The ACR mode calculates the optimal way of spending your tickets if your only goal is to maximize your estimate in the
DKR.exe scoresheet of a given tour.
It takes all relevant factors into account (cup boosts, Mii boosts, spotlight boosts).
However, it doesn't know or care about tracks that are not in the tour, recency of DKG, etc. So you should definitely not use it for
planning long-term investments.
The ranked mode calculates the best way to spend your tickets if you only care about a given selection of ranked tracks.
Besides filling the fields for player level and ticket amounts (empty ticket fields count as zeroes), you'll need a table containing your inventory.
It should look like this:
BABY MARIO
D
7
0
BABY PEACH
D
5
0
BABY DAISY
D
5
0
BABY ROSALINA
D
6
0
BABY LUIGI
D
8
3
KOOPA TROOPA
D
7
1
SHY GUY
D
6
0
You can either copy it into the textbox or upload a CSV file with that content.
The recommended way (easiest and most precise) way of obtaining it is by using the sync
and export ("Import Wizard"→"Bam/Gerbs/reichembach"→"Export") features of
the MKT Toolbox.
Alternative ways are:
If you use any variant of the B&G trackers
(reichembach's,
Antilev's,
Ben's), go to the Export/Import tab and copy the 4 columns
under Output from Old Sheet (not including the header row). Create a new tab in the same document, do a right click on the upper left cell,
select "Paste special" and then "Values only". Finally, go to "File→"Download"→"Comma Separated Values (CSV)".
The Ticket Time app uses exactly the same format.
It provides a blank CSV file that contains all
items and where you only have to enter your levels.
You can add this data to the CSV file as follows. Open the file in Excel or Google Docs, and add the number of partial level-ups
on the fifth column. For example, if the game shows something like 3/5 for a HE driver at level 6, enter a 3 in the corresponding row.
You can enter this only for some items, all others will be interpreted as 0.
This column is generated by Ben's and Reichembach's B&G trackers, as well as by Larry98's data sheet.
If you are copying your data from the MKT Toolbox or Antilev's tracker, you'll probably have to enter it manually.
You can add this data to the CSV file as follows. Open the file in Excel or Google Docs, and add the maximum allowed level
on the sixth column. Similarly, add the maximum level of uncaps on the seventh column
You can enter this only for some items, all others will be interpreted as 8 for the levels, 4 for the uncaps.
These columns aren't used by any other trackers,
Not necessarily. To guarantee optimality, we would need to simultaneously consider all possible combinations of upgrades of D/K/G.
The program then needs several hours to run, so it's not practicable. What the tool currently does is:
Identify the optimal loadouts of the current inventory, without any upgrades
Find the best way of spending the driver tickets, assuming that the karts and gliders remain as they are.
Find the best way of spending the kart tickets, assuming that the drivers have been upgraded as determined by the previous step,
but leaving the gliders as they are.
Find the best way of spending the glider tickets, assuming the upgrades for drivers and karts have already been done.
If you find a combination of upgrades that gives you a better score than the tool, please let me know, so I can adjust it.
In general terms, the runtime increases both when the inventory is larger and when there are more tickets available. Something around 30s
seems to be a good indicator. The runtime will increase a lot when there are many options for a given track, all of them at a very low level.
The free server I'm using allows only one calculation at each moment. This means that if 3 people start a calculation at roughly the same time,
the last one will have to wait around 1:30min. If the tool is being slow for you, it might be because other people are using it, so try again
later. This will be a problem mostly if many people use the app immediately after the announcement of a new update.
Additionally, calculations are limited by the server to 5 min. So if you start a calculation with an inventory that owns every single item at level 1,
and with 100 tickets of each type available, chances are that after 5 min you'll see an error message.
Shortly after the DKR.exe sheet and the datamined coverage data have been released.
That's usually on the first day of the tour, sometimes on the second.
I've tried to anticipate most possible error sources (usually related to incorrect inventory files), but some will have escaped me.
If the app crashes, please send me your inventory file and a screenshot of your input.
Differences of a few points are to be expected due to rounding errors. If you notice more significant discrepancies, please let me know.
Another common culprit is the Well-Fought settings for battles. The Ticket Optimizer assumes no Well-Fought by default, the DKR sheet has it on by default.
You can easily change the settings for that.