DCE Campaigns

[Miguel21]

16 hours ago, jojo said:

Hi

Can we run the campaigns in MP with DCS dedicated server variant ?

Thanks

Yep

[Grindmetal]

possible mult slots or dynamic slot?

[Miguel21]

2 minutes ago, Grindmetal said:

possible mult slots or dynamic slot?

For the moment, these are standard MP slots.
We don't really see the advantages that dynamic slots could bring to DCE.
Can you see any?

[Grindmetal]

3 minutes ago, Miguel21 said:

For the moment, these are standard MP slots.
We don't really see the advantages that dynamic slots could bring to DCE.
Can you see any?

advantage you may or may not have 

the advantage would be the possibility of having DCE missions / campaigns so that players can choose which modules to play and not get bogged down in specific ones

 

disadvantage 

 

more work for the creators, I believe

Edited September 2, 2024 by Grindmetal

[jojo]

5 hours ago, Miguel21 said:

Yep

That's really great

[Diablo 1-1]

Hello, I have really enjoyed DCE probably the most out of all "dynamic campaigns" because of the data tracking and it popping up after every mission.

I was curious if it was possible to create my own campaign or not? If so, are there any resources available to learn? I've tried searching the forums and couldn't find anything. I was interested in creating a USSR Afghan war and GWOT campaign if it's not too difficult to do and possible.

Thank you for your time. Have a good day.

[Miguel21]

On 9/6/2024 at 6:58 AM, Diablo 1-1 said:

Hello, I have really enjoyed DCE probably the most out of all "dynamic campaigns" because of the data tracking and it popping up after every mission.

I was curious if it was possible to create my own campaign or not? If so, are there any resources available to learn? I've tried searching the forums and couldn't find anything. I was interested in creating a USSR Afghan war and GWOT campaign if it's not too difficult to do and possible.

Thank you for your time. Have a good day.

thanks for the flowers ^^
yes, of course, it's possible to do your own campaign, but I'll let Cef tell you about it

On 9/2/2024 at 4:57 PM, Grindmetal said:

advantage you may or may not have 

the advantage would be the possibility of having DCE missions / campaigns so that players can choose which modules to play and not get bogged down in specific ones

 

disadvantage 

 

more work for the creators, I believe

 

For the time being, we prefer to wait for things to stabilise, as we understand that the route (waypoint) is not implemented.
Modded aircraft are not working.
What's more, it's not yet possible to add slottable aircraft in flight (Recovery...).

[Diablo 1-1]

On 9/7/2024 at 5:42 AM, Miguel21 said:

thanks for the flowers ^^
yes, of course, it's possible to do your own campaign, but I'll let Cef tell you about it

Okay cool. I am pretty good with the mission editor and triggers. Semi beginner with moose, mist, and DML. Thank you two for your time.

[PB0_CEF]

On 9/6/2024 at 6:58 AM, Diablo 1-1 said:

Hello, I have really enjoyed DCE probably the most out of all "dynamic campaigns" because of the data tracking and it popping up after every mission.

I was curious if it was possible to create my own campaign or not? If so, are there any resources available to learn? I've tried searching the forums and couldn't find anything. I was interested in creating a USSR Afghan war and GWOT campaign if it's not too difficult to do and possible.

Thank you for your time. Have a good day.

Well there were one old french tutorial but it seems really too old and there were too many evolutions tu use it any more I suppose I should do a new one  but it it will need time. 

My first advice would be to look at our last updated campaigns to find the basic structure of a campaign and start from it ... War over Beyrut is a good example.

All important files are in the INIT folder and you will have to begin with a base_mission.miz file with side bounderies (red and blue) see the mission for exact names and settings

Then OOB with planes and shoppers bases, numbers, reserves, and mission types

Then targetlist using it in coordination with the filling of the base_mission targets using coordinates, statics or live objects (be careful of the lives targets very heavy for PC configurations)

Of course db_airbases must be actualised with all the airbases setting (including side) for the campaign map.

In the camp_triggers you will define all the triggers you will use to delay target squadrons or templates activations and victory or defeat conditions ....

Fill free to ask for each specific category here : it could be usefull for everyone

 

[Diablo 1-1]

On 9/14/2024 at 8:31 AM, PB0_CEF said:

Well there were one old french tutorial but it seems really too old and there were too many evolutions tu use it any more I suppose I should do a new one  but it it will need time. 

