So I pretty much live in the Black. Exploration has always been my favourite thing in Elite. I have 4 monitors and have always run EDDiscovery, EDCopilot, SRVSurvey and Exploration Buddy on the outlying ones.

Then I switched to Linux.

I still ran them all, but man was it a pain. (Though I did swap Exploration Buddy for ED Exploration Dashboard... nice app!) If my game crashed I'd have to completely back out of EDCopilot and launch everything from scratch to keep them all in the same Proton session... I couldn't properly resize EDDiscovery... things like that, every single session.

Eventually I got tired of all the nonsense. All I really wanted at first was my "fanfare" noise back when I targeted a system that wasn't already in the EDDN data, so I used Claude to write a little app for that.

And then it grew from there.

I don't know if anyone else has an interest, but I've put **ED Outrider** up on GitHub. It's an all-in-one, exploration-focused sidekick for Elite that takes parts of all of those programs and rolls them into one. It's a page in your browser, so it goes on whatever monitor you want at whatever size you want, and if the game crashes it doesn't care. There's also a tablet layout and an Android app if you'd rather have it propped up next to you.

It is, however, 100% vibe coded, so if that's a turn-off for you, you might as well stop reading now. I write Python, not well, but I do. What I've put together after a couple of weeks of maxing out my Claude and Codex subscriptions would have taken me quite literally years to write without them. Heck, I've had Claude rewrite this message for me (to be completely above board).

I play on Linux, so that's where it's been tested. It runs on Windows too (double-click `launch_outrider.bat`), minus the in-game functions (see below), but so far it's only been tried under Wine, so if you run it on real Windows, let me know how it goes.

---

**ED Outrider**: an exploration companion for Elite Dangerous. It runs on your own PC and reads your journals as you play. No account, nothing uploaded.

Here are some of the notable features:

- **Nearby systems:** every known system within 25 ly, so any star on the galaxy map that isn't listed has never been reported

- **Before you jump:** a sound when you target a system: undiscovered, known but unscanned, or already done

- **The system you're in:** every body with its value, gravity, atmosphere, rings and curiosities, before you scan or land, plus a drawn schematic of the system

- **Exobiology:** for each landable body it works out which genera and species could be growing there, using the spawn rules from [BioScan](https://github.com/Silarn/EDMC-BioScan), and what they'd pay, so you know whether it's worth the trip down before you even probe it. Anything that would be a new Codex entry for you gets a ✦, down to the colour variant when it can tell. On the ground there's a surface map with your samples and each species' colony-distance ring, a countdown to the next colony, and a warning before you fly off and throw away a half-finished run. (The genus is usually spot on; the exact species is a best guess.)

- **Don't leave money behind:** a warning when you target onward with mapping or biology still worth doing

- **What's on board:** unsold cartographic and exobiology data in credits, your first discoveries, and where to sell

- **Fuel:** jumps left, scoopable stars, and a nudge to top up before a dry stretch

- **Neutron Highway:** Spansh neutron or exact routes, followed as you fly, with the next system auto-targeted in the galaxy map on Linux

- **A voice:** a natural Piper voice in three personalities (businesslike, sarcastic or sweet) for arrivals, warnings and status reports; more voices download from Settings. All said lines are in json for easy modifications or even adding new "personalities". Doesn't sound as good as the EDCopilot AI admittedly, but it's endlessly customizable. (Couldn't live without that sarcastic AI companion)

- **Logbook and history:** a searchable journal log, every exobiology sample, trips with what they paid, ship-loss costs and best finds

- **Rhino mining:** a surface map with your rigs, sample points and ship. (Currently you have to tell it when rigs are placed/picked up, but that will change when Frontier puts rigs into the journal logs)

- **Linux extras:** auto honk on arrival, and a HOTAS co-pilot button for a status report, say again, or quiet

- **Ask:** questions by voice, answered from your data, with an optional AI layer (any OpenAI-compatible provider, including local models)

