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Arc Raiders Helper

A screen overlay tool that helps you manage your inventory in Arc Raiders by automatically detecting items and displaying recommended actions (keep, recycle, etc.).

Example 1 Example 2

A video of how the tool works:

  • TODO: add youtube link

Table of Contents

How It Works

The tool uses a two-phase detection system:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                                 │
│  Phase 1: TRIGGER DETECTION (low frequency, every 500ms)        │
│  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────      │
│  Scans specific screen regions looking for "INVENTORY" text     │
│  This indicates that the inventory is open                      │
│                                                                 │
│                          │                                      │
│                          ▼                                      │
│              ┌───────────────────────┐                          │
│              │  INVENTORY detected?  │                          │
│              └───────────┬───────────┘                          │
│                    YES   │                                      │
│                          ▼                                      │
│                                                                 │
│  Phase 2: TOOLTIP DETECTION (high frequency, every 300ms)       │
│  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────      │
│  Captures area around cursor → Finds tooltip → Extracts         │
│  item name via OCR → Looks up in database → Shows overlay       │
│                                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

TODO: add screenshots

Detection Details

  1. Trigger Detection: Continuously scans two screen regions (menu mode and in-raid mode) looking for the word "INVENTORY". This indicates that you have opened your inventory in the game.

  2. Tooltip Detection: Once the inventory is detected, the tool starts scanning the area around your mouse cursor for item tooltips. When you hover over an item, it:

    • Captures a region around your cursor
    • Identifies the tooltip by its cream-colored background
    • Filters out colored tags (rarity, item type)
    • Extracts the item name using OCR

  3. Overlay Display: If the item is found in the database, an overlay appears showing the recommended action (e.g., "KEEP - needed for crafting" or "RECYCLE - not useful").

Features

  • Automatic detection - No hotkey needed, detects when inventory is open
  • Cursor-following - Finds tooltips wherever they appear on screen
  • Two-phase scanning - Minimizes CPU usage by only running tooltip OCR when inventory is open
  • Resolution profiles - Pre-configured settings for common screen resolutions
  • Calibration tool - GUI tool to configure screen regions for any resolution
  • OCR-based - Reads item names directly from screen using Tesseract
  • SQLite database - Load items from CSV files
  • Configurable - All settings stored in .env file
  • Station-level awareness - Configure your crafting station levels in .env and the overlay will automatically resolve conditional actions (e.g., "Keep until upgrade is complete; sell once done" becomes "Sell" when your station is high enough)
  • In-raid price display - When in a raid, the overlay shows item sell prices to help with loot decisions
  • Debug mode - Saves intermediate images for troubleshooting OCR issues
  • Bundled Tesseract - Pre-built releases include Tesseract (no separate install needed)

Requirements

To Run Pre-built Release

  • Windows 10/11
  • Arc Raiders running in borderless windowed or windowed mode (not fullscreen)

To Run from Source

  • Windows 10/11
  • Python 3.11 or higher
  • uv package manager (recommended) or pip
  • Tesseract OCR installed

To Build from Source

  • All of the above, plus:
  • PyInstaller (uv sync --all-extras)

Installation

Option 1: Pre-built Release (Recommended)

  1. Download the latest release from the Releases page
  2. Extract the zip file to a folder of your choice
  3. Run ArcRaidersHelper.exe

The release includes all dependencies, including Tesseract OCR.

Option 2: From Source

  1. Clone the repository:

    git clone https://github.com/yourusername/arc-raiders-helper.git
cd arc-raiders-helper

  2. Install dependencies:

    uv sync

  3. Install Tesseract OCR:

    • Download from UB Mannheim
    • Install to C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR\
    • Or set TESSERACT_PATH in .env to your installation path

  4. Copy the example configuration:

    cp .env.example .env

  5. Run the application:

    uv run arc-helper

First Run Setup

On first launch, the application will:

  1. Detect your screen resolution
  2. Check for a pre-configured profile for your resolution
  3. If found: Automatically apply the settings and start
  4. If not found: Display a message asking you to run the Calibration tool

Supported Resolutions

The following resolutions have pre-configured profiles:

Resolution Aspect Ratio Status
3440x1440 21:9 (Ultrawide QHD) ✅ Configured
2560x1440 16:9 (QHD) ✅ Configured
1920x1080 16:9 (Full HD) ✅ Configured
3840x2160 16:9 (4K UHD) ⚠️ Needs calibration
2560x1080 21:9 (Ultrawide FHD) ✅ Configured

If your resolution isn't listed or shows "Needs calibration", run the Calibration tool to configure it.

NOTE: if you want to force the app to load up a resolution config from the pre-configured resolutions, you need to:

  • run the Calibration tool
  • hit Reset to Defaults
  • hit Save Configuration
  • re-run the main app

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how you can help:

Resolution Profiles

If you calibrate the app for a new resolution, please submit the values! This helps other users with the same resolution.

  1. Run the Calibration tool and find working values for your resolution
  2. Open resolutions.json and add your resolution's profile
  3. Submit a pull request

Item Database

Help build a comprehensive item database:

  1. Create or update item entries in CSV format
  2. Test that the items are detected correctly
  3. Submit your CSV additions

Bug Reports

When reporting issues, please include:

  • Your screen resolution
  • Debug images from the debug/ folder (if applicable)
  • The arc_helper.log file (enable debug mode first)
  • Steps to reproduce the issue

Project Structure

arc-raiders-helper/
├── pyproject.toml              # Package configuration
├── build.py                    # Build script for PyInstaller
├── ArcRaidersHelper.spec       # PyInstaller spec file
├── .env.example                # Example configuration
├── sample_items.csv            # Sample item data
├── README.md                   # This file
├── src/arc_helper/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── config.py               # Settings and logging setup
│   ├── logging_config.py       # Logging configuration
│   ├── database.py             # SQLite database and CSV import
│   ├── ocr.py                  # Screen capture and OCR
│   ├── overlay.py              # Tkinter overlay window
│   ├── stations.py             # Station-level action resolution
│   ├── resolution_profiles.py  # Resolution-based configuration
│   ├── resolutions.json        # Pre-configured resolution profiles
│   ├── main.py                 # Main application entry point
│   └── calibrate.py            # Calibration tool
└── test_*.py                   # Test scripts

License

MIT License - Free to use and modify.

Acknowledgments

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A little helper program to suggest what to do with particular arc items.

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Releases 3

0.2.0 Latest
Mar 29, 2026
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