My first advice would be to look at our last updated campaigns to find the basic structure of a campaign and start from it ... War over Beyrut is a good example.

All important files are in the INIT folder and you will have to begin with a base_mission.miz file with side bounderies (red and blue) see the mission for exact names and settings

Then OOB with planes and shoppers bases, numbers, reserves, and mission types

Then targetlist using it in coordination with the filling of the base_mission targets using coordinates, statics or live objects (be careful of the lives targets very heavy for PC configurations)

Of course db_airbases must be actualised with all the airbases setting (including side) for the campaign map.

In the camp_triggers you will define all the triggers you will use to delay target squadrons or templates activations and victory or defeat conditions ....

Fill free to ask for each specific category here : it could be usefull for everyone

 

Thanks for the reply. Definitely a lot to go through. First question before I jump too deep into it, would be static vs live objects. What would the max recommend live objects be? Most of my planned assets will be "live" but not moving.

The campaign in my head is just going to a lot of infantry groups, with a few armored units here and there, since it's basically COIN. Do infantry groups take up the same resources as say the equivalent numbers of vehicles? 

I also assume splash damage doesn't work with this since it won't count as a player kill. I assume this because I've seen dzsekeb say it somewhere. I could be wrong?

Definitely will be a slow process since I'm also creating scripted missions based on the Afghanistan-Soviet Union war. 

Again I appreciate you're future assistance.

[PB0_CEF]

8 hours ago, Diablo 1-1 said:

Thanks for the reply. Definitely a lot to go through. First question before I jump too deep into it, would be static vs live objects. What would the max recommend live objects be? Most of my planned assets will be "live" but not moving.

The campaign in my head is just going to a lot of infantry groups, with a few armored units here and there, since it's basically COIN. Do infantry groups take up the same resources as say the equivalent numbers of vehicles? 

I also assume splash damage doesn't work with this since it won't count as a player kill. I assume this because I've seen dzsekeb say it somewhere. I could be wrong?

Definitely will be a slow process since I'm also creating scripted missions based on the Afghanistan-Soviet Union war. 

Again I appreciate you're future assistance.

Difficult to say how  many live objects a mission can handle because it will depend of many factors : Solo ou MP missions, number of planes, map optimized or not ...

Not moving object will help it's sure but I made an all live targets version of my Iran Iraq war to have real tanks in front of my Gazelle and Hind    but it was nearly unplayable  

When playing my campaigns in MP with my group I always have to make a light version : Miguel21 is often laughting at me because he knows I really don't like to cut in my base_mission

One solution would be to use Templates that you can put somewhere then remove and put somewhere else. It would make sense for this kind of war and there would be less units in the mission at the same time ...

My next campaign should be a kind of NAM war and I will make big use of templates    I'm afraid that the only solution to know if it passes is to test the campaign

[Pande4360]

"Not enough ready aircraft for all clients.."

What´s this error?

[PB0_CEF]

What plane on what campaign ?

[Diablo 1-1]

Just wanted some clarification for myself. Do you create both the base_mission and the _first? I noticed light guns and the mortar teams were in the _first mission but not in the base_mission.

I am definitely a person who likes to go in steps so I was planning building the base_mission but wanted to understand why certain groups/units weren't in that base_mission when I knew the mortar team were in the mission. Is the base_mission used for main targets that dont have "movement"?

For the boundaries, can one side say have pockets of boundaries? Say Blufor owns the AO, but Insurgents are in a couple cities.

Thanks again.

[PB0_CEF]

You begin with base_mission. _First is the result of DCE generation. The mortar team is a template that is added with trigger using the camp_triggers_init.lua file. All the templates are in the template folder :

And here is the trigger used :

And insurgent can appear in blue side it's not a problem ... for now the border is mainly used to define SAR and ejected pilots fate   so the border should be like in this campaign ... not sure it works with pockets ...

 

 

Edited September 18, 2024 by PB0_CEF

[Diablo 1-1]

Yeah I saw that. I just couldn't find out how they were placed in the _first mission. I saw the code to activate them but couldn't find them in the base mission. 

Does DCE give them a location or something else? Does allowing DCE to spawn them give them the ability to "move"?

I apologize for any inconveniences I am causing. My coding/scripting skills are that of probably a first year intern. I took one programming class 5 years ago and whatever I/community has taught me about lua for DCS. 

[PB0_CEF]

4 hours ago, Diablo 1-1 said:

Yeah I saw that. I just couldn't find out how they were placed in the _first mission. I saw the code to activate them but couldn't find them in the base mission. 

