DCS Features Wish List

[Fuzzy_bear]

Not sure if this has been asked before.

With the new Huey and it's "old school" avionics and nav gear I find the map and kneeboard sorely lacking in navigational beacons. Yes some airfields have tacan's ils approach's and the occasional ndb but none of that relative information is readily available while having your hands full with an old bird that has none of the modern "flight assist's" ie. no moving map or tacan preset frequencies etc. I would very much like to be able to look at the mission planner and make note of where I'm going and how I'm supposed to get there. Which would be a lot easier if i could bring up the kneeboard and see a NDB or VOR (with frequency) that I can use. It would make it a lot more realistic and challenging if we could properly use our nav equipment to get from turn point 1 to turn point 6 without having to look at the map and go ... yup! it's over there..ish

[Scoggs]

Kind of a graphical thing. But I would love to see War Thunder's water/ocean effects and overal look. I think it looks amazing from 0-15,000ft (can only speak to that since that is how high I have gone in WT). Also has wake effects for ships and torpedoes.

[Lucas_From_Hell]

One thing that's been overlooked (and frankly is pretty easy to forget, I didn't notice it in over 10 years of ED sims, but nonetheless): control of the helmet's visor, plus implementation of it in the first place. Each pilot has a different preference regarding it and it'd really be helpful in a few cases (like flying with the sun on your face).

 

Not my idea, it's been mentioned before on a different thread but thought it'd be worth it to bring it here anyway. :)

[Nealius]

This may have been requested before, but it would be really nice to have QNH listed in the weather report in the mission briefing.

[Nealius]

QNH in the weather briefing? Just implemented in MiG-21 or in DCS World as a whole?

[Fuzzy_bear]

Trains:

I would like to have moving trains that I can place on the tracks and have them follow a waypoint system like I can do with cars buses tanks etc. for use in missions like ...

 

Runaway train

train with a bomb

hijacked train

 

And with that I'd like to see a flat bed coach with AAA on it or one of the open coaches I can put a load of insurgent with AK's and rpg's on it.

 

Destructible bridges would be nice too.... stop a convoy getting from A-B by taking out a road bridge over a river.

 

Use the Huey to insert troops onto a hijacked moving train... that sort of thing.

 

lol I have an imagination to rival B.A Barracus's Bling and a stagnant mission editor..

[Nealius]

Along with QNH, it would be even better to be able to go into the Flight Planner, double-click on an airbase, and get current weather info. Temperature, QNH, wind speed/direction, especially when using Dynamic Weather where you may have a wide range of temperature and pressure throughout the map.

 

I am finding the lack of this information really annoying now that I use performance charts for takeoff speeds, climb schedule, and fuel. I noticed that the temperature in the briefing only appears to be valid for sea level, which throws my takeoff speed off when I am flying out of higher elevations.

[Flyingfrog]

We definitely need a server list sorting feature capable of sorting on:

-available aircraft and type

-players (also be able to see player names in browser)

-password protected

-ping

-etc.

Also a better mission progress tracking system would help a lot in multiplayer.

And hopefully one day, ingame teamspeak+tars for everybody.

 

:thumbup: 100% Agree! Improving Multiplayer servers listing/sorting and searching features would be greatly apprieciated.

[159th_Falcon]

Suppressive Fire.

 

In the broadest meaning of the term. Now that we have the UH-1H and the MI-8MTV2 it makes sense to implement.

 

Lots of people have shitloads of fun at the moment inserting and extracting troops from LZ's.

Though, if your getting fired at there's is bugger all you can do about it.

 

Now, if suppressive fire, or rather the effects there-off would be modelled.

It would make sense to escort the troop carriers, and saturate cover providing areas whit rocket\guns to suppress the enemy so the troop carriers can land relatively safely.

 

A second thing i'd like to see pertains to the Mission Editor. Currently there are a couple AI difficulty settings.

One is lacking though, "realistic"

Assume i don't have to explain that one.

[schkorpio]

its probably been mentioned, but i'd love to have a pilot sitting in the cockpits of the planes - like you can do with blackshark.

 

as cool as it is to fly ghost plane :)

[lxvanwyk]

Remove / replace dead crew members?

[Bushmanni]

Suppressive Fire.

 

In the broadest meaning of the term. Now that we have the UH-1H and the MI-8MTV2 it makes sense to implement.

 

Lots of people have shitloads of fun at the moment inserting and extracting troops from LZ's.

Though, if your getting fired at there's is bugger all you can do about it.

 

Now, if suppressive fire, or rather the effects there-off would be modelled.

It would make sense to escort the troop carriers, and saturate cover providing areas whit rocket\guns to suppress the enemy so the troop carriers can land relatively safely.

 

A second thing i'd like to see pertains to the Mission Editor. Currently there are a couple AI difficulty settings.

One is lacking though, "realistic"

Assume i don't have to explain that one.

 

This is a good idea. To take the idea further, AI should also be able to retreat or hide when facing superior enemy or taking too much casualties. Basically suppressing enemy is forcing him to take cover and hide.