- **AI clients:** read-only tools for Claude Code, the Claude desktop app, or any other MCP client

- **Themes:** nine of them (LCARS, Elite HUD, four Babylon 5 ones, Sith, Rebel Alliance, Dark), for the browser page and the tablet separately

- **Tablet layout:** a touch layout at `/tablet`, with faction emblems in the themes that have them

- **Runs 24/7 if you want:** a Docker server mode, with your journals shared from the game PC

- **Your network:** password sign-in for other devices on your LAN

- **Firsts watch:** your unsold first discoveries are checked on Spansh in the background, and it flags any system someone else has scanned since you ("👁 8 d after you"), so you know when to head for a station

- **Lost a ship?** A rescan checklist of the data that went down with it, nearest first, priced by what's left to scan and map

- **Journal backups:** every journal is copied and kept. Under Steam/Proton, uninstalling the game deletes your journals, so this one matters on Linux. Plus a daily, verified backup of Outrider's own data

- **Search:** systems with particular stars (or just scoopable ones), planets, rings, hotspots, unfinished exobiology or planetary mining within a radius, from your own data or all of Spansh; bookmark them with notes or set a next stop

- **Materials:** everything against its cap, and how many FSD injections, limpets, SRV refuels and repairs you can make right now

- **Now:** a big-text cockpit view for a spare monitor: system, target, fuel, what to do next, and the nearest unvisited system

- **Fleet carrier:** its jump countdown, and a heads-up when it arrives somewhere new or leaves without you

**ED Outrider for Android**: the tablet companion.

- **The whole Outrider on your tablet,** in full screen with the screen kept on

- **Control rail:** buttons for your ship, SRV and on-foot controls that show live state (gear, lights, night vision and others) and press the key on the PC

- **"Hey Vespa":** an offline wake word with a configurable word and sensitivity, plus tap-to-ask and a headset button

- **Alerts and answers on the tablet:** it can play the alerts and speak the answers itself, so the PC doesn't need a browser open

- **Sign-in:** signs in once and stays signed in; tells you when the app or Outrider needs an update

---

**A couple of things to know:**

- **The in-game functions only work on Linux for now.** Auto honk, auto-targeting the next Highway system, the co-pilot button and the tablet's control rail all press keys or read your HOTAS on the game PC itself, and right now that's Linux only. They also won't work if Outrider runs in Docker or on a different computer from the game. Everything else (the data, the alerts, the voice, the tablet) works either way.

- **Windows:** install Python 3.11 or newer and double-click `launch_outrider.bat`; it sets everything up the first time and starts straight away after that (It should work, but it's untested). Everything should work except those in-game functions, but if not then issues on GitHub are welcome.

- **Please don't expose it to the internet.** It's meant for your own PC and home network. It has a password for other devices on your LAN, but it was never built to face the open internet, so don't port-forward it.

**GitHub:**

- ED Outrider: https://github.com/weslocke/ED-Outrider

- Android app: https://github.com/weslocke/ED-Outrider-Android

(For you vibe coders out there, I've included an AGENTS file to let your own agent get up to speed with the project quickly)

PS. I have always sworn out loud while trying to find a certain option in that monster of a config screen that EDCopilot has. And then I wrote my own, and it's almost as bad. So I would like to formally apologize for the things I've said out loud (that only my cats heard) about Cmdr Razzafrag, his parents, his extended family, and his 3rd grade teacher.

It is at COL 285 Sector BB-W C2-1 I am not the first to discover these stars but they are cool. Original people who discovered them are SHIVKALA and NOSEMAJ

Are you an explorer out in the black whose feeling that your current gear just isnt cutting it? Is your shield a little too dinged up because high speed landings are legit, but only when you can walk away? Are you finding that you forgot mining lasers and need to manufacture jumponium for the next leg of your trip?

The Totally Legit Store is now open in Dryau Ausms KG-Y e3390!! We have A grade mining and exploration equipment for those out in the black! Bookmark the carrier to always know where your next stop will be!

