Recluse

Thanks for this! I did go back and study up on FarpZones, and, you are right. I can pretty much do what I want with them, and a nested Cloner to supply the AI Helos. Now for my most recent discovery: I tried to use the various hidden attributes (hidden itself, and hideGrey, hideRed, hideBlue). I only tried hidden: true (or yes) and hideGrey (true or yes) and combinations of the two, but the FARP object (and the resource vehicles) were always visible on the F10 map. On mission start, the Cloner hasn't fired so the only object is the FARP. When the cloner fires, it essentially captures the FARP for BLUE. Any ideas? Mission Editor In Mission at start

Not exactly what I had in mind, but let me mess with it some more. While testing another thing came up: I created a CloneZone that contained a FARP as well as the support objects. I used this ClonerFARP as the SOURCE for a couple of other CloneZones When the Cloners activated, I got all the support units but it did not clone the FARP object itself. The FARP object (and Helos) spawned at the location of the SOURCE zone, but not at the destination zones using the ClonerFARP as SOURCE. Are FARP objects a special case? IT seems like whenever I make a CloneZone with a FARP, it does not seem to be part of the Cloner, but it spawns at mission start (the other units do not as long as onStart is false). LOL, I guess FARPS shouldn't spring from NOTHINGNESS, but hey... I will do a deeper dive into FARPZONES to see if that is another option. As long as I can live with the FARP being present, the CLONEZONE works great to populate the other units and helos.

I guess I should just TRY IT, but I will ask Can CLONE ZONES be nested? - I want to build a generic FARP CLONE ZONE to spawn when a nearby base changes ownership to allow capture helos. Wanted to just build one FARP and use it as the SOURCE. - I want to also spawn AI helos on the farp with Waypoints to the nearby base, so I wanted to clone the specific helo with the waypoints separately from the FARP source. (hence nesting the HELO Cloner inside the FARP cloner,) FOR AI, I don't really need a Real FARP, but it adds a bit to the immersion and I am thinking that CLIENT Helos can use the FARP to pick up troops to capture the bases if they choose to do so instead of letting the AI do it. - I considered spawning all the necessary helos along with the SOURCE farp and using other flags (in the ME) to PUSH the AI Task to control an uncontrolled helo (or some other method) so it will fly to the right spot. I wasn't sure if providing WPs to the helos to the desired bases in the FARP CLONEZONE, which would be distant from any of the bases would still work. I would still have to set a specific flag to start off the correct helo on its way. Again I started to test this, but I thought I would ask before I went down a rabbit hole that I couldn't climb out of. Thanks!

Thanks. Slot Blocking SEEMS To work in the FOOTHOLD missions in Single Player. Not sure if it is something in dzekeb's Zone Commande.lua or some other script in that mission, but it gave me hope

Have a bunch of questions: Looking for a good way to spawn client accessible Aircraft when a base is captured. Originally was going to use Slot Blocking, (and got that working) but would like to have it work for Single as well as Multiplayer. - I placed the clients with Late Activation and was going to use one of the flags banged on a Capture event by the correct faction to spawn them. - In the baseCaptured zone, there is a "baseOwner" that should set a flag with a value corresponding to the faction that I could use, but it doesn't seem to work. In the documentation, the "baseOwner" doesn't have the usual ! after it for an output. Should it in order to have the value captured in a Flag? Or should it get a # like the ownedBy# in the Airfield zone? - I tried to use the same flag banged on capture of the base from a certain faction, but, of course, the ME itself doesn't work well on Change or Increment, and setting the flag to TRUE (assuming it started out un-initialized) will check this. - Is there anyway for DML to do the Group Activate, or do I have to use the built in ME Triggers for that? - My understanding that I cannot use CloneZones or SpawnZones for Clients, but I didn't actually try. - I realized in my testing, I forgot to SELECT ROLE to actually check if they ACTIVATED. Forgot that the clients wouldn't show up on the F10 menu without StopGap...I also noticed that I can still enter an Inactive Client, I just get the "MISSION DELAYED" message, so slot blocking looks like the best option. Do you think it might be possible down the line to institute some kind of Single Player Slot blocking?? Thanks

I don't (yet) know how to do it in DML, but I have done it in the ME Flag section, basically creating the AND condition THERE in the conditions to trigger the appropriate clone? Flag.

