Auto-Jimmy v0.9.3: Mayday ‘25 Release

[CthulhuStig]

Happy MayDay everyone. I thought it was about time I put together another release of Auto-Jimmy, and today seems the perfect time to do it. For those that don't know, Auto-Jimmy is an open source app for Windows, macOS & Linux the provides a selection of tools for players and referees. It’s primarily aimed at the Mongoose rules, but many of the tools can compatible with other Traveller variants. The universe data it uses is taken from Traveller Map.

The headline feature in this release is in-app rendering of the universe map. This is a full port of the Traveller Map rendering engine to Python, with support for all styles and overlays. The only thing not supported is the tilt view, it was looking like a fair bit of effort and I’m not sure if anyone actually uses it. It’s not a pixel perfect recreation; there are some minor differences in text rendering due to Traveller Map using GDI+ and Auto-Jimmy using Qt, but I’m hoping it’s close enough that you’d need to have the two side by side to spot any differences.

One of the big reasons for porting the rendering code is performance and I’d be really interested to know how people find it. It should be significantly faster than using the Traveller Map website, as it doesn’t have to worry about that whole internet thing slowing it down .

Release Highlights:

• In-App Map Rendering
  • Supports all Traveller Map styles and overlays
  • Custom sectors are now seamlessly integrated into the rest of the universe
  • Custom sectors now update when map style/options change
• Traveller Focused Dice Roller
  • Multiple rollers can be created and organised hierarchically
  • Supports D6, D3, DD, D10, D20, boons, banes, flux and snake eyes
  • DM modifiers can be configured and then enabled/disabled as needed (e.g., modifiers for different weapon ranges)
  • Automatically graphs result probabilities
• Dead Space Routing
  • The jump route planner can now plot routes with stops in empty hexes if it results in a more optimal route
  • Requires a ship capable of making multiple jumps before refuelling
  • Can be enabled via the Routing Type drop-down menu

If you're planning to use the Windows installer, I should warn you that it’s not digitally signed (as that costs money). This means your browser may warn you that it’s not a frequently downloaded program and/or make you confirm that you want to download it. Also, when you run the installer, Windows will almost certainly warn you that it’s an unknown app and make you jump through some hoops to install it.

If you've previously cloned the Auto-Jimmy repo or downloaded the source from GitHub, you may need to re-run the command to have pip install requirements.txt. Detail on how to do this can be found in the installation instructions in the Auto-Jimmy README.

Project Links:
Source Code and Docs: https://github.com/cthulhustig/autojimmy
Windows Installer: https://github.com/cthulhustig/autojimmy/releases
Screenshots: https://github.com/cthulhustig/autojimmy/blob/main/docs/screenshots.md
Known Issues: https://github.com/cthulhustig/autojimmy/blob/main/docs/known_issues.md

 

[Bartleby]

Oh my. Oh my. This....this sounds wonderful. I cannot wait to try it.

 

[amsboethius]

Thanks for all your hard work on this program!

 

[Bartleby]

Can I ask, when your popup for custom Sectors says:

The metadata file must, at a minimum, specify the name and position of the sector.

I am having trouble understanding the position of the sector reference as I cannot find it on the travellermap documentation.

My meta data file works at travellermap for the postermaker. But when I try the Lint function I get this error message (is that from Travellermap or you?):

 

[CthulhuStig]

I am having trouble understanding the position of the sector reference as I cannot find it on the travellermap documentation.

My meta data file works at travellermap for the postermaker. But when I try the Lint function I get this error message (is that from Travellermap or you?):

I suspect that error is from the xml parser I'm using. Could you attach the metadata file that's giving you issues, I can have a look to see what is going wrong.

 

[Bartleby]

Awesome, thank you. Attached.

 

[CthulhuStig]

It's the ... at the top of the file that it doesn't like. It's valid xml but doesn't match the xsd file Traveller Map uses to define the structure of sector metadata files. Auto-Jimmy validates the sector files against that xsd, I guess by the fact the file works with the Traveller Map poster maker means it's not validating against the xsd.

I've attached a fixed version of your metadata file. As well as removing the stuff it didn't like, I've also added X & Y position elements. Auto-Jimmy needs the X & Y position elements to know where in the universe to put your sector, the Traveller Map poster maker doesn't need it as it's just drawing that sector so doesn't need to know where it's located in the universe. The position I've given it will put your sector where Foreven is currently located, you can change it if you want the sector located somewhere else.

There is some documentation in on the xml metadata format in the Traveller Map repository here. The xsd file can also be found in the repository here, but xsds aren't the most human readable things. I also now see where the ... bit probably came from. The Traveller Map documentation uses them in examples to indicate where you would put details of your sector, it's not actually something to include in the metadata file.

 

[Bartleby]

Most excellent, thank you. I will dive into this.

 

[Bartleby]

And I can confirm that works. Time to explore. Thank you again.

 

[bookwyrm]

Dead Space Routing

• The jump route planner can now plot routes with stops in empty hexes if it results in a more optimal route
• Requires a ship capable of making multiple jumps before refuelling
• Can be enabled via the Routing Type drop-down menu

So Cool!

Even if I'm the only one who likes this, I give it two !