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What’s the best tutorial on the mission editor


BlacleyCole

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What is the best tutorial on the mission editor with out scripts going throug the module step by step describing everything in a concise organized manor. Also do several mini missions highlighting how to do the normal tasks the a finial mission that puts everything together each type of group with several groups so if you wanted to preform an action in just using the me no scripts there would be at least one way to do it in this mission.

 

Then the next in the series would be a tutorial on using scripts and mist since must rely on it for theirs to work. Describing each item I. Mist then demonstrating how to us each then a full mission demonstrating the use of them in a mission.

 

Next the same with ctld .

Next moose.

 

All done in a clear and organized start to end top to bottom coverage these tutorials should be scripted and the lead actor should be knowledgeable and the second actor should behave like he is learning or there to provide a novice viewpoint.


Edited by BlacleyCole

BlackeyCole 20years usaf

XP-11. Dcs 2.5OB

Acer predator laptop/ i7 7720, 2.4ghz, 32 gb ddr4 ram, 500gb ssd,1tb hdd,nvidia 1080 8gb vram

 

 

New FlightSim Blog at https://blackeysblog.wordpress.com. Go visit it and leave me feedback and or comments so I can make it better. A new post every Friday.

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Ranger79 had a pretty solid series a couple years ago. There are some bug workarounds he mentions that are no longer necessary, and features have been added since then, but it's probably still the best start that I know of.

 

SUNTSAG has also done a nice series highlighting individual features.

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Your better off just getting the "main concept" of what the editor can do.

 

Start simple and have a play with it, have a think about what you want to achieve in said mission.

 

Most things are sort of simple.

Aircraft and way-points (Player)

Aircraft and way-points (AI) ground and air

 

Waypoint options like hold at waypoint 3 (condition? Trigger = flag 5)

 

On mission start do xxx

Player hits trigger do xxxx, spawn or move AI convoy to here and attack xxx.

Waypoint options like hold at waypoint 3 (Trigger = flag 3)

 

My advice is to write out a small mission with certain things you want to learn how to......

 

How did I learn some of the editor logic?

I went thru the A-10C campaign way back to see how the units were stop / starting at waypoints (Advance waypoint action), what score you needed, secret units that move when xxx was destroyed, popup text messages etc, etc, etc, etc.

 

Your also going to need to learn Audacity or similar to add sound in ogg format with the editor.

I may do a video on this at some point.

 

For now practice adding some static radio to a practice mission

Download this file. and add it to a mission. Have a play.....Need help ask.

 

You can add sound globally or make the player switch to a radio station.

 

The DCS User Manual EN.pdf is where you should start. Read the editor conditions and actions to get "some idea" about them all.

C:Program FilesEagle DynamicsDCS World OpenBetaDoc

 

 

Read from page 80 to 227 and you will see why no one has done videos.

going through the module step by step describing everything in a concise organized manor.

 

Then come up with a mission. Then ask here "WHEN" stuck and many will help you come up with a way to get XXXXXXXXXX or XXXXXXXXXX done.

 

There is a whole section here--> Mission Editor Discussion and Questions

 

My advice is to keep it simple for now and learn some basic knowledge about the editor tools. Then download some of the 1000s of mission others have made and dissect them. OH that's how he did XXX and XXX with XXX tool. I will also be doing a quick video at some point dissecting a mission that comes in DCS.

It's all tools in a tool box that ED built for themselves to make missions.

So THERE are literally thousands of ways to use these tools to get XXX or XXX done.

 

What is it you what to get done?

Stop a tank at waypoint 2?

Move tank when flag = 46 or Tank X get destroyed.

Start sound when player gets to waypoint 4? or in trigger zone 6?

How to play the message to 137 radio channel in the A-10C or the Hornet?

 

I could go on forever here........It just takes time to learn the combinations you need to get "Whatever it is done". Practice throwing some small missions together and using the editor tools.

 

Learn the basics here first before even thinking about looking at Moose or ctld. That's even more tools and can be completely written in outside of the mission editor using notepad ++ or (Easier) the eclipse LDT editor. Then you run these scripts at mission start.

 

My videos are just quick fun videos to get people to play around with some of the editor tools. Get an idea on "what you could create" just with those tools that are built in.

 

Here's one of ED's out of the manual just to give you some idea. Let me know "HOW TO MAKE A VIDEO" explaining this one alone...... lol.

