be set to use custom bindings rather than one of the pre-set joysticks, eg SaitekX52. To ensure Elite is using a custom bindings, edit one of the bindings as save the changes.
There is more information on the Key Binding process in http://cougardisplay.site/keybinds.html and http://cougardisplay.site/troubleshoot.html#bindings
For key strokes to be sent to Elite, the window title of Elite must be known and matching the window title in MFDCougar.ini file. By default the title is set to:
[EDClient]
Title=Elite -
Dangerous (CLIENT)
If Frontier change the Elite client title, you’ll need to
amend the INI file accordingly. For example, during Alpha/Beta versions of
Elite, the client title may need to be altered. This can be confirmed within
Elite à
Options à
Graphics à
Display à Fullscreen
à Windowed mode. The
Title bar of the window is then displayed (and visible from task Manager)
From the main screen, locate the Cockpit Layout Editor and click Edit.
Elite uses an XML file to record which device to read in order for the user to perform an action within the game. For example, the snippet below is taken from the Custom.4.0.binds file (C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings)
and would be used to launch Shield Cell Bank within Elite.
<UseShieldCell>
<Primary
Device="T16000M" Key="Joy_6" />
<Secondary
Device="{NoDevice}" Key="" />
</UseShieldCell>
Elite has two possible devices which can be used to capture input for any action. The application will look for an unassigned device and replace the binding with an entry from the application’s list of icon/button key assignments (MFD_Iconset.xml). By default, the app will try to assign the secondary device as a keyboard, but may fall back to assigning the primary device.
Select the Elite binds file to read and alter from the Elite Binding File drop-down list.
When Elite’s key binds file has been read successfully, the Elite Key Assignment drop-down list will contain all the Elite actions that have a keyboard device associated. You can then assign the Elite action to the button/icon in the MFD layout Button Assignment section of the interface.
In order for you to assign an Elite action to the icon/button, the action must appear in the Elite Key Assignment drop-down list; if the action is not in the list, then the action does not have an associated key binding (it may be bound to a joystick, for example). You will need to either edit the Elite Key Binds file directly (quite simple to do once you are familiar with the process) or run Elite and make the key binding change from there (and close Elite after). In either case re-open the Layout Editor to reload the modified Elite Binds file.
To remove the key sequence associated to the icon, double-click the key entry in the list.
Choosing a value from the Elite Key Assignment dropdown sets the key press to the value contained in the MFD_Iconset.xml for the chosen Elite action. Sometimes, Elite just doesn’t recognise the key sequence and you have to provide a new key binding. You can edit the key attribute in the MFD_Iconset.xml file, or click the Capture Key button to assign a key sequence to override the listed value.
Clicking Capture Key brings up a key capture screen which will capture key strokes and modifier keys (Shift,Ctrl,Alt) and assign it to the selected key sequence. See troubleshoot.html for more information.
Setting the HotKey checkbox registers the keypress as a Windows hotkey. When the hotkey press is detected by Windows, the keypress is passed into the MFD Cougar application for processing and the MFD actions associated are performed; the key sequence is NOT passed to Elite Dangerous.
Keys assigned to the MFD icons in the layout editor are usually associated with an Elite action because these key sequences are being send to Elite to perform some function (the Elite Binding, such as toggle ship lights).
Whilst this is generally desirable, there are some very specific cases where we want to display a custom icon in the MFD grid but not send a key sequence to Elite; instead we want the icon to flash/animate and for some other action to occur. An example of this is the "Radio Chatter" icon feature - which tracks the status of the Air Traffic Control "ATC Simulation" on/off toggle. By setting the hotkey flag in the button UI, the keypress can be assigned to a "customAction" to perform the toggle.
Note: Unlike regular Elite key press sequences hot keys have no distinction between left/right modifiers.
Note: F12 (without a modifier such as SHIFT) can’t be used as a hotkey - see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/winuser/nf-winuser-registerhotkey
Also note that hotkeys already registered with the same key press sequence will not be overwritten. Several applications already include hot keys, such as AMD Control Panel, nVidia Performance Overlay Windows Accessibility, amongst others.
nVidia Overlay uses the following hotkeys by default, so you may wish to switch these off:
ALT+F1, ALT + F2, ALT + F3, ALT + F5, ALT + F6, ALT+F7, ALT + F8, ALT+ F9, ALT + F10, ALT + F12, ALT + Z, CTRL + ALT + M
(Start à GeForce Experience à settings (cog menu icon) à In-Game Overlay à Settings à Keyboard shortcuts)
Open/Close in-game overlay (ALT + Z) can’t be unassigned, but the whole in-game overlay can be disabled.
Button Latch
When a Thrustmaster MFD Cougar button is pressed, it often doesn’t feel like the button press has ‘registered’ as these buttons feel quite soft and squidgy to the touch.
To combat pressing the buttons multiple times, a button latch slider can provide a delay so that button presses have to be several milliseconds apart to register (this prevents button spamming). The default is 1000ms or 1 second.
Each layout (Flight, Weapons, SLF, Supercruise, etc) in the MFD Layout Editor has one button latch value for all the icons/buttons.
Sound
When an icon is clicked or MFD button pressed, a sound can be played to give audio feedback that the button has been ‘registered’. The choice of the audio file is listed in the drop-down box and the list is built from all the .wav/.mp3 files in the application audio folder.
Each button on the MFD layout can have a different sound assignment.
Note: It is recommended to use a utility such as Adobe Audition or (the excellent and free) WaveShop to ‘normalise’ the audio files to the same volume.
In some cases, editing the XML file directly is very fast and efficient; however there is a certain amount of risk if you’re not confident in performing this job. Always make a backup before you start!
Binding files are located in (C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings)
Backup the file and use Notepad ++ to open Custom.X.0.binds (where X is 3 for Horizons and 4 for Odyssey). If this file does not exist, it’s because you are using one of the pre-set binding files used by Elite – once you modify Elite’s default key assignments, the file will be created for you.
Search for the Elite action you wish to assign a key press to and modify the XML entry.
Adding a keyboard as a secondary device to NightVisionToggle
In this example, NightVisionToggle has been previously assigned to a joystick but now we want to also assign a key stroke (ALT N) to this action so that MFD Cougar Display can associate a button press to it.
We need to change the
entry from:
<NightVisionToggle>
<Primary
Device="T16000M" Key="Joy_6" />
<Secondary
Device="{NoDevice}" Key="" />
</NightVisionToggle>
And change the entry
to:
<NightVisionToggle>
<Primary
Device="T16000M" Key="Joy_6" />
<Secondary Device="Keyboard"
Key="Key_N">
<Modifier
Device="Keyboard" Key="Key_LeftAlt" />
</Secondary>
</NightVisionToggle>
In the above example, we assigned (left) ALT N as a secondary key bind. In order to use the ALT key, Elite uses the <Modifier> XML element to specify either SHIFT,CTRL or ALT keys (one modifier element per modifier key) and is prefixed with either Left or Right.
Once the XML file has been saved using Notepad ++, then re-open the Layout Editor in MFD Cougar Display and the key binding can be assigned to the MFD Buttons/icons.
Note: Certain combinations of keys and modifiers just don’t work. There is no explanation for this behaviour, other than legacy keyboard driver behaviour dating back to Windows 3.0.
Note2: Right ALT and right
CTRL insert extra key sequences when programmed and sent to Elite from MFD
Cougar. Avoid using these modifiers if you intent to use the action with Cougar
Display – conversely do use these modifiers for the keys you aren’t using with
Cougar Display. See http://cougardisplay.site/troubleshoot.html#bindings
for more information and troubleshooting tools.
The Quick Key Assignment is designed to replace empty and available bindings within the Elite Binds file, with pre-defined key sequences associated with the MFD Icons (MFD_Iconset.xml).
Click the Quick Key Assign button. At this time, there is no need to alter any other setting. You will be notified if any unsaved changes are pending.
Select the Binds file you wish to modify. By default it’s the same file as the Layout Editor was using, but you can change it to any you find.
Quick Key Assign attempts to find unused [device] bindings for the actions specified by the buttons/icons in the Layout Editor. You can check for possible issues by clicking the Check button – this will highlight the Elite actions where both the Primary and Secondary binds are occupied by joystick devices. You should review these binds and either un-assign a device in Elite, manually editing the Binds XML file (see manually editing Key Binds), or select the option Make Secondary binding available for Cougar Display (and click Check button again).
Assuming the check function reports no issues, you can proceed to select an action for Keep or Replace key binding.
Select the action you want to occur when the app detects that there is already a keyboard device associated to the Elite action which needs binding.
There are two possible choices:
1. The first is to make no change to Elite’s binding and instead change MFD Cougar to use that key sequence (instead of the value in MFD_Iconset.xml). This is not recommended because the key sequence may not be suitable for use via the windows API (MFD Cougar Display simulates key presses and sends them to Elite for processing).
2. The second choice is to change (overwrite) the Elite Binding with the key sequence specified in MFD_Iconset.xml. This file has a known-to-work set of keys and modifiers and is thus recommended.
Click Execute button.
Note: By default, a backup copy of the selected bindings file is performed.
Any issues found with the mapping will be listed on the left in the Key bindings which were not reassigned. Conversely, the remapped keys are shown on the right. This is for your information only in case you wish to manually inspect your Elite bindings file.
If you are happy, click the Save button (to commit changes), or click Undo to revert the changes. Changes can be undone if the option Mark changes in Binds file is set (this adds an attribute to all binds entries added/modified so that the application can quickly locate and remove changes).
The Save button
(writing to the Binds XML file) will not be available if bindings could not be
fully applied. Note: Uncheck Mark changes in Binds file if 3rd
party apps need strict conformance.
No dependencies upon other programs, utilities or external DLLs. Only Elite Dangerous is required, along with an optional second/third/forth monitor and optional Thrustmaster MFD Cougar joysticks.
Note: Open GL 4.5 or later is required. This is provided by your graphics card vendor and is in-built along-side DirectX 11/12.
This section covers the images displayed on the Cougar Display MFD windows.
The 4 rocker switches on the Thrustmaster Cougar MFDs are mapped as follows. Currently, there is no user interface to remap or configure these buttons.
The 20 buttons are configured via key bindings in the Layout Editor.
Weapons console is assigned to MFD Cougar 1
This section covers the settings found of the user interface windows.
Choose the windows default skin if you find that sometimes the carbon theme is not working correctly (parts of the don’t draw correctly) . This option can only be set when the application first loads.
Clicking the Subscribe button opens a web browser at the download page of Cougar Display, where you can purchase a license key or make other donations. The only reason why this option exists is to cover my costs during my year-long development of this project.
There are three options to specify the folder locations for Key bindings, log files and screen shots. Please ensure these are correct for your system. The application is initialised with default values based on a new installation.
The Gamma Control tab gives the ability to fine tune the application’s tone mapping output to give the best possible display on the USB / additional monitor.
For those with Thrustmaster MFD
Cougars, the rocker switches adjust the gamma and exposure levels.
From the Layout Editor tab, you can change the number of displays, or edit the configuration of the displays.
Customising involves two steps, one to decide on how many displays you want and associate ‘roles’ to those displays. The other step is to customise the layouts (roles) in terms of font, colours and icons.
The number of displays can be switched from 2 to 8 simultaneous displays. A restart of the application is required for the change to take effect. This can be access from the Design Console button.
Note: for Thrustmaster
MFD owners, it is assumed that Thrustmaster MFDs are connected to the displays
in linear order (MFD#0 on Cougar Display #0, MFD #1 on display #1, etc.)
The application makes the basic assumption that there will always be a minimum of 2 displays active at any one time, and the ‘layout’ role assigned to these displays will be dynamically assigned whilst Elite dangerous is running. This allows for a seamless transition of console layouts from flight to supercruise or switching to and from analysis mode.
The Design Console button brings up the Role Association screen.
To supplement the fixed (2) displays, you can optionally display the Orrery (system role) or Galaxy Map on one or more displays, or optionally a selection of custom panels in any arrangement you like.
The Role Association dialog is used to link together the following aspects:
· Set the number of display windows
· Associate ‘roles’ to the display windows
· Assign joystick devices to the display windows
MFDs 0 and 1 can be assigned joystick devices by selecting the device from the two lists.
The number of Thrustmaster MFD Cougar devices is shown, and by default are automatically allocated to MFD 0 and 1 if the lists are left blank or set to none.
If your Cougar joysticks are not shown (eg just plugged them in), clicking the Refresh button will add them to the lists.
For each Additional Display, a joystick can be assigned from any available on the list.
This allows the connection of custom made “Cougar” joysticks to be assigned to any display (it’s recommended that any such custom hardware supports at least 20 push buttons).
When the Dialog is closed, the MFD.INI file is updated and the manufacturer ID and Device ID of the selected joysticks are written to the CougarJoystick setting.
If there are no available Thrustmaster MFD Cougar joysticks, and no other joysticks assigned to MFD consoles 0 and 1, then the CougarJoystick setting will contain the value 0 or 1, which has the effect of auto assigning the Thrustmaster MFD Cougars should they become available. This is the default behaviour, which basically means that out-of-the-box, Cougar Display will automatically work with your Cougar joysticks (no need to use Role Association to create the binding between controller and display).
Use the slider to select the number of simultaneous displays required – this will add panels in the Additional Display area.
From the Role Assignment list, select the role for this display.
When making selections, you will notice that the list of available choices in additional displays will change. This is by design. There can only be 1 display with a Galaxy map, and 1 display with an Orrery (system), thus when these are selected those choices are removed from all other displays.
There will be some commanders who would like dedicated Orrery (system) and Galaxy map displays, whereas others only need a combined system and Galaxy map and thus reduce the number of simultaneous displays from 4 down to 3. The combined System/Galaxy map role functions in a similar manner to when there are only 2 displays running – i.e. when Elite is showing the galaxy map, then ED:CD shows the galaxy map, and when Elite is showing the system or orrery, ED:CD displays the orrery. Having a 3rd display with the combined role of System/Galaxy map allows a permanent Orrery view and an automatic switch to the Galaxy map when Elite switches over to the game’s Galaxy map.
When the Role Assignment is Custom, there are additional buttons to access the Custom Console Designer. There is no limit on the number of displays created by ED:CD, but for practical reasons it has been limited to 8. Two of these are fixed and can’t be changed, leaving up to 6 user-defined uses for the extra displays. Up to 2 of these user-defined roles can be assigned to the Orrery (system) or Galaxy map roles, leaving between of 4 - 6 displays for custom panel designed layouts.
The Custom Panel listed in the Filename edit box is the default custom panel for the selected display, and can be edited via the Design button. This will become more apparent when you select multiple panels on the same display (refer to the section “Switching between Custom Panels”).
Note: When the Role Association page is close, all the changes to the number of displays, and the associated roles are saved in the MFD.INI file in the application folder.
Note 2: Example custom panels are included in the zip package.
“Console.mfd2.mfd”, “Console.exporation.mfd” and “Console.odyssey.mfd” have
been configured and setup for exploration and Odyssey (suits/weapons).
Custom Panels are user-defined screens which can be built to display specific pieces of information.
Custom panels are created and configured from the main application page / Layout Editor tab.
Clicking the Design Console button brings up the Role Association form where custom panels can then be designed and associated to MFD displays (when the role is set to Custom).
The Custom Console Designer is a visual tool to help you build and design your own layouts of useful game information. It’s not designed to receive mouse/touch/Thrustmaster MFD input.
Think of them as information display panels. You can add as many as you like, in any combination to each display with the Custom role assigned. Panels can even be overlapped, so that you can layer text over graphics, if necessary (there is a right-click menu to bring a panel to the ‘top’).
