Elite: Dangerous Market Connector (EDMC)

This app downloads your Cmdr's details and system, faction, scan and station data from the game Elite: Dangerous and, at your choice, either:

• sends station commodity market prices, other station data, system and faction information and body scan data to the Elite Dangerous Data Network (“EDDN”) from where you and others can use it via online trading, prospecting and shopping tools such as eddb, EDSM, Elite Trade Net, Inara, Roguey's, Trade Dangerous, etc.
• sends your Cmdr's details, ship details, cargo, materials and flight log to Elite Dangerous Star Map (“EDSM”).
• sends your Cmdr's details, ship details, cargo, materials, missions, community goal progress, and flight log to Inara.
• saves station commodity market prices to files on your computer that you can load into trading tools such as Trade Dangerous or mEDI's Elite Tools.
• saves a record of your ship loadout to files on your computer that you can load into outfitting tools such as E:D Shipyard, Coriolis or Elite Trade Net.

You can run the app on the same PC or Mac on which you're running Elite: Dangerous or on another PC connected via a network share. PS4 and Xbox are not supported, sorry.

Usage

The user-interface is deliberately minimal - your choice of data is automatically downloaded, transmitted and/or saved when you start Elite: Dangerous, land at a station, jump to a system or scan a body. Start the app before entering the game to ensure that you don't miss any data - some data is only available at game start.

Click on the ship name to view its loadout on E:D Shipyard (“EDSY”) or Coriolis in your web browser.

Click on the system name to view its entry in Elite: Dangerous Database (“eddb”), Elite Dangerous Star Map (“EDSM”) or Inara in your web browser.

Click on the station name to view its entry in eddb, EDSM or Inara in your web browser.

 

 

Installation

Mac:

• Requires Mac OS 10.10 or later.
• Download the .zip archive of the latest release.
• The zip archive contains the EDMarketConnector app - move this app to Applications or wherever you want it.
• Double-click on the app to run it.

Windows:

• Requires Windows 7 or later.
• Download the .msi package of the latest release.
• Double-click on it to install.
• Run Elite Dangerous Market Connector from the Start Menu or Start Screen.

Linux with Steam Play:

• Copy and paste the following into a Terminal app window:

  mkdir -p ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/359320/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Saved\ Games/Frontier\ Developments/Elite\ Dangerous

  and press Enter (assuming that your Steam library is in the default ~/.steam location).

• (Re)-start the game.

• Follow the instructions on running from source.

• Adjust the “E:D journal file location” setting on the Configuration tab to point to ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/359320/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Saved Games/Frontier Developments/Elite Dangerous.

Linux with Wine:

• Follow the above instructions for Windows.

Setup

The first time that you run the app while playing the game you are redirected to Frontier's authentication website and prompted for your username and password. This is the same username and password combination that you use to log into the Elite: Dangerous launcher.

This step is required so that the Frontier servers can send the app your data and the data for the station that you are docked at. Refer to the Privacy Policy for how this app handles your data.

Some options work by reading the Elite: Dangerous game's log files. If you're running this app on a different machine from the Elite: Dangerous game then adjust the “E:D journal file location” setting on the Configuration tab to point to the game's log files.

Output

This app can save a variety of data in a variety of formats:

• Market data

  • Trade Dangerous format file - saves commodity market data as files that you can load into Trade Dangerous.
  • CSV format file - saves commodity market data as files that you can upload to mEDI's Elite Tools.

  Note that the above tools can be configured to consume data from the “EDDN” data feed (see below). You may find using the EDDN feed easier and more productive than using these data files.

• Ship loadout

  • After every outfitting change saves a record of your ship loadout as a file that you can open in a text editor and that you can import into E:D Shipyard, Coriolis or Elite Trade Net.

By default these files will be placed in your Documents folder. Since this app will create a lot of files if you use it for a while you may wish to create a separate folder for the files and tell the app to place them there.

