ED Wing Helper

Small utility to help create a shared instance in Elite Dangerous by managing wing invitations from a predefined commander list.

The tool monitors the game journal to detect when commanders are online and when they join the wing, helping the wing leader keep track of who still needs to be invited.

⚠️ This project is currently in a very early stage and largely untested. Expect bugs.

Overview

Presentation video

Main interface

How it works

1. Prepare a text file containing commander names (one name per line).
2. Import the file using the "Import List..." button.
3. Ensure all listed commanders are in your friend list in-game or an friend request was sent to them.
4. The tool monitors the Elite Dangerous journal files to track:
   • which commanders are online
   • which commanders have joined the wing

Commanders are automatically categorized in the UI:

• Need Invite
  • Online (waiting your wing invite)
  • Offline
• Instanced
  • Confirmed (they were dected in the local chat)
  • Unconfirmed (they've accepted your wing request)

The program automatically move commanders between sections:

• If a commander who was already invited goes offline, they are automatically removed from the Instanced section. However, sometimes, the journal does not report Offline events or the even may be delayed.
• If a commander accepts your friend request while you're building the instance, its status will be updated.
• If a commander of your list speaks in the local chat channel, they are moved to the Instanced section: you don't need to invite them, they're already in the instance
• If a commander have joined your wing and speaks in the local chat channel, they are moved from Unconfirmed to Confirmed. This helps you sort between commander that have left your wing but did not successfully joined your instance.

Requirements

• Elite Dangerous must be running
• The game must have journal logging enabled (enabled by default)
• You must be friend with a commanders to invite them in the wing

Planned features

The following improvements are planned:

List management

• Drag & drop a file to replace or append the commander list
• Monitor the list file and auto-reload when modified

Monitoring improvements

• Detect commanders already present in the instance via local chat monitoring

Wing management

• Handle wing leader disconnects / leaving the wing (FSD jump, crashes, etc.)
• Recover the invited list after program restart

Project status

This tool is experimental and currently under active development. Features and behavior may change frequently.