 

Let's examine a sample scenario of 6 actions to better understand the execution sequencing based on the action type, list order, and priority setting:

 

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=225683&stc=1&d=1579848639

 

981756235_samplescenario.thumb.jpg.2b41764ab6dc8504f9a98eaf1571c7c1.jpg


Edited by David OC

i7-7700K OC @ 5Ghz | ASUS IX Hero MB | ASUS GTX 1080 Ti STRIX | 32GB Corsair 3000Mhz | Corsair H100i V2 Radiator | Samsung 960 EVO M.2 NVMe 500G SSD | Samsung 850 EVO 500G SSD | Corsair HX850i Platinum 850W | Oculus Rift | ASUS PG278Q 27-inch, 2560 x 1440, G-SYNC, 144Hz, 1ms | VKB Gunfighter Pro

Chuck's DCS Tutorial Library

Download PDF Tutorial guides to help get up to speed with aircraft quickly and also great for taking a good look at the aircraft available for DCS before purchasing. Link

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I have and can do most of the me defaultor nonscript items but it’s the scripted items that I need help with.

BlackeyCole 20years usaf

XP-11. Dcs 2.5OB

Acer predator laptop/ i7 7720, 2.4ghz, 32 gb ddr4 ram, 500gb ssd,1tb hdd,nvidia 1080 8gb vram

 

 

New FlightSim Blog at https://blackeysblog.wordpress.com. Go visit it and leave me feedback and or comments so I can make it better. A new post every Friday.

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Just start off small and simple.

 

If you look at any of the campaigns or training scripts that come with DCS and modules you can see they have a flow to stay sort of organized.

 

It's all about

-->Trigger (You call this something)

--->Conditions (What has to be true?) Flag 3 and Flag 150? It's all up to you.

-->Actions (What do you want to happen?)

 

This can be real simple or a real pain and it's up to the mission designer to stay organized in the flow. Especially for testing fixing, testing workarounds for the AI etc.

 

Play around with the logic in separate lines at the start.

Trigger-->Conditions-->Actions

 

Then play with connecting them

Trigger (Called Spawn)

 

Conditions:

Group Dead (What group? Drop down list of groups you have in mission)

Or

Units speed lower than? (What Unit? Drop down list of groups you have in mission)

Or

Units Altitude lower than (What Unit? Drop down list of groups you have in mission)

Or

Flag is true 100

Flag is False

 

unit is inside zone (What Unit? Drop down list of groups you have in mission)

 

Actions:

Message to all (Add your text)

Sound to all (Add you audio file OGG that matches the text)

Group Active (What group? Drop down list of groups you have in mission)

 

You have to write this down or use an excel spreadsheet to keep these flags and actions organized.

 

It's all about learning the logic ED has built in and using this logic to get xxx done. I would start put a mission together then ask questions in the editor section how would you go about getting (This done XXXX).

 

It starts with you writing down the mission. It's more like a screenplay lol. Your also adding points TO DO for the logic.

 

Player enters cockpit.

 

Mission start script: Wait 5 seconds add text (Welcome rookie, this will be a familiarization flight of the area. Get spooled up and meet me at the entry to runway 05)

 

Add trigger point to the entry of runway 05

Unit in zone 1 (Player) set flag 5

Add text (I'll takeoff first, follow me out to waypoint 1, try not to get left behind)

Add zone 2 that covers the airfield

Time since flag 5 (180 sec) (3minutes)

Unit in zone 2 (Player)

Add text (What's taking so long rookie, you remember how to fly that thing? Need some help)

 

Player outside zone 2

Time since flag 5 (180 sec) (3minutes)

Unit's altitude lower than 100 (Player) (it's in meters)

Action text (It's not top gun rookie, you want to get busted? Get up to 5000 feet now.... Before I lose my head)

 

Time since flag 5 (500 sec) (8minutes)

Launch enemy fighters from (xxx airport) setup intercept

Action Group active (What group? Drop down list of groups you have in mission)

 

The other big ones are adding and removing in game radio items to (SET YOUR DIFFERENT FLAGS TO TRUE) this can be 1, 5, 65 or 500 it's all up to you to keep organized.

This is big because you are directly interacting with the user in the cockpit.

This can be for asking for help (Add some extra fighters to the mission) Flag 33 or whatever.

Or Asking for a SEAD flight to start SEAD. Flag 698 or whatever.

Or Telling tanks to move forward from X waypoint. Flag 56 or whatever.

Or just turning on weapons free in a simple dog fight mission. Flag 1 or whatever.

 

 

More examples are coming soon.

I think the next one will be how to add a radio (Sound) item to XXX channel or hear globally)

 

Here is a quick video about the Training missions and how the highlighting and some of the logic works in building those types of missions.

