DML - Mission Creation Toolbox [no Lua required]

[Panthir]

Sincerely, we thank you Mate for your effort and your contribution to the community

[DD_Friar]

@cfrag - Really sorry about this but I have received the below error with the new version.

I am just in the process of re-implementing DML into one of my missions and am starting with troop transport.

I get the below error when, after loading a group I deploy them to the same place. At the point of hitting "deploy" I get the script error. I clear the error and the troops do still deploy.

null

null

null

EDIT: I have found the issue. The parameter test has a spooling tistook - the parameter is captureAndHold, the original script has it as "captureandhold".

I changed it to match and it now works.

Cheers

Friar

null

Edited August 15, 2024 by DD_Friar

[CidTheViking]

Hello fell DML folks,

Has anyone messed around with the idea of randomized routes? I would like to have some cloners roam a city but with a randomized pattern instead of a static way point spawn. Also, has anyone tackled a video tutorial on how to use flags to randomize things. I am having a really hard time understanding it all.

Also I do think a DML would benefit from a discord/guilded. Have each module in a text channel for people to discuss and share and a announcement channel for updates. Searching in the forum here can be a bit difficult at times. But I understand.

Thanks again for a great way to mission edit.

Edited August 15, 2024 by CidTheViking

[cfrag]

5 hours ago, DD_Friar said:

has a spooling tistook

Nice one - took me a while to get it

That correction of yours shouldn't work, and always skip -- I'll revisit the code, thanks!

 

[cfrag]

6 hours ago, DD_Friar said:

I changed it to match and it now works.

Please try below patched version. Does that work better?

heloTroops.lua

[cfrag]

1 hour ago, CidTheViking said:

Has anyone messed around with the idea of randomized routes?

DCS is *really* bad when it comes to pathing in real-time. You'd be much better off by adding a bunch of set groups, all with their routes already set up as templates, and then use the cloner's built-in randomizer to randomize which group to clone. Or use the new Convoy module to do exactly the same thing in a single step.

1 hour ago, CidTheViking said:

Also, has anyone tackled a video tutorial on how to use flags to randomize things.

With DML you don't use flags to randomize things. You use randomizer modules or randomizing capabilities of modules. DML uses flags only to tell other modules to do stuff. DCS's randomizing abilities are a cruel joke on mission designers.

 

[CidTheViking]

I see. I will look at the new Convoy module and see what I can come up with. Creating a COIN op on Afghanistan is harder than I expected it to be. Especially if you want them to be able to move around and give the feeling of a living world kind of thing. Thanks for the insights.

Can you link it in a way to simulate dismounting troops to defend the vehicle?

Also one last question. Sorry. Is there a chance to integrate some sort of casevac/medevac when convoys come under attack and need to airlift casualties?

The dream goal as I continue to work on COIN operations is to try to simulate a ground war under the players to participate in and have random events of contact on convoys and casevacs missions.

Edited August 15, 2024 by CidTheViking

[cfrag]

10 hours ago, CidTheViking said:

Especially if you want them to be able to move around and give the feeling of a living world kind of thing.

Indeed. That's not limited to 'Stan, though, but all maps. DCS doesn't currently lend itself to make an airfield look alive, much less a city or region. Infantry/civ AI is pitiful at best.

10 hours ago, CidTheViking said:

Can you link it in a way to simulate dismounting troops to defend the vehicle? [...] Is there a chance to integrate some sort of casevac/medevac when convoys come under attack and need to airlift casualties?

I've experimented with that. It's not difficult to link an attack event to then spawn some units that need to be evacuated. The problem in DCS's quite binary world of AI is that those evacuees won't survive because if there are units that attacked a convoy and destroyed it, these attacking units stick around and also kill anything that is left, for example infantry units left as csar objectives. Those tests where some spectacular failures of what I deemed to be a good idea . It's still on my list to further explore. 

Dismounting troops to defend a convoy is easy. However, having them remount isn't, as DCS has no concept of merging groups, so that idea is currently also on my 'experimental' heap.

10 hours ago, CidTheViking said:

I continue to work on COIN operations is to try to simulate a ground war under the players to participate in and have random events of contact on convoys

I'm exploring this basic idea, from a one-sided perspective (defend against enemy convoys) to validate the convoy concept. Hopefully I'll be able to release a first look at this to get some feedback on how this can be improved. 

Edited August 16, 2024 by cfrag

[Recluse]

@cfrag  Just a data point for you:

 

- Errors seen previously on bombRange  GONE in latest version. Working perfectly even with a Cloner.  THANKS!!

