dmatsch

and it's a very, very old issue.

lifetime software engineer here. Had to learn many many (many) new technologies and languages in little time. 1. A core knowledge of how your chosen language operates is essential. Looping, object creation, syntax. This case, LUA. Docs and tutorials are everywhere. write a basic "hello world" outside of DCS. 2. take existing DCS scripts that work and modify them. As long as you make backups of the original, you're fine. Use Notepad ++ 3. I started with the MOOSE RAT module. There's plenty of LUA in there for you to experiment and learn, and it's fairly straightforward with plenty of working examples. 4. this forum. keep asking questions, only a jerk would berate you for being a newbie and tell you to RTFM. DML is a code-free module that's pretty powerful. It's modules are also a great place to play around and modify. TLDR: There's no "easy way" to learn a new coding language. It's literally the same road as the one to Carnegie Hall.

it's been a decade, not years. I know many people who aren't buying any new modules until the core is fixed and updated to 2025 standards.

you can't.

anyone else getting this error any time a red unit is destroyed by AI? It doesn't kill the current mission, however it's quite bothersome:

no. the instant action missions are part of the core DCS. You can, however open them in the mission editor, make your changes and save them to a different file location. **if you re-save the core mission, it will break integrity checks and will get overwritten

the P-51 Merlin engine develops such huge horsepower, then delivering that HP into the prop as torque. Takeoff becomes a lesson in rudder management. From anecdotal experience watching firsthand a P-51 takeoff -- from memory from the pilot's words through the radio on takeoff: "...[this beast has so much power]...[I have to maintain full left rudder on takeoff to compensate for torque]..."

terrain masking, ECM, Countermeasures, notching and missile avoidance are all skills needed for successful SAM evasion.

good for you. good luck with this. I wish you the best of coding. I hope MANY DCS players download your mission, once complete, tested and fully bug-free. You realize DCS isn't Ace Combat or Arma, right?

I'm sorry this happened to you. Believe me, it's happened to us all. The only advice I can give you is the advice as a 20+year software engineer: make many backups and often. Make backups of backups. IE: You make a "master" mission file, then copy it to one, or multiple "editing" files. Make a "archive" of the LAST working version of your "editing" file, JUSTIN CASE! Make MINOR changes to your mission, saving it as your "editing" mission. Then, when it all works and tested, overwrite the "master", which is ONLY the LAST working copy of your mission. Overwrite your "archive" file as needed with ONLY an absolutely positively working version of your mission. If everything goes wrong, THIS file is your lifeline. Never, ever edit the "master" mission file directly. ----or, preferably, use GitHub to track version history, but that's another worm can if you think you can handle it---- EDIT: I believe that the mission editor has this function under the "file" menu, but I haven't tested it out. No time, re: software engineer. As far as your template issue, I believe that saving units as a template will ONLY save the units themselves, and not any triggers or waypoint actions or scripts. my guess is that a combination of group settings and actions or ONE actions field left unintentionally blank borked the template save. Then, when you loaded the template into the mission, it borked the whole mission.

what about with a mod? I seem to remember one a while back...

agreed, but careful. DCS moderators are very protective and will sting you.

I, for one, would love to see this. I really don't want to haul up to the office and fire up the Big Rig just to create a mission. I'd love to be able to sit on the couch and do this. HOWEVER, and this is a biggie, I believe that this would never work out right. I have absolutely never created even a semi-complex mission without going back and forth from ME to Run then back to ME -- fixing AI issues ad nauseum, scripting errors, triggers, flags, mods, etc. Add in a complex mod like DML with its own set of configurations and issues. You'd create your big, complex mission on your laptop and the first time you tried to run it, NOTHING would work the way you imagined and it would be an absolute nightmare to debug.

has not the cluster munitions for all aircraft been bugged for the better part of a decade? I don't remember these working properly at any time

late activation trigger, mission scripting option to activate unit until you're xxx altitude, speed, startup, etc.

I've been flight simming since the late 80's on multiple pc platforms, multiple gfx card upgrades, etc. I think it's amazing the quality improvements since those days. I remember flying the "A" side of M$FS 5-1/4 floppy disk on the C-64. ("B" side was the WWI combat sim). Choppy flight, incredibly blocky graphics. But this was state-of-the-art in the late 80's. Remember how amazing it was to actually see a rendered landmark for where you were at? Moved on to the Microprose flight sims on an IBMPC, which were -- for the time -- state of the art. IMHO, I think DCS is the pinnacle of flight dynamics. This is saying a lot with competition from M$ and FSX... These are OK, but they don't give the FEEL of flight dynamics the way DCS does. DCS modeled wing flex, for crying out loud!!! I just wish that ED would take the hit on the bottom line and get rid of the 20+ year old code. They are making improvements greatly, but all the constant new modules doesn't hide the elephant. For the future of simulations...more realism, realistic AI, VR that doesn't make me airsick... PS: "Pretender", "X-Files" and "McGuyver" are from three several COMPLETELY different eras...80's, mid 90's and late 90's. Much changed in those times.

