Any way to set parking spot when adding planes with coalition.addGroup ?

Kolyma · December 14, 2014

I'm just starting scripting with mission building. I can't seem to find a definitive answer for this so I'll post a question.

Is it possible to set the parking spot dynamic aircraft spawn into when using coalition.addGroup ? I see some of the sticky'd scripts here use the ["parking"] = setting but when I try to use it in my scripts, the planes seem to always spawn in the same location on an airport. And then successive, simultaneous planes spawn in another nearby location.

TIA

Ironhand · December 16, 2014

I'm just starting scripting with mission building. I can't seem to find a definitive answer for this so I'll post a question.

Is it possible to set the parking spot dynamic aircraft spawn into when using coalition.addGroup ? I see some of the sticky'd scripts here use the ["parking"] = setting but when I try to use it in my scripts, the planes seem to always spawn in the same location on an airport. And then successive, simultaneous planes spawn in another nearby location.

TIA

You can set the parking location right in the ME, can't you? It's just to the right of the waypoint task Takeoff from Ramp. Or am I not understanding your question?

Kolyma · December 16, 2014

You can set the parking location right in the ME, can't you? It's just to the right of the waypoint task Takeoff from Ramp. Or am I not understanding your question?

Yeah, in the ME, it's real easy to set this before and of course, it works for me. What I'm asking about in the OP is if it's possible to set this value when I use a scheduled script (using mist) to spawn a new group like:

                                    ["points"] = 
                                   {
                                       [1] = 
                                       {
                                           ["alt"] = _alt,
                                           ["type"] = _waypointtype,
                                           ["action"] = _waypointaction,
                                           ["parking"] = _spawnairplaneparking,
                                           ["alt_type"] = "RADIO",
                                           ["formation_template"] = "",
                                           ["ETA"] = 0,
				    ["airdromeId"] = _spawnairdromeId,
                                           ["y"] = _spawnairplanepos.z,
                                           ["x"] = _spawnairplanepos.x,
                                           ["speed"] = _speed,
                                           ["ETA_locked"] = true,
                                           ["task"] = 
                                           {
                                               ["id"] = "ComboTask",
                                               ["params"] = 
                                               {
                                                   ["tasks"] = 
                                                   {
                                                      
                                                   },
                                               },
                                           },
                                           ["speed_locked"] = true,
                                       },

When

["type"] = "TakeOffParking",
["action"] = "From Parking Area",
["parking"] = 30

It always spawns the first plane on the same spot and then if more than one spawns, they spawn nearby but never in the parking spot I assign.

Help?

chromium · December 17, 2014

I'm assuming you are creating a script that once loaded, will create a single Group multiple times. So, when you load it too fast you have Aircraft spawning over another and... boom.

Then, you may want to use a variable instead of a number.

at the start of your script add:

pkSpot = 10 (a casual number that will be the first parking spot you want to use... it could be 1)

local shipNum = 4 (should be the number of airframe per flight. Could be changed for your needings, or made dynamic to retrieve the correct number after having spawned each flight... but this is a basic example.

then, in each unitdata of the Group table you use for spawning, use this:

1st unit:

["parking"] = pkSpot

2nd unit:

["parking"] = pkSpot + 1

...

(and so on. remember that "shipNum" should be the max number of plane you want per flight)

at the end of the spawning script, after the coalition.addGroup function, add:

pkSpot = pkSpot + shipNum

PS:

I didn't make pkSpot a local variable to allow you to launch the script multiple times from multiple "doscript" triggered actions. It's a bad solution if you plan to launch it different times.... but it's simple to understand.

If you attach here the complete script I may provide a commented modification, if you'd like :)

Kolyma · December 17, 2014

I'm assuming you are creating a script that once loaded, will create a single Group multiple times. So, when you load it too fast you have Aircraft spawning over another and... boom.

There was similar behavior. After each successive, randomly time-delayed, spawning of a new group, they would spawn into a slightly different, but predictable parking spot. So if one group had spawned in the starting parking spot (not the one I thought I'd chosen) and not launched yet, then the next would spawn in the spot next to it, but again, not the one I'd chosen.

