is there a work around for MP radio homing bug?

[wolle]

Is there a work around for the MP radio homing bug? Let me describe the scenario: a ground unit emits a radio signal (e.g. at 30MHz FM for the Huey) with the intention that a helicopter (say the Huey) can home in on the signal to find that ground asset. Works perfectly in SP, but not in MP (the radio signal does not get transmitted through the net code, apparently). Has been like that for years, AFAIK. So, chances are very slim that ED will fix it in the near term (has it even been acknowledged yet by moderators?).

 

So, I am asking: is there a work around how to do radio homing in MP? If someone could point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it. I have quite a bit of experience with lua scripting, so if there is only a work around using scripting, that's fine, doesn't scare me.

 

Muchas gracias, Max

[Ramsay]

AFAIK setting up radio beacons using trigger 'zones', CTLD, MOOSE, etc. will work in MP.

 

Bulldog51 - Transmit NDB

 

CTLD

Edited October 18, 2017 by Ramsay

[wolle]

Ok. I took a look at the CTLD source code lua file. It seems it sets up radio beacons using the command

 

trigger.action.radioTransmission(_sound, _radio.group:getUnit(1):getPoint(), _radio.mode, false, _radio.freq, 1000)

 

So, does trigger.action.radioTransmission work for MP homing? Or is there another trick to it that I couldn't figure out from looking at the CTLD source code...

[Looney]

I've used radio homing without resorting to CTLD in Nevada and Caucasus without problems in MP.

 

Select unit, advanced waypoint, radio transmission and select a sound file.

 

Select frequency in helicopter, watch needle and fly.

[BaD CrC]

Same issue here. Homing with radio transmission command (like Looney describes) does work in SP but not in MP.

[dooom]

I have had succes by using a flag and timer to effectively restart the homing transmission loop every 5 min or so. It seemed as if the mp clients couldn’t receive the transmission if it was called by another client first - but restarting it always helped. This worked well in my old godfinger mission - not sure if it still works... but yeah, I’d encourage you to look at MOOSE as abolition moving forward

[SUNTSAG]

Unfortunately setting up a radio transmission from a ground unit only works in SP mode and trying the same in MP results in only the host being able to receive the transmissions. My workaround is to use the CTLD script as follows:

 

Create a beacon zone in the ME:

 

 

Create a trigger to activate radio beacons:

 

 

Here is the radio beacon displayed in the cockpit when accessed via the F10 radio menu:

 

 

It provides you with three frequencies to use 1. UHF 2. VHF 3. FM. I like to use the FM frequency personally when navigating with the Huey.

 

All clients in a MP environment have access to this menu during a mission and touch wood it hasn't failed me yet. I hope this is useful. Cheers.

[feefifofum]

Great post SUNTSAG! Thanks!

[fargo007]

Doing fixed radio beacons in MP can be overcome.

 

When attaching them to moving units, it's a bit more difficult. I spent a lot of time getting this to work.

 

My solution has been thus far to (MOOSE) use the OnSpawnGroup() callback function to attach a beacon to the unit. (Thanks FlightControl!)

 

The TL;DR here is that if MOOSE spawns the unit, you can access this callback function at the instant it is spawned, and do whatever you want.

 

I point out that the DCS part of beacons in MP is still not entirely there. It sort of adds a touch of realism though.... As if there's interference.

 

I'm interested primarily in moving ground units transmitting, and homing in on them. If there are other specific solutions for that, I'm all ears.

[Esac_mirmidon]

Suntsag, could you share that mission to take a look?

 

Thanks.

[SUNTSAG]

Hi Esac_mirmidon,

 

This particular mission is heavily modded as it is a progressive campaign for the group I fly with. Without the mods your end you would not be able to open it.

 

I could however create a simple .miz file with no mods if that would help at all?

[SUNTSAG]

Here is a basic mission containing RADIO BEACONS for navigation between 2 FARPS. Contains a Huey and a Gazelle ready to go. Cheers.

[Esac_mirmidon]

Thanks a lot Suntsag.

 

The basic mission is just what i need.

 

Really appreciated.

[wolle]

Thanks for all the replies. I've gotten it to work with the following code:

 

emitBeacon = function(args)
local unitName = args[1]
local frequency = args[2]
local modulation = args[3]
       local unit = Unit.getByName(unitName)
if unit then
        local unitPosition = Unit.getPosition(unit).p
	trigger.action.radioTransmission('l10n/DEFAULT/beacon.ogg', unitPosition, modulation, false, frequency, 1000)
	timer.scheduleFunction(emitBeacon,{unitName,frequency,modulation},timer.getTime()+31)
end
end

timer.scheduleFunction(emitBeacon,{unitName,value.frequency,value.modulation},timer.getTime()+1)

 

beacon.ogg is the 30s long beacon audio file used by CTLD. The script sets up a radiotransmission at the unit's location. The position will be updated every 30 seconds. This works also in MP, but unfortunately often the audio file cannot be heard, but the homing still works.

[fargo007]

I came up with this in Moose. It (Mostly) works around the issue when attaching the beacons to moving ground units. Confirmed with a client attached that we are hearing the same music and pointing at the correct target.

 

Also pointing out that presently in the Mi-8, radio homing on any user created beacon with the ARC-9 is completely non-functional. The ARK-UD seems to still work on some freqs as does the 828.

 

 

ZoneTable = { ZONE:New( "Zone1" ), ZONE:New( "Zone2" ), ZONE:New( "Zone3" )}

remainingcount = 10

target2 = SPAWN:New( "target11" )
 :InitLimit( 1, 10 )
 :InitRandomizeRoute( 1, 4, 5000 )
 :InitRandomizeZones( ZoneTable )
 :OnSpawnGroup(
  

 function( SpawnGroup )
   remainingcount = (remainingcount - 1)
   MESSAGE:New("There are " .. remainingcount .. " Vehicles left",10,"COMMAND: "):ToAll()
   local beacon = SpawnGroup:GetBeacon()
   beacon:RadioBeacon("onebeep.ogg", 243, radio.modulation.FM, 20)

  end
  )

:SpawnScheduled( 2, 1 )