[schkorpio]

When refueling, and rearming, or even getting repaired, I'd love for a ground crew to actually turn and and perform the work.

 

Fuel truck action drives out onto the parking area and fills you up. Some crew walking around and "doing things" to your plane :)

 

I'd give you something to look at while your stuck on the ground :)

[-Demon-]

When refueling, and rearming, or even getting repaired, I'd love for a ground crew to actually turn and and perform the work.

 

Fuel truck action drives out onto the parking area and fills you up. Some crew walking around and "doing things" to your plane :)

 

I'd give you something to look at while your stuck on the ground :)

 

I was beggin for that as well and agree to 100%. I was testing the trigger system to simulate tanker and ground staff. But it is not possible to direct units to a variable point like the position of the landed aircraft. If that would be possible, than you could "programm" it yourself.

 

So please ED do something about the lonelyness on the airfields.

 

That would add so much more realism to the sim.

 

Cheers

 

Demon

[lanmancz]

But it is not possible to direct units to a variable point like the position of the landed aircraft.

 

Actually it is possible. I was just recently been experimenting with the new addgroup function and it works quite well. I used it for example in troop insertion mission with huey where after landing at the lz the patrol team spawns nicely around my chopper and runs into neerby forest. So yes, with a bit of scripting you can do that nowdays, which is great.

 

The trick is that you generate the data structure of the unit class dynamically at spawn so you can put there any spawn point and as many waypoints as you like.I use this kind of script to pretty much generate a whole random battlefield for me at mission start.

Edited June 23, 2013 by lanmancz

[-Demon-]

Actually it is possible. I was just recently been experimenting with the new addgroup function and it works quite well. I used it for example in troop insertion mission with huey where after landing at the lz the patrol team spawns nicely around my chopper and runs into neerby forest. So yes, with a bit of scripting you can do that nowdays, which is great.

 

The trick is that you generate the data structure of the unit class dynamically at spawn so you can put there any spawn point and as many waypoints as you like.I use this kind of script to pretty much generate a whole random battlefield for me at mission start.

 

:shocking: HOW? Is it possible that you sind me a miz file so I can check it out how you did that?

 

I haven't played yet with new addgroup function. Is it discribed in the manual how to use it? Please I want to know everything about it :))))

 

Thanks in advance

 

Cheers

 

Demon

[lanmancz]

look at the test mission I attached here in the mission designer forum :

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1787568&postcount=5

 

in the mission there is a radio item in the f10 comms that spawns the soldiers around the huey and they run to their waypoint defined by the trigger zone. this is an early version of the script and this is all it can do. Now I have a much more advanced version that I can also share if you're interrested.

[-Demon-]

Now I have a much more advanced version that I can also share if you're interrested.

 

WOW...that would be awsome to take sneek look into that new mission concept...can't wait to get my hands on it :joystick:

 

Just checked what you've scripted. Would be cool if that would be inside the ME. I am a total nerd when it comes to programming :(

 

Thanks dude...

 

Cheers

 

Demon

Edited June 23, 2013 by -=Demon=-

[lanmancz]

ok here you go (see attachment - script templates + example mission in the zip) :

 

how to use:

 

 

first you have to create mission start trigger with do script action and put this in it :

UnitListCustom = {}

UnitListRandom = {}

you need to initialize these arrays that are used by the garbage collector script in order to remove created units

 

then use do script triggers and paste in them customized versions of these scripts :

spawn-random-group.lua - I use this script to create group with predefined name and group id (so i can respawn them, create triggers for them etc).

 

add-random-group.lua - this one adds a group with random name and group id. this means you can just run this script 10 times and it will spawn 10 of these groups (there's a very small chance it will generate a name that is already in use - I didn't fix it to prevent this yet since it's very rare - never happened to me actually but it can happen)

 

garbage-collector.lua - this is not done yet - it can only delete all existing script generated groups (so you can respawn the battlefield for example). I plan to add a function into this script that will remove dead groups to improve fps in larger battles. Also there is a known issue with this script - if you use respawn multiple times without removing all units and clearing the unit list arrays it always adds the same group names into the UnitListCustom array and then when the garbage collector tries to remove these duplicates it generates lua error (because the unit of that name was already removed before the duplicate so the Group.getByName() function generates a null pointer). I will have to add some protection that will prevent creating these duplicate records in the arrays, then it will be fine. Until then the workaround is to do remove all before you use the respawn function so the arrays are cleared and no duplicates are then created - as in the example mission.

 

important script variables :

there are multiple variables that you can define in the header of each script. you will figure the most out easily but interresting ones are these :

 

local spawnzone = "BlueSpawn" -- name of the trigger zone in which the group is spawned (size matters)

 

local wpmode = "normal" -- can be normal or random -- normal means it will go through the array of wpzones and generate a waypoint in each zone in sequence (btw you can put the same zone in the list several times). in random mode only one trigger zone name is expected in the wpzones array and the script will generate random waypoints wpcount times in this trigger zone so the group will drive around in the trigger zone

 

local wpzones = { "BlueRear", "Front1" } -- this is the array of trigger zone names in which waypoints will be generated (size of the zone matters). depending on the wpmode it will either generate one waypoints in each trigger zone in the list (normal mode) or wpcount number (20 by detault) of waypoints in the first trigger zone (random mode - if more zones are defined they have no effect). if you want a stationary group just leave the array empty like this local wpzones = {} -- in this case the wpmode has no effect sice the unit is stationary.