The initial size of the designer is set to the size of the associated display. The screen size can be changed, however by altering the width and height settings. In reality, you won’t need to do this because panels will be scaled to fit the displays at runtime. The only important thing to know is that the positions and relative sizes of the panels are persisted, and thus scaled to fit the display.
Panels are added via a left-click (pop-up menu), and deleted via a right-click (pop-up menu).
Once a panel is added, it can be selected by a left mouse click
… and resized by drag handles, and repositioned by holding left mouse button whilst dragging.
Tip: Holding SHIFT key or CTRL key and left mouse will lock the left or top of the panel whilst dragging.
New panels initially get their default values from the Default Values section, which can be overridden.
A selected panel can be cloned, or sent to the front/back relative to other panels.
Tip: Clicking the
Save button can help resolve drawing
panels in the adjusted front to back order.
When a panel is selected (via left click), its properties are displayed and can be altered.
The most important value to change is the role assignment. This is the kind of information you want drawn to the display (panel).
Some roles will allow the selection of Optional Parameters, to fine tune the information in the panel. For example, Fuel Gauge – you can then select either horizontal or vertical.
· Font – You have a choice of 2 fonts (0 or 1). Set the Font Size to specify the initial size of the text.
· Text Colour – Red/Green/Blue/Alpha hexadecimal colour.
· Width/Height – Allows you to specify a width or height by hand (rather than drag with mouse).
· Frame – This draws a box around the panel.
· Title – this allows you to set a custom title for the panel (displayed in the top/right corner by default).
o Choose the alignment (right, left, centred)
· KeyPress – When set, the key sequence is sent to Elite for processing, and the cell flashes. To add modifier keys, type as follows: key,Modifier, e.g. 1 (F1,LeftShit) e.g. 2 (L,RightCtrl)
Click the Apply button to save the changes to the panel.
Click the Save button to write the changes to a file (save as). Click the close window button to save as the default filename.
Note: The Cockpit Editor
can be used to customise some aspects. Select the Custom role when in the editor.
Note2: All panels are scaled at runtime so that the contents of the text displayed can fit into the size of the panel area, both horizontally and vertically. Some panels dynamically add extra lines of information when appropriate, i.e. when they contain a value. This is typical of the statistics panels, for example.
Sometimes the design of the custom layout requires the use of overlapping panels so that a panel overlays the background of the panel beneath. One problem this brings is how to select the panel and change its properties if it’s fully behind another. Another issue with overlapping panels is that it’s not possible to tell how many panels are overlapping in any one area.
The Panel List on the left of the designer allows for a full list of panels ordered by their action (role) so that multiple (duplicates) of a particular kind are more obvious to spot and remove.
When a panel is selected, its properties are displayed on the right hand side panel and both the Front and Back buttons are made visible at the bottom of the Panel List area.
These buttons allow you to move the order of the panel to the front or back (the same way as right-clicking and selecting “Send to ….” Menu item).
Count down timer
This panel is designed to count down from a user-defined value (in seconds) to 0 and then flash. Its intended purpose is for fleet carriers – to remind you when they are about to jump (without you!).
The value for this counter is
set on the Settings tab of the Mission Explorer.
Nav Route
A commander can plot a route in the Elite Galaxy Map between several star systems.
This panel attempts to display this route in the space allocated in the panel. If the panel area is too small, the number of waypoints is reduced, along with the font size. The panel attempts to display as a minimum the initial start location, the destination (coloured in red) and the current position (shown within a green band). Additionally, it will display the previous star system(s) and the next up-and-coming systems – how many it displays depends upon the available screen area.
The source of the known status of the star system is listed as unknown, EDSM or database in the Mission explorer window, or shown as either a red, yellow or green icon in the custom panel.
The class of the star is shown in both the custom panel (as a bracket, eg [M]) and on the mission explorer in plain English, eg Red Giant.
FSS Materials
A useful panel for explorers. This panel displays an easy to read grid of the raw materials available on the landable planet that’s just been scanned. The grid is organised in columns relating from grade 1 to grade 4. Additionally, this display will show materials of the planet you are about to orbital descent into.
Tip:
· Whilst the application is running, you can access the Custom Console Designer and make changes to the panels. The application will automatically apply those changes without the need to restart the app. This allows you to switch out panels according to your play style in Elite. It’s also possible to have several sets of panels already saved in a folder location, so that you can switch between them rather than having to design the layouts whilst playing Elite.
·
Combine panels into a single larger area by
first drawing a blank panel with a frame, then adding other panels and dragging
over the top of the first. These subsequent panels can be drawn without a
frame, and also made to overlap regions of interest, e.g. combine CMDR Ship and
CMDR Status.
Blank
Blank panels can be useful to surround groups of other panels, for example to visually enclose them in a single frame.
Additionally, blank panels can have a custom background. Cougar Display has a variety of pre-built background materials (textures and shaders) to select from (widgets). More information is available for these widgets in the section below (Widgets/Materials for Blank Panels).
Background
One setting specified in the custom node of the Layout Editor is the background – this value can be set to one of the pre-configured values (eg Tron, Nebula, Swirl or Hexagons). This option is used to draw a background across all custom panel consoles.
The Galnet Panel is a special custom panel that can receive hot key input to drive the user experience. This panel fetches Elite Dangerous Galnet news articles and displays the list in the panel.
Using assigned hot keys, the Galnet panel can then scroll through the news list and display articles (full screen) and / or read out news.
The Galnet custom panel has a dedicated user interface, accessible from the Galnet tab on the main application.
Select the Galnet Hotkey Action to configure and press the Joystick or Hotkey button to assign the device/key press.
Hot key actions can be assigned to any joystick on your system using any button or PoV hat. Axis can be assigned to the Next Item or Previous Item Galnet actions.
The chosen joystick action is displayed, along with the specific PoV hat value or button.
It is important to test ED:CD’s ability to read the device whilst focusing on another application. Use your mouse and click on another application, eg Notepad ++, a browser window, etc and wiggle the joystick device to see if the input is being detected.
Select either an axis/slider, a button or PoV value as the hot key input. Selecting a blank value un-assigns the device from hot key input.
Note: During testing the only joystick which failed to be read as a background task was the Turtle Beach (Xbox One For Windows) Controller. This device required MFD Cougar display to be the foreground application when reading the joystick – and thus it’s not suitable as a hot key device.
The joystick polling interval (milliseconds) can be adjusted between 50 – 250 (120 default). The lower the number the more frequent polling and the faster the response to input.
The Button latch timeout (milliseconds) can be adjusted between 100 – 500 (250 default). This is the delay between pressing the joystick and being able to press the same button again. It’s used to latch the button to prevent too many events firing sequentially.
Keyboard hot keys can be assigned and mapped to Galnet actions.
The current modifier key is shown on the title bar (Left Shit, Right Ctrl), however with Hot keys there are no distinction between left and right.
Press Cancel to abandon the hotkey assignment, or Save to keep it.
Note: Certain hot key presses are disallowed by Windows (eg F12), or may already be registered with other applications. See Elite Key Assignments (Additional Notes for HotKey) in the Layout Editor section for more detailed information on hot key limitations.
The RSS feed interval can be set to a value between 10 – 250 minutes (30 default)
The list of actions to which hot key input can be assigned is shown in the table below:
|
Action |
Description |
|
Next Item |
Assign a joystick input or hotkey to scroll down the list of Galnet news articles |
|
Previous Item |
Assign a joystick input or hotkey to scroll up the list of Galnet news articles |
|
Toggle fullscreen |
Displays the full Galnet article in the custom panel console. The panel becomes full screen to make reading easier |
|
Read Item |
Uses the selected TTS voice to read the news article. Note this will disable ATC radio chatter |
Select the Voice to be used with the Galnet news item reading event (hot key action). This voice will speak without any audio effects (which you normally get with the ATC chatter).
Note: For clarity, Air Traffic Control (ATC) chatter is disabled when reading news items. Assign a ATC hotkey from the cockpit Layout Editor to toggle the ATC chatter on/off as appropriate after reading Galnet news.
Galnet configuration settings are stored in the registry - Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BionicBytes\EDCD\GalnetRSS
The colours used to style specific panels are set via a combination of the Text Colour on Custom Panel Designer and various elements from the Layout Editor (custom role), such as Icon Colour On/Icon Colour Off and Target Text. Whilst this scheme offers precise control of individual panels, it’s not a quick process or even possible to change all the panels on a custom console, or allow specific custom consoles to have a different set of colours.
Enabling Theme Colours solves these problems by defining an overall set of colours (theme) which is used globally by all custom panel console screens (.mfd files). Change the global theme colours in one central place and all custom panels immediately reflect the change.
Layout Editor (MFD_layout.xml) à Per Custom Panel Theme à Individual Panels (disable theme option)
The Layout Editor sets these colours in the custom layout, which is a node stored in the MFD_Layout.xml file. When enabled, the theme colours apply to all custom panel console screens and the console title/menu region, but can be overridden by a theme set defined in the custom panel. This hierarchical theme arrangement allows for a quick and easy way to globally set colours for all custom consoles, and yet still provide a way to have specific consoles with different colours.
Themes make customising panels much quicker as it’s no longer necessary to edit each individual panel’s colour.
Themes can be defined in the Layout Editor (on the main application form).
Clicking the Theme Colours button will show the Colour Theme Editor.
Themes consist of 3 colours (primary, secondary and accent) and 4 shades of each colour. Changing the slider beneath each colour adjusts the shades.
The Use Theme checkbox is used to enable/disable the theme.
Themes defined in the Custom Console Designer override the theme defined in the Layout Editor and allows for per-console themes.
An enabled theme can override the colour specified in the individual panels which make up the custom console. However, each panel has the property Theme Disable which is used to disable the theme for the current panel and the Text Colour property is used by the shader/material. Note, however, theme colours are always used to draw the panel frame and title text if a theme is enabled (console or Layout editor). The most common reason to set the Theme Disable property is for one of the special shaders with the [Blank] action.
Note:
To customise the colour of the Custom Panel Menu/Title area – see “Customising the Custom Panel Menu Colours”.
The image below is the example file “console.exploration.mfd” which ships with the application.
When combined with the Commander’s log, exploration is extremely efficient.
Customising the “Custom” role in the console designer can effect certain panels. These are notes in the description column where appropriate.
|
Panel |
Example Image |
Description |
|
Blank |
|
Useful to create a
frame around unrelated panels Also used to draw a
background or display one of the panel widgets |
|
CMDR status |
|
Optional Parameter – current
balance |
|
CMDR Ship |
|
Image of main
ship/SRV/SLF Optional parameter –
switch between normal, and blueprint image StatusText attribute
sets the ship colour. |
|
Time – session |
|
Duration (mins) of current
session |
|
Time – journal |
|
Last time journal
event was processed |
|
Time – local |
|
Windows system time |
|
Heading |
|
When approaching a
planet – gravity, lat/long, heading, altitude |
|
Fuel gauge |
|
Combined main / reserve.
Horizontal needs to be at least 70 pixels in height. Optional parameter –
horizontal/vertical |
|
Shields |
|
|
|
Weapons pips |
|
|
|
Engine pips |
|
|
|
Altitude |
|
Displayed when altitude is
activated in Elite. When optional Parameter is set
to “Fuel or Alt” the gauge switches to displaying altitude or fuel
accordingly. When the title is set to AUTO the title will dynamically change
to ”Fuel” or “Alt” |
|
Countdown timer |
|
A timer which counts
to zero. Useful for fleet carriers |
|
Limpet count |
|
Number of limpets in cargo |
|
Cargo count |
|
Number of items and
capacity |
|
Cargo list |
|
List of all items/quantity in
cargo bay |
|
System name |
|
Current star system name |
|
FSS Discovery |
|
After “honk”, number of bodies
in system and % discovered |
|
FSS Materials |
|
Raw materials on a
planet – either by FSS scan or when approaching planet (orbital descent) Background colour
set via IconColour Off attribute Optional Parameter –
display element symbol Materials with less
than 50% of maximum grade capacity are written in white text to draw your
attention they are low |
|
Ship loadout |
|
List of modules in ship Optional parameter – choose
between weapons, utility, core, optional modules, basic modules, all |
|
Nav route |
|
List of star systems
plotted in Elite. Starting system – top row, destination system – bottom row. Current position
highlighted, with next in route below. Red,yellow or green
icon indicates unknown, EDSM or known (local database) system [ ] indicates star
class, eg [M] main sequence Attempts to list
what’s coming next in route and some of the previous systems, space
permitting. TargetText attribute
sets the destination colour. |
|
Target |
|
Current target ship, pilot,
rank, shield/hull health, faction, status, enemy ship, human player |
|
Target Ship |
|
Image of targeted
ship |
|
Stats Credits |
|
Income/expenditure from:
Fines,refuel,repair,rearm,ships,modules,bounty,bonds,missions,trading and
exploration. Only
shows an entry when credits for particular activity have been recorded |
|
Stats Trading |
|
Credits earned from
trade; Sold number items & Credits; Bought number items and Credits |
|
Stats Exploration |
|
Credits earnt, number of
materials collected, mats discovered, FSS bodies (scanned), FSS new
discoveries; scanned – new bodies, nav beacon scans, new discoveries,
unmapped; FSD jumps – total distance, fuel used (tons) |
|
Stats Combat |
|
Credits earnt via
combat, faction bonds, bonds and bounties |
|
Stats Mining |
|
Credits earnt, number of
Limpets used and Ores refined |
|
Stats Docked |
|
Number of times
docked, number of rearms, refuels, repairs and associated Cr |
|
Stats Crimes |
|
Fines (Cr), number of fines |
|
Stats Missions |
|
Income (Cr), number
accepted, failed, abandoned and completed |
|
Stats Fuel |
|
Cr spent, number of refuels,
tons scooped |
|
Status Flags |
|
Optional Parameter –
grid or vertical arrangement, or Individual status flags. “Iconcolour Off”
attribute sets the shaded background colour Panels flash on/off
when Elite status is one of the following: Fuel Scooping, Low Fuel, FSD
Charging, In Danger, Interdiction, Overheating, Silent Running MFDCougar.ini is used to disable flash and set the flash rate. [StatusBits] Flashrate=500 Flash=1 |
|
Rank Reputation |
|
Optional Parameter – Rank,
Rank/Reputation, Reputation. “Iconcolour On” attribute sets
the heading text colour |
|
Ident |
|
Ship’s ident as
specified in the journal |
|
Ship Manufacturer |
|
Ship’s manufacturer, eg Lakon,
Core Dynamics |
|
Market |
|
Displays Import and
Export commodities for the system |
|
Hyperwarp |
|
Displays FSD jump animation
and next star information. Optional Parameter used to select which of the two
MFD animation screens. |
|
PlayerVitals |
|
Player health/oxygen
and environment temperature/gravity Edit MFDCougar.ini
to change the temperature scale between Kelvin, Celsius and Fahrenheit. [Odyssey] Temperature=C |
|
Stats SuitWeapons |
|
Statistics – number
bought/sold, Credits, Upgrades. Suits and Weapons |
|
Status Flags 2 |
|
Odyssey status flags. Optional Parameter – grid,
vertical or Individual, arrangement. “Iconcolour Off”
attribute sets the shaded background colour Panels flash on/off
when Elite status is one of the following: FSD Hyperdrive, Low Oxygen, Low
Health MFDCougar.ini is used to disable flash and set the flash rate. [StatusBits] Flashrate=500 Flash=1 |
|
Suit |
|
Suit name and class. List of equipped suit modules |
|
Suit Upgrade |
|
List of materials
needed to allow upgrade |
|
Suit Mods |
|
Table showing Module name and
Materials, along with current quantities and required quantities of
materials. Red denotes that module isn’t
available for upgrade. Optional parameter can be used
to display specific module or all modules (current suit) |
|
Weapon Upgrade |
|
Optional Parameter
is used to select specific weapon and level. Table shows availability of
materials to upgrade to this level. |
|
Weapon Mod |
|
Shows progress towards
specific modification, eg scope |
|
Mission List |
|
List of Odyssey on
foot missions |
|
Ship Name |
|
Displays ship name (eg BIONIC
DBX) |
|
Ship Role |
|
Displays
classification depending upon loadout, eg Exploration, Anti Xeno, Mining,
Pirate, Passenger |
|
Ship Type |
|
Displays ship type (eg ASP Explorer, Python) |
|
Ship Manufacturer
Logo |
|
Draws the logo of
the current ship. Optional Parameter –
select one of the specific manufacturers |
|
System Faction |
|
Displays information on the
current system faction – Name, security level, your standing reputation and
active states |
|
SRV |
|
Displays either the
SRV or SRV Scorpion (or current ship). Optional parameter
can also be used to display the current ship if not in SRV |
|
Galnet |
|
Galnet news. Assign
hotkeys/joystick to select article and display or read the item. Galnet
expands to full screen when displaying the article. |
On the Custom Console Designer, blank panels (panels where the action is set to ‘Blank’) have an extra set of configuration properties available which allow a set of pre-defined widgets (shader code and textures) to be drawn.