EDDN

• Station data
  • Sends station commodity market, outfitting and shipyard data to “EDDN” from where you and others can use it via trading tools such as eddb, EDSM, Elite Trade Net, Inara, mEDI's Elite Tools, Roguey's, Trade Dangerous with the EDDBlink plugin, etc.
• System and scan data
  • Sends system and faction information and the results of your planet scans to “EDDN” from where you and others can use it via online prospecting tools such as eddb, EDSM, Inara, etc.
  • You can choose to delay sending this information to EDDN until you're next safely docked at a station. Otherwise the information is sent as soon as you enter a system or perform a scan.

EDSM

You can send a record of your Cmdr's details, ship details, cargo, materials, missions and flight log to Elite Dangerous Star Map. You will need to register for an account and then follow the “Elite Dangerous Star Map credentials” link to obtain your API key.

Inara

You can send a record of your Cmdr's details, ship details, cargo, materials, missions, community goal progress, and flight log to Inara. You will need to register for an account and then follow the “Inara credentials” link to obtain your API key. Your flight log on Inara is updated in real-time. Other information is updated on startup and then less frequently - typically on leaving a station.

Uninstall

Mac:

• Delete the EDMarketConnector app.

Windows:

• Uninstall Elite Dangerous Market Connector from Control Panel → Programs.

Note: Uninstalling the app does not delete any output files that it has previously written.

Plugins

Plugins extend the behaviour of this app. To install a downloaded plugin:

• On the Plugins settings tab press the “Open” button. This reveals the plugins folder where this app looks for plugins.
• Open the .zip archive that you downloaded and move the folder contained inside into the plugins folder.

You will need to re-start EDMC for it to notice the new plugin.

The plugins folder is located at:

• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\EDMarketConnector\plugins (usually C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\EDMarketConnector\plugins).
• Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/EDMarketConnector/plugins (in Finder hold ⌥ and choose Go → Library to open your ~/Library folder).
• Linux: $XDG_DATA_HOME/EDMarketConnector/plugins, or ~/.local/share/EDMarketConnector/plugins if $XDG_DATA_HOME is unset.

Refer to PLUGINS.md if you would like to write a plugin.

Troubleshooting

App repeatedly opens the Frontier authentication website

The authentication didn't complete correctly for some reason. This can be caused by:

• Using Internet Explorer. IE is known to be broken. Please (temporarily) set your default browser to Edge, Chrome or Firefox and retry.
• The Frontier authentication website is confused - see Error: An error occured.
• Entering credentials for a different Cmdr - see Error: Wrong Cmdr.
• Entering Steam credentials instead of Frontier credentials - see Error: User not found.

Error: Invalid Credentials

See above.

Error: An error occured

The Frontier authentication website is confused. Visit the Frontier authentication website, log in and deauthorize "Elite Dangerous Market Connector". Then restart the app.

500 internal server error

Either:

• You pressed the "Approve" button on Frontier's authentication website twice. This is harmless; if the app isn't displaying any error messages and isn't redirecting again to Frontier's authentication website then all is fine.
• Frontier's authentication website sometimes gets overloaded and displays this error. Please try again later.

Error: User not found

Your Steam account may not be linked to your Frontier account (you can check whether you have any external accounts linked on the Frontier store).

Please enter your Frontier credentials into the authentication website, not your Steam credentials.

Doesn't auto-update and/or persistently gives “Server is lagging” error

This app uses Elite: Dangerous' log files to track the systems and stations that you visit. If you're running this app on a different machine from the Elite: Dangerous game, or if you find that this app isn't automatically tracking the systems that you visit and/or isn't automatically “updating” on docking (if you have that option selected), then adjust the “E:D journal file location” setting on the Configuration tab to point to the game's log files.

The default location on Windows is typically C:\Users\you\Saved Games\Frontier Developments\EliteDangerous.

Credentials settings are greyed out

You won't be redirected to Frontier's authentication website and can't edit your EDSM or Inara credentials if:

• Elite: Dangerous is at the Main Menu. You will be able to edit these values once you've entered the game.
• The last time you ran Elite: Dangerous you didn't enter the game. You will be able to edit these values once you've entered the game.
• Your “E:D journal file location” setting is incorrect. See above.

