[HOUNDS] CptTrips

That's what I been doing. If it's one or two objects I can live with that, but it is a huge burden when trying to manipulate complex collections. One really annoying thing I've run into, you can click in the unit icon and still get a deselect. It seems you often have to click in the exact center of the icon to ensure reliable success. Sometimes you do carefully click into the icon rectangle, and then you still lose everything. It's very frustrating to click in the icon and still lose 20 items you had painstakingly selected. Even if it just didn't get that item it would be bearable, but to lose everything else? I'm wondering if you need to not show the icon and make sure you are clicking on the actual item model. But if icons are being displayed, clicking anywhere in the rectangular area of that icon should be a successful select. Maybe it is more of a problem for models noticeably smaller than the icon. I'll experiment more with it. Regardless, not to be too dismissive , it can make for a very frustrating user experience to have to fight so hard trying to so something so simple.

I might be wrong, It could take 16min. Relax. Hyperbole aside, my point isn't to be dismissive, but to express confusion. But you can't tell me that for a team that can produce the Apache-64, that adding a simple box/region select to the editor in the 11 years of posts I've seen it begged for is an insurmountable task. It's pretty much a standard feature any editor should have and can't be that difficult. I get AI is hard, you'd have to explain to me why a box select couldn't be accomplished in a decade. What exactly is it that makes that a harder problem than I am assuming?

I cannot for the life of me fathom how an editor for a commercial product, in this day and age, not have such a basic and fundamental tool such as box/region select. If you have something like the measuring tool, you are 90% of the way there. I spent a day googling assuming I was just missing it somehow before I came to the shocking realization that it just didn't exist. An 8yo script-kiddie could write that for them in 15 min if they had access to the source. And worse, in searching I saw posts of people complaining about it's lack for a decade. I wish they would open source the editor so people with coding experience could make improvements themselves. A powerful editor is a massive force multiplier for DCS to unleash armies of content creators. They then could focus on internal issues like better AI.

As an example of a test I just ran. In static objects/warehouses there is a Tank 1, Tank 2, and Tank 3. Tank 1 is a one hit hellfire kill. Tank 2 and 3 are invulnerable. They are in the same category and sub-category. It makes things confusing and unpredictable. $0.02.

But they will quite easily take out a concrete block outpost building? But not an Oil Pump Station?

I was just about to post the same thing for Syria. I was trying to destroy pump stations and static chemical tank A. I heard of some hacks around the issue, but it would be nice to make those destructible. If outposts are destructible, it seems like oil pump stations should be. I could understand build in terrain buildings and features not being destructable (but it would be nice). I can understand static objects not being destructable by default to save on collision tests. But it would be nice for all placeable objects have an option to check to make them destructable. $0.02.

Heh. That visor would be nice. I catch myself just looking straight up into a hopefully clear blue sky for the back ground. Also, I use TrackIr and there is a spot I can look up and right and center my TrackIr, then when I turn forward again the view is point down and left with the kevlar side protector as my background. When I'm done jsut tap center again and I'm looking forward. Or look down at the empty seat cushion. I've also gotten good at just removing the IHADD and just putting what I want into my center of view and slave and generally gets close enough to put it in somewhere in view on TADS wide field. But I've also just gotten more used to it and the brain eventually learns to untangle it.

Thanks guys. I will give that a try.

Could you guide us through that so I can fix the version i have downloaded locally? Until a patched version. Thanks in advance.

Awesome. Thank you. Great stuff and I have a long list of your mission editor videos I'V saved and am going through. That's how I saw the ground crew stuff. Do you have anywhere you are listing all the current links to your other mods? What are your thought on our conversation above about a registry for great mods hosted outside of ED User Files? Would you be ok with me mirroring a download for the NatoGF from my website? Cheers, CptTrips

That would be a good idea. Github gives you 1 gb free.

Right. I would never mirror without the author permission. I have 10 gb on my hobby site. I don't need near that. I could donate 4gb to mod hosting easy for the one I use where the author doesn't mind. And I don't really need to, as long as someone is hosting it somewhere reliably and if they will just tell me when they have to move it and I will keep the links updated to the current. The only reason I would offer for the ones I use it to make sure the link I need for my mission never goes dead and I can't find the correct one again.