When the Action is ‘Blank’, and the Optional Parameter is NOT set to ‘Blank/No Shader’, then the Material property is shown and populated with custom textures. Optional Parameter can be one of the following values:
|
Widget (Material) |
Description |
|
|
GalaxyMap The current position is shown on the map and blinks in panel’s font colour. Alternative galaxy images supported via material property |
|
|
ColouredBars Vertical strips of coloured bands |
|
|
Oscilloscope Draws background grid and a scope line as a single widget |
|
|
Parallax Draws 3 sets of graphs, moving at different rates |
|
|
WallWave A sine wave of vertical blocks |
|
|
GraphGrid Used as background for other widgets to sit on top, eg Sine Wave, Graph, OscilloscopeLine |
|
|
Oscilloscope Line |
|
|
Sine Wave |
|
|
Graph Scatter graph |
|
|
DualScrollingGraph Two series graphs superimposed on top of each other |
|
|
ScrollingLines1 |
|
|
ScrollingLines2 |
|
|
ScrollingBars |
|
|
CircleSpin Material should be empty for default texture. Alternate material can be specified, and must be a texture loaded in Custom.TextureFX.txt. This texture needs 3 channels, each channel is rotated at a different speed / direction and the 3 channels combine to form the image. |
|
|
Matrix Matrix rain effect |
|
|
GlowPulseWave Glowing line, rising up the display |
|
|
Pulse wave Sparks pulsing from side to side |
|
|
Static White noise static |
|
|
Swirl Animated background effect |
|
|
Nebula Animated background effect |
|
|
MilkywayEdge Use a low alpha value for the Font Colour property to avoid over exposure, eg FFFFFF0A |
|
|
GalaxyBackground Galaxy image |
When Custom.TextureFX.txt file is detected (on start-up) user defined textures (materials) are available and added to the above list of materials (as “custom_1”, ”custom_2”, etc).
Materials can be accessed via the Console Designer user interface.
And clicking the Design button from the Role Association screen.
Use the Panel Designer’s browse material button (..) to add new images to the custom file.
The custom file Custom.TextureFX.txt is automatically created by the user interface and stored in MFDCougar\FX\Scene Files\MFD folder; image files used to build this file are copied into MFDCougar\bmp\Custom.
Browse for .bmp, .jpg or .png images and type a description for the new image file. Click Add button to add the image to the texture pack.
Existing images in the texture pack can have their descriptions altered or the image can be removed from the texture pack – however some textures may be in use by custom consoles (in which case a warning is displayed).
The Custom.TextureFX.txt file is saved to disk when the application exits, but the textures are immediately available to custom panels for use.
When the TextureFX Editor is closed, remember to set the Material value in the Console Designer – as the selection is reset.
The auto-generated alias names added via the editor is very simple and limited to “custom_n”, where n is a sequential count. The system can get very confused when you remove textures from the custom.textureFX.txt file as the alias numbering sequence may no longer match up to the entries in the texture file. You are free to edit the alias values of the custom.textureFX.txt file and match those entries against Console.*.mfd material values.
Note: Custom files are not backed up by the auto upgrade process, but equally they are not overwritten by an upgrade.
Note2: The Custom.textureFX.txt and user interface are only available when the application “starts”, i.e. when the OpenGL MFD display windows are rendering images.
The colours used in the widgets are set via the Font Colour property, unless a colour theme is active in which case the colour is derived from the set of colours set by the theme.
With previous versions of Cougar
Display, it was not always consistent or well defined which colours were used
to render some of the widgets. Most often, the primary colour was obtained
using the panel colour property (Console Designer) with secondary/tertiary
colours coming from IconColorOn/Off (Layout Editor) or as a fixed colour, eg
white or red. As from version 1.190.0.0 themes are the best way to select the
colours used for widgets because the theme colours are always used when the
theme is enabled.
Sometimes, when you have multiple custom panels designed, it would be nice to swap them out whilst still running the application. This can be done by enabling more simultaneous displays and assigning another custom role, or by using the role designer to re-assign the panel’s filename.
A neater solution to switching between multiple custom panels on the same display is to enable the automatic menu feature for the custom panel.
In the Role Association, click Add button after selecting a panel filename. Type in a title for the panel (so that you know what the panel contains). Cougar Display will reserve 10% of the vertical screen space for use by the menu system and clicking on the left/right chevrons ( < > images ) will automatically switch to the next panel in the sequence. If you do not wish to display the menu system, do not type a title when clicking the Add button.
· Double-click an item in the list box to remove a custom menu
· Clicking on an item makes the custom panel the default (and can now be Designed)
· The UI allows for 5 custom panels to be assigned per display
When multiple custom panels are assigned to a display, the Hot button becomes available for assigning hot key presses.
Move the mouse into either the left or right hand panel to register a key press for either the Navigate Previous or Navigate Next custom panel.
Note – Not all key presses are available as hot keys (eg F12) and some may be taken by other applications. See Elite Key Assignments (Additional Notes for HotKey) in the Layout Editor section for more detailed information on hot key limitations.
When custom panels with titles have been assigned to a role, or when hot keys have been configured, these settings are saved into the MFD.INI file in the section for each MFD.
The following table shows the purpose of the INI file setting. You can manually edit these values, for example to re-order the custom panels or change/remove the titles. It may be quicker and easier to edit the file directly rather than use the user interface to perform the same function.
|
Setting |
Purpose |
|
CustomPanels |
Default (initially displayed) custom panel filename |
|
CustomPanelsList |
Comma separated list of custom panel filenames |
|
CustomPanelsTitles |
Comma separated list of titles for the list of custom panels. Can be left empty to remove all titles (and thus remove the menu system across the top row) |
|
CustomPanelsHotkeyPrev |
Key press assignment |
|
CustomPanelsHotkeyNext |
Key press assignment |
Example:
[MFD3]
Role=6
CustomPanels=Console.mfd2.mfd
CustomPanelsList=Console.mfd2.mfd,Console.general.mfd,Console.exploration_radar.mfd,Console.exploration.mfd
CustomPanelsTitles=Test,General,Radar,Explore
CustomPanelsHotkeyPrev=F3
CustomPanelsHotkeyNext=F4
Use the Layout Editor to change the following attributes on the Custom Role.
· NoticeBoard attribute is used to specify the title colour in the menu area.
· Button 0 is used to specify the next/prev menu icon in the menu area (Colour On attribute is the highlight colour, Colour Off attribute the default colour).
· If themes are enabled, then the title colour is the Secondary colour and next/prev are from the Accent colour
From the main screen, the Cockpit Editor can be used to make customisations.
The Custom Icons editor will allow you to switch between the default set of icons and a single custom set of icons. The button editor will export the default icons so that you can use these as a template to create a custom set via an appropriate image tool (eg Photoshop, MS Paint).
Using the built-in Layout Editor tool, the layouts, icons, colours and fonts can be customised, along with key press bindings. These values reside in XML files and are referred to as ‘layouts’ and they represent the various ‘modes’ that Elite has, such as flight, supercruise, analysis mode, planetary landing, etc.
Use the Layout Editor to make changes to ‘layouts’ which describe the colours and icons used on a particular console.
Note: Colours are in RGBA format (hexadecimal notation), clicking on the RGBA colour label displays a colour picker tool to assist number conversion.
The basic usage of this editor is as follows:
1. Select the layout to edit from the drop-down list, eg Flight
2. Change the default values for the layout if any, eg Background Colour
3. Select a specific Button Assignment (there are typically 20 buttons corresponding to the 20 available positions around the edge of the display). This will assign Icon a value.
4. Assign an Elite action Available for assignment to the button, eg Cargo Scoop
5.
Select an Elite
Key Assignment
The basic design of most layout screens is that the icon positions follow the physical position of a (Thrustmaster) MFD Cougar joystick.
Pressing the icon on the display should be the equivalent of pressing one of the joystick buttons (and visa-versa).
Since there are 20 buttons placed along the outside of a 5x5 grid, the display is organised into 49 possible grid positions.
This is the layout options for a particular console.
Role option. One of the following roles can be assigned to the layout (Flight, Weapons, Supercruise, Planetary Landing, Exploration, SLF, SRV, Galaxy, System (Orrery), Shipyard or Custom).
Some roles are designed to be on MFD #0, others for MFD #1 and these will be dynamically allocated according to the status of Elite.
The defaults section applies common values to the following sections:
· Colour and texture scaling of the background images
· Gap size between the icons and labels
· Text colour and font size for the notice board display
· Text colour and font size used by the status flags (cargo hatch, landing gear, mass lock, etc)
· Text colour and font size of the selected target text (weapons console)
The available default icons to select from is shown below.
The following images show the relationship between the layout editor (the MFD_Layout.XML file) and the elements on the displays.
Weapons Console
Flight Console
Follows the same basic principles of the Weapons console, plus these specific changes
Status Text Colour/Font size – This is used during FSD Jump (displays star class/type).
Flight Console
(Mining / Docking)
Follows the same basic principles of the Weapons console, plus these specific changes
SuperCruise / Exploration
(HUD Analysis mode)
Follows the same basic principles of the Weapons console, plus these specific changes
Super cruise also includes a special icon to toggle the radio chatter.
The ATC Space radio chatter feature uses an icon to toggle the volume (on/off). The colour of the icon (as specified in the Colour (on)/Colour (Off)) is automatically determined by the on/off status of ATC Radio Chatter – there is no need to set a Status to track it as it’s automatic.
Exploration:
When the ship is in analysis mode and in orbit of a planet/moon.
FleetCarrier
Notice Board
– Colour and Size of the font for the Services information area
Target Text
– Colour and Font Size – Location (star system name)
Status Text
– Colour and Font Size – Carrier statistics (finances, modules)
Shipyard
The Shipyard role is a live display of your current ship and allows you to select any of the modules currently installed, see their position within the Ship and inspect their current level of engineering.
Use the mouse to select individual modules.
This role is available once your ship is docked at a station with a shipyard. The customisation available in the UI is mapped to the XML file as described by the image below. Note - The UI label names don’t really match the target graphic as the UI was designed for the Weapon/Flight roles.
The Background under the grid is set via the Background Colour attribute, along with the choice of background texture (select from None, Swirl or Nebula).
The background grid colour is set via the Icon Colour On attribute.
The module description text is set via the Notice Board Colour and Font Size attributes.
The Ship type, loadout role and descriptive texts font colour and size is set via Status Text Colour.
The Ship colour is set via Icon Colour Off attribute.
The grid Axis arrows colour and Axis font are set via the Target Text Colour and Font attributes.
Custom
The Custom role is for use with the additional custom panel displays.
Background texture (select from None, Swirl, Nebula or hexagons).
The Clear Colour attribute is used to specify the background colour when the background texture is none or hexagons.
Iconcolour Off attribute is used to specify the background for both Materials & Status flags.
Iconcolour On attribute is used to specify the alternate text colour (Rank panel).
Targettext attribute is used to specify the destination in the Nav Route.
Statustext attribute is used to specify the CMDR ship colour.
NoticeBoard attribute is used to specify the Title in the menu area.
Button 0 is used to specify the next/prev menu icon in the menu area (Colour On attribute is the highlight colour, Colour Off attribute the default colour).
On Foot
Statustext attribute is used to specify font colour and size of backpack items (the font will auto-size to fit the space available).
Targettext attribute is used to specify font colour and size of the suit name and CMDR status.
On Foot Weapons
Noticeboard attribute is used to specify font colour of the “Available Weapons”, Suit tool name and environment temperature/Gravity values.
Noticeboard fontsize attribute is used to specify size of environment temperature/Gravity values.
Targettext attribute is used to specify font colour and size of the weapon modules.
Targettext fontsize attribute is used to specify size of weapon modules and “Available Weapons” title
Statustext attribute is used to specify font colour and size of the oxygen and health values.
The MFDCougar.ini file can be edited to switch the temperature scale from Kelvin to Celsius or Fahrenheit
[Odyssey]
Temperature=F
Quick Key Assign button – Elite has hundreds of possible key bindings. With one click, Elite can be configured to recognise the Cougars and match the layouts specified in the editor.
If your finding Elite is mixing up key presses or not able to keep up with the number of keys being sent, then increase (or decrease) the delay between each key (in milliseconds) with a value in the MFDCougar.INI file.
[keyboard]
keydelay=25
For a better touch screen experience, it may be desirable to keep the keyboard focus on the Elite window after clicking an MFD button icon. This is a personal preference depending upon your hardware configuration. To support this option, the MFDCougar.INI file can be modified as follows:
[keyboard]
;set the below to 1 to set the active window to Elite after
pressing a key (good for touch screens)
refocusEliteClient=0
If you possess Thrustmaster Cougar MFDs (joysticks) they can be attached to your system and should be positioned in sequence over their respective Cougar Display and monitor. It is assumed that Thrustmaster MFD #0 will be positioned on a monitor with Cougar Display #0 window, and MFD #1 positioned on a monitor with Cougar Display #1 window, etc.
The MFD devices can be mounted upside down if necessary (usb wire vertically upwards), but this will require the following change so that the buttons are transposed by Cougar Display.
Locate the MFD.INI file, and change the [MFD#] section include VFlipCougar=1.
Each MFD Cougar can be mounted upside down, or not.
For example to mount MFD #1 upside down:
[MFD1]
VFlipCougar=1
Note:
Using the Layout Role Editor, it is possible to assign specific Cougar joysticks to consoles.
In the standard view, the green ‘blob’ on the circle display indicates the pad location. The outer rings represent the back of the station, whilst the inner rings represent pads next to the entrance. Align your ship so that the station green light is on your ship’s right hand side as you enter the station.
The landing pad assistant shows for Orbis and Ocellus Starports, Coriolis and Asteroid bases.
The landing pad assistant can be customised to use an alternate view, so that the outer rings represent the entrance of the station, and the inner rings the back of the station.
Add the following into MFDCougar.INI file to switch view
[Landingpad]
ReverseView=1
The Ship Target display reverts back to full screen size after several seconds (default 18 seconds).
This can be changed to any value (in seconds) in MFDCougar.INI
[ShipTarget]
Expire=18
The status bar (shown on the Flight & Supercruise Consoles) shows the current Elite status flags for game events.
However, due to limited space, only a maximum of 3 or 4 status flag descriptions can be shown at any one time.