 

 

Learn more about COCKPIT ARGUMENT's in the manual

DCS User Manual EN.pdf page 94

 

"COCKPIT ARGUMENT IN RANGE. The position of every cockpit control and instrument is defined by a custom argument ID and valid value range. This trigger checks for a set cockpit argument to be within a set value range. This is most often used to evaluate switch and button states with discrete argument values (such as ‘0’ for off and ‘1’ for on or in decimal values between 0 and 1 for multi-position switches). However, it can also be used to evaluate the position of needle instruments, such as airspeed or vertical velocity, etc."

 

If you can go through and work out how these flow, you can build anything.

 

You can add to your mission. Example, check to see if the hook is in the down position on the Hornet when in the pattern (Unit Altitude Lower than xxx) (Speed lower than xxx) in movable zone (Attach this zone to the moving ship)

 

Action: Text (Remember to put the hook down..... lol)

 

All those (conditions) above are so we can just workout if the player is in the pattern when near the ship etc. Then do action.

 

All done in a clear and organized start to end top to bottom coverage these tutorials should be scripted and the lead actor should be knowledgeable and the second actor should behave like he is learning or there to provide a novice viewpoint.

 

All I'm trying to do here and with my videos is to help show you and others how to get started. It's impossible to do a perfect video series on this stuff.

It would be as hard as doing a video series on coding. Most coding videos are the same, just showing the tools a few examples also.

 

 

I'm just try to help you and others get to a point where you can go into the Mission editor section and start asking the right questions about getting XXX done, whatever XXX is your try to accomplish in your mission when stuck.

 

Same with coding, it's all math, logic and using those things to do, well, it's pretty much limitless. The world inside DCS is not of course and is limited by the tools ED has made and is extended by the use of DCS scripting engine itself and or more tools (Framework) built from the scripting engine such as Moose.

 

MOOSE is a Mission Object Oriented Scripting Environment, and is meant for mission designers and mission hosters. It allows to quickly setup complex missions using "pre-scripted scenarios" using the available classes within the MOOSE Framework.

 

New video, it's more of a complete overview and the scope of building and organizing, keeping track of triggers in a large mission.


Edited by David OC

i7-7700K OC @ 5Ghz | ASUS IX Hero MB | ASUS GTX 1080 Ti STRIX | 32GB Corsair 3000Mhz | Corsair H100i V2 Radiator | Samsung 960 EVO M.2 NVMe 500G SSD | Samsung 850 EVO 500G SSD | Corsair HX850i Platinum 850W | Oculus Rift | ASUS PG278Q 27-inch, 2560 x 1440, G-SYNC, 144Hz, 1ms | VKB Gunfighter Pro

Chuck's DCS Tutorial Library

Download PDF Tutorial guides to help get up to speed with aircraft quickly and also great for taking a good look at the aircraft available for DCS before purchasing. Link

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I’m aware of that the ideas are looking for are way more advanced like the video introductions on some campaigns. Orsimulating a is or cp with ai. Setting missions up with triggers are simple compared to the items I’m looking for help on. Besides the training missions that I desire to see I have little interests in combat missions at this time.

BlackeyCole 20years usaf

XP-11. Dcs 2.5OB

Acer predator laptop/ i7 7720, 2.4ghz, 32 gb ddr4 ram, 500gb ssd,1tb hdd,nvidia 1080 8gb vram

 

 

New FlightSim Blog at https://blackeysblog.wordpress.com. Go visit it and leave me feedback and or comments so I can make it better. A new post every Friday.

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What is the best tutorial on the mission editor with out scripts going throug the module step by step describing everything in a concise organized manor. Also do several mini missions highlighting how to do the normal tasks the a finial mission that puts everything together each type of group with several groups so if you wanted to preform an action in just using the me no scripts there would be at least one way to do it in this mission.

 

Then the next in the series would be a tutorial on using scripts and mist since must rely on it for theirs to work. Describing each item I. Mist then demonstrating how to us each then a full mission demonstrating the use of them in a mission.

 

Next the same with ctld .

Next moose.

 

All done in a clear and organized start to end top to bottom coverage these tutorials should be scripted and the lead actor should be knowledgeable and the second actor should behave like he is learning or there to provide a novice viewpoint.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

I’m aware of that the ideas are looking for are way more advanced like the video introductions on some campaigns. Orsimulating a is or cp with ai. Setting missions up with triggers are simple compared to the items I’m looking for help on. Besides the training missions that I desire to see I have little interests in combat missions at this time.

 

Then there's your old post HERE just asking to get rid of the spacebar in a mission.

 

These are using the "BASIC" functions of the mission editor and are very easy to bypass if you just know the basic functions....?