Finally got to do a real MP test. - Indeed there were no more Script Errors being thrown, so the tweak seems to have worked. - Not unexpectedly, there were issues when we were in a group of more than one aircraft. We were a flight of 2 and my wingman (who was number 1) was RTB and I was hanging around slinging WilliePete. Once he got far out of the zone, it wouldn't let me check in saying I was many kilometers away, when I was really well within the zone. It probably checked position of the Flight Lead. It did let me check in the first time when we were both close together. So it makes sense to stick to Single ships or have all the flight members stay together when using WilliePete. We never did try to see what happened if BOTH of us tried to mark targets once checked in, or, in fact if it would let both of us check in, or say we were already checked in.

Be advised if you have Mavericks (any flavor) loaded, this switch will not work for the FLIR. With AGM-65F it will only change FOV on the Maverick Seeker. With AGM-65E, I don't think it does ANYTHING, but still doesn't operate on the FLIR Pods

James Brown might have been the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, but @cfrag seems to the the Hardest Working Man in DCS Utility Modding!! Thanks for all you do and your willingness to answer our (MY!) stupid questions!! o7

Yeah, now I understand why you were looking for triggers to specify landing etc..."The AGL is less than" didn't work, coupled with an IN Zone flag? BTW, the reason I went with the actual dropping of troops was that I couldn't get a BLUE helo to LAND at a RED airbase (in order spawn units) but they were happy to fly into a Hot LZ to disembark troops, and effect the capture. Wouldn't be a problem with a ZONE but is with an Airfield. Was going to have them HeloCap a nearby ZONE and then use a flag to change ownership of the Airfield but it got messy. Maybe they land outside the perimeter and spawn troops that march in or something.

Ahhhh... I see....that explains it!! I tried Cloning 2 groups of troops with the same name, and it seemed to work, and two different helos picked them up. But once one of the groups was dropped off, the other helo did not disembark its troops (probably because a group with the same name had already disembarked/ spawned?). Maybe something else was going on..

I got it to work (at least for the initial clone) using the IDENTICAL YES flag on the CLONE Zone. How are you getting the AI to pick up the troops? When in the Mission Editor and using the EMBARK TROOPS Waypoint action for the HELO and EMBARK TO TRANSPORT WP action for the Troops, it forces the Helo to land and pick them up, so it doesnt matter if they spawn before landing because the helo has to land anyway. FYI.. (I used flags in the Mission Editor Trigger section vs. DML for the In zone flag that triggers the Cloner, but it could as well be done with the unitZone. My question about the Wild Card was not for the UNIT that triggers the spawn but for the spawned troops themselves. I think it might crash and burn if a helo came BACK to trigger more troops that had the same name as the first group...unless I wipe them once they get transported and disembarked to capture the base. DML_DynamicMission_TEST_NoNASAM.miz

@Chad Vader I had a hard time with the AI because of the built in DCS ME mechanics where you have to specify the embarking troops (no wild cards allowed that I could see) so when the Cloner spawned units, the AI helo didn't know to pick them up because their name wasn't the same. The only way I found to do it was to preposition a squad with a known name (either active or Late Activation) for the AI to pick up. Spawinng the units when the helo was in zone was the easy thing.....having the AI pick them up was the hard part. Maybe I am missing something obvious. LIke this: "alternatively, you can use a unitZone to do the "detectoring", very useful if you want to trigger only on certain units that have been cloned (unitZones allow to trigger on names, and you can tightly control how clone units are named) " Have to investigate! Seems like you can't duplicate group names, though, so it would be a One-off anyway... Investigating IDENTICAL yes now...

So, you are suggesting that rather than actually registering dropped supplies, we use some sort of trigger to SPAWN them when the appropriate aircraft is in the vicinity and does the appropriate action?

@cfrag Question: Is there any way DML currently can handle some additional logistics operations like Airdrops out of C130's? - cargo or units that will persist or at least register when hitting the ground, This is enabled in some of the FOOTHOLD missions by some additional scripting, and maybe CTLD also has some of this capability. I am trying to use DML to put together some FOOTHOLD-like missions. Your Integrated War-Pushback is a good model to follow, but I am interested in adding Bases along with zones and pre-positioning CLIENT spawns with SLOTBLOCKERs so they are available when bases are captured. Still in the learning phases, but the airdrop mechanic was a really cool alternative to having to fly a helo long distances to drop troops in a ZONE without an airfield. I have a long way to go, just sussing out possibilities!

Is ownAll naturally persistent, or do you need to add the FLAGS to the persistence table? So that, for example upon restarting the mission, you might get a recap of who owns what?

