No. Both trackers work completely fine on their own — you can log warps by hand as you find them. Live Tracking is an optional add-on that watches your emulator's memory and fills in warps automatically as you walk through them.

What do I need to set up Live Tracking?▸

Three things: BizHawk (the emulator), Node.js (to run the small local bridge server), and the two files for your game from the Downloads section above — a Lua script that runs inside BizHawk, and a matching bridge server script that runs alongside it. The tracker page itself talks to that bridge server over your own machine's localhost, nothing goes out to the internet.

How do I actually run it?▸

Put the Lua script and the matching bridge server file in the same folder, open the Lua script in BizHawk's Lua Console while your game is running, then run node bridge_server_file.js (or the Platinum equivalent) from that same folder — no path argument needed. Once both are running, hit the 📡 Live Tracking toggle at the top of the tracker page.

Can I choose where the tracking file gets written?▸

Yes, without touching any code. Create a plain text file named platinum_bridge_config.txt (or location_bridge_config.txt for FireRed/LeafGreen) in the same folder as the Lua script, and put your desired full path on its own line inside it — e.g. E:\Website\Live Tracking\Tracking\output.json. The Lua script checks for this file every time it starts. Just remember to point the matching bridge server file at that same path when you run it.

It says "Bridge server not reachable" — what do I check?▸

Make sure the Node bridge server is actually running (you should see it printing status in a terminal window), that the Lua script is loaded in BizHawk and your game isn't paused, and that nothing else on your machine is already using that port (5556 for FireRed/LeafGreen, 5557 for Platinum).

Is any of my data sent online?▸

No. Everything — your warp log, your notes, the live-tracking connection — stays on your own machine and in your own browser's local storage. Nothing here talks to a remote server.

A location shows up as a weird code instead of a real name — is that a bug?▸

Not a bug — just an unmapped one. Both games' internal map IDs have been decoded for the large majority of well-known locations, but some less-common ones (especially in Platinum) haven't been identified yet and will show their raw internal codename until they are. You can always rename the warp yourself once you recognize where you are.

Does this work with a real cartridge, or only emulators?▸

Live Tracking specifically requires BizHawk, since it reads the game's memory directly — that only works in an emulator. The tracker itself (manual logging, no Live Tracking) works fine no matter how you're playing.