By changing the following setting in MFDCougar.ini, the status flags will be abbreviated and the Status Bar area can now display up to seven status flag abbreviations.
[StatusBar]
Abbreviations=1
|
Status Description |
Abbreviation |
|
Supercruise |
SC |
|
Mass Locked |
ML |
|
FSD
Charging |
C+ |
|
FSD Cooldown |
CD |
|
Heat Damage |
HD |
|
Low Fuel |
LF |
|
Scooping
Fuel |
FS |
|
Silent
Running |
SR |
|
Cargo Hatch |
CH |
|
Landing Gear |
LG |
|
Hardpoints |
HP |
When the fuel in your main ship drops below a threshold (25% of maximum capacity), a low fuel warning will be displayed during FSD jumps.
Add the following into MFDCougar.INI file to customise the default values:
[LowFuelWarning]
LowPercentage=0.30
CriticalPercentage=0.1
When the fuel level drops below the LowPercentage value then a text to speech announcement is made, and a further one when the fuel level drops below CriticalPercentage.
Fuel Gauges displayed on custom panels will flash when the fuel level drops below LowPercentage.
The rate of flash is determined by the value (in milliseconds)
[LowFuelWarning]
GaugeFlashRate=300
Set the value to zero to prevent
flashing.
The default set of icons shipped with the application can be customised and extra icons added. Customising existing icons is a fairly simple process where as adding additional icons will involve some extra steps (such as editing XML files by hand).
There are two icon set options:
1. Use the default icon pack
2. Use a custom icon pack
There can only be one custom icon pack active in the system, although multiple sets can be installed. A copy of the master file MFD_Iconset_custom.xml will be present in the application root folder when custom icon packs are active.
When using published content (icon sets/MFDs) you will swap between downloaded content and your own content; these are all cached in a set of folders custom\cache\xxx-yyy-zzz.
One of these cached folders will be your active custom icon set. To know which one, open Iconset.ini in the root folder. Upon starting ED:CD, the contents of the cache is copied back into the root folder (to ensure all files necessary for the custom icons are present) if Custom=1 is present in the Iconset.ini file.
Inside the folder custom\cache is the contents.ini file which holds a list of the available icon sets (and also the downloaded content such as custom MFDs and icon sets).
Note: If you manually edit MFD_Iconset_custom.xml outside of the Custom Icons editor, always change the file in the custom\cache folder rather than the application root.
More a detailed explanation of how to manage multiple custom icon sets, see the section Technical details of publishing / installing below, specifically the subsection Installation of Published Icon sets.
Click the Custom
Icons button to open the Custom Icons editor.
Note: Once the
application is running (rendering to the OpenGL windows) switching the active icon set may require an
application restart (if the icons appear as a solid block of colour).
Using the Custom Icons editor, a clone of the default MFD_Iconset.xml file is automatically created and stored in the application root folder (MFD_Iconset_Custom.xml). Note that the button Custom Icons will not overwrite an existing custom xml file should one exist.
In the Custom Icons editor, use the drop-down list to select a previous custom icon set, or create a new custom icon set. Click the Apply button to confirm your selection – this will copy MFD_Iconset_Custom.xml from the custom\cache folder or create a new one from the application’s default MFD_Iconset.xml file.
A new section of the UI will appear showing the option to enable or disable this custom icon set.
As an optional step, if you are unsure of the contents of the MFD_Iconset_Custom.xml, click the Export button to force a new export (overwriting the MFD_Iconset_Custom.xml and default jpg file(s), eg Iconset6_custom.jpg).
Once the custom xml and custom icon image files are present, the application will allow the use of custom icons, so you will need to use the tick box Select to enable Custom Icons to toggle between the default and custom icons. To disable custom icons uncheck this box.
The Title and Description fields are used to keep track of your custom icon set and when publishing with the ED:CD community. You must ensure they have text values before closing the dialog.
When ED:CD closes, a file Iconset.ini is created/updated with the above options.
You will not be able to set the checkbox Select to enable Custom Icons if either Custom XML Status or Custom Icons Status are not checked. These check boxes are visual indicators to show whether the required files for custom icons are present in your system or not, and will be disabled (greyed and checked) when the files have been located. These checkboxes should be checked automatically for you because the system will copy the necessary files into the correct locations.
The cloning process will also export the default icon set graphics as a JPG file (as of version 1.17.0.0 this will be Iconset6) and will save the image with “_custom” appended. Thus the file Iconset6_custom.jpg will be created/overwritten in the BMP\IconSets application sub folder.
When the custom\cache folders contain multiple subfolders for icons ets, the Iconset (guid) will contain an entry for each Icon set, and default to the entry with a matching guid in iconset.ini.
Click Apply to switch to the cached icon set
Click Delete to delete the cached icon set from the custom\cache folder and remove MFD_Iconset_Custom.xml from the application root folder.
Customising the default icons with a new design is then a matter of using MS Paint, Photoshop, etc to alter the images. If you keep the images in their current order (position) then the default XML id values will match the icon ordering and there is no further work for you to do. If you completely redesign the icons and their ordering, then you must manually edit the <icons> section of the XML file so that the icon images match the id values.
The default Icon has a dimension of 128 x 200 pixels which includes the image and text region. The actual image is 128 x 128 pixels.
With this arrangement, the icons are packed into “blocks” of 512 x 200 pixels, thus there are 16 icons per block. The icon texture has a maximum (and also the default) height of 800 pixels and thus ensures there are 4 rows of 4 icons per block (16 icons).
The icons on the Iconset_custom.jpg file are ordered in “blocks” of 512 by 800 pixels. Multiple blocks are then treated as additional slices – thus the default icon set image with dimensions 3072 x 800 contains 6 blocks. The maximum height of the icon set JPG file is limited to 800 pixels (note you can of course make this any multiple of the “icon size” (200 pixels) but the <icon id= > values will all need to be manually recalculated and changed in the MFD_Iconset_Custom.xml file).
The arrangement of the icons in a block is shown below.
The image above shows that the first 4 icons (id values 0-3) are in the top row, with the next 4 icons (id values 4-7) in the first block, second row. Each block thus contains 16 icons.
When an Icon set contains multiple blocks (such as the default set) the subsequent blocks are arranged horizontally from the previous, thus block 2 and icons 16-32 are arranged as so:
There are some special cases which need to be configured in your custom/default icon set. An example of this is the Radio Chatter Icon.
The ATC Space radio chatter feature uses an icon to toggle the volume (on/off). To enable this feature the icon set must use assign an icon with the alias attribute of “radiochatter” and a desc attribute of “Radio Chatter”.
When the default icon set is exported and the custom variant generated, the xml file (and icon graphic) have 11 unused icon ‘slots’ available. It is recommended that you do not use these as they may get used in future versions.
Use the Browse for image files button
In the Add Additional Icon Files section, click the Add button to merge the selected image into the icon pack. This will update the custom XML with an extra <texture> node entry and adds new <Icon> nodes for each new icon/sprite image.
To remove an image from the list of images, click the Remove button. This will remove the corresponding <texture> node from the XML and additionally any associated <icons> entries. If the list of Custom Icon Images is empty, the custom XML file will be considered invalid and the application will automatically switch over to the default icon pack.
The export/cloning process generates a “custom” version of the default icon set images (see customising icons) and inserts an extra <texture> node in the MFD_Iconset_custom.xml file for each added icon image file added via the Custom Icons editor. The MFD_Iconset_custom.xml file will need to be manually edited (eg Notepad ++) so that the id, alias, desc, binding and key attributes are defined.
You will now need to manually edit the MFD_Iconset_custom.xml file in Notepad ++ or other text editor. The Custom Icon editor will have inserted extra <icon> nodes with an id attribute for each jpg/png image added to the Custom Icon Image Files list box (16 id attributes per block). The number of ids added depends upon the dimensions of the image file added.
If the process is completed correctly, the Layout Editor should be able to pick up the new icons and add them to the Available (for assignment) list box as shown in the image above.
Using a text editor, ensure each <icon> entry has values for the attributes as below:
The id attribute is used by the application to number each icon in a block (512x200 pixels). It is possible to add a new <icon> node and specify an existing id value, thus aliasing an existing icon as something new. This has been done in the default icon set for some of the Odyssey icons, eg Night Vision has been aliased as Suit Night Vision and both use id=”5”.
Given the default icon image file is 3072 x 800 pixels, and each icon size is 128 x 200 pixels, there are 96 icon images which are assigned id values between 0 – 95. Therefore, the first id value for a custom defined icon should start at 96.
The alias attribute is used to identify each icon.
The desc attribute is used by the application to link the MFD_Iconset_custom.xml to the MFD_Layout.xml entries (iconname attribute). It is therefore essential to give each icon a unique desc attribute value.
The value you type into the binding attribute will be one of the many action nodes in Elite’s Custom.4.0.binds file, eg < HyperSuperCombination>.
For Odyssey client, the typical location for the Custom.4.0.binds file is C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings
If you’re playing Horizons
instead of Odyssey, then the binding file is typically Custom.3.0.binds.
Note: Elite creates a custom.x.binds file when you first modify input controls within the game.
The value you type in the key attribute will be the default key
press sequence you wish the application to pass onto Elite. This keypress
sequence is picked up by the Layout
Editor and presented as the key press associated to the icon being edited.
This will either match the Key
attribute in Custom.4.0.binds file
(because you specifically copied the value from there) or you will assign your
own key sequence and then use the Layout
Editor to force an update on Custom.4.0.binds
file via the Quick Key Assign
button.
Avoid assigning more than two modifyer keys as most
keyboard drivers can’t handle too many simultaneous key strokes. Throughly
test, or avoid the use of RightAlt
as this is more than a single key scan code (LeftCtrl + RightAlt). Use some of
the testing tools on the web site to debug http://cougardisplay.site/downloadfiles.html
or Thrustmaster’s Event Tester utility.
When loading the icon set image from file, if an alpha file exists then the image will be loaded into the alpha channel of the icon texture automatically. This is an advanced feature which allows the icon author to specify the luminance (per pixel) of each icon. Since JPG files are typically 24-bit and do not contain an alpha channel, this feature allows for custom 32-bit icons.
An alpha file is a jpg file which has “_alpha” appended to it. For example IconSet6_custom_alpha.jpg. The alpha file is not exported by this application but can easily be made by copying the xxxx_custom.jpg image file and saving it as xxxx_custom_alpha.jpg.
Alpha files can be:
· 24-bit JPG or 8-bit single-channel JPG
· 24-bit PNG (no transparency)
Note: The red channel is used as the alpha source in 24-bit image files.
Once you have setup and configured your custom consoles (panels) and/or used custom icons in your cockpit layouts, you might like to share these with the wider ED:CD community.
This is an experimental feature and we’ll see how it workout in due course as there’s a fair bit of gathering of the right files to distribute to other CMDRs.
Currently, there are two types of content which can be shared: custom consoles or custom icon sets and these can either be published or installed.
Note: There can only be one custom Icon set installed at any one time, however, multiple custom consoles can be installed at any time.
The act of publishing means making the custom files available to the wider community. When you publish content, the system gathers the required files, creates a zip file and uploads it to a private area on the Cougar Display web site.
The title assigned to the published content is used to distinguish between all the published items, so try and make these unique. Publishing will fail if content with the same title exists.
The act of installing means the selected (public) content is downloaded from Cougar Display website and the required files from the zip package are extracted to the correct locations (according to content type). Previous files (your existing custom content) may get overwritten (custom icon sets).
Note: Installing content may erase your own custom content! Either publish your custom content, or back it up first.
When the Browse Published Content dialog is opened from the Published Content menu (on the main application display), a list of the available icon sets and custom consoles are displayed on the right side of the dialog.
Previously installed content is indicated in two ways:
· The content title displays [Installed]
· The content panel background is drawn in black
Uninstalled content is indicated with a grey background.
The currently selected content is highlighted in light blue (unless it’s been installed) and moves across to the left hand side panel so that it can be installed. Selecting another item from the list of available content, deselects the previous item and returns it to the main list of published content.
Published content is categorised according to content type (consoles/icon sets), publisher (CMDR name) and title.
Using the buttons, the published content can be filtered and sorted by clicking on the 4 available buttons and the sort direction reversed by clicking on the direction arrow buttons below.
The default sorting is by content type. The other options are date, CMDR name and finally a filter to view only the content you have published yourself.
Once the content is on the left hand side, simply click the Install Icon set/Console button to download and install the content.
Custom Consoles have the additional configuration options as follows:
Select the MFD you wish the customisation to apply. This will add an entry into the MFD.ini in the exact same way as using the Design Console user interface.
If Console Title (required) is displayed, then the custom consoles on the MFD are all using titles, so you must also choose a title for this console.
The selected content will now
have [Installed] appended to the
title.
Switching to the Upload Content tab will allow you to publish your custom content.
For custom consoles, select which of available consoles to publish in the Upload Custom Console panel.
In the Upload Content panel, type a description and give a title which will identify this console from others you have published.
Click the Publish button to upload the content.
Note: An image of the content is generated automatically, as long as the application is started (the MFD OpenGL context windows are rendering images). A warning message is displayed otherwise.
For Icon Sets, there is no other information required other than choosing a unique title for the publication, and a description. The MFD_Iconset_custom.xml in the application root folder is then published.
Once published, the content is visible on the right hand side of the Published Content window.
This section gives some detail about what is happening when using the user interface to publish or install content. For most users, the details in this section may not be relevant and is for information only.
Custom console are the .mfd files in the root of the application folder; these files are used to display a group of panels to display information, eg Date/time, CMDR name, ship status, etc.
Custom consoles (from version 1.19.0.0) can also display custom backgrounds via the “blank” panel. To support this the console designer allows you to select any texture defined in the system – the textures are exposed as a list to the designer and is automatically extended by the system finding and loading a Custom.TextureFX.txt file on start-up. If you are publishing custom consoles which rely upon these extra images, you’ll need to include the Custom.textureFX.txt file along with the console file. The publishing user interface will do this for you.
To publish/install custom consoles the following files are copied/overwritten:
Console.xxxx.mfd
FX\Scene Files\MFD\Custom.TextureFX.txt (if the file exists)
Installation will then copy images from the zip to bmp\custom folder and add the console filename (Console.xxxx.mfd) to the MFD.ini file in the CustomPanelsList entry.
Note: It is recommended that you enable a colour theme for your console in the Console Designer – so that other CMDRs can view your console using the colours you intended to be used.
Custom Icon Sets consist of image(s) and a XML file and are used to extend the number of icons displayed in the MFD layout screens. These files are located in the following folders:
Bmp\IconSets folder
MFD_iconset_custom.xml application root folder
The XML’s <texture> node describes the exact file name and attributes for the image files used in the icon set.
Creating your own custom icons or installing content will create a cached folder of the website’s zip file in the custom\cache folder. This folder contains Contents.ini and a set of folders with GUID directory names corresponding to the entries in Contents.ini. This file and folders are used to allow the system to track which public icon set content has been installed in the current system. Before any content is installed, a backup is created in the custom\backup folder using the same GUID directory name as the newly installed content – this is an easy way to (manually) recover from the published content overwriting the currently installed custom content.
The system tracks the currently installed custom icon set via the Iconset.ini file in the root folder. This file specifies the GUID of the downloaded (or locally created) cached content.
Each time ED:CD starts up, the Iconset.ini file is parsed and if Custom=1 and Cache= has a valid GUID matching a folder in the custom\cache\xxxx folders, then the contents of the cached folder are copied into the ED:CD folders. This means that whilst custom icons sets are enabled, the MFD_Iconset_custom.xml will be copied into the root folder (possibly overwriting any local edits to this file). If you have made edits to MFD_Iconset_custom.xml in the root folder, then copy the file into the cache folder or make the edits there instead.