If you attach here the complete script I may provide a commented modification, if you'd like :)

Here's the full script. Now this is just my first real attempt to make a lua/dcs script and I used a lot of the existing code from GCICAP20141017.lua and MIST3_2_RandAirtraffic_r6.lua

The full text of those scripts was pretty hard to understand at all at once, so I just pulled out the parts I needed to start. All I wanted for now was a script that would randomly spawn a different aircraft at different times for each coalition from a random airbase. And then have that aircraft fly to and land at another random friendly airbase.

Most of that works, but right now, the planes just fly to the destination, not land, and turn around back to the starting airbase to land. :(

I tried to optimize and "collapse" some of the code I pulled from others into more reusable functions, arrays of parameters, and such. I'm still trying to get a grip on the proper use of Lua local and global variables...

And from what I could tell, in those scripts of others I used, they were all using "zones over airbases" to define airbases. But I found that I could just pull the airbase x/y info from

_spawnairbaseloc = Object.getPoint({id_=spawnIndex.id_})

Where _spawnairbaseloc is originally from a construct like the AF in:

function getAFBases (coalitionIndex)
local AFids = {}											
local AF = {}
AFids = coalition.getAirbases(coalitionIndex) 			
for i = 1, #AFids do
	AF[i] = 
		{
		name = AFids[i]:getName(),
		id_ = AFids[i].id_,
		id = AFids[i]:getID()
		}
end	
return AF
end

And for now, I omitted the random x/y offsets in those starting scripts from others.

Attached is the full script.

Thanks for the help! This is all very exciting. We've been playing DCS here a while with just the ME part. Using the scripts and witchcraft communicator is a lot of fun. :)

Random_Flight_Plan_Traffic.lua

xaoslaad · December 17, 2014

Can additional client slots be opened up like this?

I have written up a mission or two for small groups of people (3-4), where their is an A-A component, SEAD, and then finally ground attack. It's more enjoyable if people fly a part of the mission together, so if I could adapt this to where say, we go up in F-15C's to start, once the mission objective for them is complete Su-25T's spawn for SEAD, once their objective is complete, A-10C's, Ka-50's, whatever spawn kind of thing.

xaoslaad · December 17, 2014

Also, is there a way to set sane altitudes for flight? It seems choppers are OK, never straying ridiculously high, but huge bombers and cargo planes are practically scraping the ground. It looks odd...

Kolyma · December 21, 2014

149 views and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

chromium · December 21, 2014

In the "zzz" something is moving, usually.... or else, it's a feature that anyone ever has looked for.

The problem is, that I wanted to use the same logic I use for your script, at least in a way that should make your AI spawning only in the very first 8 parking slot. But sadly I found the the logic I use is still bugged, it seems to "reset" the used parking spot after some seconds... and I'm working on this to solve the problem.

In the meantime, I can't be of help cause even my solution isn't working as expected.

Kolyma · December 21, 2014

Originally I was thinking I wasn't doing anything wrong in the script and it's just not possible to designate parking spots dynamically (or even statically) from within a script, although it is possible to do so from the ME.

I knew I couldn't be the first person to try this, but didn't find any thread here saying it couldn't be done. Just found one talking about how you can only spawn an AI on the runway in single player mode; in MP it forces all AI to spawn off-runway due to unknown client interactions...

Otherwise, I'm still curious as to why people are using "target zones over runways" to spawn AI units on the airbase instead of just pulling x/y info from the runway object itself? Anyone?

Edited December 21, 2014 by Kolyma

chromium · December 21, 2014

IMHO cause sometimes you just need to fastly modify the starting airbase whitout having to modify the script. I rely on airbases for starting coord, but also rely on trigger zone to the objective area (here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=135832 )

Kolyma · December 21, 2014

Ok to that. Again being new, I can see the benefit of the target zones for making the ME part manage the script instead of directly editing the script. For my simple, random traffic script, I just elected to pull the list of Red/Blue airbases that the user designated in the ME...

BTW, have any quick thoughts on why my spawned AI never land at their one-and-only waypoint after taking off? They fly to the destination airbase, report RTB, and fly back to the start to land.

chromium · December 21, 2014

Ok to that. Again being new, I can see the benefit of the target zones for making the ME part manage the script instead of directly editing the script. For my simple, random traffic script, I just elected to pull the list of Red/Blue airbases that the user designated in the ME...

