[Tool] PokePulse: A Pokemon Encounter Tracker

[Shishagames]

PokePulse: A Pokemon Encounter Tracker

PokePulse is a Pokemon encounter tracker written purely in Python. This tracker is written and tested in Windows (Linux support may follow in the future).  This has been a passion project of mine for roughly the last year and as of now, it is in a stable state where I feel comfortable sharing it with you all.

 

PSA: PokePulse is not a Bot and will NOT play the game for you. This application's only ability is to take a screenshot and parse the text from the screenshot.

 

Spoiler

PokePulse Usage Example

 

How does it work?

PokePulse uses utilizes the winocr Optical Character Recognition (OCR) module to parse out the name of the Wild Pokemon that has been encountered and then updates both a Session Tracker and a Historical Tracker. The UI is built using Tkinter. 

 

The focal point of this tracker is to provide a higher confidence in the tracking capability first. While I understand that it is plain, it was designed to be a functional application that provides data rather than a pretty application that you want to stare at all day.

 

How to Acquire?

The .zip file can be downloaded from Google Drive. Once downloaded, extract the files into a dedicated folder on your system. Once the files have finished extracted, you are ready to begin setup and use.

 

How to Update?

When an update is released, you will need to download the new .zip file from the Google Drive link. Then extract the files in the exact same folder that your current version is in. When it extracts, it will ask you if you wish to replace files of the same name. Select "Yes to all files". This will replace and update everything except your data files. Once the files have finished extracted, you are ready to use the tracker once again. 

 

Note: if spawns in a hunting area have changed, they will no longer appear in the Session Tracker; however, you will see them in your historical tracker. If you would like this information to no longer be there, you can delete the row in the table of the Historical Session and once you encounter your next Pokemon it will update and remove it from the historical data that is saved.

 

Setup

Once you have downloaded and extracted the files, run the PokePulse.exe. After you run the application, you will need to go through some setup. 

 

First, you need to select the hunting information associated with your planned hunt. There are three options here:

- "Select a Region": Associated with the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Event Maps, and Pinkan Island

- "Select a Hunting Location": The Routes, Cities, etc. that exist within the selected region.

- "Land": Hunting Terrain (the other option is Surf)

 

Spoiler

 

Once you have input your desired hunting information, click the "Show Selection" button to populate the spawns of that area. After you have populated the spawns, you need to set the area for the application to read. The best way to do this is to encounter a wild Pokemon and then click the "Set Wild Poke Name Area" button. The area that you need to select is a rectangle a bit larger than the size of the "VS. Wild <Pokemon Name>" text area.

 Note: only your main screen can be selected at this time. The selection of any secondary monitor is in future works.

 

Spoiler

Main Button Options

 

Ideal Wild Poke Name Selection Area

 

Once you have set your area, click the "Begin Tracking" button to have your encounters tracked.

 

Bells and Whistles

PokePulse has two trackers built in: Session Tracker and Historical Tracker. The Session Tracker tracks your current hunting session while the Historical Tracker keeps track of your encounters over all sessions. 

 

The data table for the Session and Historical Tracker are interactable. These tables can have rows added (e.g., shiny, form, etc.) that can be manually updated along the way. While these tables allow for things such as column deletion, do not delete the columns. Doing so will break the structure of the table so no touchy. Furthermore, the tables have the following columns:

 

- Pokemon: The name of the Pokemon

- Morning, Day, Night: Tells you if the Pokemon can be encounter in the respective time cycle

- Terrain: Identifies the method of hunting required.

- Rarity: Whether it is Common, Uncommon, or Rare spawn.

- Total: The total you have encounter (either in that session or all time).

- Total Percent: The percentage (out of 100%) that the Pokemon is associated with.

 

Session Tracker

The Session Tracker comes with the following information:

- Current Encounters - The total count of encounters that you have had since loading the app.

- Session Timer - The amount of time you have been tracking your session.

 

Note: if you wish to reset your session data, select the "Clear Session Data". Caution, this will permanently remove the data from the session tracker.

 

Spoiler

 

Historical Tracker

The Historical Tracker keeps track of the sum of the total encounter for have for this particular hunting location. This is updated every encounter and persist through all session.

 

Note: if you wish to reset this data, click the "Clear historical Data". This will delete the data that exists in the associated data file for this route. USE WITH CAUTION.

 

Spoiler

 

TODO List:

- Opaque Overlay (Unsure of the design)

- Automatic location change 

- UI cleanup

- DARK MODE

 

FAQ

- I changed my color customization in the tables, how can I change it back to the default?

If you have changed the color customization in the tables and wish to reset them, you will need to edit the file in your local .config folder. (.config/pandastable/default.conf). Remove the color information and the default will be restored.

 

-  Can this tracker count Event Forms or Shiny? 

No, not on its own; however, you can add a row in the Historical Session table that will need to be manually updated. If you choose to do this, you must ensure that you add a value for all columns except Percent (as this is recalculated on ever spawn).

 

-  Can I delete columns in the table?

While you have the ability to delete the columns in the table, be advised that removing certain columns (e.g., Pokemon) will lead to failure to track or unexpected behavior. With that being said, it is recommended to not delete columns.

 

Known Bugs

- For some lower resolutions, it has been seen that the tracker does not properly read the Pokemon.

- Multi-counting Pokemon will occur if you select an area to track and then you cover that area / uncover it. 

 

If you encounter any bugs, please comment on this thread with the steps to reproduce said bug and I will try to address them when I can.

---

HUGE shoutout to the players that have assisted me in play testing the alpha version of this to sort out some initial bugs.

@Mrboston, @Stuck, @Farigiraf

 

Without you all, I would not have felt comfortable making it to the finish line.

Edited 1 hour ago by Shishagames

[Farigiraf]

Just wanted to pop in and say thanks again to @Shishagames for tagging me as an alpha tester! This tracker is fantastic - works on all monitor types and really goes above and beyond compared to others I’ve used. Highly recommend giving it a try, and don’t hesitate to leave any feedback if you spot bugs or have suggestions!

[Prayforstefan]

tldr?

[Shishagames]

5/12/2026 Updates:

• Updated the forum post to include information on how to update your download as well as a FAQ section.
• Updated the tracker with the most update to date spawns.