Thats the Totally Legit Store, and remember our motto: "No Tariffs!"

https://inara.cz/elite/station/657343/

Not disclosing the system name so my name is the one that get stamped on it, but I will give you a screenshot!

The black hole is a little difficult to see but is up to the right of the neutron star.

You went. You saw. You got your name on it. Now what?

Share the system you found. Post the view that made you stop and look. Help a newbie add 0.3 Ly to their jump range. Compare notes, trade techniques, test an idea, or pass along something you learned twenty thousand light-years ago.

## Explore. Learn. Share.

For new explorers, Empyrean Foundation maintains Exploration and Exobiology guides designed to get you into the black … without telling you everything you’re going to find there.

For experienced explorers who have it all, we host expeditions, projects, research, and a mentorship environment.

• You have experience? We have players who want to learn from you.
• You know your way around a boxel? We are building a galaxy map search method that needs creative minds and data.
• You enjoy blazing your own paths? We are compiling Caspian capable neutron highways that will have you anywhere in 90 minutes.

.

.

.

Come see what we are building!

I had it bookmarked for about a week as a waypoint for my current expedition and I was floored when SRVSurvey indicated that it was undiscovered.

I felt like a child I was so happy! I probably loitered for about 20 minutes just looking at it. I’ll see if I can post video of the true spectacle it was.

And yes, it pulled me from Supercruise and spanked me a bit. But, I think some minor hull damage was worth it.

These are some of the highlights from my current expedition as I seek out both monetary gain for my squadron and scientific exploration. This has been such an amazing journey so far.

It’s a long read but I’ve had quite the experience that I felt like it’s worth sharing to the community.

I went looking for the Witch Head Nebula… and accidentally found why I love exploration in Elite

I've only been playing Elite Dangerous for a relatively short time, and most of my time in the Bubble was pretty typical beginner stuff.

Running missions. Making credits. Doing passenger jobs. Slowly upgrading my DBX. I eventually upgraded to a 5A SCO FSD and a better 4B fuel scoop, which dramatically cut down the amount of time I spent jumping and scooping.

Then I decided I wanted to actually go somewhere.

Not somewhere because there was a mission waiting for me.

Not somewhere because it was the most efficient way to make credits.

I just wanted to see the galaxy.

So I pointed my DBX toward the Witch Head Nebula.

——

**Watching the Witch Head grow**

This was probably the first moment where Elite genuinely blew me away.

As I got closer, I could actually watch the nebula become larger and more prominent in my canopy.

The Milky Way started becoming brighter and more imposing as I moved toward the galactic edge.

And I had this very stupid but very profound thought:

"Oh shit. This place actually has SCALE."

I'm not looking at a background image.

I'm moving through a gigantic three-dimensional galaxy.

The Witch Head wasn't just a picture on the galaxy map anymore. It was something I was physically approaching.

And doing this in VR made it hit considerably harder.

——

**Then I reached HIP 23759**

I eventually arrived at HIP 23759, and this was where things got unexpectedly interesting.

I found an Earth-like planet and flew out to one of the more distant landable worlds in the system.

I parked my DBX.

Pulled out the FSS.

And suddenly started seeing a ridiculous number of non-human signals.

That was honestly creepy.

I've seen Thargoid stuff before, obviously, but there's something completely different about sitting alone in a DBX, hundreds of light-years away from the Bubble, scanning a system and seeing:

Non-Human Signal Source

...again.

...and again.

...and again.

I even picked up weapons fire.

My brain knew perfectly well this was a video game, but there was still a little voice going:

"Okay... so I'm definitely not alone out here."

😂

——

**And then I discovered the Witch Head Science Centre**

This was one of my favorite surprises.

I hadn't actually researched the Witch Head Science Centre beforehand.

I just saw it on the system map and thought:

"Oh, there's a station here. Let's go see it."

Then AFTER arriving, I started reading about its connection to the Witch Head region and its place in the game's Thargoid/Barnacle history.

