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# Minimal Elite: Dangerous Launcher
Cross-platform launcher for the game Elite: Dangerous. Created mainly to avoid the long startup
time of the default launcher when running on Linux. Can be used with Steam and Epic on both
Windows and Linux. Game accounts purchased via Frontier or Oculus are not supported.
## Features
* **Minimal Interface**
No waiting for a GUI to load. No waiting for the embedded web browser to load. No waiting
for remote logs to be sent to FDev. For those that play on Linux, no waiting for the Wine
environment.
* **Auto-run**
Automatically starts the game instead of you having to click the _Play_ button. The default
launcher also supports this by using the `/autorun` [flag].
* **Auto-launch Processes**
Via the [Settings] file, you can specify additional programs to launch automatically. This
includes things like [Elite Log Agent] and [VoiceAttack]. Processes are automatically closed
when the game closes. This means you don't have to run the programs on computer startup or
have to remember to start them before you launch the game.
* **Auto-quit**
Automatically close the launcher when you close your game. The default launcher also supports
this by using the `/autoquit` [flag].
* **Auto-restart**
Automatically restart your game. This can be useful if you're [grinding] for manufactured
engineering materials. Off by default.
* **Multi-Account**
Rudimentary support for playing with both your Steam and Epic accounts with one game
installation. See [details] for how this works.
## Usage
### Setup
#### Steam
1. Download the [latest release] for your operating system
2. Extract executable from the zip/tar archive
3. Place `MinEdLauncher` in your Elite: Dangerous install location so that it's in the same folder
as `EDLaunch.exe`. `MinEdLauncher.Bootstrap` is for Epic only and may be ignored.
4. Update your launch options to point to `MinEdLauncher`.
1. Right click _Elite: Dangerous_ in your Steam library
2. Select _properties_
3. In the _general_ tab, click _Set Launch Options_
4. Windows users - Set the value to `cmd /c "MinEdLauncher.exe %command% /autoquit /EDH"`
Linux users - The command will depend on which terminal emulator you use. Examples for
[alacritty], [gnome-terminal] and [konsole] are below.
`alacritty -e MinEdLauncher %command% /autoquit /EDH`
`gnome-terminal -- MinEdLauncher %command% /autoquit /EDH`
`konsole -e MinEdLauncher %command% /autoquit /EDH`
5. Launch your game as you normally would in Steam
#### Epic
1. Download the [latest release] for Windows
2. Extract executables from the zip archive
3. Navigate to your Elite: Dangerous install location (folder that contains `EDLaunch.exe`)
4. Copy `MinEdLauncher.exe`
5. Delete or rename `EDLaunch.exe` (e.g. `EDLaunch.exe.bak`)
6. Copy and rename `MinEdLauncher.Bootstrap.exe` to `EDLaunch.exe`. This step is required because
Epic doesn't allow changing the game's startup application. If someone knows how to modify the
game's manifest file (`EliteDangerous/.egstore/*.manifest`), this could be avoided. Please open
a [new issue] if you can help with this.
7. Update your launch options to auto start your preferred product
1. Click _Settings_ in the Epic Games Launcher
2. Scroll down to the _Manage Games_ section and click _Elite: Dangerous_
3. Check _Additional Command Line Arguments_
4. Set the value to `/autoquit /EDH`
8. Launch your game as you normally would in Epic
### Flags
Flags are strings that are sent to the launcher via command line arguments. The following flags
are understood by the default launcher and their meaning is the same for the minimal launcher.
Note that specifying a product flag will override whatever option you select when Steam prompts
you to select a version of the game.
| Flag | Effect |
|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|
| /autoquit | Automatically close the launcher when the game closes |
| /autorun | Automatically start selected product when launcher starts |
| /ed | Select Elite: Dangerous as the startup product |
| /edh | Select Elite: Dangerous Horizons as the startup product |
| /eda | Select Elite: Dangerous Arena as the startup product |
| /vr | Tell the game that you want to play in VR mode |
| -auth_password | Epic exchange code. Used for authenticating with Epic |
### Settings
The settings file controls additional settings for the launcher that go beyond what the default
launcher supports. The location of this file is in the standard config location for your
operating system.
