The Chronos File Structure

Hey all!

I've recently been asked where Chronos settings are stored. In response to this, I'm going to give a full overview of the Chronos file structure and where your Chronos data is stored.

Upon running the Chronos executable, Chronos will automatically create two folders in the same directory as the exe. I'm going to use the server version as the example, but keep in mind that the client version stores data in a very (in fact, many of the filenames are the same) similar way and you should be able to figure it all out from the information below.

After running Chronos for the first time, you should have a folder that looks like this:

Chronos (Server).exe
Chronos Updater.exe
[Folder] ChronosData
[Folder] ChronosServer


The ChronosData folder stores misc data that can be used by both the client and server versions of the software. For example, you'll find your icons folder here. If you run the server version, you'll also find the web folder here, which is used to store the files related to generating the Chronos report webpage for your website. If you look in these folders, they're fairly self explanatory.

The majority of data relating to Chronos is stored in the ChronosServer or ChronosClient folder, depending on the version you're using. Upon opening the ChronosServer folder, you'll find the following files:

users.chronos
ttsdictionary.chonos
perlist.chronos
logfiles.chronos
earningsandevents.chronos
comlist.chronos
basicsettings.chronos
attendanceandpointssettings.chronos
advancedsettings.chronos
tts.wav (this file may or may not exist)
chronosconnectiontest.txt (this file may or may not exist)
[Folder] OverlayThemes
[Folder] Logs


The Client version will have similar files, although it will be missing some, as it does not need to store the same data as the server version.

Here's a description of what data is stored in all of these files:

users.chronos
This file contains data about your users that you have set up on your server version. It's basic information like username, password, etc.

ttsdictionary.chronos
This file contains data about your text to speech pronunciation definitions, known as the text to speech dictionary. It's a simple list of line by line definitions.

perlist.chronos
This file contains data about your personal events that you have set up in Chronos.

logfiles.chronos
This file contains data about your logfiles that you have set Chronos up to read.

earningsandevents.chronos
This file contains settings and information regarding guild event information you have specified in Chronos (for example, how many events your guild has ran for DKP / attendance purposes)

comlist.chronos
This file contains data about your community or "global" events that you have set up in Chronos.

basicsettings.chronos
This file contains all data regarding any settings in the "basic" panel of your Chronos settings.

attendanceandpointssettings.chronos
This file contains data regarding your attendance, points (or DKP) etc that you have specified in Chronos.

advancedsettings.chronos
This file contains data regarding any settings in the "advanced" panel of your Chronos settings.

tts.wav
This is the file generated by Chronos when text to speech occurs. Instead of using text to speech directly, Chronos generates outputs the speech to this wav file which is then handled by a SoundPlayer object in Chronos. The reason I used this method is that it's generally more compatible with different sound devices.

chronosconnectiontest.txt
Chronos generates this file when you test a connection with an FTP server (for use with the Chronos report page). Chronos uploads this file to your FTP server and then deletes it from the server in order to test the connection. If it is successful and doesn't encounter any exceptions, it deems the connection test a success and reports that back to the user.

[Folder] OverlayThemes
This folder contains any Chronos themes you have installed.

[Folder] Logs
This folder contains any logs Chronos has generated. These logs are for your use and possibly debugging use if I request them. Chronos does not log information and then send it back to me, Chronos is not designed to call home.

If you open up the ChronosThemes folder, you'll find at least the following files:

1.chronosoverlay
currenttheme.chronos

Here is a description of what these files are:

1.chronosoverlay
This file is a theme file. If you copy this file to somewhere else, give it a name like mytheme.chronosoverlay and open it in Notepad or something similar, you can even make your own themes. Any custom themes that you make or download (from the Chronos downloads page) can be installed via the theme panel in your basic settings.

currenttheme.chronos
This file contains information about your current theme.

Overall, Chronos mostly stores data that you, as the user, define. The data is stored in a text based format that can even be opened and edited in text editor software like Windows Notepad. Feel free to open these files up and take a look inside. You can even pass these files around to friends. Have you made a really good personal timer list for a particular class in your MMO? You can give that to other players if you like!

I'd be very careful about editing these files manually, as you may cause inconsistencies that could cause Chronos to crash. I'd also inspect any files you receive from other people before using them. If you're unsure, you're welcome to check with me at the development Email address ( chronosdevelopment@gmail.com ).

Side note: If any of your Chronos files ever go missing, Chronos generates new ones in the same manner as it does when you first run the program.

I hope this will help improve understanding of Chronos and the file structure it uses.

Thanks!

Larks.