DDO Tracker --- Desktop Utility

[Serious Nonsense]

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I created a Buy Me A Coffee account in hopes that some of you find my program useful enough to make a donation. Thank you in advance
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I developed a program to help me track my characters progression in the game. I think some people might find it useful as well. Originally I was using a spreadsheet to track which quests I owned and which I had completed on elite. As time passed I found that there were aspects of doing this in a spreadsheet that I found cumbersome. Probably the most notable was that I was unable to sort and display the information in a useful format. Even with macros, forms and formatting the display of quest information was awkward, unwieldy and required the spreadsheet program. Ultimately I decide to write a stand alone program to track and display the information as I desired. Thus was born my . . .

LINK to the Installer

The first versions of the DDO tracker allowed the user to sort quests in a variety of ways, track quest completions and character favor progress. Over time I have added additional sorting methods, pack ownership tracking, saga tracking, HTTP linking, user notes, a summary of quest/challenge information and provide puzzle solutions/solvers for many quests. I added raid timer and tome trackers to the character tab so that the user no longer has to logout to check whether an alternate character is off timer or can use a specific tome. While we're talking about the character tab, it has spell lists for classes that must inscribe spells. This allows the user to track inscribed spells at spell levels above those which the DDO character sheet allows you to see. Finally, I added a Reincarnation tab to aid in tracking reincarnations.

SAMPLE Screen Shots (half scale, click for a closer look)

I continue to add functionality as I determine a need/desire, a useful way to implement it and time.

I hope you'll give it a try and post any feedback, suggestions or constructive criticism here or to ddotracker@gmail.com.

DDO Tracker manual

Discord channel devoted to the the DDO Tracker

LINK to the Installer

 

[Margona]

Due to the amount of new content, both variants of classes and new quests, any updates planned?
"Asking for a friend"

 

[Serious Nonsense]

April 14th, 2024 12:01 AM The time has finally arrived for me to release an update. My apologees for taking so long in doing so.This update includes all information and data upto, and including, update 67. As always you can download the update with the Installer

I have correcting some errors (I am human), tweaked some things more to my liking and implementing some suggestions (thank you Enekai). Additionally I have added support for archetypes, added solvers and much more. For a full list changes and additions see the release notes.


If you find my program useful, please consider Buying Me A Coffee. Many thanks to those who have already done so.


Please don't hesitate to send any feedback, suggestions or constructive criticism to Serious Nonsense or to ddotracker@gmail.com. I particularly want to hear if you have a solver or puzzle solution you want added.

Discord channel devoted to the the DDO Tracker

LINK to the Installer

 

[Titus Ovid]

I love this thing. If it would only auto-update ...

 

[Serious Nonsense]

It has been brought to my attention that I entered some quest data incorrectly for the last update. You can use this LINK to the QuestData.txt file to download the latest version. I tend to update this file fairly often. As a matter of practice, it is updated a week or so after each game update. I've never had a way for the user to get this updated file other than with updates for my program.

Directions:
1. Close the DDO Tracker
2. Download QuestData.txt file
3. Overwrite the file of the same name (QuestData.txt) in the program directory (default:C:\Program Files (x86)\DDO Tracker\)
4. relax, take a break after that extremely laborious task.

Going forward check this same link when you need to update the quest data.

 

[Margona]

It has been brought to my attention that I entered some quest data incorrectly for the last update. You can use this LINK to the QuestData.txt file to download the latest version. I tend to update this file fairly often. As a matter of practice, it is updated a week or so after each game update. I've never had a way for the user to get this updated file other that with updates for my program.

Directions:
1. Close the DDO Tracker
2. Download QuestData.txt file
3. Overwrite the file of the same name (QuestData.txt) in the program directory (default:C:\Program Files (x86)\DDO Tracker\)
4. relax, take a break after that extremely laborious task.

Going forward check this same link when you need to update the quest data.

Thank you!