The main application screen indicates that custom icons have been enabled and can be altered by clicking the Custom Icons button, and deselecting the Select to enable Custom Icons check box, or by editing Iconset.ini and setting Custom=0 and then starting ED:CD.
There is one important and easily overlooked aspect to
installing someone else’s custom Icon set files - Key Bindings. The file being
installed is MFD_Iconset_custom.xml
and this file describes all the icons used on the Layout screens (via the
Cockpit Layout Editor). However, it also contains default key bindings which could
get used when using the Layout Editor’s
Quick Key Assignment button. To
prevent key assignments from the published icon set appearing in your layout
files (MFD_Layout.xml) the system
will attempt to locate and swap out key bindings and use Elite’s key binding
file for the actions contained in the MFD_Iconset_custom.xml
or MFD_Iconset.xml if the custom xml
file doesn’t exist. In this way your assigned key bindings are preserved.
Brings Elite Dangerous to life by making NPCs ‘talk’. Multiple NPC types (Police/Station Authority/Pirates) are given different (user defined) voices for automatic speech synthesis – assuming your Windows system has suitable voice packs available.
Text to speech synthesis can be routed to a specific audio device on the Audio Device tab.
For your convenience, a slider to adjust the master Windows sound volume has been included (however this is only available once the application has fully started).
To assign voices, locate the Speech Synthesis tab, and click the Edit Voices button.
You can assign a unique synthetic voice as an assistant to your Elite COVAS voice, as well as
a unique set of synthetic voices to use used by system authorities / police, station controllers and pirates.
The filters used to distort the text to speech synthesis can be adjusted to give it a more authentic radio sound. Voice Effect Filters can be applied to all voices (except the COVAS assistant assigned voice).
When the Voice Filter sliders are set as show above (default values) they give an acceptable level of distortion to most of the built-in Windows 10 voices.
Dry Mix: min 10; max 80; increments of 10; default 60
Wet Mix: min 0; max 80; increments of 10; default 5
High Band: min 500, max 1500, increments of 100; default 1200
When dry mix values are low, and wet mix values high, distortion is added to the voice – typical of long distance radio transmission. To make voices clearer, use the default values (high dry mix and low wet mix).
The phrases used during Elite game play can be customised in any language your TTS voices support.
Each game event/Cougar Display event exposes the following properties:
1. Enabled – Unset to disable the speech event
2. Initial Delay – specify a delay (in seconds) when the event should trigger the event
3. Alternate Phrases – Add or edit sets of phrases to be spoken. The system selects a phrase at random from those defined. Some events support a %s parameter – this is provided by ED:CD at run time.
Additionally, there is a key word replacement feature available which is used to perform a kind of global find/replace across all phrases changing the key word for the replacement phrase. This is useful if you don’t want your COVAS assistant to say “Commander” and instead say something else.
|
Event |
Parameter example |
|
ShipTargeted |
Wanted target sighted, Enemy target sighted |
|
NPC Attack |
Hit man attack, Powerplay attack, Bounty hunter attack |
|
NPC Attack Speech |
Text spoken by the NPC, eg “Big haul like that…” |
|
NPC Interdiction |
Pirate Inderdiction, Bounty Hunter Interdiction |
|
NPC Interdiction Speech |
Text spoken by the NPC, eg “Surprised you made it this far…” |
|
USSDrop Mission Target |
USS drop type |
|
USSDrop Mission Target Threat level |
Threat level 1..9 |
|
Notoriety |
Notoriety level |
|
Commit Crime |
Crime type, eg NPC murder |
|
JetCone Damage |
Module name |
|
Docking Denied |
Reason, eg Fighter launched, distance |
|
Docking Granted |
Pad number |
|
Material Discovered |
Material name |
|
Material Collected |
Material name |
|
Promotion |
Rank and level |
|
Scan Unmapped |
Planet class type, eg Ammonia world |
The Voice Control screen is used to get a list of all the supported SAPI/TTS voices on your system.
Each voice can be selected and tested with a sample phrase.
Allow SSML is checked only if all voices on the system successfully render a simple SSML text message. Cougar Display uses SSML to reduce the volume of multiple simultaneous NPC communications and to add time offsets so they don’t all speak at once.
The Cougar Display Voices tab is used to assign TTS voices for use within the application.
The enumeration of the text to speech (TTS) system voices, along with the selected Covas assistant voice and volume levels are recorded in the “SAPI.ini” file in the application root folder.
The list shown in this screen are all the voices which have passed the enumeration and SAPI tests, so all of them should work in the application. Place a check mark against each voice you wish to use and click Update Lists button to save the changes into the SAP.INI file.
The SAPI voices are enumerated when the application is first executed. If this list is out-of-date (following a Windows update), then delete the SAPI.ini file and the application will re-create the file on the next run; alternatively click refresh on the Voice Control dialog.
Note: Voices that are causing errors on speech rendering are marked with -1 in the SAPI.INI file.
There’s a bit of a trick to get access to all of the voices installed on your system. Some voices are hidden from 32-bit applications but they can be exposed and made to work with a bit of registry editing in this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\SPEECH\Voices\Tokens
My system, for example, has 18 voices by a combination of
installing Windows feature packs and editing the registry keys. See EDCD_Tecnical_guide.pdf for more
information.
Note: Version 1.7 of Cougar Display upgrades the NASA space radio chatter system to Air Traffic Control (ATC). The previously included script has been re-issued as an ATC script.
Fully customisable scripts can be set to play in the background during supercruise or system space. Using a set of audio filters, synthesised voices are rendered along with ambient noises. Morse code beeps can be heard panning from speaker to speaker, and a full blown Apollo 11 Moon landing conversation is acted out to break up the silence of supercruise voyages.
The scripts can be edited (notepad) and actors assigned to each line, along with randomising the voices and lines spoken. A simple help text file is included in the Audio folder to explain the details.
Two distinct sets of scripts can be assigned to the ATC system – one for use in Supercruise and the other during system space. The original NASA space radio chatter script was designed for use in supercruise, as it was a single, lengthy conversation. The script can be edited or replaced with any text of your choice. However, this text is displayed on console #1 so the language must be English.
System space scripts are designed around the concept of ships docking at stations. The text is not displayed on any console and thus it could be replaced with any supported language that Windows has a TTS voice for. The spoken script is designed to fade in volume when important events or speech is presented in game, for example during combat, interdiction or NPC chatter. By reducing the volume it is intended that the chatter system does not detract with the more important in-game events.
Morse volume is clamped between 0 and 10, with 0 being no sound at all. This setting is for exclusive use during Supercruise.
Separate volume controls exist for the supercruise and system space ATC scripts when using the UI sliders.
Whilst playing Elite, you can use a joystick axis as a quick way to change the volume of ATC chatter. Click the Volume Control button to assign a joystick to this action.
The volume of the Space Radio chatter can be adjusted while Elite is being played in one of two different ways:
1. Assign a joystick axis as the volume control
2. Click on one of the MFD icons to toggle ATC Radio chatter on / off
Clicking on the Volume Control button brings up a panel so you can assign a joystick axis to dynamically adjust the volume whilst you play Elite.
Using the Volume Control Assignment, select the joystick and the axis you with to use.
The Joystick polling interval can be adjusted (in milliseconds) in the MFDCougar.ini file
[Nasa]
JoystickPollInterval=500
When using the joystick to alter volume, both the supercruise and system space radio chatter volume will be set to the same value.
The other method to quickly mute ATC radio chatter is to press the Radio Chatter icon on the MFD screens (Supercruise Layout has the icon by default).
Pressing this button will suspend the processing of new supercruise and system space ATC radio chatter events. The icon will track the current state of the event processing and will be lit (on) when queue processing is enabled.
This icon can be added into the flight layout if necessary by adding or replacing an existing icon with icon 60 (Radio Chatter). Use the Layout Editor to make this change to update the MFDLayout.xml file and also optionally add a hot key press.
ATC scripts are disabled when any of the following events occur:
1. Landed or docked
2. Entered a star port mail slot
3. Not in the main ship
4. Approaching planet (to descend/orbital cruise)
5. On a Fleet Carrier
6. Main Menu
7. Galnet custom panel reading news item
Conversely, ATC scripts won’t run until a FSD jump has been made to a system – so that the number of stations, fleet carriers and system bodies can be obtained. A file “stations.txt” file is written to the cache folder. If there are no stations or fleet carriers, then the ATC script will not process any conversations – clear the station check override (a supercruise ATC script option) to force the script to execute regardless of the station count.
Please report any instances where system space ATC scripts are running and you feel they shouldn’t be.
The Air Traffic Control Simulation Options dialog allows fine tuning of the ATC scripts.
Supercruise or system space ATC scripts can be enabled (default) or disabled.
When scripts are edited whist Cougar Display is running, they can be re-loaded.
The choice of script to execute is available from the drop-down list. Supercruise and system space scripts can be any of the available. The MFDCougar.ini file has a list of the script files which populate the drop-down list. You can add your own, custom script files to this list.
The Auto Calculate Traffic Density is used to determine the delay timings between different conversations (interactions). When this setting is enabled, the Traffic Density sliders are disabled.
The delay between sentences read out by the ‘actors’ in the radio chatter is controlled via the ScriptMinDelay and ScriptRndDelay values (these are in seconds). There is a minimum time interval between any two sentences governed by ScriptMinDelay and a random amount added via ScriptRndDelay. These values affect the timings of the sentences within a conversation.
Traffic Density (delay between conversations) can be manually specified by unchecking Auto Calculate Traffic Density. The Min Delay and Random Delay are as described above, except they apply to the time between conversation blocks (interaction as denoted by <I> in the script files).
The Auto Calculate Traffic Density is initially disabled for supercruise chatter, and enabled for system space chatter.
When checked, the ATC script system checks to see if there are any stations in the system, and if not disables radio chatter. However, when running the NASA version of the script (in supercruise) the station check may not be desirable, and thus it is recommended to disable station check.
Traffic density is based on 3 variables: # stations, # FleetCarriers
and # Bodies.
# Stations and # FCs are prime candidates in the amount of communications
between pilots.
The combination of the two in the same system likely increase
chatter as there would be extra traffic going back and forth between the two
(ie resupply, refuel, etc.)
The number of bodies is important for 2 reasons:
Firstly, each body in a system can have a maximum of 16 fleet
carriers - indicating a maximum density within the system.
Secondly, the # bodies is that it implies size of the system which
helps to simulate range of communications - larger system will reduce traffic
density.
If system contain either FCs or Stations, but not both,
then:
Time between transmissions (in seconds) variable =
1
/ # of stations or FCs\
\ # of bodies x 16 /
If system contains both stations and FCs, then:
Time between transmissions (in seconds) variable =
1
/
(# of stations X 2) + # of FCs\
\
# of bodies x 16 /
Using the following conventions, you can create or customise your own ATC scripts.
<I> Start a new interaction.
Randomises actor voices, call signs, station name, super power and ship type
</I> Ends interaction
<A> Use voice 1 - (station)
authority
<O> Use voice 2 - Pilot
<Q> Use voice 3 - security
voices (Q for Quick Reaction Force or QRF)
<T> Use voice 4 - Pirate (T is
from Tango as P is used for a pause - described below)
<QS> QRF call sign
<CS> App to generate a random
call sign for the pilot
<S> Random Station name from the current system
for this interaction
<SP> Super power noun
(Empire/Federation/Alliance)
<SS> Super Power
adjective (Imperial/Federal/Allied)
<ST> Ship type - one of:Federal
Corvette,Imperial cutter,Imperial eagle,Diamond back explorer,beluga
liner,Annaconda,Cobra
<SM> Ship manufacturer -
Lakon, core dynamic, etc
<#9> Random number up to the
specified number (1 - 9 are allowed)
<##> Use previous random
number
<P10> Pause for specific
amount of time (10 sec)
<P*10> Pause for a random
amount of time up to 10 seconds
=== denotes a comment line
XXX Substituted for commander ship
ident
YYY Substituted for commander name
Tip: To add slight pauses in a sentence, use
punctuation such as comma (,) or full stop (.)
A maximum of four (4) voices can be in any one ATC conversation. To facilitate a random voice selection, the Voice Assignments tab allows the selection of specific voices for use with each of the actor roles (station, security, malevolent or everyone else).
If any list is empty, the actor’s voice will be chosen from any of the Elite enabled voices which are defined and selected in the Voice Selection dialog (see Speech Synthesis).
Click the Select Voices button to assign TTS voices to roles within Cougar Display, and to allow / disallow TTS voices from being used.
Use the Click
the Select Voices button to assign
TTS voices to roles within Cougar Display, and to allow / disallow TTS voices
from being used.
Voice Selection
button on the Voice Control dialog to
assign TTS voices to roles within Cougar Display, and to allow / disallow TTS
voices from being used.
Uncheck the Drop-down lists remove used voices to keep assigned voices in the drop down lists, so that the same voice can be assigned to more than one role. By default, assigned voices are removed from the available list of voices so they can only be assigned to one role.
Double-click an entry to remove the voice from the role. When the voice is removed it’s added back in to the Everyone Else role.
Click the Test Voice button to sample the speech from the selected voice.
From time to time new voices may be added to Windows and not reflected in the lists (or Windows update removes any manually added entries via the registry). Additionally, changes to the Speech Synthesis tab (changing the voices enabled for Elite) will require a Reset.
Use the Reset button to clear all the lists and read all the Cougar Display enabled voices from the TTS/SAPI Voice Selection configuration on the Speech Synthesis tab of the main application (Edit Voices) button.
Loading TTS voices into memory consumes large amounts of memory, and the more voices used by the application the more memory consumed. Cougar Display is a 32-bit application (3GB enabled) and as such the overall memory consumption must be below the memory limit for 32-bit processes.
Unlike Microsoft, CereProc voices take an additional 60+ MB of memory when they are first loaded. It’s entirely possible when the application is running that playing a new voice will cause an out-of-memory error (and indeed in versions of Cougar Display below 1.12.0.0 this was happening). CereProc are currently working on fixing a memory allocation error in their TTS engine to handle situations like this (at the moment this error causes catastrophic problems for Cougar Display).
To reserve as much memory for TTS, the loading of the EDDB Commodities database file is deferred until it’s needed (saving approximately 500-600 MB of memory). This is now the default behaviour.
Click the Refresh button to load the database file and populate the Category and Commodity list boxes on the Mission Explorer’s Commodity Search panel. The Mission Optimiser makes use of the commodities database, so if you use this feature either remove the deferred loading, or ensure the Refresh button has been pressed.
To remove the deferred loading of EDDB Commodities, add and set the following value to 0 in MFDCougar.ini
[EDDB]
DeferCommodityLoad=0
To determine if the EDDB commodities database is loaded, click the Commodities button on the Mission Explorer window.
Note: Cougar Display will periodically download latest versions of EDDB commodities. When this happens the database file is automatically loaded into memory – the deferred setting will have no effect. EDDB Scheduler Settings are configured on the Settings tab of the Mission Explorer and can be disabled (if not needed).
By default, the Commander’s Log, Mission Explorer and Chat Log windows are displayed on start up.
These can be closed or minimised at any time. To reactivate these windows, use the system tray applet:
A complete application built-in.
The Commander’s Log is a comprehensive set of hooks and rules designed to capture the names and bodies in the Elite universe where strange and interesting stellar peculiarities exist.
From the main screen, locate the Commander’s Log panel and click Show.
Selecting the option Convert/rename screenshots activates the feature to convert bitmap images to png images in the folder Elite uses to capture images. Additionally, the file is renamed to something more useful which includes the date/time, system and body name. A bookmark is added into the database so you can quickly identify systems of interest.