Well this is just a hobby site for me so I wouldn't want to hassle with money. Free storage is everywhere these days. Google Drive, MS One Drive, Dropbox, etc. Gigs free storage of storage are throw around everywhere. I would be amazed if storage space is the main issue, or at least that can be easily remedied. I think it's more of a matter of link rotting. I'm sure it's available for download somewhere I just haven't found the working link and all the dead links are still lying around to be found by Google when I try to search. Just having a place to find the correct link would be gold. I'll try the idea on SUNTSAG and see his reaction. <S>

I was thinking this morning...(I know, always dangerous.) I'm building a hobby website (http://helo-ops.net/). Not much there yet as I am just getting started on it. Got some study aids for the Apache and that's about it. I plan to pick up mission building as well, eventually (After I get over the initial Apache learning hump ;)). I was thinking of maybe setting up a registry for "Mods in the Wild". A database of known great mods out in the interverse not hosted at ED files. Screenshots, descriptions, and a link to their last known storage location. As the hosting changes over time we can update that link so mission builders have a place to find stuff reliably and mod authors have better discoverability. I can't host the storage for all of them, but I could for those I intend to use directly in my missions. Others can just have the last known download link external to that website. Hopefully they could be kept current. Authors can contact me directly to get added or mission builder can let me know about great mods available they know about. Thoughts? <S>

Ah. That makes sense then. I'd be glad to host it for him on my website if that's an issue. I wonder if you can insert a readme with screenshots into the ED files repos for discoverability that just documents the link to the actual large file somewhere. ED files is the first place people go to look for stuff so that could be the initial bread crumb. If you ever have to move it to different hosting, you just update the link in the readme in ED files so that always points to the current place to go find it or the current version. Sorry, his stuff just looks so dang cool I spent a day trying to scour the internet for it. <S>

Thanks. I PM'd him waiting on a reply. Kinda curious on why not just put it in the DCS files repository. I've tried to download several of his and other peoples stuff and it's always dead links. Then a later post, "No, use this link now." Dead. "OK, here is the latest link." Dead. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it is frustrating for someone trying to use something someone put out to be used that looks so cool, but 5 different links to it are all dead unless you were there in 2017. Seems like a central reliable official repository with the one latest golden copy would be the way to go. <shrug> Unless there is some kind of copyright issue.

I may be stupid, but I can't for the life of me find a working link for these NATO ground personnel. Doesn't anyone have one? Thanks.

Thanks. Not much there yet. Just a hobby site. I'm just starting work on it: 1. To celebrate my new found interest in Helo's. 2. To learn/practice new web technology I'm trying to learn MS Blazor. I've been mainly a desktop programmer. <S>

Thanks for the offer. When I get ready to do that I'll ping you. Yeah, I'll be staying with Helo's more than likely, so guys like you would have to handle fixed wing. I'll have to wait until I get time to recode that. Maybe later this summer. <S>

Thanks. I still have more to do on the Apache. Depending on how useful it proves, next would probably be the Kiowa. For me personally, at least the cockpit and flight mpd page, and symbology stuff is useful. Everytime I think I have it nailed, I redo it and end up going...hmmm what was that one again? I'm looking at the quickstart manual and wondering if there is a useful way of quizifying those workflow steps at the end. This was really a sloppy quick and dirty hack just to play with and use for the Apache. It turned out to be a bit of a tedious process that I was cussing to myself to not have designed it better. Someday what I should do is just write a page where a subject matter expert could upload their own graphic and question/answer pairs and I put it in a database and programmatically generate the quiz page. The other users could upload their own quizzes with no further work on my part other than reviewing the content to protect against griefers before flipping a switch to make that quiz live. Maybe someday.

HI guys. To help myself get up to speed for Apache, I made myself some study aid quizzes to drill info from the -10 manual. Just so I can get the cockpits and symbology uploaded into my brain to be better ready to work on skills once I get the aircraft in my hands. It might be useful for other noobs like me. Hope it helps some: http://helo-ops.net/StudyAids <S>