Does DCE give them a location or something else? Does allowing DCE to spawn them give them the ability to "move"?

I apologize for any inconveniences I am causing. My coding/scripting skills are that of probably a first year intern. I took one programming class 5 years ago and whatever I/community has taught me about lua for DCS. 

No problem

I made static templates on this map one by one and Miguel21 found a way to make them appear with triggers ! Making more than one template for each unit should allow to appear randomnly on one of the preset position on each mission until destruction
Do you know the static template on DCS mission editor ?

Edited September 18, 2024 by PB0_CEF

[Diablo 1-1]

5 hours ago, PB0_CEF said:

Do you know the static template on DCS mission editor ?

Well I learned about it but didn't find it useful at the time of me learning it. I focused on the group templates instead. I just copied one of the mortar templates to my own StaticTemplate folder, loaded it and saw how it worked. I appreciate the explanation, I understand now. Awesome I will start working on my base_mission then. I'm sure, I'll be back once I move on to the OOB.

 

Will DCE work with the mods such as Low Digit MANPADS or High Digit SAMs? Also about how long do you usually make the flight times from home base?

Edited September 18, 2024 by Diablo 1-1

[PB0_CEF]

12 hours ago, Diablo 1-1 said:

Will DCE work with the mods such as Low Digit MANPADS or High Digit SAMs? Also about how long do you usually make the flight times from home base?

 

You can't add this mod only by adding it in the base_mission. Miguel21 needs to integrate it in DCE to allow il to work. Not sure how he proceeds but you can find some few external scripts added in this folder : Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Mods\tech\DCE\ScriptsMod.NG\Mission Scripts. 

For the flight times it depends clearly of the campaign type. I'm not against long transit flight with refuelling when possible but some campaigns use shorter ones. The only limitation is for helicopters because it can be painfull (or impossible) to fly more than 80 nm to just fire 4 missiles.
Often I add a hidden FOB as close as possible to the front.

For War over Beirut I wanted to take off the helicopters from Cyprus or an LHA to base themselves in Beirut but it was too long and complicated for just one campaign mission.

The simplest thing is to find a base or FOB as close to the front as possible.

[Pande4360]

I was trying the iran iraq one with mp by nato i think.

That aside, when trying to get a SAR/CSAR mission only. Will that only happen if let a normal strike or A2A mission play out first?
I can get a SAR mission but it will basically take forever until anything happens. That´s all intended?

[PB0_CEF]

2 hours ago, Pande4360 said:

I was trying the iran iraq one with mp by nato i think.

That aside, when trying to get a SAR/CSAR mission only. Will that only happen if let a normal strike or A2A mission play out first?
I can get a SAR mission but it will basically take forever until anything happens. That´s all intended?

Well SAR missions are mainly designed for MP play because of course you need to wait for a pilot to be shot at a reachable place near the frontline. We use it mainly after one of our squad pilot can be recovered in the next mission ... 
If you fly a multirole helicopter like Hind  you may allow sar and strike to have other missions available waiting for SAR...

[Diablo 1-1]

On 9/14/2024 at 8:31 AM, PB0_CEF said:

Then targetlist using it in coordination with the filling of the base_mission targets using coordinates, statics or live objects (be careful of the lives targets very heavy for PC configurations)

Say I designate a target using coordinates to create a target to hit a building on the map(a part of the actual map). Will it stayed destroyed or should I make the targets static objects buildings? I assume I need to use static targets for them to stay destroyed but I thought I'd ask just in case.

[PB0_CEF]

22 minutes ago, Diablo 1-1 said:

Say I designate a target using coordinates to create a target to hit a building on the map(a part of the actual map). Will it stayed destroyed or should I make the targets static objects buildings? I assume I need to use static targets for them to stay destroyed but I thought I'd ask just in case.

It should stay destroyed… use the same target than airbases with coordinates …

[Pande4360]

Hey tried the "falcon over PG - NG" campaign and it seems to have some script issues, e.g. cant click on skip mission. and debrief also didnt work

 

[Miguel21]

2 minutes ago, Pande4360 said:

Hey tried the "falcon over PG - NG" campaign and it seems to have some script issues, e.g. cant click on skip mission. and debrief also didnt work

 

Good morning,
did you use DCE_Manager?

What version of scriptsMod are you using?

and which version of DCE_Manager?