 

[Serious Nonsense]

May 3rd, 2024 5:30 AM I have posted the update 2.4.86 for download. As always you can download the update with the Installer

Perhaps the most important change that this update includes is . . . . . . . . I finally fixed/created the solver for Monastery of the Scorpion. That solver has not worked correctly for quite some time and it has bothered me that I had been unable to fix it. Ultimately, I replaced the mathematical method I had previously used with a sort of goal seeking method. The solver now rapidly provides accurate results. At least it has for every test case I threw at it. Since the solvers for Total Chaos and Toxic Treatment are the same as that for Monastery of the Scorpion, they changed as well. In point of fact, I updated all the 'lights out' type solvers. Mostly I did so to make the interface for all puzzle solvers of this type identical. You'll find that the 'lights out' solvers for Total Chaos, The Price of Freedom, Siegebreaker, Beautiful Nightmares, Toxic Treatment, House of Pain, The Shroud and Monastery of the Scorpion have been updated. All for their interface, but some to improve accuracy.

Perhaps the most consequential change to a 'lights out' type solver I made was for "The Price of Freedom". Specifically, the solver for the basement puzzle. I changed that solver so that the puzzle board for the North wall is nested within the puzzle board for the South wall. I did this so that the connections between the lights are captured. This is important because it means that you enter the lights on one wall as you see them, but those on the other wall must be mirrored. It doesn't matter which is which. I left you a note to remind you. I thought very seriously about making a 3D version of this solver so that the connections could be maintained and you could enter the puzzle as seen for both walls. In the end that seemed like a lot of work for a puzzle that is solvable with two button presses unless someone or something(hirelings) messes with it.

As always, there are other changes which you can read about in the Release Notes

If you find my program useful, please consider Buying Me A Coffee. Many thanks to those who have already done so.

Should you find that I have entered information incorrectly, set incorrect value limits, have incorrect favor boundaries, a solver returns a bad result (a screenshot is worth a thousand million words) or you have a better solution to something, contact me at Serious Nonsense or to ddotracker@gmail.com. I am always open for any feedback, suggestions or constructive criticisms. I particularly want to hear if you have a solver or puzzle solution you want added. I don't promise to implement every suggestion, but I have implemented many suggestions in the past.

Discord channel devoted to the the DDO Tracker

LINK to the Installer

 

[Ungermax]

Looks good

You know what would be crazy? If there was an app like this that tracked the contents of inventory with a search function

 

[Serious Nonsense]

Looks good

You know what would be crazy? If there was an app like this that tracked the contents of inventory with a search function

At one point I started writing just such a system. Like you (I suspect), I had not, and still have not, found an inventory management program I liked. It would have been an additional tab on the character page of my program. The further I progressed in writing my 'inventory system', the more I realized that it would require far too much user input to be useful. Not to mention the level of diligence a user would need to exhibit to mark down every single bank and inventory transaction. The code that I had written is still there, though it has been commented out (the compiler does not consider it as instructions to write into the program) for some time.

As I currently see it, there are two paths that I am considering to expand my program. First, I could automate my program to read much of the information about characters, quests, sagas and such directly from the game itself. Several people have expressed an interest in me doing this and I can see that this would be useful. I believe that to make an inventory system of any genuine use, it would need to automatically read bank and inventory information from the game. Second, I could develop a mobile version. Just as with automation, several people have expressed a desire for me to do this.

It's important to know one aspect that I left out of the genesis story in the introduction for this thread. Everything in the introduction is true, but I did not explain the major reason I decided to write a stand alone program. That reason is that I was teaching myself to program in C# and wanted something more than a 'hello world' app on which to learn. The entire DDO Tracker program has been one long process of learning C#. Why is this important? I have been thinking about either teaching myself to program for mobile apps. I have some ideas for an app or two that might be useful for mobile phone users.

What does all this mean? I'm not sure I see the utility of being able to extract information from DDO. At least for me. I'm just not that interested (or motivated?) to learn how to do this at the moment. Sure, I have no doubt that there are people who write code to extract information from other programs every day. But one thing I have learned during the whole DDO Tracker process is that there are people out there who understand computers and programming far better than I do. I am just a simple country mechanical engineer. Not saying that any of this will never change. Just that 'right now' that's how things sit. Oh, and I have already taken some minor steps towards learning to program for mobile apps. I can easily see that getting DDO Tracker on your mobile phone will help me develop skills and knowledge that would be useful elsewhere.

Only time will tell. . . .

 

[Ungermax]

Very interesting stuff!