TEMPEST.114

I think the better analogy would be MySpace. Perhaps instead of the business model being 'announce new stuff and get pre-orders' there needs to a break from new stuff, and fix/improve/replace/repair the core sim, technologies and already 'out in the wild' modules. Surely with a more stable and better functioning and feature laden base, it will make focusing on the 'new' stuff much easier and quicker. And on a personal note, stop neglecting the mission editor and the scripting environment; most of what 'customers' complain about is the lack of content in the DCS Sandbox; that is significantly hampered by 25 year old tools and design approaches. Just my 2p.

LOL /facepalm Nice catch!

Good thinking Batman! I’ll try it!

Show off!

env.mission has the following: -- date : table : The date the mission takes place at with Year, Month, and Day entries -- descriptionText : string : Mission briefing defined under the "Situation" page on the briefing panel -- descriptionBlueTask : string : Blue coalition task defined on the briefing panel -- descriptionNeutralsTask: string : Neutral coalition task defined on the briefing panel -- descriptionRedTask : string : Red coalition task defined on the briefing panel -- drawings : table : Table containing information on any drawing placed in the editor. -- pictureFileNameN : table : Neutral coalition briefing images -- pictureFileNameB : table : Blue coalition briefing images -- pictureFileNameR : table : Red coalition briefing images -- result : table : Conditions and actions defined by mission goals in the editor to decide if a mission is "won" -- start_time : number : Time in seconds since midnight for the date set when the mission starts -- sortie : string : Name of the mission as defined in the briefing panel. -- theatre : string : Name of the map the mission takes place on Almost everything in this list is able to be accessed through lua/scripting Engine, but for these three: pictureFileNameN pictureFileNameB pictureFileNameR Instead of getting the actual picture image (found in l10n/DEFAULT/<imageName>.<extension>), what is returned is an obfuscated 'ResKey' for it. Because there is no way to use the 'ResKey' in it's place, it means that for these three items only, they are hidden from the scripting environment (and I can't see a good reason why). There is no equivalent 'getValueByKey' for objects in the mapResource file. Could these be 'un-obfuscated' or could an additional command be added to retrieve the actual file url from the 'ResKey' Thanks

Unfortunately not, no. It starts too early. And things in the mission haven't 'started' yet, lol. Thanks for replying though.

Hi. I hope I don't seem like I'm pestering, but do you know/think a fix will be present in the next DCS update? I only ask as it's kind of blocking my entire Superscript at the moment. Thanks.

Okay, instead of flaring, which is not a done thing in this case afaik, why don’t you play a sound of them talking to the players and then add an f10 menu option of the player talking back and taking over escort; that’s how I’ve done this.

I haven't heard of that one - it's amazing. Thanks for the tip!

If anyone picks 'do not use any mods' would you mind leaving a comment as to why? Is it the size of the files that you'd need to share to players? Is it that you don't know who your players are so you can't get them to ensure they have the mods before joining your public server? Is it that you don't see any value in the content of the mods or something else? Thanks!

Have you uninstalled a mod that was in the mission previously?

This is spectacular info and a learning moment. Thank you so much!

This is why using OvGME or Open Mod Manager should always be used for mods - 'cause when something like this happens how are you going to find and remove that file without borking your entire saved games/dcs folder??

What is it specifically that you're trying to do to drive the mission forward that you need a flare? Maybe there's another way to come at this problem? If you mean 'dropping flares' to spoof an IR missile, then you could do this, but again, it's a bit of work. You could **maybe** spawn a missile with it's target of your AI unit and *hope* that the AI unit drops flares when you want them to and then destroy the missile BEFORE it gets to the AI unit - you'd have an explosion from the missile in-air - there's nothing you could do about that. I say maybe as I've never done it and I'm not entirely sure it's even possible, but with some uber lau skills it **might** be possible. Is that what you mean?

Just an FYI but I've edited the original post as I've identified other problems with the polygon tool and grabbing - not just complex polys but ovals, rects etc.