 

 

ok im in the mission editor and in thie mission the developer use the following statement to see if the udser has pressed the spacebar "x: start wait user responce (2,999) . the "2" isthe flag that it is looking for if i understand correctly. the "999" this id the user redponse value if i am correct, iem the spacebar output.

 

what im going to substitue thid line with some type or timer command if possible .

 

 

I'm really trying to help you get to where you want to go with this BlacleyCole.

Not really sure what your trying to accomplish here...? and now know idea on your skill level?

 

You can make some really cool things like "Bankler's CASE 1 Recovery Trainer" Using all these tools and scripts, plus a lot of ingenuity....

Bankler is a programmer tho with software on Steam, so he sort of knows what he is doing to put all that together. That's experience.

 

Then your asking about Moose? That's a whole new level and you are on a path to learning the fundamentals of programming in lua. You can throw a few things together tho, using the pre done mission that come with Moose.

 

FlightControl (Moose) has done many many video's and explains that you should know some of the basics.

 

 

 

I will be doing a video (Very basic) just showing how you can setup and put a script in a mission and copy some of the code into your mission to make the ai do dynamic things etc. This is just to get others sitting on the fence to have a go, if interested they will watch FlightControl's videos to learn more about Moose, programming and what's possible.

 

Or to go ask question about doing XXX with Moose on Discord https://discord.gg/zKByH7

Or here on the forum. Plus all the content on Github

 

 

The thing is you need to learn the fundamentals of using:

The DCS mission editor (Know most of the basic functions)

Play around with them in DCS and get to know what they do, that is what I'm trying to do with my videos and to keep it fun...ish.

Then have a play with a few scripts or moose. This is only a path to get others to a level so they can learn more off guy's like FlightControl and his more advanced content for Moose or Mist, CTLD.

 

https://wiki.hoggitworld.com/view/Simulator_Scripting_Engine_Documentation

 

 

If you want to see just how far you can go, open up (TrapTraining.lua) inside (Bankler's CASE 1 Recovery Trainer mission)

 

1769 lines used.

 

Example function (GetRelativePositionToCarrier)

 

function GetRelativePositionToCarrier(position)
 -- Carrier position
 local a = carrier:GetVec3()  
 -- Player position
 local b = position 
 -- Vector from carrier to player.
 local c = {x = b.x - a.x, y = 0, z = b.z - a.z}
 
 -- Orientation of carrier.
 local x = carrier:GetOrientationX()  
 -- Projection of player pos on x component.
 local dx = UTILS.VecDot(x,c) 
 -- Orientation of carrier.
 local z = carrier:GetOrientationZ()  
 -- Projection of player pos on z component.  
 local dz = UTILS.VecDot(z,c)
 -- Use absolute altitude for the Y component.
 local dy = b.y
 
 return dx, dy, dz
end

Here's some of the scoring.

 

function Ninety(playerData)    
   local position = playerData.unit:GetVec3()
   local dx, dy, dz = GetRelativePositionToCarrier(position)

   if(dz < -3700 or dx < -3700 or dx > 0) then
       AbortPattern(playerData, "Too far out in the 90")
       return
   end
   
   local cx = carrier:GetOrientationX()  
   local px = playerData.unit:GetOrientationX()  
   local dot = UTILS.VecDot(cx, px)  -- dot > 0 means that we are 90 degrees and about to align
   
   if (dot > 0) then 
       local idealAltitude = 450
       local altitude = UTILS.Round( UTILS.MetersToFeet( position.y ) )

       local hint = "• "
       local score = 0

      [b] if(altitude > 575) then[/b]
           score = 0
           hint = hint .. "Very high at the 90 (out of CTS)"
       [b]elseif(altitude > 550) then[/b]
           score = 1
           hint = hint .. "Very high at the 90"
       [b]elseif(altitude > 525) then[/b]
           score = 2
           hint = hint .. "High at the 90"
      [b] elseif(altitude > 502) then[/b]
           score = 3
           hint = hint .. "Little high at the 90"
      [b] elseif(altitude > 448) then[/b]
           score = 4
           hint = hint .. "On altitude at the 90"
     [b]  elseif(altitude > 425) then[/b]
           score = 2
           hint = hint .. "Little low at the 90"
       [b]elseif(altitude > 400) then[/b]
           score = 1
           hint = hint .. "Low at the 90"
       else
           score = 0
           hint = hint .. "Very low at the 90 (out of CTS)"    
       end
   
       local aoa = playerData.unit:GetAoA()        
       local onSpeedScore = GetOnSpeedScore(aoa, playerData)

       playerData:IncreaseScore(score + onSpeedScore)
   
       local declutteredAoAFeedback = GetDeclutteredAoAFeedback(aoa, playerData)
       local scoreString = GetStepScoreString(score + onSpeedScore, 7)
       
       hint = hint .. declutteredAoAFeedback .. scoreString
   
       SendMessageToPlayer( hint, 8, playerData )
       PrintAltitudeFeedback(altitude, idealAltitude, playerData)
       
       playerData:AddToSummary(hint)
       playerData.longDownwindDone = true
       playerData.step = 7
   end
end

 

Line 1463

Even handling the sound files from this file, not from the DCS editor.