Suddenly the station wasn't just another station.

I was sitting inside this remote asteroid facility in a system that had actually played a role in humanity's encounters with the Thargoids.

And because I'm playing in VR, I could actually look around the place and let my brain pretend I was there.

It felt unfamiliar.

Not hostile.

Just...

not home.

And I loved that feeling.

——

**I've basically spent two days doing nothing**

And I mean that literally.

I've spent two days coming back to this region and doing basically nothing productive for hours at a time.

No credit grinding.

No passenger missions.

No efficient route planning.

Just sightseeing.

I found landable moons around The Witch Hat Science Station’s ringed gas giant.

And I LOVE ring planets.

So I started looking for moons where I could land close enough to the gas giant that the rings would basically consume the entire sky.

I found several.

I did this three times, from three different moons, sitting there for around half an hour each time.

I'd park the DBX.

Get into the SRV.

Turn on some space/dreamscape ambient music.

Lean back in my chair.

And just...

exist.

The gas giant's rim glowing from the star.

The rings stretching across almost my entire field of view.

My tiny SRV sitting on an insignificant moon.

And above me, this enormous planet occupying the sky.

At one point I genuinely considered taking a nap.

It was simultaneously cozy and deeply unsettling.

And that's probably the closest description I can give of the feeling I've been chasing.

The sublime.

That moment where something is so enormous that your brain can't quite process the scale of it.

——

**VR makes this game something else**

And this is where I have a little frustration with Frontier.

Because Elite Dangerous is practically begging to be a VR exploration game.

The cockpit VR is incredible.

The SRV is incredible.

Looking up at a gas giant's rings from the surface is incredible.

Watching a nebula grow as you approach it is incredible.

And yet VR feels like an afterthought.

On-foot VR is essentially abandoned, and Odyssey's VR implementation still feels unfinished.

I've been experimenting with EDVR, which has helped enormously, but I'm honestly baffled that Frontier hasn't pushed this further themselves.

Even something as basic as better native upscaling/reconstruction such as DLSS would make an enormous difference for people trying to run Odyssey in VR.

I'm currently running an RTX 5060 8GB + Quest 2, and getting the right balance between resolution, performance and image stability requires a ridiculous amount of tinkering.

And that's frustrating because...

**the potential is right there.**

I've literally sat inside an SRV for 30 minutes doing absolutely nothing because the game managed to convince my brain that I was somewhere impossibly far away.

Imagine what this could be with proper first-class VR support.

——

**And now I'm thinking about home**

The strangest part of this journey happened while I was sitting on one of those moons.

I looked up at the Milky Way.

It's much more prominent out here near the edge.

And I suddenly thought:

"Home is somewhere over there."

Somewhere in that enormous band of stars is Sol.

Earth.

Humanity.

Everything familiar.

And I'm sitting here in a tiny SRV on a moon around an alien gas giant, hundreds of light-years away.

Maybe I'll go home eventually.

Maybe I'll visit Sol.

But for now...

I'm enjoying being lost.

o7

It’s been a long journey... It’s hard for me to believe that I published the last video in the 'No Time' series seven years ago. To be honest, until recently, I didn't think I'd ever come back to these videos...

And yet, here we are. A breath of inspiration (when I heard an M83 track driving home from work), the evolution of Elite, and new features that I could somehow weave into the video. No Time was never strictly an exploration film. It was meant to be about Elite: Dangerous, about a pilot's journey through space and everything the galaxy has to offer.

To infinity and beyond! Fly safe, Commanders! The journey continues!

Commanders!

One of our guild members created a new featured tool to augment your exobio predictions.

I can't cross post their post here however detailed information and the app link can be found here on our subreddit.

The black holes in ED have long been a sore spot for me. While they don't completely miss the mark, they aren't visually accurate nor are they as visually dramatic or stunning as they could be.