BTW, have any quick thoughts on why my spawned AI never land at their one-and-only waypoint after taking off? They fly to the destination airbase, report RTB, and fly back to the start to land.

I had the same issue cause if you spawn aircraft with an embedded route in the group code (waypoint >1), those waypoints aren't readed/used. You need to spawn the aircraft first, with only the very first waypoint, and then add the route with another function like the mist.goroute.

ie.

		-- create the group
		_G.coalition.addGroup(CountryData, Group.Category.AIRPLANE, GroupData)

		-- add the planning
		mist.scheduleFunction(mist.goRoute,{FlightName, FLT_waypoints},timer.getTime() + 1)

where FLT_waypoints is a table of waypoints i the order of flight. If you already use this structure (can't check it now), then I may believe that something is going wrong with the embedding route function.

PS:

I'm new also in spawning units and things, so don't take my words as law ;)

Edited December 21, 2014 by chromium

Kolyma · December 23, 2014

That seems reasonable and I can see the additional scheduled processes for routes and radio messages in the other script I'm using as a reference.... MIST3_2_RandAirtraffic_r6.lua

But I seem to have found something else that doesn't make any sense:

There's a line in MIST3_2_RandAirtraffic_r6.lua -

waypoints[#waypoints+1] =  mist.fixedWing.buildWP(landingpoint, "LAND", 200, 8000, "RADIO")

But in the MIST I'm using... MissionScriptingTools-3.5.37 , there's no "LAND" waypoint type in the mist.fixedWing.buildWP function:

mist.fixedWing.buildWP = function(point, WPtype, speed, alt, altType)

local wp = {}
wp.x = point.x

if point.z then
	wp.y = point.z
else
	wp.y = point.y
end

if alt and type(alt) == 'number' then
	wp.alt = alt
else
	wp.alt = 2000
end

if altType then
	altType = string.lower(altType)
	if altType == 'radio' or altType == 'agl' then
		wp.alt_type = 'RADIO'
	elseif altType == 'baro' or altType == 'asl' then
		wp.alt_type = 'BARO'
	end
else
	wp.alt_type = 'RADIO'
end

if point.speed then  
	speed = point.speed
end

if point.type then
	WPtype = point.type
end

if not speed then
	wp.speed = mist.utils.kmphToMps(500)
else
	wp.speed = speed
end

if not WPtype then
	wp.action =  'Turning Point'
else
	WPtype = string.lower(WPtype)
	if WPtype == 'flyover' or WPtype == 'fly over' or WPtype == 'fly_over' then
		wp.action =  'Fly Over Point'
	elseif WPtype == 'turningpoint' or WPtype == 'turning point' or WPtype == 'turning_point' then
		wp.action =  'Turning Point'
	else
		wp.action = 'Turning Point'
	end
end

wp.type = 'Turning Point'
return wp 
end

What???

chromium · December 23, 2014

(I will read your answer later)

I just woke up and I want you to read this:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=135682

this is why atm you can't choose the parking spot in any way.

chromium · December 23, 2014

this is my land waypoint (it works here):

			local LAND = 	{
							["alt"] = 0, -- set a quarter of the climb altitute
							["type"] = "Land",
							["action"] = "Landing",
							["alt_type"] = "RADIO",
							["formation_template"] = "Trail",
							["properties"] = 
							{
								["vnav"] = 1,
								["scale"] = 0,
								["angle"] = 0,
								["vangle"] = 0,
								["steer"] = 2,
							}, -- end of ["properties"]
							["ETA"] = FlightETA+wp4time+600,-- REVIEW
							["airdromeId"] = FlightAFBid,
							["y"] = AFBy, -- AFBy,
							["x"] = AFBx, --AFBx,
							["speed"] = FlightSpeedMPS, -- REVIEW
							["ETA_locked"] = false,
							["task"] = 
							{
								["id"] = "ComboTask",
								["params"] = 
								{
									["tasks"] = 
									{
									}, -- end of ["tasks"]
								}, -- end of ["params"]
							}, -- end of ["task"]					
							["speed_locked"] = true,
						}

Kolyma · December 23, 2014

Minus the "properties" and "formation" part, that's pretty much what I have. And I saw that link originally, but there wasn't enough info to fully explore my dynamic parking spot query. Interestingly, I think I'm seeing dynamic parking spot working now. Maybe it's a recent patch? Or maybe not; I've been working this landing waypoint thing for a few days...