It also usually shows up in the DCS.LOG on the weapon arming section. That's where I found the FFAR M156 WP (Harrier) Also, PLEASE don't change anything, but I read something in the Razbam forum to the effect that of the BDU-Series bombs, only the BDU-33 actually creates smoke. The others are just inert warheads otherwise mimicking the ballistics of the other weapons. I really like having BDU_45/50LGB for precision marks. Currently the BDU_50LGB does not seem to follow the laser (at least in the F-15E). Hornet only carries the -45 which works well. After all, distant Artillery is not going to actually SEE the WP mark for targeting, and the FAC transmits the MGRS coords to the artillery (or DML does) at the position of the mark... so the WP is sort of an atmospheric thing. Usually WP would have been used for attackers with a visual on the smoke. It's a shame the OV-10 mod doesn't have a radio, so we cannot use the quintessential FAC to mark targets with WP rockets.

Thanks!! Might be awhile before I can try again in MP (Thursday is our next scheduled session). Note that I did test in SINGLE PLAYER, but, of course, since all of the GROUP were composed of CLIENTS, only a single aircraft actually spawned when I flew it. So it wasn't quite the same test. I will try putting some AI wingmen in the group and trying it in Single Player. - WilliePete (even the older module) doesn't seem to care if a CLIENT or PLAYER has AI Wingmen. Doesn't even flag it in the starting warnings. Makes sense since it is a human interaction. Guess I have to grab a friend and retest in MP. I was thinking of just adding some Single Aircraft groups and calling them -FAC for use in calling in Artillery if it isn't resolvable through scripting.

Another question in my continuing WilliePete saga. Pretty sure I know the answer, but wanted to check to be sure there is nothing else going on. Last night we flew an MP Willie Pete enabled mission. I was conscious of the warning that So just wondering if THIS was one of the unpredictable results. I was the client, and the Host and I were in a multi-aircraft group. I successfully called in Arty with WillePete in several zones, but the host kept getting this script error: Yeah, my bad again for using Do Script File instead of Do Script, but I am 99.9% sure this refers to the WilliePete.lua since the line referenced is useing 'theGroup' in a function: I took the chance and I guess FA and FO, but just wanted to be sure that the script error was indeed coming from the used of multi aircraft groups. Got all the warnings up front about all the GROUPS that WilliePete saw on startup (and subsequently suppressed those messages). Aside from the host having to acknowledge and click through numerous script errors like the one above, everything ran well.

The workaround of grabbing another aircraft first and letting it spawn in before taking an F-15E does work.....most of the time. I haven't tried your Spectator, CTRL-F11 workaround yet. But maybe tonight.

@Floydii Thanks for this. Only thing I can add to complicate matters is that MY crashes happen in MT as well (in VR)

Based on the LOG file when I shot one, I believe it is: FFAR M156 WP

@cfrag Not a big deal at all, but I was messing around with WilliePete and indeed the supported munitions in the manual are correct. However, I noticed the Harrier can also carry FFAR 2.75" M156 WP in addition to the Hydra M156 that are supported. Is it possible to add this as a supported type for WilliePete? I only ask because others might tear their hair out like I did when the Arty doesn't recognize the smoke. Finally turned VERBOSE on and saw the message that it didn't think it was a Willie Pete munition. I think the FFAR are OLDER models which were superseded by the HYDRA. Normally I pick the HYDRAS in all cases but I guess I didn't for my WilliePete testing

@DD_Friar I don't pretend to be @cfrag, but I did get the UH-60L (and the OV-10 Bronco) working with HeloTroops. I hope I understood your question. Just added them to the allowed types in the troopCarriers setting of the heloTroopsConfig zone along with other allowable helos. I started with the Demo mission as a base and modified for testing. Got everything working. I meant to also try the ALL or ANY configuration to see if the UH-60L got added, but I didn't get to it yet. NOTE: as it says in the manual, The module installs an “Airlift Troops…” command into a player’s Communication→F10 Other… menu to allow them to load, unload, and set troop transport preferences.. Don't use the DCS built in AIRBORNE TROOPS menu at the top level. Look at the demo - Helo trooper.miz to see how he setup the spawn zones for troops. I basically just added the UH-60L and Bronco to that mission and made the edits to troopCarriers and everything worked. My module loading (actually @cfrag's from his demo mission) is:

I can see that this wouldn't be an issue when there was ONE cloner, and the cloned units took on the ownership of the base, but this would be a GENERAL issue whenever a Cloner has ground units spawning specifically of the opposite faction. Interesting! LOL I was a purist and wanted RED specific units for RED and BLUE specific units for BLUE, hence the complications. But it is odd that it doesn't happen with 1.0.0 of the airfield.lua? Originally I didn't have the NASAM's in there, but after I solved the script errors with 2.0.0 by putting version 1.0.0 in, I put them in, and then made a new problem when you updated the airfield.lua. Too many variables!! IT works just as you expected when the SOURCE of the NASAMS is off the base. Thanks again. At least I helped you find some bugs