Need help with triggers

[Grodin]

Few questions about mission editor trigger and messages.

 

Is there a way to show a message only for a specific plane/player? Can you use other fonts or colors for a screen message?

Is it possible to fire a trigger only locally? For example a plane exits a trigger area and then a "return to mission area" message shows only for that specific plane.

Used to making missions in OFP/Arma and there it was quite simple to choose where to execute a specific trigger or a script, wondering how to do it in DCS.

[cfrag]

1 hour ago, Grodin said:

Is there a way to show a message only for a specific plane/player? Can you use other fonts or colors for a screen message?

Yes and no, and no. There is a message to group action. Everyone in that group will receive the message, so if you create one group for each player plane, you can send messages that only one player sees. You cannot use different fonts or colors in messages.

1 hour ago, Grodin said:

Is it possible to fire a trigger only locally? For example a plane exits a trigger area and then a "return to mission area" message shows only for that specific plane.

I believe you may have misread the definition of triggers (which should better be called 'conditional actions'). What most people commonly regard as a 'trigger' is the 'condition' part of DCS 'triggers' (conditional actions). The condition defines when an action is performed, and that can be tied to an area (a "Zone" in DCS parlor, which you can place in ME). So those conditional actions are tied to a location on the map. Other actions can be configured in their condition part to a myriad of things: when a plane has a certain amount of fuel, crashes or is killed - those aren't tied to a location but a unit, group of units, or even entire coalition.

1 hour ago, Grodin said:

Used to making missions in OFP/Arma and there it was quite simple to choose where to execute a specific trigger or a script, wondering how to do it in DCS.

There is long (but not necessarily well written) section in the manual that comes with DCS that explains triggers in depth. Read it, experiment in ME, curse aloud, re-read the section, try again. Rinse, repeat. When you run into something that doesn't seem to work, there is a chance that it really doesn't work; ask here to verify  (Example: there is a greater than 90% likelihood that you misread how the random trigger works and will wonder WTF it's not working. It's not you. That thing simply is set up counter-intuitively for anyone who is new to DCS's way of thinking)

 

Edited November 26, 2021 by cfrag