Regardling wour script snippet, what are you using to make the waypoints and insert the route into the dynamically created group?

Because like I said, the "LAND" waypoint type is NOT in MIST.

Do you run witchcraft? If so, would you check your group's route after you think it's been set?

return mist.getGroupRoute('groupname')

And if your paste your route building snippet, you can also use this to confirm the created route is not what you would expect (there's no "LAND" "LANDING" waypoint in the route)

return mist.fixedWing.buildWP(_landingpoint, "LAND", 200, 8000, "RADIO")

chromium · December 23, 2014

No, I don't.

This is what I do:

1: create a table of waypoints:

		-- CREATE ROUTING
		local FLT_waypoints = {}
		
		if mission == "CAP" or mission == "DCA" or mission == "SWEEP" or mission == "AMBUSHCAP" then
			FLT_waypoints[#FLT_waypoints+1] = TO --mist.fixedWing.buildWP(WP1, 'turningpoint', 500, FlightAltitude/4)
			FLT_waypoints[#FLT_waypoints+1] = CLIMB --mist.fixedWing.buildWP(WP2, 'turningpoint', 500, FlightAltitude*0.75)
			FLT_waypoints[#FLT_waypoints+1] = CAP1 --mist.fixedWing.buildWP(WP3, 'turningpoint', 500, FlightAltitude)
			FLT_waypoints[#FLT_waypoints+1] = CAP2 --mist.fixedWing.buildWP(WP4, 'turningpoint', 500, FlightAltitude)
			FLT_waypoints[#FLT_waypoints+1] = PRELAND --mist.fixedWing.buildWP(LAND, 'turningpoint', 500, 0)
			FLT_waypoints[#FLT_waypoints+1] = LAND --mist.fixedWing.buildWP(LAND, 'turningpoint', 500, 0)
			debugExMixtasking = debugExMixtasking .. timer.getTime() .. ", Missione AA creata\n\n\n"
		elseif mission == "STRIKE" then
			FLT_waypoints[#FLT_waypoints+1] = TO --mist.fixedWing.buildWP(WP1, 'turningpoint', 500, FlightAltitude/4)
			FLT_waypoints[#FLT_waypoints+1] = CLIMB --mist.fixedWing.buildWP(WP2, 'turningpoint', 500, FlightAltitude*0.75)
			FLT_waypoints[#FLT_waypoints+1] = BOMB --mist.fixedWing.buildWP(WP3, 'turningpoint', 500, FlightAltitude)
			FLT_waypoints[#FLT_waypoints+1] = PRELAND --mist.fixedWing.buildWP(LAND, 'turningpoint', 500, 0)
			FLT_waypoints[#FLT_waypoints+1] = LAND --mist.fixedWing.buildWP(LAND, 'turningpoint', 500, 0)
			debugExMixtasking = debugExMixtasking .. timer.getTime() .. ", Missione AG creata\n\n\n"
		end

2: load it into the spawned group (that must already be spawned)

		mist.scheduleFunction(mist.goRoute,{FlightName, FLT_waypoints},timer.getTime() + 1)

(forgive the scheduling thing, it's cause I run that code inside the spawning function)

Kolyma · December 23, 2014

That looks very organized. What version of MIST are you using with that code?

If I read it correctly, the line

FLT_waypoints[#FLT_waypoints+1] = LAND

Is adding the LAND variable which was built from the function (somewhere else in your code because here it appears as a comment with code)

mist.fixedWing.buildWP(LAND, 'turningpoint', 500, 0)

Based on the LAND point structure you posted earlier, with the sections

["type"] = "Land",
["action"] = "Landing",

So somewhere else, you're doing something like this?