 

local unittype = { "M-1 Abrams" } -- array of unit types to create in the group. it can contain one or multiple items. in case of only one unit type is defined a unit will be created unitcount times (4 in this example) in the group. in case of multiple unit types are defined it will spawn the exact list of units in the group. same unit type can be in this array multiple times - it can be used to create mixed groups like this local unittype = { "Hawk tr", "Hawk sr", "Hawk ln", "Hawk ln", "Hawk ln", "Hawk ln", "Hawk ln" } -- in this case 7 units are spawned in the group - both hawk radar types and 5 launchers

 

local unitcount = 4 -- this is the number of units to spawn in the group in case only one unit type item is defined in the unittype array. when there are multiple items in unittype array it has no effect - the exact unit list is created as defined in the unittype array.

 

local radius = 250 -- when spawnpoint is generated inside a spawnzone trigger zone units of the created group will spawn in this radius around this spawn point (250 is nice for vehicles, 50 is good for soldiers)

 

local wpspeed = 30 -- waypoint speed of the group

local wpholdmin = 1 -- minimal wait time at each waypoint in seconds

local wpholdmax = 600 -- maximal wait time in seconds

local wpcount = 20 -- number of waypoints to generate in case of "random" wpmode, in normal mode has no effect. 20 is enough, no need to generate more i guess

 

By using these variables the script then basically generates and populates the Unit class and passes it to the coalition.addGroup() function and that's pretty much it. The whole magic is to populate the Unit class.

 

So with that you can create as many random groups as you like. With a bit of tweaking and triggers you can generate completely random battlefields with the addGroup function. A skilled mission designer can create random but realistic battles with all kinds of assets randomly spawned so the missions can have greatly improved replayability. This new function has a great potential. This my implementation is still very basic and only touching the surface ...

 

Anyway - look at the mission (in the zip file with the script templates). use f10 comms menu when you start to spawn the groups.

it's not realistic mission at all - I just created this so I can fly around with my friend, blow stuff up and have fun and not have every unit in the same place every time we play :-) The nice thing about this is that almost everyting in the mission is spawned inside the trigger zones by the scripts so if I want to change the battle location I can do it in couple of minutes. The scripts and everything remains the same - I just move the trigger zone positisions in the mission editor + change the player starting airport and waypoints to point in the new battle area - so the whole battle area can be relocated to the other end of the map in like 10 minutes.

 

There are some known issues (like the unit list problem with the garbage collector script) still present but nothing major. Also I did some quick bug fixing - fixed version attached - there was a minor typo in the original mission file I uploaded but it now works just fine ... also in this version only ground units can be spawned but with a couple of tweaks it should be able to spawn other unit types as well ...

 

script_fixed.zip

Edited June 23, 2013 by lanmancz

[-Demon-]

Many THANKS! Dude...I owe you somthing!

 

I will try that...

 

Cheers

 

Demon

[OVERDRIVE]

I have a request that should be pretty simple: A way to look around the cockpit (without TrackIR) that isn't a toggle, but a button hold instead (à la Falcon BMS). I don't have TrackIR and probably won't be able to purchase one for quite some time, but find myself wanting a "hold to disable" clickable mouse cockpit instead of toggling.

 

Thanks!

[diveplane]

animated grass flower movement on runway edges, sway in real time with wind directions.

[Cnuke]

animated grass flower movement on runway edges, sway in real time with wind directions.

 

And trees please.

 

I think I would never take off, I would eject and then picknick in the grass :music_whistling:

[Aginor]

I guess ED is already working on that, but I'd like to see an ATC like in BMS/FSX. I don't really mind the one we have but... ok, that was a lie. I actually do, I fear. :(

 

And the other thing is "AFM" for Bombs (especially GBU-38 ). I feel that something is wrong with my JDAMs. I know that those can get really really fast when dropped from high altitudes, but they don't in DCSW it seems.

 

Oh, and before I forget it: The blast radius of bombs feels somewhat weak. Surely a truck standing 50m away from a mk-82 impact would have a bad day, wouldn't it? Perhaps it is realistically modelled but the mk-82 explosions look very weak compared to the numbers I found on the net.

Also maybe airburst fuzes?

 

And OT: Are weapons moddable like planes are? I have no experience modelling in this game but I would try a few things, maybe I can do it myself instead of pestering ED with it... :D

[Aginor]

And here's another one that came to my mind when flying a bit of refueling again yesterday.

It would be really cool if a tanker would warn the other aircraft that it reaches its waypoint and is about to turn (like in BMS). I guess that is doable with mission scrpting, but it would be really nice if it was something that worked out of the box.