609_Relentov

I wish one of them was to remove the ability of AI armoured units to see through forests (like I can't) and pick my armoured vehicle off! That and for the lowest experience setting for AI units (average) to actually miss once in a while when they start shooting at me! These are IMO two of the biggest CA game play negatives to me... Here's hoping!

Thanks for taking the time DF.

It does, but apparently it casts the number to a string, as it worked fine having an unquoted number as that parameter.

Doh! Never mind, I just looked at the Hoggit DCS Wiki and realized I used the wrong object: It should be trigger.action.setUserFlag() not trigger.misc.setUserFlag() like getUserFlag is... (EDIT - thanks HiJack, you beat me to my self-correction :). I didn't originally notice the subtle difference as I just copy/pasted/modified trigger.misc.getUserFlag from another section - it works fine now...)

Thanks DF, I look forward to your test results. Interesting SNAFU, thanks.

I'm having an issue with a small script statement - basically I have an infantry group that moves a short route, then I add a "Perform Command --> Run Script" on the last waypoint. I simply want a flag to be set to true: trigger.misc.setUserFlag(19, true) However, when I run the mission and the group moves to the last waypoint, I get the following error and DCS freezes until I click "OK": [string "trigger.misc.setUserFlag(19,1)"]:1: attempt to call field 'setUserFlag' (a nil value) stack traceback: [C]: in function 'setUserFlag' [string "trigger.misc.setUserFlag(19,1)"]:1: in main chunk I'm trying to understand what object/data type is nil... I'm used to Java where you typically have to instantiate an object and call a method of that object, but this is unclear. Any Lua experts have any tips for getting past this? Thanks! Relent

Thanks Winston, I'll try again to confirm in my case that the centerline tank is jettisoned first - I hadn't noticed that so if it works that way it's manageable then...

Thanks WC - I think you uncovered the issue (I guess I didn't search enough on the random issue). I noticed that my low random percent trigger was always happening, but it didn't click that sometimes it took longer - doh!. So even using a random by itself it won't work as you suspect if you use it as a ONCE type (as if it's false it keeps evaluating), you need to use it as a MISSION START type for it to truly evaluate the randomness only one time. I'll make the adjustments and see how the mission plays out. Thanks! Relent

Thanks WC - so the hit is there, but only at mission load time. As DF stated above, it still is likely only a small amount of memory overhead relative to the amount of RAM used just to load DCS.

Thanks WC - this was with a ONCE type, which is why I was puzzled. I'll do some more testing to see if I've missed something.

One more thing I've noticed with trigger conditions is combining RANDOM() with anything else. So far in my tests if you combine a RANDOM() with another condition (i.e. two adjacent rows) such as TIME MORE(), the condition seems to act like an OR. I used RANDOM(1) (i.e. 1%) and the trigger was always being set. Apparently you can only use a RANDOM() by itself or the random part doesn't work right - has anyone else had this happen as well?

That was quick, thanks DarkFire. I tried to test by examining the task manager while loading missions with varying numbers of late activation objects, but it was inconclusive - probably need a better way of measuring. The obvious (to me :) ) benefit is to create a fairly beefy template mission with all of the airfields set up with everything (SAMs, AAA, maintenance vehicles, etc.) except maybe the Client-flyable aircraft and statics (I don't think you can late-activate a static) - then just use a series of flags to activate the preferred airfield objects at mission start - a big time saver! In any case, I look forward to your tests... Thanks, Relent

If a mission is created with a lot of late activation objects vs objects that are activated at mission start, is the memory already allocated for all of the late activation objects when the mission is loaded, or is the memory dynamically allocated as they activate? I ask only because I'm trying to use a template mission that has - for example - AAA/SAM units at many airfields, but some are late activation (depends on certain flags, etc.) and may never get activated. If adding all of these late activation objects that may never be used during a given mission is still forcing the memory hit, then I may take them out and abandon the template mission idea (for multiple missions in a campaign, for example). Thanks...