Windows: `%LOCALAPPDATA%\min-ed-launcher\settings.json`
Linux: `$XDG_CONFIG_DIR/min-ed-launcher/settings.json` (`~/.config` if `$XDG_CONFIG_DIR` isn't set)
| Settings | Effect |
|-----------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| apiUri | FDev API base URI. Should only be changed if you are doing local development |
| watchForCrashes | Determines if the game should be launched by `WatchDog64.exe` or not |
| gameLocation | Path to game's install folder. Specify this if the launcher can't figure it out by itself |
| restart | Restart the game after it has closed |
| processes | Additional applications to launch before launching the game |
```json
{
"apiUri": "https://api.zaonce.net",
"watchForCrashes": false,
"gameLocation": null,
"restart": {
"enabled": false,
"shutdownTimeout": 3
},
"processes": [
{
"fileName": "/path/to/app",
"arguments": "--arg1 --arg2"
},
{
"fileName": "/path/to/app2",
"arguments": "--arg1 --arg2"
}
]
}
```
### Multi-Account
There is rudimentary support for running your Epic account via Steam. Running a Steam account without Steam installed and running is not supported.
In order to authenticate with an Epic account:
1. You will first need to make sure two files are in your Steam installation directory. You'll likely have to start installing via Epic and
then when `EosSdk.dll` and `EosIF.dll` are downloaded, you can stop the install (and delete the rest of the files). Once you have those
two files, copy them to your Steam install directory (so that they are in the same folder as `MinEdLauncher`. It's possible this step will
become obsolete if FDev updates their Steam depot to include these files.
2. Get an Epic exchange code. This part is really clunky and will need to be done for every launch as the exchange code expires after one use.
Within the Epic launcher, click your username and select manage account. This will open a browser. The URL will contain an `exchangeCode=code`
parameter. Copy the code before the page is redirected (can just hit the stop button in your browser).
3. Add the `-auth_password=code` argument to your launch options. `cmd /c "MinEdLauncher.exe %command% /autoquit /EDH -auth_password=code"`
You can also create a separate shortcut. Right click game in your Steam library and create desktop shortcut. Edit the properties of the shortcut
to include the `-auth_password=code` argument. `steam://rungameid/359320// -auth_password=code` The two trailing slashes are important. Then just
edit this shortcut with the new exchange code each time instead of changing your Steam launch options.
### Logs
Debug logging is placed in the file `logs/min-ed-launcher.log`
## Build
1. Install the [.Net 5 SDK]
2. Run `dotnet build`
### Release Artifacts
Run either `publish.sh` or `publish.ps1` depending on your OS. These scripts make use of `dotnet publish`. Artifacts will end up in the `artifacts`folder.
Note that the bootstrap project uses [NativeAOT] to link and compile the app and the .net 5 runtime into a single native executable. It
specifically targets Windows and won't publish on a non-Windows machine.
[Settings]: #settings
[flag]: #flags
[Elite Log Agent]: https://github.com/DarkWanderer/Elite-Log-Agent
[VoiceAttack]: https://voiceattack.com/
[details]: #multi-account
[grinding]: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/ggffqq/psa_2020_farming_engineering_materials_a_compiled/
[latest release]: https://github.com/Rfvgyhn/min-ed-launcher/releases
[new issue]: https://github.com/Rfvgyhn/min-ed-launcher/issues
[alacritty]: https://github.com/alacritty/alacritty
[gnome-terminal]: https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Terminal
[konsole]: https://konsole.kde.org/
[.Net 5 SDK]: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/5.0
[NativeAOT]: https://github.com/dotnet/runtimelab/tree/feature/NativeAOT