Once open, the Commander’s Log has four tabs across the top to perform the following functions:
· Live view of the journal logs
· Live view of signal sources
· Explore the database of previous events
· Download EDDB database updates, import journal logs
· Configure which events are written to the database
Live view is linked to the current system in Elite and shows any notes you have recorded for this system. You can bookmark this system for your easy reference at a later date.
When a commander jumps to a new system, the Commander’s log module will analyse the results of a DSS scan and report back any features of interest which are categorised and stored in a local database for later analysis.
Stellar features of interest include:
· Systems containing 5 or more of the materials needed for FSD jumps (“jumponium”)
· Landable planets with a terraform state
· Landable planets with an atmosphere (Odyssey)
· Landable planets with rings
· Landable high gravity planets
· Landable large planets
· Planets with wide rings
· Planets in close orbit
· Planets with moons in the rings
· Moons with moons (nested)
· Really small bodies
· Bodies with fast rotation
· Bodies with fast orbits
· Bodies with high eccentricity
· Stars - close binary pairs
· Stars - colliding
· Stars with rings
· Systems where a codex discovery was made
Display of the signal sources in the system.
Add your own notes and bookmark the system.
The database contains a rich set of information which can be searched.
The Commander can:
· Look for any of the “items of interest” features (nested moons, colliding binaries, etc.)
· Look for codex entries
· Search in the scan events for Stars, planets and rings of interest (radius, atmosphere composition, etc.)
· Search for rings with hotspots / geological POIs
· Search for a multi-star system with zero bodies which is something I know from the forums that some Commanders would like to find
· Search for Pristine Metallic Ringed systems nearby
When laser mining, in particular, it’s often best to locate a pristine system with metallic ring because selling Panite is very profitable.
To help locate suitable systems, use the Search EDSM – Pristine Rings section to set up what Reserve level and RingClass you’re interested in. Selecting the Filter RingClass limits the results to only the chosen class, otherwise all types of ring are returned (Icy, Rocky, Metal Rich and Metallic).
Use the search radius to increase or decrease the number of systems searched relative to the current system.
EDSM is used as the source of
data because it’s most likely that your local explorer database won’t contain
the information on the surrounding systems.
Database tasks tab allows the commander to clear out the portion of the database relating to journal scan events. This is useful so that a re-read/refresh of the journal logs can be performed. This is a safe operation and bookmarks, system notes are not affected.
This option populates a local database with all the codex and scan events found in the journal logs. There is a wealth of information contained in these logs and some of it is very useful to collect – i.e. for mission route optimisation.
The Commander can also tweak the settings of the module so that he can define what an “interesting” item means.
This option acts like a debug view – it shows the journal entries as they are written by Elite.
This option runs a database query and shows a summary of the new system you are about to jump to. The Explore Database tab is activated.
This option switches and activates the Live View tab so that signal sources can be seen, as well as the results of the scan analysis looking for “interesting” items.
This option opens EDSM website when mapping a planet. It displays body information that EDSM holds about that planet. If ED:CD has not used EDSM to obtain system or body data, then no webpage is opened.
Sets the level of transparency
for the window so that background windows show underneath. Good for using a
window as an overlay.
The commander’s log features a navigation tab where longitude and latitude values can be set for a specific point of interest. The system will automatically calculate a heading when approaching the target body (planet).
Additionally, the heading text can be displayed as an overlay on top of Elite via an invisible window that you can place in your desired location. The windows will maintain its windows Z-order when the heading window is receiving latitude and longitude information from the journals (typically on planet descent/landing).
Enter your target Latitude/Longitude, or click Clear to remove (stop the feature)
Set the Elite Overlay Window to:
· Hide to close the window (effectively disabling the feature)
· Reposition to move the window into the desired location (on top of Elite’s borderless window)
· Show to dynamically show the window when Elite is generating body/lat/lon data
The overlay font size and colour
can be set using the colour grid and font size controls.
The Mission Explorer module consists of:
· Mission Optimiser
· Commodity Search
· Station facility searches
· Route Plotting / Neutron star route plotting
This module can help a Commander plan his routes from station to station. On each new mission accepted, the system builds a list of known missions and calculates the most efficient route between star systems. The computed route is based only on the systems in the missions and performs distance/jump calculations based on a look up to a cached copy of EDDB’s database. As part of the supply/demand missions, the system will add stations you must visit to buy goods (using the commodity search module functionality). Note, however, it doesn’t take into account available cargo space at any one time – so this is something you’ll need to manage for yourself!
This button lists the known, active, missions in the database. Usually, these are identical to Elite’s mission list – but there is an option (see Add Missions below) to add historical missions.
Each mission entry includes the system name, station name (where appropriate) and the overall quantity of commodities required.
Missions with a secret change of destination are also shown and highlighted.
This button calculates the best possible route through the star systems listed as part of the mission list. If the route optimiser discovers a disconnected route, then the degree of confidence is listed which basically means the number of times a system is disconnected – ie no real optimisation for this system.
The system automatically recalculates the route on every FSD Jump.
If the Plot route option is selected, the route is plotted on the built-in galaxy map.
This means that the missions table is cleared.
This is an advanced user feature available so that Commanders can cut/paste an entry from the journal file and have the mission optimiser process that entry to add/delete/update an available mission.
Various routes from different sources can be plotted in the Galaxy Map and a visual representation of the route shown.
Routes can be generated via Elite missions (cargo/passenger), manually created by adding waypoints, or automatically added to waypoints via plotting a route in Elite Dangerous.
Mission (passenger/delivery/data) routes can be plotted on an in-built galaxy map. This tool allows the commander to visualise the mission route and see the results of the mission optimiser. Using the left, right and middle mouse buttons, the galaxy map can be rotated, strafed and zoomed. The keys WSAD also perform the same function.
The nodes on the plotted route can be selected (left mouse button) and the camera will focus and zoom in on the selection. Zooming in a little further will then display the system Orrery.
Route plotting is useful for long missions and can identify loops and inefficient waypoints.
The Neutron Route option allows the route to be altered to include the use of neutron star (boosts).
This option is especially useful for planning long range journeys where the number of jumps can be significantly reduced.
The system already knows about the current jump range of the player’s ship and takes this into account when calculating the route. Different results could be obtained by having an empty cargo hold/less fuel when initiating the plot.
Clicking on the star systems listed in the Route Planer / Neutron Route output
copies the system name to the clipboard
for easy use within Elite.
In addition to the mission route plotting, manual waypoints can be plotted on the galaxy map.
Note: Waypoints are automatically added when a route is plotted via Elite Dangerous.
Use the Add Waypoint button to add system names to use during the route. Click the Waypoint Route button to plot the route plot and optionally check the Neutron Search option to plot the route using neutron star FSD boosts.
The current system will automatically be added and displayed as the Source. This field can’t be changed.
Add additional destination systems to the Destination edit field. As you type a list of possible system names are shown. Click from the list (using the mouse) to select a system name, then click Add. The list of system names is sourced from the explorer EDDB database. If your list is empty, import from EDDB (Database tasks tab à EDDB Import (systems and stations)).
To edit a waypoint, select it from the list – it will now appear in the Selected edit field. Click the Modify button to correct a spelling, or Delete button to remove this system from the Waypoints list.
Click the Clear All button to remove all waypoints.
Note: System names that can’t be located (in your explorer database or via EDSM) will be automatically removed from the plotted galaxy map.
If you find yourself wanting to repeat a multi star system trip, it is useful to save the list of waypoints. To do this, click the Export button – the waypoints are saved in comma separated (CSV) format and can be easily re-imported via the Import button, or via Microsoft Excel.
Additionally, simple lists of system names can be imported (where each line ends in carriage return/line feed).
When a route is plotted in-game, the star systems are added to the waypoints list. Clicking the Plot Galaxymap button plots the route onto the galaxymap MFD and also gives a route summary in the Route Planner Display.
This display gives an indication of the main sequence star, if it’s ‘scoopable’ and if the star system is already known – ie making it easy to spot an undiscovered system in the route.
The indication of [EDSM] and
[database] show where the system is known – database means you have discovered
the system and it’s contained in ED:CD’s local database; EDSM means that the
system is unknown to you but has been reported by other Commanders to EDSM.
The galaxy map shows the route plotted by the Mission Explorer module – either mission routes or manual waypoints. If neither of these have been populated, then the galaxy map centres on your Commander’s last known star position and is indicated by a large (green) pin drop icon.
The display can be rotated, translated (left/right) and zoomed (forward/backward) by the use of left, right and middle mouse buttons.
Additionally, the WSAD keys are assigned to the forward, reverse and rotate (left/right) functions.
Hold the mouse button down (left/right/middle) for the control to operate.
The mouse wheel is equivalent to holding the middle mouse button and moving the mouse forwards/backwards (the zoom function).
· During rotation, the view is always focused on the currently selected system (node).
· Zoom (forwards/backwards) is always focused on the currently selected node. The closer the camera is to the node, the less responsive it becomes (logarithmic zoom).
· Translate (right-mouse click) is a free form movement that allows you to move the camera position up/down and left/right whilst holding a view lock onto the currently selected node.
· Clicking a node will select it (displays in yellow) and the camera will automatically track to the location.
· Clicking an empty space will start the rotation function.
· Clicking a system name in the Mission Explorer’s Route Planner will select the node.
Each of the connected nodes can display some extra Meta data.
· The order of the connected nodes is displayed midway between any two nodes.
· The starting node, end node, mid-way nodes display the system name at the centre of the node. Every route graph displays these 3 node’s Meta data.
· For larger graphs, the nodes immediately prior and the two after the selected node have their system names printed at the centre of the node.
· The number of nodes with printed connection metadata depends upon how many nodes are in the connected graph. Nodes with less than 10 members will display less node meta data.
There are a few settings which can be tweaked in the MFDCougar.ini file. These values are explained in the file and affect the look of the galaxy map stars.
Mouse sensitivity can be changed in the INI file with values ranging from 0.01 to 10.0
When a node has been selected in the galaxy map, a zooming in towards the node will automatically switch to the orrery when the camera is very close up.
When in the orrery, moving the camera far away from the central star will switch back to the galaxy map.
In this mode, the orrery does not contain any user interface.
To see the full orrery, complete with user interface, switch to the Orrery/System map within Elite, or enable 3 or more Cougar Displays (with the System role).
The orrery user input (mouse/keyboard) is identical to the galaxy map.
For example, press and hold the [S] key to pan back the camera and exit into the galaxy map.
The Orrery is displayed when Elite’s HUD focuses on the System map or the Orrery view.
The planet bodies displayed in the Orrery are obtained from EDSM and cached locally in an EDSM folder. If no data is returned from EDSM, then the Orrery is built from the data contained in the local database (from the Journal scan events). Using EDSM as the primary source of data means that the Orrery is most likely to display system bodies even when you have not visited a system before.
The MFDCougar.INI file contains the following tweakable settings:
· IdleTimeOut (default 20 seconds) – Number of seconds with no user input before switching to demo mode. A value of 0 (zero) will disable demo mode.
· MouseWheelDir (default 1) – When switched to -1, the direction of the mouse wheel and HUD arrows are reversed.
The Layout Editor (available from the main form of the application) is used to customise the appearance of Cougar Display screens. The System role is used to customise the Orrery.
Icon Colour On/Off attributes are used to set the orbit line colours.
The following image depicts the relationship between the layout editor user interface and the Orrery rendering.
It’s worth noting that there are several supplied background images for use with the orrery.
1. “Tron” – the default background, uses both an image and a pixel shader to generate the background. The value for the background colour shown above is 0019F0FF.
2. Selecting “Milkyway_edge” has no pixel shader associated. A suggested background colour would be 0808080B. A low alpha (transparency) value of 0B is recommended for this image.
3. Selecting “none” clears the screen to the configured background colour.
4. Selecting “nebula” selects the nebula uber shader.
5. Selecting “swirl” selects the swirl uber shader and is coloured via the background colour attribute.
When the Orrery detects no user input for a configurable amount of time (20 seconds), it will switch the camera into “demo mode”. This mode cycles the camera between random views of the system.
The menu area of the Orrery displays the HUD, controls the time scale, camera, orbit lines, system body colour scheme and lighting effects.
Toggle the menu (and HUD) visibility
Pause time
Cycle between different time modes
Reset the camera to default position
Display the Orrery with a bird’s eye view
Toggle orbit lines on/off
Display custom filtering menu
Toggle lighting effects
The HUD area of the Orrery controls the list of system bodies displayed. When clicking the body hot spot, the Orrery will focus on the selected body.
Position the mouse over the HUD
to activate menus (left/right scroll arrows, list buttons). Use the mouse wheel
to cycle between the listed system bodies.
The buttons switch the information display between five modes: All, Stars, Ringed bodies, Custom Filter and Discoveries.
These ‘filters’ allow for the quick selection of stars or bodies and is especially useful in systems with a large number of system bodies.
The Discoveries filter allows you to quickly identify those bodies which have just been discovered (in this session) and Elite is reporting as never been discovered. Once you change system, these discoveries will no longer show as ‘new’ and will be included amongst all the regular filters.
Newly discovered bodies are now dynamically added to the Orrery display and are highlighted with a blue diamond above them.
If the Orrery displays “(via
EDSM)” then the source of data to build the Orrery originated from EDSM; this
means that EDSM contains more system body information than your own local
database. You should explore the current system more to discover these planets
for yourself. Each time you visit a system, a copy of the EDSM json is saved
locally (to prevent spamming EDSM). If you discover new bodies not previously
found in EDSM, then the locally cached EDSM file will be updated with the
discovery and the cache entry will not expire until EDSM contains more system
bodies than the cache (at which point the downloaded json file will replace
your local copy).
The custom filter is selected from the filter menu item on the right side of the Orrery screen.
This filter is a method to control which system bodies are available in the HUD for selection, as well as method of applying a colour scheme to the planets for quick visual identification.
The custom filter has 6 options of which four can be simultaneously active (Planet Class, Volcanism, Atmosphere Class and Atmosphere Gasses). The Odyssey filter selects landable planets with a thin atmosphere.
All planet bodies default to a grey colour, unless the body meets the filter criteria and either red, blue or green component colour is then added to the final colour output.
When the menu is linked (active) Atmosphere Gasses draws the planets in a blue colour
When the menu is linked (active) Atmosphere Classes draws the planets in a blue colour
When the menu is linked (active) Volcanism draws the planets in a green colour
When the menu is linked (active) Planet Classes draws the planets in a red colour
When default is active, a fixed colour scheme is used
In the custom filter image above, the Planet Class menu is active (not linked to the bottom item “None”) and thus “Rocky Body” is the active filter. This filter will apply to all planet bodies which have the rocky ice attribute in the journal’s scan data, and thus will be drawn in red.
Note: When multiple menus are active at the same time, the colours will combine (red and blue make purple, for example). When a menu item denotes major or minor, then the intensity of the added colour will vary between the two options (by 0.5).
Note: Stars are always drawn with a colour corresponding to their star class.
When default is activated, the planet colours are computed as follows:
For the atmospheric composition, the amount of the gas (percentage) is converted into an intensity (value from 0.0 – 1.0).
|
Gas |
Red |
Green |
Blue |
|
Sulphur |
|
Intensity |
0.5 * intensity |
|
Carbon |
|
Intensity |
0.3 * intensity |
|
Methane |
0.4 * intensity |
Intensity |
0.3 * intensity |
|
Hydrogen |
Intensity |
|
|
|
Helium |
Intensity |
Intensity |
|
|
Nitrogen |
|
|
Intensity |
|
Oxygen |
|
Intensity |
|
|
Water |
|
|
Intensity |
|
Argon |
intensity |
|
0.7 * intensity |
|
Neon |
Intensity |
|
0.7 * intensity |
|
Iron |
Intensity |
0.7 * intensity |
|
|
Silicates |
0.5 * intensity |
|
0.5 * intensity |
Note: Earth-like and Water worlds are drawn with a fixed texture. Ammonia worlds have a green bias, and water worlds have a blue bias to the colours.