 

function HandleLSO(playerData)
   local currentTime = timer.getAbsTime()

   local position = playerData.unit:GetVec3()
   local dx, dy, dz = GetRelativePositionToCarrier(position)
   dx, dy, dz = AdjustDeltasToMatchFocalPoint(dx, dy, dz)
   
   local lineupError = GetLineupError(dx, dy, dz)
   local glideslopeError = GetGlideslopeError(dx, dy, dz)

   local messageId = ""
   
   local hasAdvice = false
   
   --env.info("Glideslope error: " .. glideslopeError)
   --env.info("lineup error error: " .. lineupError)    
   --SendMessageToPlayer( "Glideslope error: " .. glideslopeError, 1, playerData )
   --SendMessageToPlayer( "Lineup error: " .. lineupError, 1, playerData )
   
   if(glideslopeError > 0.6) then
       if(glideslopeError > playerData.lso_lastGlideslopeError) then
           if(glideslopeError > 1.2) then
               messageId = "FlyDown_Intensity_2"
           else
               messageId = "FlyDown_Intensity_1"
           end
       end
   end
   
   if(glideslopeError < -0.3) then
       if(glideslopeError < playerData.lso_lastGlideslopeError) then
           if(glideslopeError < -1) then
               messageId = "FlyUp_Intensity_2"
           else
               messageId = "FlyUp_Intensity_1"
           end
       end
   end
   
   if(lineupError > 3) then
       if(lineupError > playerData.lso_lastLineupError) then
           if(lineupError > 5) then
               messageId = "FlyLeft_Intensity_2"
           else
               messageId = "FlyLeft_Intensity_1"
           end
       end
   end
   
   if(lineupError < -3) then
       if(lineupError < playerData.lso_lastLineupError) then
           if(lineupError < -5) then
               messageId = "FlyRight_Intensity_2"
           else
               messageId = "FlyRight_Intensity_1"
           end
       end
   end
   
   if(currentTime - playerData.lso_lastAdviceTime > 4) then
       if(messageId ~= "") then
           GiveLSOFeedback(messageId, playerData)
           playerData.lso_lastAdviceTime = currentTime
       end
   end

   playerData.lso_lastGlideslopeError = glideslopeError
   playerData.lso_lastLineupError = lineupError
end


Edited by David OC

i7-7700K OC @ 5Ghz | ASUS IX Hero MB | ASUS GTX 1080 Ti STRIX | 32GB Corsair 3000Mhz | Corsair H100i V2 Radiator | Samsung 960 EVO M.2 NVMe 500G SSD | Samsung 850 EVO 500G SSD | Corsair HX850i Platinum 850W | Oculus Rift | ASUS PG278Q 27-inch, 2560 x 1440, G-SYNC, 144Hz, 1ms | VKB Gunfighter Pro

Chuck's DCS Tutorial Library

Download PDF Tutorial guides to help get up to speed with aircraft quickly and also great for taking a good look at the aircraft available for DCS before purchasing. Link

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Ok here his what I have on my mind 2 things.

 

1) a ai copilot for something like the huey that you can run the -10 checklist, instruct to tune radios, reconfigurations weapons or countermeasures basically do things so you don’t have to divert attention from flying.

 

2) ai instructor that helps train you on the tasks at hand. Corrects you on the controller and gives feedback on the flight and on some tasks be able to evaluate on certain tasks and lastly on the ai I- demo a task, then help the students complete the task then we set to evaluate the task.

 

One more item have the ai pilot fly the mission while the human pilot is in the cockpit

 

I’m learning ctld currently with the help of someone who good at it.

BlackeyCole 20years usaf

XP-11. Dcs 2.5OB

Acer predator laptop/ i7 7720, 2.4ghz, 32 gb ddr4 ram, 500gb ssd,1tb hdd,nvidia 1080 8gb vram

 

 

New FlightSim Blog at https://blackeysblog.wordpress.com. Go visit it and leave me feedback and or comments so I can make it better. A new post every Friday.

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