It's 'flare' not 'flair'. AFAIK they don't all (yet) use the full flight model; they're very simplified but I think this is changing at some point; some are already using the full flight model I believe. However, they are still AI units and don't really 'fly' properly. So there's nothing you can do about it. You **could** write a quite complicated script to change AOA based on altitude but a) it wouldn't be easy b) it certainly wouldn't be worth it and c) it probably would need to be tweaked for every airport on every map. I don't really see what the problem is that you're trying to solve here. Do you want to explain more?

That's really cool info; thanks! So just to clarify, at some point off the coastline is the 100m seabed, and from the coastline to that seabed it's a linear gradient down, and there's no way to know that info from the mission editor? And if the Santa Fe should get into both, but you can clear see it's not getting into Batumi, then what's the problem with that? Is it that the gradient is too shallow there? And how, using 3rd party mods for giant oil tankers etc, are they able to get right up to the quayside but none of the default ships can get anywhere near? I'm not contradicting your information, I'm just still confused.

So, I have a workaround. I didn't have to rely on polling or the net singleton stuff... but my Superscript has a Player Manager script and through a little bit of cunning I was able to utilise that and the way that DCS works with / without events to make it work. I know it won't happen, but damn I wish MP had all the same events as SP...

I've spent the last 18 months learning lua and the scripting engine/dcs to build a superscript, designed for mission creators and campaign creators. I think we can all agree that DCS is SEVERELY lacking in Civilian Aircraft/Animated civilian humans/Ships and other assets, but civilian aircraft primarily. There are some truly amazing modders out there making amazing work for free that really enhance the kind of missions DCS can run. Here are my favourites in no order: Military Aircraft Mod Civilian Aircraft Mod CJS SuperBug AI Tanker Civilian Objects, Ships, Vehicles and Farms Mod Infantry Unit - Animated Pilot Mod My question is how many of you use these mods, or others to enhance your missions?

Odd then that 3rd party mod ships work fine, but okay... kinda breaks my script but I guess it's not going to be fixed anytime soon. Do you think if I found a fix by changing some lua in the DCS World core game folder, you might consider rolling that into an update?

If you use the Civilian Assets Pack - Nautical (https://forum.dcs.world/topic/270558-civilian-objects-and-vehicles/) then those will go into the ports no problem; which as I mentioned leads me to think that the description.lua or equivalent that is used for the default civilian ships in the game, is set incorrectly. Should be a trivial fix, but as it's in the CORE files, it needs to come from ED.

Have you tried immediately pushing a new task the second you get the landing event, with the new task of flying to a downwind position and the next waypoint being landing again?

Below are just a few examples that it's impossible to put ships in ports/docks (shown is the CLOSEST the mission editor will allow them to go to the nearby port) - probably because the description.lua has the wrong depth limit in it, or because the water depth on the map is incorrect. You have this problem with most maps that have ports. The reason I think it's a lua issue is that 3rd party mod ships don't have this problem with the same maps.

In order to quickly find ports on the map, the mission creator shouldn't have to scour the map and write down lat/longs for them. The maps that have ports detailed and modelled should have them marked and selectable and the mission editor should have a layer showing all the 'modelled ports'. The scripting engine should also be able to grab a list of ports and get data about them. i.e. max size of ship, number of berths etc.