When rendering planets, the textures drawn on the body sphere are an accumulation of several textures representing gas giants, rocky, icy or metallic surfaces.
To add variation, there are several variations of the base planet type:
|
Base type |
Number of variations |
|
Metal |
1 |
|
Icy body |
3 |
|
Rocky Icy
body |
2 |
|
Rocky body |
3 |
|
Helium |
1 |
|
Gas Giants |
5 |
Hold the left mouse button and move the mouse to change the camera view.
Left click on a system body, or the body hot spot in the HUD to focus the camera.
Hold the right mouse button and drag the mouse to rotate the camera around the focus.
Scroll the mouse wheel to zoom, or select a new hot spot HUD body.
Tip: Hold the W key whilst holding the left mouse button to ‘fly’ around the system bodies.
W/S Zoom the camera long the direction of the current view
Q/E Rotate the camera in the Y plane around the focus.
A/D Rotate the camera in the XZ plane around the focus.
Note: Q/E and A/D perform the same actions as the right mouse button with drag.
Tip: Use the UI
menu to reset the camera after using
the bird’s eye view.
This module allows a commander to:
· Browse the database for systems and stations
· Locate Interstellar Factors (near the commander’s location) /Material Traders/Tech Brokers
· Find the best stations to sell mined materials
· Search for specific in-game commodities and locate a station with a certain quantity
o Can also search within a distance from a specified system, or the current system.
· Commodity search results are ranked for the most efficient use of time (considers number of jumps, distance of station from star, quantity of commodity, requires permits, landing pad size)
These options are additional criteria to reduce the number of stations returned in a given search.
Of particular interest is the reference system, the permit and planetary requirements. Common Search Options and Landing Pad size are always applied to every search. You should always check that these filters contain the values you need.
Note: The current UI values (common search options) are also used by the mission route optimiser when it runs in the background).
This value is the distance from the main sequence star. By using this option, you are reducing the travel time needed to visit stations in the list.
This value is the distance from your current location (or reference system). By using this option, you are reducing the jump of jumps needed (and reducing travel time).
There are two sets of check boxes.
The left set (Blackmarket, Commodities, etc) is a toggle to include or exclude the option from the search.
· If unticked, then the Yes/No option is disabled as the option is not used.
· If ticked, then the Yes/No option on the right becomes available. Yes means that the option must be available at the station, no means the option must not be available (or required).
Different search types can be applied so that either systems, stations or a combined view of both can be displayed in the grid.
There are two further filters which can be applied, and you can select the field and its possible values from the drop-down lists provided.
Note: Boolean values are expressed as 0 for false, or -1 for true.
Additionally, the commander can search for specific combinations of BGS state.
The BGS state options are available when the Custom Search (String) drop-down list is changed to State. This is useful when searching for USS materials and require the systems to contain a specific combination of system states. Another use for BGS state selection is when searching for high selling stations (for example you’ve mined minerals that you want to make the best profit from).
To aid with the location of high selling stations, a Quick Search facility is available which will preselect the optimal set of BGS states and search the database for you.
The Quick Search is also useful for the location of Interstellar Factors, Raw Material Traders, or Tech Brokers.
The Commodity Search options are heavily dependent upon the common search options.
· Select the category (or all) and the corresponding commodity item from the lists.
· Select to either specify the landing pad size, or use the ship size.
· Select the minimum quantity to search for.
Clicking Find will run numerous queries in the database, first looking for systems within the specified star distance, which also match the station selection criteria. After that, stations with the commodity, with the right quantity are grouped together and ranked according to number of jumps, distance from arrival star (ie supercruise travel time), permit access, refuel available, pad size, etc.
Click the Find button to execute commodity searches. This search is always a “search near me” variety and is also subject to the Common Search Filters such as landing pad size. Results from this search are ranked in order of convenience. For example, a system several more jumps away could be ranked lower (more favourable) than a closer system because the system has a short super cruise, or perhaps an outpost rather than a Coriolis station.
When a rank is negative, it means that the algorithm has boosted the result in the rankings (good availability of the commodity) and when the rank is above zero, then the algorithm has penalised the result as it’s a sub-optimal result.
The weighting factors are as follows:
· For each 500 ls of supercruise, +1
· Planetary bases, +5
· Medium pads not available at the station, +1
· Need a permit, +2
· No refuel facility, +1
· No market at facility, +1
· No commodities at facility, +1
· Advertised supply > 2 * specified quantity, -1
The goal of the weighing factor is to either boost or reduce the rank of the station in the search results list. Planetary bases take a long time to land at, so they are penalised the most.
For more in-depth content and help with
searching using the Mission Explorer, visit http://cougardisplay.site/missionlog_tutorial.html
This section deletes the EDDB imported records. The only time to perform this action is to compact the database.
This section downloads systems and station JASON files from EDDB and imports them into the database. This task can be automated and the update frequency would usually be every couple of weeks for the causal gamer.
The Commodities and Listings section downloads additional JASON files from EDDB and imports them into the database. This task can be automated and the update frequency (fresh new download) would usually be either zero, for the casual gamer, or daily if you are running the mission optimiser or commodity search.
EDDB listings database can optionally create a set of indexes which help with the speed of commodity searches. These take approximately 10 seconds to create.
Uncheck the Generate Indexes to decrease application start-up time (at the expense of commodity searching).
Settings allows you to specify the frequency for automatic backups and EDDB updates.
A window with views to separate and display NPC chat, player chat, wings and squadron messages. Simplifies the display of messages be resizing the space for viewing them to make them more readable.
Each of the panels can be resized, and using the check boxes, panels can be hidden. If the window is not needed it can be closed or minimised to the task bar.
The usual start-up sequence for Cougar Display is to run the application, wait for the download files to complete (EDDB), minimise to task bar and then click START from the system tray icon.
After several successful launches, it’s expected that the MFD window positions and sizes will be where you want them and won’t be changed – the application considers the configuration “complete”. To record this fact, a text file (autostart) is written to the application folder containing the count of unchanged launches. When the count is greater than 2, the application will auto start the MFD displays (and minimise to system tray).
To enable this feature, set the Allow auto-start checkbox.
If the MFD windows are repositioned, their dimensions altered, or the file deleted the autostart file is reset (the count is reverted to 0).
Auto start is disabled when Cube Sim Support is enabled.
Cougar Display was originally designed around the use of Thrustmaster MFD Cougar joysticks; these devices have a grid of 20 buttons and 4 rocker switch buttons in the corners giving a total of 28 buttons (each rocker can be in two switch positions).
Later versions will allow for custom MFD solutions with a different sized array of buttons.
Joystick polling can be controlled via a configuration change in the MFDCougar.ini file
[Joysticks]
PollInterval=100
By default, Elite Dangerous doesn’t allow joystick input when docked and thus Cougar Display also disables MFD Cougar button presses (assigned to the two main display windows) when docked. This can be overridden with the following change:
[Joysticks]
ButtonPressWhileDocked=1
By default, Cougar Display uses the 4 Thrustmaster MFD rocker buttons for specific purposes (such as gamma/exposure). These buttons are not currently programmable or re-assignable. These buttons can be disabled from within the main Cougar Display windows with the following change:
[Joysticks]
CougarRockerSwitches=0
The main application now includes a Language menu which is dynamically built when the application starts. Switching language will refresh the open dialogs and force the visual user interface elements to redisplay their text in the chosen language.
English, French and German are supported and a language.ini file is shipped in the \Languages folder. To support each language a subfolder correlating to the ISO 639 country needs to be present with the language.ini file in it.
Additional languages can be supported by looking up the ISO 639 language code from the supplied ISO 639-1 codes.csv file and create a sub folder for it, eg French ISO 639 code is fr; German ISO 639 code is de; Italian ISO 639 code is it.
Once the application starts, the sub folders are translated into a descriptive language name (via the ISO 639-1 codes.csv file) and the language menu items are built.
Due to the controls taking a fixed amount of space, some languages may struggle to fit within the allocated space for the caption within the control.
Since Odyssey update #11 (April 2022) Elite’s journal files have been created with a new file naming convention.
The MFDCougar.ini file contains a [Journal] section to control the naming convention used to decode player journal files. For Odyssey/Horizons 4.0, use PreFilterJournalFormat=1 and legacy Elite Clients (version 3.8) should use PreFilterJournalFormat=0.
Use the Elite Client option to select which journal file format to use.
Note: ensure Lock (prevent accidental overwrite) is unchecked.
When Elite 3.8 is detected in
the journal file the application will append (legacy) to the commander’s name to distinguish legacy mode from
the regular Elite 4.0 commander.
This section deals with some common messages which the application may display from time to time. For more information on other common troubleshooting areas, such as Key Binding process see http://cougardisplay.site/keybinds.html and http://cougardisplay.site/troubleshoot.html#bindings
Some users have reported that using pause/start to bring up the MFD Cougar windows can sometimes crash the application. The exact cause of this is unknown but it’s suspected that it’s to do with the OpenGL window creation process at the driver level. A seemingly simple thing such as displaying/hiding a window title is actually a heavy weight operation. When you use the pause/resume menu items you are destroying and recreating the window handle upon which the OpenGL contexts rely.
The very first time Cougar Display is executed the MFD Cougar windows are displayed with their windows titles showing – allowing you to move, size and place the windows on your desktop.
Upon subsequent launches, a file called “autostart” will have been created and the presence of this file prevents the window titles from showing.
Thus, to force the MFD Cougar windows to show the title area delete the “autostart” file and restart the application.
Alternatively, single threaded mode can be enabled to achieve the same thing – edit MFDCougar.ini and add the following into the [debug] section:
SingleThread=1
Note: It is a limitation of single threaded mode that minimising the application main form to the task bar will also minimise the MFD Cougar windows (i.e. minimising the application main form should not be done).
Journal file missing
Since Odyssey update #11 (April 2022) Elite’s journal files have been created with a new file naming convention.
The MFDCougar.ini file contains a [Journal] section to control the naming convention used to decode player journal files. For Odyssey/Horizons 4.0, use PreFilterJournalFormat=1 and legacy Elite clients (version 3.8) should use PreFilterJournalFormat=0.
In case another naming convention is introduced, disable pre-filtering with EnablePreFilterJournal=0 as this may help the application pickup journal files.
Default values are shown here:
[Journal]
PollInterval=1000
PreFilterJournalFormat=1
EnablePreFilterJournal=1
Status.json file
missing
Please check (in the registry) that the path specified for Elite is valid.
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BionicBytes\EDCD
The SaveGamesFolder key should contain a value such as C:\Users\xxxx\Saved Games\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous
Ensure Elite Dangerous is running and you have logged into the game and loaded your CMDR.
Check date/time.
System clock out of sync
Please synchronise windows time (to the internet) which you can do from the system tray clock on the task bar. Your PC’s BIOS battery may be weak and the computer’s internal clock is out of sync with the internet – resulting in either a slow or fast PC date/time. This message is displayed if a journal event is detected with +/- 30 second difference between the journal time stamp and the current Windows time.
Periodically there are updates for Cougar Display. You can upgrade automatically by following the prompt during start-up (which launches CougarAutoUpdate.exe), or download the various packages from the webpage.
Cougar display persists quite a bit of information and these could get deleted/lost if a manual upgrade is performed.
The main areas to preserve are:
· Database (Explorer_DB.mdb) – containing:
o Missions – information about the current missions within Elite
o Fleet Carriers – information about the current status / crew / services and finance
o Bookmark Notes – information you may have entered about each system (Commander’s log)
o EDSM – Locations cached from various FSD jumps
· EDSM\bodies – a cached copy of the systems visited and looked up via EDSM
· Cache\Loadout.json – The current ship build and configuration
· Cache\<cmdrname>_shiplocker.json – Odyssey materials
· Cache\<cmdrname>_backpack.json – Odyssey materials
· speechEvents.json – customised COVAS text
· SAPI.ini – Speech synthesis and COVAS/NPC/Police voices
By running the Auto Update utility in the current folder, the above files and database tables are preserved.
It’s also equally important to know that upon every update, some files may get replaced. Whilst some of these are regenerated, or can be imported, others are simply replaced and any custom values will be overwritten.
Custom Files which may get overwritten:
· MFD layout customisations with key bindings and colours (MFD_Layout.xml)
· MFD icon layout templates (MFD_Iconset.xml)
· Layout of the (two) MFD displays (MFD.ini)
· Global application values (MFDCougar.ini)
· Audio – (Nasa_script.txt and ATC_script.txt)
· Console panels (*.mfd)
· SpeechEvents.json
Auto update will make a backup of the above files before replacing them.
It is possible, of course, to extract files from any downloaded MFD Cougar package. The application can run from any location because all the files are self-contained. However, it is recommended to always update/run from the same original location to preserve as many of the customised files as possible (see above for the main areas to preserve).
A manual upgrade involves the following steps (as a guide line)
1. Download new package and extract into a temp folder
2. If a new database file (DB\Explorer_DB.mdb) is in the ZIP package – follow the Database upgrade procedure (before replacing any files)
3. Copy/paste ‘core’ folders and files from the temp location into the master folder
4. Open and inspect INI files, and merge changes
5. Open and inspect XML files and merge your current values/attributes into the new files, then copy the new files into the master folder
6. Ensure you have either merged or copied all files in the package
Note: ‘Core’ files are considered to be binary files (.wav, .exe, .dll, .xga, .glsl) and would be the contents of the following folders (root folder, bmp, FX, Shaders)
To preserve as much as possible from the database, it’s recommended to export data before replacing the database with the upgraded file.
Launch the application with a command-line parameter. The easiest way is from a command prompt, or create a shortcut and then modify the properties.
MFDCougar.exe /E
The application will start up, export database files as XML into an export folder and then exit.
To import the exported database files, simply place them into an Import folder (or rename the export folder). When the application starts up, it detects the presence of the files and imports them (deleting the import files as it does so).
After performing either a manual or auto upgrade, you should consider performing the following tasks:
1. Use the Commander’s Log and re-import the journal files
2. Use the Mission Explorer and re-import the files from EDDB
3. Re-run the Quick key bindings in the Layout Editor on the main application form (see page 5 – Key Bindings).
Note: The
re-importing tasks are only needed if the database file (Explorer_DB.mdb) was replaced during upgrade.
From time to time, Frontier release alpha or beta versions of Elite for the public to test. In order for Cougar Display to read the journals of alpha/beta Elite Dangerous, it’s necessary to change the Beta flag in the MFDCougar.ini file so that “JournalBeta.xxxxx.json” or “JournalAlpha.xxxx.json” files are read.
The typical location for journal files from Elite is:
C:\Users\xxxxx\Saved
Games\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous
Change the Beta flag to 1 for an Alpha or Beta Elite Dangerous.
[EDClient]
Title=Elite -
Dangerous (CLIENT)
Beta=1
BetaJournalSuffix=alpha
Ensure the title of the Elite window (Options à Graphics à Display à Fullscreen à Windowed mode) match, and that the Suffix is set to either “alpha” or “beta” accordingly.
Note: New versions of Elite typically have new key bindings files. Be sure to setup ED:CD to map key strokes using custom.X.0.binds, where X would be 3 (Horizons) or 4 (Odyssey), etc.
