Wrecking Crew

My opinions come from 5 years of running the open multiplayer Hollo Pointe server. In my experience, multiplayer Clients do not like random failures or bird strikes (especially after a Cold Start in an A-10C). Folks also tend to not fly nighttime missions, and missions that have greatly reduced visibility due to rain and snow. I do like these challenging scenarios, and they are certainly best when flying together with people you know and who are on TS together. I use Dynamic Weather to break up the deluge; I think Dynamic Weather works fine and have used it for years. Frame rate hits due to Dynamic Weather, explosions, smoke and proximity to large a/c such as C-130s are no longer a problem, IMO. For multiplayer missions, I think everything needs to be in the mission itself -- ie, no external support documents; not that those aren't nice, but for an open server people will join and exit randomly and they will not have the resources to the supporting files. For the briefing, there is the summary section for the overall mission scenario, the Red Task section, and the Blue Task section. You have three images for each side Red and Blue that you can add to the briefing, and these are what should be relied upon to give any visuals to support the mission objectives. The Summary section in my missions always lead with the mission name, type of Client a/c and Combined Arms slots, the allowed views, COOP vs H2H, Labels if Optional, and the mission start time and date (so folks can determine how long a mission has been running before they join. This ^^^ summary info should be at the beginning so that it shows in the Multiplayer lobby when the server is selected. Examples of Summary top: Thunder Of Kojori A-10A/C, Ka-50, UH-1H, F-15C, Combined Arms F10 Fog Of War, COOP Air, Summer Morning 0600 07JUN Back Of The Hand All Blue COOP A-10C, Su-25/T F10 Fog Of War, Labels Optional, 0600 9SEP The Task sections should clearly state what the Win requires for each side. You don't need a Red Task if there are no Red Clients. Keep this Task info short and to the point -- you don't want folks skimming a long Task section and getting glazed-over eyeballs. At the end of the Blue Task description, I add a Designer's Notes section for any text that you may want to add. In this section I will put credits, and a sentence that asks that folks do not modify or host the mission if that's what I want, or to state that the mission is free for modification and hosting on other servers -- up to the designer about this, not trying to make controversy here, just saying what I do. "Please do not modify or publicly host this mission without written permission from Wrecking Crew." I will also put in a line about the TS server that I'm associated with. --- Every 23 minutes a message is broadcast to all to state the mission name and Red & Blue objectives. I have started to use Do Script File and flags in this text to show the current state of the mission, such as what objectives are damaged or destroyed. See the attachment for an example; it's a lot of text and a bit distracting so I'm thinking of how to improve this new feature. The mission needs to keep the players informed as to what objectives are met and what is left. This can be done in the repeating message I described above, or in separate messages at shorter intervals than 23 minutes. I get that some folks don't want text splashed onto the screen, but the Clients need to know what is left to do in the mission. When an objective is hit or killed I will broadcast an immediate message about that. Messages are set to display for 20 seconds. If there is a follow-on message then that comes 25 seconds later and is displayed for 20 seconds. Let's say there are two objectives and the first one is met. The folks know this because a repeating message is broadcast at some interval -- every 5-12 minutes or whatever you think is right (23 minute intervals is a bit long for this information) -- telling them that objective 1 is met and that objective 2 needs attention. Then objective 2 is killed and a 20 second message to all is broadcast to state that, followed 25 seconds later with a 20 second message that all objectives are met. Also needed are messages to inform if the other side has made significant progress toward winning for their side, and if they did win. Whether you broadcast to all or coalition, etc., is totally up to you. Then there is a countdown to the mission end, usually 5 minutes sometimes 15, with a message every minute or so until the mission reloads. This is a good time to taunt the losers! I started putting in a Radio Menu choice to delay the reload by ~20 minutes if any player wants to keep flying the mission for a bit to attack more targets, or to RTB. I have included Radio Menu items to let a player select a different mission at the end, but that is a lot of maintenance whenever a mission is modified or there is a DCSW version update. It has been a good practice to save every mission with each DCSW update to take advantage of code improvements (and new bugs :) ). In my mission filenames, I include a mission version that shows the DCSW version that the mission was last saved under: "WC's Thunder Of Kojori 1214v3g.miz" The 1214 is the DCSW version 1.2.14 and the 3g is my revision number of the mission (3h, 3i, ... 4a, ...). As with my opinion of not having external documents, I also won't require mods for my missions. Since my server is Open and folks will join and leave at any time in the mission, I won't require anyone to load a mod to support the story. The one mod I use is Slmod on the server and that is for admin reloads and banning. My server is geared for players of all levels. Sometimes Labels will be allowed, sometimes F10 All, sometimes FOW. But always turned off are easy flight, crash recovery, random fails, Unlimited & Easy this and that, whatever -- you have to tailor your mission to what you want. The FC3 pilots say to start their a/c on the ramp -- engines off Cold Start. They want this so they can effect a different loadout w/o having to shut down the jet from a Warm Start. Usually for A-10Cs I'll include Air Starts and ground starts -- both Warm and Cold. I often fly the Air Starts because by the time I've posted a mission on the server for others to enjoy, I have already spent many tens to hundreds of hours testing testing testing and I just want to go go go. The aircraft slot names should include the start type: Air, Warm or Cold (or if they are all the same you can state that in the Briefing). Slot names may also include the airfield name if there are multiple fields available to the coalition. Typically, for any one combo of a/c, airfield, starting type there will be four Client slots to accommodate a flight of four. The Briefing should list the air defense that Clients will encounter. I will get complaints if these are not mentioned -- esp. when someone goes a long way to just get nailed by a BUK or a nasty Igla. If Iglas are about I will broadcast messages about this particular threat -- while it is alive. I have gotten feedback that color-blind folks cannot distinguish between red and green, so I avoid green smoke and flares and use blue instead. Those folks may also have trouble with orange... FYI, I am suspicious of ships and have been for some time. I have some fun ship-based missions but when you fly down close to them they will often not appear! There are bug reports about this, some more than a year old. Keep arty and armor away from power transmission lines. I read a while back that these units won't fire if too close to power lines. Using regular events and triggers you can detect blue and red groups in zones. With a simple Mist script you can detect specific types of platforms, specific groups and specific units in zones and set a flag; there is a 'toggle' flag option, a required number of units option and a spherical zone option. From a Mist flag trigger you can 'latch' the condition with a second flag; the reason to latch a condition is because the Mist detection will set to True its flag every second, so you cannot use that Mist flag directly in a subsequent Time Since Flag event. Look at Page ~14 in the Mist Guide. Client aircraft waypoints that correspond to a ground location or target should be set to the altitude of the ground elevation. If the waypoint is at an intersection, a bridge, etc., give it the same altitude as the point's F10 map elevation. People will complain about waypoints up in the air. Give names to Client a/c waypoints. WC