Don't know when this happened, but I think it's very recent, but the event is no longer firing for either player aircraft skill level set to PLAYER or set to CLIENT. Attached are two missions using the same script (one for Single Player one for CLIENT/MP) If you look at the dcs.log you'll see that the event never fires. SinglePlayerSpawn.mizClientPlayerSpawn.miz Here's the script, it's loaded in each mission file by the DO SCRIPT command: MSB = { ["Version"] = "1.0.0" } function MSB:onEvent(event) env.info("MSB:onEvent Handler ENTERED", false) if event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_SHOT then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_SHOT *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_HIT then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_HIT *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_TAKEOFF then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: *******************************", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_TAKEOFF *******", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: *******************************", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_LAND then -- TODO env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ****************************", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_LAND *******", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ****************************", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_CRASH then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_CRASH *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_EJECTION then -- TODO env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ********************************", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_EJECTION *******", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ********************************", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_REFUELING then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_REFUELING *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_DEAD then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ****************************", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_DEAD *******", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ****************************", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_PILOT_DEAD then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: **********************************", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_PILOT_DEAD *******", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: **********************************", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_BASE_CAPTURED then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_BASE_CAPTURED *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_MISSION_START then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: *************************************", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_MISSION_START *******", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: *************************************", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_MISSION_END then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_MISSION_END *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_TOOK_CONTROL then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_TOOK_CONTROL *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_REFUELING_STOP then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_REFUELING_STOP *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_BIRTH then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: *****************************", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_BIRTH *******", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: *****************************", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_HUMAN_FAILURE then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_HUMAN_FAILURE *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_DETAILED_FAILURE then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_DETAILED_FAILURE *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_ENGINE_STARTUP then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_ENGINE_STARTUP *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_ENGINE_SHUTDOWN then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_ENGINE_SHUTDOWN *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_PLAYER_ENTER_UNIT then -- DOESN'T WORK FOR MP AND 'NEVER WILL' /FFS env.info("MSB/OnEvent: *****************************************", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_PLAYER_ENTER_UNIT *******", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: *****************************************", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_PLAYER_LEAVE_UNIT then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_PLAYER_LEAVE_UNIT *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_PLAYER_COMMENT then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_PLAYER_COMMENT *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_SHOOTING_START then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: **************************************", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_SHOOTING_START *******", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: **************************************", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_SHOOTING_END then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_SHOOTING_END *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_MARK_ADDED then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_MARK_ADDED *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_MARK_CHANGE then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_MARK_CHANGE *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_MARK_REMOVED then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_MARK_REMOVED *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_KILL then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_KILL *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_SCORE then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_SCORE *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_UNIT_LOST then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_UNIT_LOST *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_LANDING_AFTER_EJECTION then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_LANDING_AFTER_EJECTION *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_PARATROOPER_LENDING then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_PARATROOPER_LENDING *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_DISCARD_CHAIR_AFTER_EJECTION then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_DISCARD_CHAIR_AFTER_EJECTION *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_WEAPON_ADD then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_WEAPON_ADD *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_TRIGGER_ZONE then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: *****************************************", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******** S_EVENT_TRIGGER_ZONE *******", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: *** S_EVENT_TRIGGER_ZONE ***", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******** S_EVENT_TRIGGER_ZONE *******", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: *****************************************", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_LANDING_QUALITY_MARK then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_LANDING_QUALITY_MARK *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_BDA then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_BDA *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_AI_ABORT_MISSION then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_AI_ABORT_MISSION *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_DAYNIGHT then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_DAYNIGHT *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_FLIGHT_TIME then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_FLIGHT_TIME *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_PLAYER_SELF_KILL_PILOT then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_PLAYER_SELF_KILL_PILOT *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_PLAYER_CAPTURE_AIRFIELD then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_PLAYER_CAPTURE_AIRFIELD *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_EMERGENCY_LANDING then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_EMERGENCY_LANDING *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_UNIT_CREATE_TASK then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_UNIT_CREATE_TASK *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_UNIT_DELETE_TASK then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_UNIT_DELETE_TASK *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_SIMULATION_START then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ****************************************", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_SIMULATION_START *******", false) env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ****************************************", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_WEAPON_REARM then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_WEAPON_REARM *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_WEAPON_DROP then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_WEAPON_DROP *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_UNIT_TASK_TIMEOUT then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_UNIT_TASK_TIMEOUT *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_UNIT_TASK_STAGE then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_UNIT_TASK_STAGE *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_MAC_SUBTASK_SCORE then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_MAC_SUBTASK_SCORE *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_MISSION_RESTART then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_MISSION_RESTART *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_MISSION_WINNER then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_MISSION_WINNER *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_POSTPONED_TAKEOFF then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_POSTPONED_TAKEOFF *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_POSTPONED_LAND then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_POSTPONED_LAND *******", false) elseif event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_MAX then env.info("MSB/OnEvent: ******* S_EVENT_MAX *******", false) end end function MSB.Initialise() world.addEventHandler(MSB) env.info("MSB LOADED", false) end MSB.Initialise()