Error: Wrong Cmdr

The Frontier server that supplies data to this app is supplying data for a different Cmdr than the one that you're currently playing. You are redirected to Frontier's authentication website and prompted again for your username and password. Either:

1. You have multiple accounts and the username/password setting is not for the account that you're currently playing; or
2. You have reset your Cmdr but Frontier's server is still supplying data for the old Cmdr.

If 1 check your username/password settings.

If 2 this problem may or may not resolve itself in time.

I run two instances of E:D simultaneously, but I can't run two instances of EDMC

EDMC supports this scenario if you run the second instance of E:D in a different user account - e.g. using runas on Windows. Run the second instance of EDMC in the same user account as the second instance of E:D.

EDMC doesn't support running two instances of E:D in the same user account. EDMC will only respond to the instance of E:D that you ran last.

I forgot to run the app - is there a way to process the missing data?

EDMC only processes live data from E:D. But you can upload your journal file(s) for the missing period to EDSM and Inara.

Error: Can't connect to EDDN

EDMC needs to talk to eddn.edcd.io on port 4430. If you consistently receive this error check that your router or VPN configuration allows port 4430 / tcp outbound. If using a proxy add eddn.edcd.io to the exemption list, plus www.edsm.net and/or inara.cz if using EDSM and/or Inara integration.

Import failed: No ship loadout found

Complex ship loadouts with Engineers' mods can cause you to hit an Internet Explorer / Edge limitation on the length of URLs. Switch to a browser that doesn't suck.

Very long "cooldown" period

You'll see a very long cooldown period if your system's time of day changes while you're running the app. To fix this:

• Quit the app.
• Double-check your system's Date and Time settings.
• Windows: Run the RegEdit program and locate and delete the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Marginal\EDMarketConnector\querytime.
• Mac: Copy and paste the following into a Terminal app window: defaults write uk.org.marginal.edmarketconnector querytime -int 0 and press Enter.
• Re-start the app.

Update Error!

The GitHub server that hosts this app's updates only supports TLS 1.2 and higher. Follow these instructions to change your Windows settings to disable the deprecated SSL 2.0 and 3.0 protocols and enable TLS 1.2.

Location of configuration files

If your configuration has been corrupted, or badly set, such that you can't run the program to fix it, or you otherwise need to directly access the configuration then these are the locations of the configuration:

• Mac: You can use the 'defaults' command to interact with the stored settings, i.e.

  defaults read uk.org.marginal.edmarketconnector

  to show the current settings and appropriate 'write' commands to change them.

• Windows: Configuration is stored in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Marginal\EDMarketConnector . There are also some non-configuration files at %LOCALAPPDATA%\EDMarketConnector\ in your user profile.

• Linux: Configuration is stored in the file ${HOME}/.config/EDMarketConnector/EDMarketConnector.ini

Installing on a different drive

• In Control Panel uninstall "Elite Dangerous Market Connector".

• At a Command Prompt type:

  msiexec /i "X:\path\to\EDMarketConnector_win_NNN.msi" INSTALLDIR="Y:\destination\EDMarketConnector"

Future updates will also be installed to this location.

PS4 and Xbox support

This app doesn't work with PS4 or Xbox Elite: Dangerous accounts. On these platforms the game lacks support for the API and Journal files that this app relies on.

Reporting a problem

Please report a problem as a new GitHub issue. Please wait for the error to occur and zip up and attach this app's log file to the new issue:

Mac:

• $TMPDIR/EDMarketConnector.log

Windows:

• %TMP%\EDMarketConnector.log

Running from source

Download and extract the latest source code (or fork and clone if you're comfortable with using git).

Mac:

• Requires the Python “requests” and “watchdog” modules, plus an up-to-date “py2app” module if you also want to package the app - install these with easy_install -U requests watchdog py2app .
• Run with python ./EDMarketConnector.py .

Windows:

• Requires Python2.7 and the Python “requests” and “watchdog” modules, plus “py2exe” 0.6 if you also want to package the app.
• Run with EDMarketConnector.py .