LAND = mist.fixedWing.buildWP(LAND, 'turningpoint', 500, 0)

If that's true then I believe most of what you've pre-defined in LAND gets dropped from the MIST function and you just end up with a "Turning Point" of altitude 0. Maybe that's why the plane is landing, because of the 0 altitude.

Thanks for the help. Let me know what version of MIST you're using and I kindly ask you to look at the MIST source and review what the mist.fixedWing.buildWP actually does. I'm going to test some 0 altitude waypoints over an airport and see if that causes a landing.

chromium · December 24, 2014

no, I don't. the code posted above is sufficient :).

the LAND "variable" is nothing else that the entire waypoint data, that you can see in the previous post :) To be clear, I don't use MIST to build the WP, I use MIST to embed the route. This way, LANS shouldn't be seen as a variable, or a value, but as an embedded table (just like units table into the Group one)

So, to resume:

1. Build "n" waypoints (TO, LAND, CAP, CAS, as you prefer), all of them defined as a table named like you prefer. They don't need to be ordered. (post 16)

2. Build the route table (FLT_Waypoints in my case), combining the waypoints as you like. Beware that this needs to be in Flying order (post 18)

3. Embed the route table into the Group (FlightName, in my case) using mist.goRoute function.

Anyway, MIST 3.5 at the moment.

Edited December 24, 2014 by chromium
added more info

chromium · December 24, 2014

Interestingly, I think I'm seeing dynamic parking spot working now. Maybe it's a recent patch? Or maybe not; I've been working this landing waypoint thing for a few days...

Can you please verify? in my case, they don't work as expected at the moment. Parking number is effectively a number ( 1 ) or a text ( "1" ) in your script?

I tried both before whitout luck.

Kolyma · December 27, 2014

Its not working no matter what I try. Seems setting the AI parking spot from the ME is totally possible, but not possible from within a script with a dynamic add.

In testing a few AI placements in the ME and then opening the *.miz file, I see something odd about the parking spot numbering. The number you choose in the ME is not the number stored in the *.miz file ["parking"] parameter.

For example, the top 4 and lower 4 parking spots for these 3 airbases are:

Kobuleti:      Kutaisi:        Vaziani:
ME  -  MIZ     ME  -  MIZ      ME  -  MIZ
1      48      1      1        1      11
2      47      2      23       2      13
3      58      3      25       3      15
4      63      4      27       4      17
  ...            ...             ...
39     44      55     16       89     133
40     37      56     20       90     130
41     26      57     22       91     132
42     25      58     18       92     157

So there's an organization with the parking spot numbering and it's not globally unique to the map, since in just this small sample, I've got 2 #25's on different airbases.

I gather from other sources these numbers are part of the *.rn *.rn3 files for the airbase description...But don't seem to find documentation for those or anyway to decode the *.rn *.rn3 files themselves.

But it seems pointless because the sim engine appears to ignore the ["parking"] value when dynamically spawning AI units.

Bummer dude.

chromium · December 27, 2014

It's ignored cause of this that I posted before. Confirmed.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=135682

I suggest you to post there as a little bump :). Even if it seems to be interesting only for the three of us :P

Winfield_Gold · December 27, 2014

PM Grimes, if it is possible via a script.....he will find the answer

chromium · December 27, 2014

I believe that Grimes is already aware of this thread, and that if a solution exist he may already wrote here :). But I honestly think, as even MBot didn't find a solution, that our way is correct but it's effectively an SSE bug that stop us.

As I wrote in another thread, I don't believe that this is a 'major' issue, not urgent clearly. But a side effect of this bug is annoying: if you use Kutaisi as airbase, for example, you may find problems for the second group spawning on the ramp cause of the wingman will hold position in the taxiway until the leader is in front of him... which never happen, cause the wingman will go to the taxiway before the lead. And the flight will stuck on taxi.

Sign In

Any way to set parking spot when adding planes with coalition.addGroup ?

Recommended Posts

Kolyma

Ironhand

Kolyma

chromium

Kolyma

xaoslaad

xaoslaad

Kolyma

chromium

Kolyma

chromium

Kolyma

chromium

Kolyma

chromium

chromium

Kolyma

chromium

Kolyma

chromium

chromium

Kolyma

chromium

Winfield_Gold

chromium

Recently Browsing 0 members