Here is a text file on how I use flags and group naming. WC

^^^ what they said This comment is from an A-10C- & Combined Arms-centric mission designer. Balance. Start with a story. Pick a map location. Place groups. Write in to the Briefing windows to formulate your mission objectives 'on paper'. Separate Blue vs Red goals and state clearly what are the winning conditions for both sides. Make the story work with the terrain and the groups. Move locations if necessary. Think about the aircraft, but they come later. The ground game should be established first. The air stuff is the top-layer. A ground populated mission should be balanced with ground Red vs Blue before adding aircraft humans in it -- where just a slight tip one way or the other by a Tactical Commander would decide it. Or you may want to favor the attackers! And then think about the time that a mission would cover. Will it be a long term mission, lasting 12 hours or more? Or 1-2 hour, maybe 4-6 hours limited? On a mission that should be limited, how do you make that limit work and be fun, and be communicated to the players that goals must be met quickly? It is fun to get an idea for a new mission and start it in the ME. Pick a base, add some support and build the story. In my experience a mission takes about a month to get ready... Host/play the mission to test out every event trigger that impacts the outcome. Watch how ground units behave on route, and how an armor encounter can be different each time it plays out. Get some human pilots in the mission to see how they affect your mission -- and be ready to be surprised! WC PS. What makes a "Great" Mission? :joystick:

OK... Ian :-) I'm familiar with Witchcraft to be able to place objects on the map and save the results -- to get exactly what I want for placement -- kudos for Witchcraft. I have scripts in missions, and see the LUA button in Witchcraft but need an explanation of how to see my scripts execute? Can my scripts exe from within the mission, or do I have to paste the code into Witchcraft? WC

Hey bud!