Linux:

• Requires Python2.7 and the Python “iniparse”, “requests” and "tkinter" modules. On Debian-based systems install these with sudo apt-get install python-iniparse python-requests python-tk .
• Run with ./EDMarketConnector.py .

Command-line

The command-line program EDMC.py writes the current system and station (if docked) to stdout and optionally writes player status, ship locations, ship loadout and/or station data to file. This program requires that the user has performed setup and verification through the app.

Arguments:

 -h, --help     show this help message and exit
 -v, --version  print program version and exit
 -a FILE        write ship loadout to FILE in Companion API json format
 -e FILE        write ship loadout to FILE in E:D Shipyard plain text format
 -l FILE        write ship locations to FILE in CSV format
 -m FILE        write station commodity market data to FILE in CSV format
 -o FILE        write station outfitting data to FILE in CSV format
 -s FILE        write station shipyard data to FILE in CSV format
 -t FILE        write player status to FILE in CSV format
 -d FILE        write raw JSON data to FILE
 -n             send data to EDDN
 -p CMDR        Returns data from the specified player account

The program returns one of the following exit codes. Further information may be written to stderr.

0. Success. Note that this doesn't necessarily mean that any requested output files have been produced - for example if the current station doesn't support the facilities for which data was requested.
1. Server is down.
2. Invalid Credentials.
3. Verification Required.
4. Server is lagging.
5. I/O or other OS error.

Packaging for distribution

Mac:

• requires py2app 0.9.x
• Sparkle.framework installed in /Library/Frameworks
• Run setup.py py2app

Windows:

• requires py2exe 0.6.x
• winsparkle.dll & .pdb from WinSparkle copied to the current directory
• WiX Toolset
• Run setup.py py2exe

Disclaimer

This app uses the “Companion” web API that Frontier originally supplied for their Elite Dangerous iOS app and now support for third-party apps. However this API could go away at some time in the future - in which case this app will cease to work.

Acknowledgements

• “Elite: Dangerous” is © 1984 - 2018 Frontier Developments plc.
• Thanks to Cmdr Zhixian Wu for the Chinese (Simplified) translation.
• Thanks to Cmdrs CatfoodCZ, Mike Stix & DaraCZ for the Czech translation.
• Thanks to Cmdr CoolBreeze for the Dutch translation.
• Thanks to Cmdr FreezeFIN for the Finnish translation.
• Thanks to Cmdr Anthor for the French translation.
• Thanks to Cmdr DragoCubX for keeping the German translation up to date.
• Thanks to Cmdr Wormhole for the Hungarian translation.
• Thanks to Cmdr Koreldan for the Italian translation.
• Thanks to Cmdr magni1200s for the Japanese translation.
• Thanks to Cmdr bubis7 for the Latvian translation.
• Thanks to Cmdr Amarok 73 for the Polish translation.
• Thanks to Cmdrs Pivatto (@rafaelpivatto), Moraes (@wesleymoura), Wladimir JRC, and Warlord from Cobra Wing for the Portuguese (Brazil) translation.
• Thanks to Carlos Oliveira (@idontcare1996) for the Portuguese (Portugal) translation.
• Thanks to Shadow Panther for keeping the Russian translation up to date.
• Thanks to Cmdr SuperBrain for the Serbian translation.
• Thanks to Armando Ota for the Slovenian translation.
• Thanks to Cmdr Mila Strelok for the Spanish translation.
• Thanks to Taras Velychko for the Ukranian translation.
• Thanks to Ian Norton for plugin support.
• Thanks to Cmdr Anthor and James Muscat for EDDN.
• Thanks to Andargor for the idea of using the “Companion” interface in edce-client.
• Uses Python Keyring Lib by Jason R. Coombs, Kang Zhang, et al.
• Uses Sparkle by Andy Matuschak and the Sparkle Project.
• Uses WinSparkle by Václav Slavík.
• Uses OneSky for translation management.
• Uses "Euro Caps" font by Tom Oetken.

License

Copyright © 2015-2018 Jonathan Harris.

Licensed under the GNU Public License (GPL) version 2 or later.