The typical location of the Elite key bind files is:
C:\Users\xxxxx\AppData\Local\Frontier
Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings
To completely remove Cougar Display from your system two actions are required:
1. Delete
Cougar Display folder
2. Remove
registry key
The registry is used to store user preference values such as the number of MFD displays, license key, Elite folder locations, etc.
It is not necessary to remove the registry keys to troubleshoot/fix application issues. Default values are added to the registry by the application.
The entire key can be deleted and is located in the following location:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BionicBytes\EDCD
Use regedit to edit the registry and key the BionicBytes key.
This section lists the main new features and changes.
Depreciated functionality
Ø EDDB.io site announces closure, which affect the following:
· custom panel - system imports/exports on FSD jump
· Mission Explorer
o commodity searching
o Route optimisation builder - commodity searching
o EDDB database import - station/state searching UI
Fixes:
· LayoutEditor:
o KeyBindings - detects for the presence of StartPreset.4.start file as well as Main application:
· Main Application:
o Commander's log tab - "Show" button now restores previously minimised commander's log window
o Air Traffic Control tab - joystick axis selection
§ volume level corrected for axis values between -1.0 and 1.0.
§ UI improved so that joysticks with the same GUID are further differentiated by name. This fixes issue that selected joystick is not found/used for volume control.
· Mission Explorer:
o EDDB - no longer runs the schedule to download EDDB databases. For now, the functionality still exists to manually download (assuming the site is still running).
o "Commodity Search" tab renamed as "Commodity Search EDDB" to show its reliance on EDDB.io providing data
Additions
§ Custom Panel Designer
§ Panels are list on the left hand side for easy selection (particularly hidden/overlapped panels)
§ Panel position/dimensions rounded on save - to prevent frame misalignment due to excessive floating point precision
· Custom Panels - Elite Status
Panels flash when Elite has one of the following states set: Fuel Scooping, Low Fuel, FSD Charging, FSD Hyperdrive, In Danger, Interdiction, Overheating, Silent Running, Low Oxygen, Low Health
Control the flash rate and whether to flash or not from the MFDCougar.ini file:
[StatusBits]
Flashrate=500
Flash=1
Fixes:
· Cargo list - exception decoding cargo manifest
· Custom panels
o altitude - AUTO title area
o theme alpha transparency
o engine/weapon/shields pip graphics drawing in wrong vertical position
· Fixes
o Fixed the re-sizing OpenGL windows when clicking pause/resume system tray menu
o Mission Explorer - Commodity search - incorrect SQL statement built when primary query is not set to "combined"
o Console Designer - TextureFX Editor - added missing bmp\custom folder when creating custom textures
o Joystick slider\Axis enumeration
o Custom console theme colour
§ incorrectly applying to multiple consoles
§ prevent the theme alpha (transparency) from overriding the panel alpha (allows each panel to set the alpha)
o Custom Panels - fix the drawing position of Weapons, Engine, shield custom panels when the custom console has a menu title present
· Additions
o Custom Panels - Titles can be right aligned (default), left or centred. Text is trimmed for white space
o Galnet RSS feeder panel
§ switches off ATC chatter when reading news
§ Refresh Interval
§ Display Images/full article/summary
§ Assign hotkeys - display next/prev article/ read article / toggle full screen
§ Text to Speech
· Support for Odyssey update #14 and Legacy Mode
o (legacy) added to commander name when Elite 3.8 detected
· Additional status flags (custom panels) for Odyssey update #14
· Odyssey status flags can be tracked in the Layout Editor and assigned to icons
· FSD Hyperdrive Charging state flag added to MFD Layout Editor (allows tracking both supercruise & Hyperjump FSD charging)
· Bug fix – custom icon editor – fixed issues creating a clone of the default icon set
· Improvement to minimize application to system tray with multiple active OpenGL context windows
· Custom Icon Editor
o fixes (Correctly allows multiple textures in the texture sets and adds <icons> xml nodes)
o Adds ability to switch between icon sets and delete icon sets
· Sample icon press ‘beep’ sounds added to audio folder
· Layout Editor changes:
o Hotkey assignments to buttons
o Play sound when MFD button pressed
o Latch button presses
· Commander’s Log
· Odyssey update 13 support
· FleetCarrier
o fix to navigation custom panel
o Dedicated countdown timer messages
· Odyssey update #12 support
· Fixed SAASignalsScan journal event
· Added FSSBodySignal journal event
· Countdown timer custom panel – displays time in mins/sec
· FleetCarrier – various fixes including:
o Corrected location updates
o Odyssey updates to finances (rearm,refuel,repair,pioneer tax rates)
· Orrery
o Odyssey planet filter
· Application launching
o MFD Cougar – display window titles on first start
o Single thread – debug option
· Fix - Weapons console
o Target pilot name and rank
· Improvement – Sending Key presses to Elite
o Added delay between activating Elite Dangerous Client window and sending key press
o Key Press option added to Layout Editor button assignments
· Custom Icons Pack
o Share and install custom consoles and icon sets with the ED:CD community
· Themed Colour schemes
o Quickly apply a set of colours to your consoles
· New Custom panels:
o Dynamic widgets, graphs and bars, moving things
o Draw Galaxy, with position marker
o Custom Background
o Spinning texture UI materials
· Bulk Key Assign
o Merging keybinds will use MFD_Iconset_custom.xml (rather than MFD_Iconset.xml) if the custom file exists
· MFDLayout Editor
o Can select RGB colours from a colour picker
· Odyssey update #11 support
o Launch SRV – now detects SVR Scorpion
o Telepresence/Physical crew status flags
o INI file setting to toggle new Journal file naming convention
· Fleet Carrier fixes
o fix to track the location when not on board after it jumps
o added faction tracking to jump event
o fixed displaying fc roles in conjunction with fc shipyard
· Radar Custom Panel
o Fix to shader – now draws correctly with panel area
· NASA Script
o Fixed some wrong actor assignments, plus some de-personalisation of the script.
· Journal Imports (Commander's Log)
o - Fixed some journal data issues causing exceptions during import (invalid star types)
o - Fixed some database field lengths too small to contain body scan parent IDs
o - Fixed an array size limitation of loadout event - max engineer modules too small
· Multiple language support (UI static text)
o English, French, German
· Surface Scanning a planet – optionally opens website to display info
· Improvements to system clock out-of-sync checks
· Improvement to Nav Route Custom Panel
o Now shows coloured icon next to each system name
· New Custom panels:
o Ship manufacturer logo (Lakon, Core Dynamics, etc)
o System faction info (name, reputation, security level, active states)
o SRV/Scorpion or dynamically switch to/from Ship
· Orrery improvements:
o When approaching planet, displays planet information automatically (no longer runs demo mode)
o Better planet lighting when selecting to view a specific planet
· Chat Log - Friend chat directed to Wing chat region
· Mission Explorer
o Mission Optimiser tab now shows active states in the current system alongside the current system name
· FSD Jump - Speech event for hostile factions (warns you if there are hostile factions in the system)
o hostile factions added to notice board
· Support for custom icons
o Clones existing icon set for easy customisation
o Support for separate alpha channel
o Allows additional icons to be added
· Layout Editor
o Odyssey (OnFoot and OnFootWeapons) layouts corrected (fixes key assignments not working)
o MFD_Iconset.xml/MFD_Layout.xml fixed to link IconName attribute with Description attributes
· Support for decimal separator in regional settings
· Layout editor max font size increased to 100 pixels
· Odyssey patch 9 support:
o SRV Scorpion
o Multi-Limpet controller
· Improvements to Custom Nav Panel:
o Fixes occasional 'random' background fill
o Better font resizing between nav plotting
o Better drawing of the navigation route
· Mission Explorer:
o Plot Elite Galaxymap now actually performs EDSM lookup (reduces spurious 'undiscovered')
· Orrery improvements:
o New discoveries filter
o New discoveries tagged with blue diamond icon
o “Via EDSM” if sourced from EDSM
o New discoveries added to Orrery
· New UI skins and skin persistence
· Odyssey Engineering – inventory update following suit/weapon upgrade
· Custom panels for suits/suit upgrades/suit modules/Weapon upgrades and modules
· Odyssey mission list custom panel
· Ship Name, Type and Role custom panels
· Altitude custom panel now either displays fuel or altitude (if orbiting a planet). Select optional parameter to “Fuel or Altitude” for new behaviour.
· Bug fixes
· Joysticks – disable rocker switches override
· Joysticks – allow the use of buttons when docked
· Reduced memory footprint – deferred EDDB commodities database loading
· 3GB application support – load more TTS voices into memory
· Very hot/cold indicator (Odyssey)
· Suit Grade (Odyssey)
· Application skin – revert back to windows default
· Odyssey update 5 support
· Speech events – 4 new events added (Passenger liner,Police/security,Military,Search & rescue)
· Auto shutdown – controlled via setting
· Bug fixes:
o Galaxy map divide by zero
o Galaxy map – incorrectly displays orrery whilst panning the camera (route optimiser)
o Orrery – now picks the orbit colours from the system layout
o SAPI.ini – initial voice detection
· Flexible joystick assignments to consoles
o allows assignments of custom made "Cougar" joysticks
o Move code base to Directx Input
· Odyssey – In Station – now shows list of active missions
· Fuel gauge - better rendering
· Health/Oxygen (On Foot) - truncates health to max of 5 digits
· Suit - now shows shield “on” graphic
· Custom Panel - Odyssey status flags
· bug fixes:
o Prevent too many voices overloading the audio mixer
o Status bits - key press - prevent multiple mouse clicks whilst first is still active
o Speech Events - MissionFailed now retrieves correct phrases
o Rank (custom panel) - no longer displays Odyssey ranks when in Horizons
o Rank/progression events are always read from the journal
· Speech Event Editor
· Speech synthesis for NPCs now use dedicated voices for Station controllers, security (Police/Military), pirates and everyone else
· Odyssey - updated journal events and statuses following game release
· Simplified and combined Air Traffic Control and Speech Synthesis
· Speech synthesis incorrectly applying pitch and filter effects to COVAS assistant voice.
· Count down timer facility is auto started for Fleet Carrier Jumps and Odyssey book taxi/Drop ship
· Bug fixes:
o Layout editor (button options – enabled/IconTextColourOff)
o Altitude (custom panel) wasn't always working as intended
o Altitude - improved texture rendering (especially with long alt meters)
o Ship (custom panel) was drawn shifted due to panel title/menu area
· Autoupdate – backs up potentially customisable files
· Elite Odyssey support
· Can customise the weapons console’s active target animation delay (time to return PiPs and shields back to normal)
· Dynamic volume assignment – ATC Radio chatter (via joystick / button press)
· Dynamic Market custom panel (Import/Export commodities)
· Odyssey Player Vitals custom panel (health/oxygen/temperature/gravity)
· Odyssey suits/weapons statistics custom panel (credits,bought,sold,upgrades)
· Hyperwarp custom panel – new animation sequence of starting FSD jump
· FSSMaterials custom panel can display elements by name or symbol. Also materials with less than 50% of max capacity are written in white text
· Mission Log – can now import waypoints from text files (CRLF or CSV)
· Improvements to Hyperspace jump animation – Status text colour uses Flight layout console
· Key Bindings – quick key assignment has been improved (and bugs fixed)
· Layout Editor bug fixed
· In theory – now support custom MFD hardware (other than Thrustmaster) and with different number of buttons.
· MFD Cougar Joysticks can be assigned to displays other than 0 or 1 (future development planned for this feature)
· CubeSim compatibility support
· Autoshutdown when Elite closes
· Custom panels – automatic menu system (to switch between custom panels) with hot keys
· Custom panels – can assign keypress and background flashes on press
· Landing pad assistant – can now reverse image
· Low fuel warning (hyperspace jump, custom panels fuel gauge)
· Fleetcarrier – Carrier statistics (finance) – human readable currency
· FleetCarrier – uses TargetText font and colour from XML file
· Windows Monitor scaling – no longer affects window size and positions
· FSS / DSS scans – better noticeboard descriptions
· Fix to COVAS assistant (wrong voice)
· Custom panel – Elite rank/ reputation (combat/trade/exploration and super power progress)
· Supercruise POI no longer lists Fleet Carriers (too many) and uses ## to denote planetary stations, [Mega] for mega ships and # for stations
· Air Traffic Control (Radio chatter simulation) – replaces and enhances NASA radio chatter
· Additional icons to track State (Mass lock/FSD charging/cooldown, Analysis mode)
· Better NPC voice caching (remembers NPC voice for upto 3 minutes)
· Can now choose audio device
· NPC text to speech now uses audio filters
· XML Layout editor – IcontextColourOff for icon text colour
· Heading overlay fixed – can now customise font size and colour
· Docking assistant improvement for fleet carriers/megaship
· Fixes to Commander’s Log (volcanism, eccentricity)
· Flight Console (#0) adds “FSD Jump ready” red/green status lights to assist commanders and let them know that they can now hyper jump (lights for the status flags hardpoints, landing gear, cargo hatch, FSD cooldown and FSD Mass Locked).
· Exploration Panel pre-built and included in the zip package
· Changes to custom panels – MFD_Layout.xml is used to control the colour of some elements on some panels. Nav route panel add (ly) to information.
· Custom panel designer - better screen user interface handling width/height input
· Custom panel - Materials - now shows materials of body when approaching orbital descent
· FSS Discovery - now automatically updates when all bodies found event occurs
· High gravity warning - planet approach
· Heading overlay window - now maintains Z order when active
· Better multi-monitor support - detecting and repositioning of display windows out of bounds from any monitor
· DB upgrade - to version 110 - Cmdr name column added to mission table to support multiple commanders.
· Ship targeting - Weapons console: Engines / Weapon pips graphics now retain the correct width:height ratio regardless of the screen size.
· Target information text centred rather than left-aligned
· Right and Left mouse click to bring up menu from taskbar shell icon
· Shipyard, now supports module sell/buy/swap and sorate store/retrive journal events
· (it's not perfect, but the modules are now correctly referenced)
· Up to 8 display windows
· New Feature: Can assign roles to specific MFDs (displays) --> system,galaxymap,custom
· Custom Panels for the display of information (which would otherwise be hard to fit on the main flight/weapons consoles 0 and 1).
The custom panel shipped include:
1. Countdown timer (useful for FleetCarrier owners as a jump timer). Set timer from the Settings tab on the Mission Explorer module.
2. Session time
3. Journal time
4. Limpet count
5. Target Info
6. Fuel Gauge
7. Altitude
8. Heading Info
9. Cargo list
10. Current system name/co-ords
11. Credits / stats:
12. Trading
13. Exploration
14. Combat
15. Mining
16. Docked
17. Crimes
18. Fuel
· Role assignment change/fix.
o With 4 MFD Cougar displays active, console #2 is the System Orrery, console #3 is the Galaxy map (previously the otherway round)
· New Feature: Shipyard display – displays modules with engineering levels when docked.
· New Feature – up to 4 simultaneous displays
· Master Volume control – added to Speech synthesis tab
· Joysticks: increased max joysticks from 6 to 10
· Solar system - demo mode added and improvements to the camera tracking, system name at the bottom of the screen.
· POI / Signal Sources / Station services -font size is derived from NoticeBoard attribute on the Exploration Layout
· Journal Reader - bug fix Loadout cache fix
· License file reading - decryption overflow
· Mission Explorer - fixed Current ship display - cargo/pad size/fuel
· GUI controls for NASA simulation (distortion effect, Morse volume and script timings)
· Support for tablet and touch screen and how Elite gains window focus
· Bug fixes to graphics, EDDB import.
· Refactoring of MFDCougar.INI
· All logging redirected to the Logs folder
· Orrery added. Galaxy map with Orrery integration.
· NASA space radio chatter.
· Heading assistant