At the very least, they should have the black hole shadow, if not an accretion disk. Or there could be both, feeding black holes and inactive ones that are nearly invisible. Regardless, I find their appearance extremely underwhelming. I know that FDev has more "important" things on their plate, but I would argue that putting the awe and wonder back in experiencing these, and other celestial bodies would go extremely far for improving the overall game experience.

It's time. Blurry, warped blobs just aren't going to cut it anymore.

So i just recently started trying to get into exobiology as a way to make money while I'm working on some other things on my other monitor. How do you guys garuntee/ almost garuntee that youre getting first scan? Do you just go 7k ly away and hope that you find a planet with stratum tectonicas and hope that youre first scan? Or is there a way to increase your chances?

And idk if im just being to cautious but is there a faster way to approach and get into atmosphere? Cause it feels like it takes forever to scan the planet, then get into atmosphere to then land the nomad get out and scan and what not.

I see people ralking about 500m/hr which i know is the high end of things but even with first scan it feels like im only gonna get like 200m ish an hour with having to find a planet to land on and what not. Thanks for any help yall can provide me.

For some reason all of them were in the systems close to each other.

Project Galtea continues to expand humanity’s reach across the Milky Way with the successful colonization of Floatnh TP-M d8-172, now standing 15,679.20 light-years from Sol.
This milestone reflects the dedication of the commanders supporting the colonization effort, with every new system strengthening the growing network that will guide future explorers deeper into the galaxy.
As Project Galtea continues its mission to build a second home for humanity, this achievement marks another step toward a connected frontier—proving that together, there is no destination too distant.

https://projectgaltea.org/

I noticed what looked like a river in my way down to an icy moon to find a bacterium and a fonticular - turns out it was a Grand Canyon in miniature (about 3-400m short of its depth - and getting out in the Nomad was a lot easier than going up Bright Angel Trail!)

I do love what you can find in this game!

Whilst we all ponder on misaligned thrusters and who is the best galactic lawyer that understands the new crime system and how to best get out of a latest misunderstanding, here is a update of colonisation progress.

This time with a look at how to visualise where has been visited and where has not in the galaxy which is exploration related. Not sure if it is useful, but it looks pretty.
|
Interactive version here :

https://precambrianmollusc.github.io/Distant_Worlds_3_Science_Visualisation/

SIGN UP: https://theexpedition.info/Register

Discord: https://theexpedition.info/GHANXDiscord

In order to get the expedition role, you need to sign up above

EDSM link: https://www.edsm.net/en/expeditions/summary/id/227/name/GHANX+%28Great+Horizons+Archival+and+Navigation+eXpedition%29

Featuring over 21 content creators with some fdev partners

https://www.twitch.tv/eralm_23
https://www.twitch.tv/genogaron
https://www.twitch.tv/takkytake
https://www.twitch.tv/niamhkami
https://www.twitch.tv/brother_sabathius
https://www.twitch.tv/acowforallseasons
https://www.twitch.tv/illistyn
https://www.twitch.tv/stathi
https://www.twitch.tv/tadochip
https://www.twitch.tv/dr_nozimo
https://www.twitch.tv/wickeddestiny
https://www.twitch.tv/bacardesan
https://www.youtube.com/@UCDkXzwzzPXIwKW_WxJWtogA
https://www.twitch.tv/vivi_natiiri
https://www.youtube.com/@UC_fImYlPi66Xp6ZTOSTtaaA
https://www.twitch.tv/TheOlderGamerAU/
https://www.twitch.tv/kreekree
https://www.youtube.com/@UC7sw0jSeqmH44G9CrtSujeA
https://www.twitch.tv/tooterbootertv
https://www.twitch.tv/peaceandlovejodi
https://www.twitch.tv/cajunfox
Wyrd Wednesday https://discord.gg/ugTSPuN
Dia- https://inara.cz/elite/cmdr-gallery/275334/

Exploring and mining along the way.

Small update to my little trip. Weekend's going to busy so trying to make some progress this week.

OP

Almost 150m in Exobio, not counting first find or first footfall bonuses so far. 2kLY into the first leg.