Thanks - I had used the load mission and it worked OK, but I didn't want to force a new mission reload if the End Mission worked as I thought it would. I wonder if this will be fixed (if it's a bug), or if was really just meant for SP. Thanks again. Relent

According to the DCS UG: END MISSION. If you wish to have the mission end according one or more specified conditions being set to true, you can use this action. This can be a handy action to end a mission after all mission objectives have been met. In the text box, you can also enter text that will appear when one side has won the mission. I've tried using the "End Mission" command in the ME (triggers) to end an MP mission but it doesn't seem to work. Is this only for SP missions? One note, I'm not using mission goals functionality - is this a requirement? Thanks, Relent

Cool thanks I'll give them a look - there's always room to learn more :)...

Thanks Feefi, so if this is the pattern it appears all of the adjacent AND conditions are grouped together as if they are in parentheses. I'll try it out thanks again.

I understand that if you put multiple triggers (i.e. rows) in the ME, they are treated as AND conditions. Also, if you put an OR in between two triggers, they will be treated as OR conditions. What if you mix and match - is there any way to group OR'd triggers and then AND them with another? I supposed I can test this, but I figured someone has tried this. For example: Goal: Condition-1 AND (Condition-2 OR Condition-3) Will this grouping occur in the ME if I do this?: Condition-1 Condition-2 OR Condition-3 If not, is the only way to do this to use an LUA PREDICATE trigger and do it via Lua code? Thanks, Relent

Thanks for the suggestions Xcom - so it seems tables are used for everything data-wise with DCS/Lua scripting. These look like hash tables - ill try these suggestions and see how far I get.. Thanks again! Relent

I've been trying to get a feel for Lua scripting in DCS, but I think I'm still a ways off. I'm trying to start small, then go from there - in this case what if I want to save the value of a set of flags from one mission and use them in a subsequent mission? Do I need to use Lua tables for that? Or can I just save flags/variables? Basically here's the scenario: MP Mission one - a small set of objectives are either met or not met; lets say 3 flags representing objectives achieved/failed are individually either 1 (true) or 0 (false). I'd like to save the state of those flags in a file (e.g. using io.open(..) for writing, then write/close the file, etc.). MP Mission two - Read the file saved from mission one (e.g. using io.input(..), etc.) - based on the flag values, spawn specific groups of units to make the campaign flow semi-dynamic. At the end of MP mission two, write out another file, etc. What's the best way to script this? At this point, any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks! Relent

Hey Ranger79 - thanks for the videos. I'm fairly proficient with the ME but I've watched a few of them as I figured I might pick up a tip or two, which I have. I just finished your #6 video - I like your twisted sense of humor :). Oh, BTW, you could have also just put one CAP Trigger right between the two hangars and that would have caught them regardless of if they went west or east on the taxi way :). Are you going to add any more videos for some basic Lua scripting? That's something I'm trying to read up on now, but haven't quite wrapped my head around the best way to do things just yet. Thanks again. Relent

Ah, ok, I hadn't thought about the number of mission goals. I had some extra ones that weren't being met (and we're putting the total score points well over 100) so I may not have been doing it right. I'll review and do some more tests, thanks Reaper.

Reaper6 - I'll have to read the docs more, but what does "Results" represent? Did you set up mission goals to asign score points to a coalition or just offline? I'm assigning score points to a coalition for multiplayer, but I'll check offline as well to see if that works for me. Thanks

Thanks HiJack, I've done that too with success as well. The nice thing about using scores (if it worked right) is that say you have a bunch of groups that each give a side so many points - you don't have to keep track of which groups were destroyed to set a flag for each and then check the flags. You could accumulate points based on X out of Y groups destroyed so that (for example) once 5 out of the available 10 groups were destroyed, you had enough points for success - but it didn't matter which of the 5 you destroyed. In any case, I'm wondering if anyone else has had success with using Mission Goals to accumulate score points correctly to determine a success/failure outcome. Thanks

Hmm, I wondered about that, but unlike other FC3 aircraft, the A-10A doesn't show a Jettison Fuel Tanks key mapping in the options>controls screen (at least not for me). Strangely enough, in the default.lua script under ..\Mods\aircraft\Flaming Cliffs\Input\a-10a\keyboard I see the following in the "-- Systems" section: {combos = {{key = 'R', reformers = {'LAlt'}}}, down = iCommandPlaneJettisonFuelTanks, name = _('Jettison Fuel Tanks'), category = _('Systems')}, but apparently it doesn't work with the A-10A (for me) - does it show up in anyone else's options>controls screen? Thanks