- Still getting the odd Landing Feat upon spawning in with a manually placed unit with noGAP running. Single Player and MultiPlayer (noGapGui running on server)  Does not seem to happen with Dynamic spawns or, oddly when getting into a manually placed helo on a Static FARP which DOES still drop a few meters onto the pad at startup. (known helo issue I gather). This doesn't seem to happen with a Dynamic Spawn.

 

 

[CidTheViking]

Hello again.

The new convoy system is great. I have some interesting use case for it. I am thinking of having a convoy travel around to cloners and trigger a clone cycle somehow. But in my cloners I have several templates setup to choose from. Mostly Red choices but one blue choice to give them on start up a chance to be either. Is there a way to do a clone cycle based on ownership or will it do it automatically when the cycle starts? Im guessing this is where the flag system to start a clone cycle comes in?

[Priest]

Is there a way to use noRoadsAtAll for specific units or zones rather than just globally via CommanderConfig? I like to use noRoadsAtAll for infantry units to get them from zone to zone more directly but want vehicles to use the forceOffRoad method so to try to follow a road rather than move directly with noRoadsAtAll.

[cfrag]

On 8/18/2024 at 10:18 AM, CidTheViking said:

Is there a way to do a clone cycle based on ownership

Indirectly, yes - but 'based on ownership' is an ill-defined clone condition. I don't think that you really want to continuously cycle a cloner as long as it is a member of a coalition. I beleive that you are looking for a condition that cycles the cloner once when or if just turned blue. Define that condition, and you have the definition for the clone? input signal.

3 hours ago, Priest said:

Is there a way to use noRoadsAtAll for specific units or zones rather than just globally

I worked on that for a while; unfortunately, DCS's current pathing abilities are below a threshold where I would be comfortable to invest more time into unit pathing control. That aspect of DML is currently shelved, to be revisited if and when DCS has something we can use for pathing in scripts. So currently there is only this clutzy switch in config.

Edited August 19, 2024 by cfrag

[DD_Friar]

@cfrag

Ref: heloTroops module

Is there anyway that this module could be "tweaked" so that it would be possible to load more than 1 group per flight like the default DCS troop transport can?

Cheers

Friar

[cfrag]

14 hours ago, DD_Friar said:

Is there anyway that this module could be "tweaked" so that it would be possible to load more than 1 group per flight like the default DCS troop transport can?

I think it is possible, and it would require a lot of work, with comparatively little benefits over simply loading a larger group. There certainly are edge cases where it would be advantageous to only disembark half of your load. The overhead looks rather big, though.

[DD_Friar]

@cfrag Enough said. I will move on from this request.

Your revised heloTroops module works fine BTW. Thanks again.

[Sinclair_76]

Is it possible to add a requisite frequency to the radio menu? So the menu only bangs a flag when item is selected and the correct radio frequency is tuned?

[cfrag]

20 minutes ago, Sinclair_76 said:

Is it possible to add a requisite frequency to the radio menu? So the menu only bangs a flag when item is selected and the correct radio frequency is tuned?

That's an interesting idea. If we want to add that, there are a few immediate questions that we need to be answer before I can put that into action:

•  UX: players must understand and immediately see why they can't send their command if they are not tuned in correctly. Not doing so would be incredibly bad UX. In DCS that's probably not so much of a problem, simply because people already suffer under terrible UX and won't feel much of a difference. I try to be a bit better  
• How would we handle aircraft that do can not tune to a radio frequency (e.g. all FC aircraft)? 
• And the (probably killing) blow to this improvement until ED come with up with a workable solution: how does a script know which frequency a player is tuned to? AFAIK there is no API to find out which frequencies your radios are tuned to, getting this information is individual per module (if at all), not standardized, and there currently is no API (there is no e.g. Unit.getRadios() method that returns the frequencies and radio(s) of an aircraft). Meaning: if a script doesn't know which frequency/ies a player is tuned to, it can't decide if the player has tuned one of the radios to the correct frequency. 

In other words: IMHO adding a requisite frequency to a radioMenu is easy (just add a new attribute), making it work (checking if a player has tuned one of their radios to the correct freq) currently impossible.

Edited August 21, 2024 by cfrag

[Sinclair_76]

1 hour ago, cfrag said:

And the (probably killing) blow to this improvement until ED come with up with a workable solution: how does a script know which frequency a player is tuned to? AFAIK there is no API to find out which frequencies your radios are tuned to, getting this information is individual per module (if at all), not standardized, and there currently is no API (there is no e.g. Unit.getRadios() method that returns the frequencies and radio(s) of an aircraft). Meaning: if a script doesn't know which frequency/ies a player is tuned to, it can't decide if the player has tuned one of the radios to the correct frequency. 