Eh, Tumbleweed, Make a mission with Red and Blue *Client* aircraft that start at their own bases. Add a support vehicle group at the bases that have a truck or three and some armor and a splash of air defense -- and be sure to set the bases to the appropriate coalition. Load the a/c with TRAINING weapons. Restrict each airbase warehouse to TRAINING weapons only. Viola'. (I have never loaded up training weps on any a/c, so I don't know what you will get out of this effort...) WC

Helicopter Embarking for Blue USA Infantry does not work. This attached mission has Embark/Disembark for both Red and Blue. Red works fine -- the Mi-8 (Task = Transport) lands and the Red infantry embarks. But I'm not able to get it to work for Blue with either a UH-60A or a CH-47D (both are Transports). For the Blue settings, I can't get the Blue infantry's Advanced Waypoint Actions dialog boxes to show the Vehicle Group and the Bind To Transport values. WC

The helicopters that have embarked soldiers aboard simply land (Advanced Waypoint Action = Land) at a designated spot that is also the Disembark waypoint location for the soldiers. The helicopter will land and the soldiers get off and continue on their route. I have the helicopter landing duration set to 3 minutes for the disembark. I'm making a new mission that has Embark/Disembark for both Red and Blue. Red works fine -- the Mi-8 (Task = Transport) lands and the Red infantry embarks. But I'm not able to get it to work for Blue with either a UH-60A or a CH-47D (both are Transports). For the Blue settings, I can't get the Blue infantry's Advanced Waypoint Actions dialog boxes to show the Vehicle Group and the Bind To Transport values. The new mission is attached. WC

It works in this mission -- see the attachment. WC

Change the Continuous Action To Once. WC

It's COLOR not COLOUR. WC

Look for the Alarm State and set it to Green. WC

I attached a mission to my earlier post as an example of my flags and naming. WC

Here's my flag scheme and some other tips With this method I can look at a flag and know which coalition it belongs to, which type of platform, which group, which unit (optional) and the state. WC edit --> mission example attached

I'll add a doc ? -- where is the manual the the ME now? It used to be the "DCS GUI Manual EN.pdf" me thinks. WC

Set its tasking to CAP. WC

Sure. Make some small zones -- 100 radius or 50... Set an event to Explode and use some different volumes from 1000 - 8000 or more to get what you want. You can always Activate a small house or watchtower or mortar and explode that with a Explode Unit. Then Explode all the other zones you created and you will have yourself a good inferno. WC

Make the first AWACS and use the Advanced Waypoint Actions (AWA) to set a Racetrack Orbit between two waypoints. Make a AWA at a prior waypoint to set the Invisible attribute on to hide the AWACS from opposite side AI. Give the orbit a Stop Condition of about 4-5 hours -- I'm pretty sure it can fly at least that long. After that time elapses the AWACS should break out of its orbit and RTB. Make a Copy of this AWACS and make the copy Late Activated. Activate it with a trigger at Time More that 4-5 hours or whatever you used for the stop orbit, make this a bit earlier so the new AWACS gets on station. You should be able to give the new one the same callsign and freq. (?) You could always Deactivate the first AWACS and Activate the second one on station. You can string copies of things together in this manner. WC

Slayer, What Blooze said re the F10 map and writing down the coordinates. All ^^^ good advice here. Once you get 3 or more coordinates written down, the next time you are on the ground getting ready to go, enter all of those coordinate sets into your CDU, and give each one a good name, too. You can also make a flight path from these, and see that on the TAD. There's a neat trick for entering CDU data. Make the Space Bar a Modifier and map your QWERTY and 0-9 into your Controls with this Modifier. That way you can press and hold the Space Bar and type into your CDU using your KB. WC

You can't get that data from a ground radar. AFAIK WC

Are you making these missions on the same computer that you are serving them with? Maybe it is DCS World version related? What is the path to the mission folder on your server? Try this -- On the server, start the regular DCS World, go to the Mission editor and open one of the missions and then save it. Back out of the Mission editor and go to the Multiplayer menu choice w/o leaving DCS World, and start Multiplayer and a New Server and load the mission from the folder that you had just saved it in, test the mission again... This should insure that your mission is saved with the same version as the server you are running it on. I kind of suspect that your server is a downlevel version... WC

That is weird. Post your mission or PM me with a link and I can take a look at it, but it will have to be later this evening. I do similar things in my missions; I'd be happy to take a look at the problem. WC

Check out the Kneepad, too. The map screens in it have a capability to 'show' you where you are with little carats (^ < > ). RShft-K or RCntrl-K or some key combo will put the carat onto the Kneeboard map, and you can press that a few times to see where you are and where you are going. WC

Or, how about when you haven't seen your wife for a week. :D WC

This ^^^ is what I'm set to as well -- using a fairly large 30" monitor and don't have any problems seeing the text and outside objects. I'm running a GTX 680. WC