Standalone Mission Editor

[reece146]

A standalone mission editor that can be installed on any computer to create missions but does not require DCS installed to function.

 

User story 1:

As a mission creator I would like to create missions on my laptop when away from my gaming computer (while on an airplane, bus, etc).

User story 2:

Mission creation collaboration between authors can be shared on the fly when not sitting at a gaming computer(s) via simple file sharing and 'linting' in standalone mission editor programs.

I'd like to create missions while travelling, sitting in front of the TV, fire, lake, whatever without needing a whole DCS install to do it. Also concerned about potential licensing issues with having DCS installed in too many places (Game rig + server VM + laptop + ? ).

 

Just an idea.

[Bearfoot]

Agree 100%.

 

Not to mention that mission creation requires a different interface than playing missions (e.g., no VR, different resolution) as well as weaker specs.

 

Bad news is that in the long list of priorities, this is probably and arguably legitimately low on ED's list.

 

However, the good --- in fact, GREAT --- news is that this should be quite doable as a community or even an individual hobby project! The mission file structure is easily discoverable, as it is just a bunch of plain text files wrapped up in a zip archive, and, furthermore, those plaintext files themselves all seem to be straightforward Lua dictionaries. Someone with the skills (and time and love and committment) to put together something like CombatFlite could probably pull this together very well without requiring SDK's etc.Plus gives the option to add lots of extras (e.g., generate nice external briefings, etc.).

[VeeSPIKE]

There is something called Headquarters. It is incomplete, and the developer has not updated it in a while, but I think it does what you are looking for.

 

 

 

https://www.cafedefaune.org/software/headquarters-for-dcs-world/

[Bearfoot]

There is something called Headquarters. It is incomplete, and the developer has not updated it in a while, but I think it does what you are looking for.

 

 

 

https://www.cafedefaune.org/software/headquarters-for-dcs-world/

 

Headquarters is neat, and I am looking forward to its release. But it is mission generator, not a mission creator. It algorithmically builds a missions, with configurable parameters, as opposed to allowing an individual to creatively craft a mission (e.g., place assets, routes, trigger zones, etc.).

[MisterVince]

A standalone mission editor that can be installed on any computer to create missions but does not require DCS installed to function.

 

I love this idea ! :thumbup:

[nosaMtrevoC]

I've been giving some thought to creating something like this as I also want it. I do most of my casual work on my laptop on the couch rather than in my office and do not want to install the full DCS client.

 

Considered this as a hobby project (after finishing the handfull of others for DCS I have on the go), but it's a much larger undergoing than it may be worth. I'm unsure if the effort is worth the return.

[Red Dragon-DK]

:thumbup:This a great idea. I hope we will see this in the future.

[reece146]

Hmm, I guess something could be written in Perl/Python/bash whatever if you can read the database of locations, parking spots, targets, whatever. Might be something I'll look into. I'll have to look at lua I guess, may be able to just write the script in lua.

[NeuralBlankes]

Necro-ing thread to voice support for this feature.  

It's not an issue of trust in 3rd party developers, but for the sake of fewer problems and ease of integration with updates etc. I'd love to see E.D. offer a standalone mission editor or have the mission editor as a separate program window which is bridged to the game (ideally separate enough as processes go that if one crashes, the other doesn't).

That said, it's definitely a wish list item.  The game itself, in my opinion, is more important at this stage.  Once 2.7 is stable and out, perhaps then they will have the time to look into amenities like a separate editor. 

[ReyCandy]

I support the idea.

[upyr1]

Could work

[TOViper]

I support the idea of having an independent mission editor, which would be really awesome.

One more idea, that came up yesterday after installing a DCS Server on one of my laptops...

What about the idea of having a mission editor delivered with the DCS Server?

Advantages:

.) All maps, all aircraft, all data are already there ...

.) Modifying of missions could be easily done on the same machine without using a second computer, fideling around with shares, blah blah ...

Disadvantages:

.) I don't find any ...

 

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by TOViper

[Mr_sukebe]

1 hour ago, TOViper said:

I support the idea of having an independent mission editor, which would be really awesome.

One more idea, that came up yesterday after installing a DCS Server on one of my laptops...

What about the idea of having a mission editor delivered with the DCS Server?

Advantages:

.) All maps, all aircraft, all data are already there ...

.) Modifying of missions could be easily done on the same machine without using a second computer, fideling around with shares, blah blah ...

Disadvantages:

.) I don't find any ...

 

 

 

+1

great idea 

[player72]

added my non steam DCS Open Beta to steam as external game

streamed the game to my macbook

its working for me

not a perfect solution, but might work for you

[Lace]

On 9/20/2021 at 11:40 AM, TOViper said:

I support the idea of having an independent mission editor, which would be really awesome.

One more idea, that came up yesterday after installing a DCS Server on one of my laptops...

What about the idea of having a mission editor delivered with the DCS Server?

Advantages:

.) All maps, all aircraft, all data are already there ...

.) Modifying of missions could be easily done on the same machine without using a second computer, fideling around with shares, blah blah ...

Disadvantages:

.) I don't find any ...

 

 

 

This seems like a great solution to me.

[Good Ol 73]

Good to see I’m not the only one wishing for a stand-alone mission editor. Shouldn’t be difficult for ED to separate it from the game either. 

Another thing that could be just as good is to make it a web app. This way you could also make it possible for red and blue teams to design their defenses with or without predefined limitations on resources. 

[upyr1]

2 hours ago, Good Ol 73 said:

Good to see I’m not the only one wishing for a stand-alone mission editor. Shouldn’t be difficult for ED to separate it from the game either. 

Another thing that could be just as good is to make it a web app. This way you could also make it possible for red and blue teams to design their defenses with or without predefined limitations on resources. 

A web app would be a good idea if it is connected to the user files section,

[Worrazen]

Except Web is one hell of a platform to maintain, browsers keep changing things at a fast rate, generally Web and it's scripts are incredibly unreliable, depends on the skills and the environments, major sites may have no issues, simple sites either, but it's a very volatile environment.

If it's all simple html then I guess it might work, but Mission Editor is going to go 3D, and that would mean trying to run DCS inside Browser, nah, possible, but it would be very impractical and inefficient for ED to deal with that on top of everything they have going on in terms of DCS codebase, legacy spaghetti code and stuff.

[Carbo007]

Make an app in which you can create a mission from scratch containing the complete DCS core database with every parameters tied in, just like the original editor.  Only difference, you couldn't run the mission, just save it and send it via email as a .miz file.  I'm sure our smartphones have more than enough horsepower and memory to run something like this.

 

[upyr1]

On 2/19/2022 at 9:43 AM, Worrazen said:

Except Web is one hell of a platform to maintain, browsers keep changing things at a fast rate, generally Web and it's scripts are incredibly unreliable, depends on the skills and the environments, major sites may have no issues, simple sites either, but it's a very volatile environment.

If it's all simple html then I guess it might work, but Mission Editor is going to go 3D, and that would mean trying to run DCS inside Browser, nah, possible, but it would be very impractical and inefficient for ED to deal with that on top of everything they have going on in terms of DCS codebase, legacy spaghetti code and stuff.

 

I was thinking a web app might be cool, to make something somewhat cross platform. Thought it would need to be rather simple to work. 

[cfrag]

IIRC there’s already a credible effort with a web editor under way. What I’ve seen so far is very encouraging.

[Mike_Romeo]

 

[Kazputin]

Chiming in to say a standalone editor would be great. I've been tinkering with stuff during downtime from work and not having to fire up the whole app just to tweak triggers would be ideal.