This is how I do it with the ME

 

Given this does not work on FC3 aircraft. But above does work for f-16/f-18. AFAIK the parameters are not the same on all aicraft.So DML would have to figure out the type and apply correct cockpit parameter. 

Edited August 21, 2024 by Sinclair_76

[cfrag]

38 minutes ago, Sinclair_76 said:

But above does work for f-16/f-18. AFAIK the parameters are not the same on all aicraft.

Indeed. Plus, in above example, if the pilot is tuned correctly on COM2, it won't work either. Some modules have more than two radios, and for different frequency ranges.

38 minutes ago, Sinclair_76 said:

DML would have to figure out the type and apply correct cockpit parameter

That's IMHO not acceptable. I don't cherish introducing module-specific dependencies into something that should support all. In other words, not providing an API to mission designers for accessing the radios reeks of API amateur hour on the side of ED to me. To make matters worse, there is no scripting API equivalent to "X_Cockpit_Param" in DCS. There is a Unit.getDrawArgumentCalue() that I would rather slowly suffocate than waste months to figure out for each radio dial for each radio for each different module, and then repeat that process every time a module changes or is added. And still won't cover any FC module (although we could simply say that any FC module automatically tunes correctly, establishing today's status quo, no problem here). No, we need ED to do some essential API work here, and then we can have an improvement across the board.

Edited August 21, 2024 by cfrag

[Sinclair_76]

One of the exceptions where ME is easier then. Thanks for looking in to it. 

Edited August 21, 2024 by Sinclair_76

[dtruck260]

@cfrag Two thoughts, would be neat if Cargo Receiver could be dropped anywhere (like helotroops), I did modify helotroops to take hummers along in the 47, but slinging it via a crate and then dropping where I want would be cool. --edit could I do something as dumb as linking the cargorec zone to the 47'?

and

Could CargoReceiver ever award player points?

Edited August 22, 2024 by dtruck260

[DD_Friar]

@Diablo 1-1

Salute

I use the pick-up and drop-off of troops a lot in my missions that my squad use. I use the spawner which is triggered by the option in the Comms menu for airborne troops. Our helicopters land in a compound, we request either a section (x6) for Hueys or a Platoon (x24) for the 'Hook. They then drop them off near a point to be captured. I use the captureAndHold option so that they will advance into the ownedZone and take control, but will not advance on to the next location. We can then pick them up and either take them back to base or on to the next location.

I trigger my enemy to attack the newly captured location based on the ownedZone changing hands blueCap! or redCap!

Can I have a better understanding of what you mean by "threshold" and "reset back to 0" What are you tracking?

 

[cfrag]

14 minutes ago, dtruck260 said:

would be neat if Cargo Receiver could be dropped anywhere

With the Hook and upcoming Herc, DML's entire logistic support will likely need an overhaul. Unfortunately, with the current (sorry) state of the cargo system (which to me looks quite amateurish in implementation, the UX is laughable, and no hard data available), this might take a while. But I too see some room for improvement, plus an optional integration with the warehouse system (which IMHO is also a deeply black spot API-wise)

17 minutes ago, dtruck260 said:

Could CargoReceiver ever award player points?

I never thought of that, but yes, I think that should be easy to integrate.

 

[dtruck260]

29 minutes ago, dtruck260 said:

@cfrag Two thoughts, would be neat if Cargo Receiver could be dropped anywhere (like helotroops), I did modify helotroops to take hummers along in the 47, but slinging it via a crate and then dropping where I want would be cool. --edit could I do something as dumb as linking the cargorec zone to the 47'?

and

Could CargoReceiver ever award player points?

 

The answer to 

--edit could I do something as dumb as linking the cargorec zone to the 47'?

is yes lol

11 minutes ago, cfrag said:

With the Hook and upcoming Herc, DML's entire logistic support will likely need an overhaul. Unfortunately, with the current (sorry) state of the cargo system (which to me looks quite amateurish in implementation, the UX is laughable, and no hard data available), this might take a while. But I too see some room for improvement, plus an optional integration with the warehouse system (which IMHO is also a deeply black spot API-wise)

I never thought of that, but yes, I think that should be easy to integrate.

 

Its working great for me so far, and I can only imagine what that abyss of an API looks like now

 

Ty for the score thing, not a big deal but with people doing more helo ops it seems like they should get some sort of award

[vgilsoler]

I'm getting this error when launching the mission in multiplayer using "limited_airframes" module.

The mission seems to run fine after the error and counting dead pilots correctly.

I'm using DML version 2.3.0 - limitedairframes 1.6.0