I'm a professional software engineer, and I would be hard-pressed to find the time to create a project such as this, let alone MAINTAIN and improve it. I have ultimate hats-off to you and your feat of DCS reverse-engineering. This is absolutely amazing piece of work. <serious_question> How in the holy hell do you find time to do this and keep a regular job, family and obligations? </serious_question>

this is the cheesiest, worst-acted, stock-film-footage television show that I have ever seen. Think Ed Wood with no budget... Is the lead actor a robot? No human being looks that chiseled and TRUE 'MERIKIN! I FREAKING LOVE IT!!! I can't stop watching it! Thank you!

define "overshoot". Are you making a full 180' turn after the break, then attempting to land? Sounds like you're not observing the downwind leg of the final. After the 1%G turn to reciprocal heading, fly 2-5 NM downwind, past the runway, THEN turn on final. Approach patterns are all in the airport data card on your kneeboard.

Then in that case, when my wingman calls bingo -- then ejects. Baffling AI tasking. Weapon effectiveness. A LIVING environment instead of just a sandbox. Early release and beta modules staying in such status for YEARS! Game breaking bugs. Inefficient mod management... Yup. it's all in the details.

I don't have a track, but have much anecdotal evidence from yesterday's session. F16 autopilot definitely is non responsive. From memory, multiple times, I engaged A-A or A-G, then resumed autopilot, then AP stopped responding to either ALT HOLD or PITCH HOLD. Sometimes it came back, but it definitely didn't respond. I just don't have the time to play the sim let alone save every track file every time something goes wonky (which is a lot).

given the enormous amount of core issues in DCS are you REALLY concerned about this?

PG Playground.miz If this is just for practice, here's one that I use to practice weapons systems delivery. I modify the mission as needed. There's a convoy in there somewhere for MAV practice Again, this mission has no objective and is for practice

let me give you some background: I don't have a lot of free time to fly DCS. Maybe a few hours on the weekend if I'm lucky. I've got a job and family. Here is a log of my typical DCS experiences, which pretty much sums up the situation EVERY time I get a few hours to fly. DCS shouldn't be this difficult OTHER than learning to fly your chosen platform. fire up DCS, find user-created mission that seems like the one you want to fly**. **when I want to fly a strike, I don't want to be tasked with a CAP. When I want to take out a building, I don't want a SEAD mission... ---or-- try to create a simple, coordinated mission with AI SEAD, CAP, and OPFOR response patterns etc... (this alone is an all-day task WITHOUT flying) Fly the mission: 10 minutes for startup, 10 minutes for taxi, an hour for marshall, etc... the missions doesn't perform as expected for whatever reason (parking issues, static templates overlapping, AI taxi issues, AI crashing on takeoff, etc). Mission editor, try to fix mission. 1-2 hours. Change, fly, debug, change, fly, debug... the AI doesn't perform as expected (tasking issues, ignored orders, terrain following, etc). Mission Editor, try to fix AI issues. **most likely will include lua scripting. Change, fly, debug, change, fly, debug... Another 1-2 hours. get the mission to a "workable" condition, start the sim, fly for an hour and ... go to step 2 again. More AI issues. Mission editor, try to fix mission. 1-2 hours. Change, fly, debug, change, fly, debug... Fly the mission: 10 minutes for startup, 10 minutes for taxi, an hour for marshall, etc... on target and now have weapon issues. CBUs not effective, static objects non-destructible, weapons won't perform as expected (module bugs), can't lock targets, AI ignoring orders and doing *whatever* they want... Back in to ME to fix THOSE issues...another 1-2 hours. Fix, debug, fly, ME, Fix, debug, fly... So far, I'm 3-4 hours into DCS --WITHOUT EVEN COMPLETING THE MISSION I DESIGNED OR GETTING TO FLY AT ALL. ***** That's it. 3-4 hours. My free time is gone for the week, I've barely flown for less than an hour and I've got nothing to show for it. Let's try again next week after updates change *everything* and I have to re-learn *everything*. ***** TLDR; --> ED: Fix your core bugs. DCS stands for "Digital ***Combat*** Simulator. What you all have created is (albeit the best and most wonderful in the business) a "Empty Sandbox Flight Simulator". My advice to you is to focus on the "C" of DCS instead of releasing "early release" modules that will NEVER be completed (because you've already got my money (F16, F18, Normandy, etc)!!)