DML - Mission Creation Toolbox [no Lua required]

[Chad Vader]

2 hours ago, cfrag said:

Isn't that expected behavior (unless autoRemove is set)? The receive would register each time that the cargo is on the ground and lifted again, provided that this happens less often than once per second and ups is set to 1. If autoRemove is active, the cargo should disappear (and no longer be able to land inside the receiver).

And I think I understand what you may be getting at: once put on the ground, the cargo should be removed from cargoManager's inventory. Currently, it's not set up that way so that you can pick up cargos that you have lost, and transfer cargo after you have dropped it into a receiver.  What is your intended use case? Maybe I can figure out something for that.

 

HI Cfrag, thanks for the reply!  Very much apppreciated.

So the docs say this: "f! The flag to bang! when the object is destroyed. Use only one synonym per zone."

So I thought the flag would bang when autoremove despawned the cargo after it was dropped.  This is preferable because I can use the autoremove delay to time the event.

As it stands if a helo pilot comes in and drops his cargo but doesnt unhook, and it bounces around, the flag bangs many times.  I have a counter that counts down every time that happens and the intended use case is to count down for every bit of cargo that is dropped off.  So people could grief the mission by just bouncing the cargo up and down.

Edited October 31, 2024 by Chad Vader

[DD_Friar]

I do not know this module...yet....but is there a TriggerMethod option where you could set a parameter value of =1, so it only triggers once?

 

[Chad Vader]

12 hours ago, DD_Friar said:

I do not know this module...yet....but is there a TriggerMethod option where you could set a parameter value of =1, so it only triggers once?

 

Hm, I don't see that.  But the point of the mission is to delivery X cargo, so id want it to fire multiple times, but only when the cargo is despawned (which it isnt at the moment).  I can get round it at the moment by momentarily pausing the zone every time the cargo touches down, but its a bit of a hack.

[Karuptsock]

23 hours ago, cfrag said:

Here's the updated cicAir that works with buggy Syria.

And, wow, Ben Gurion! 

Note that CivAir is currently still a bit chatty, make sure to disable verbosity. The next DML release will probably have a verbally slightly more restrained version. The text you see now is to help in diagnosing other odd stuff Syria/ECS might throw at us.

 

civAir.lua 30.25 kB · 2 downloads

Hey Cfrag , just letting you know it seems to have fixed my issues , thanks matey !

[cfrag]

1 hour ago, Chad Vader said:

But the point of the mission is to delivery X cargo, so id want it to fire multiple times, but only when the cargo is despawned

I've modified cargoReceiver in a way that should work according to your needs:

Below please find a pre-release version that still needs regression testing, and I award you the honor of being part of that

Here's the updated dox - it's backward compatible and I still recommend that you use the new (shorter) cargoReceiver! semantic. Note the new noBounce attribute that defaults to TRUE:

Name	Description
cargoReceiver!	Output flag to bang! when the cargo object is delivered onto the ground inside the zone.   Marks this zone as a cargo receiver zone. MANDATORY
cargoReceiver   deprecated	Marks this zone as a cargo receiver zone. Value is ignored   deprecated
autoRemove	Delete (despawn and remove from game) a cargo object <removeDelay> seconds after it was successfully delivered. This is helpful for most ObjectSpawnZones set-ups to trigger their spawn cycle Defaults to false
silent	Set to true to turn off this zone’s directions. Defaults to false (zone will talk to pilots)
method cargoMethod	DML Method for output Defaults to “inc”
f! cargoReceived!   deprecated	The flag to bang! when the object is destroyed. Use only one synonym per zone.
removeDelay	The delay (in seconds) after which after a successful delivery of a cargo object is removed. Requires that autoRemove be set to true. Defaults to 1 (second), Minimum is 1
noBounce	Prevents multiple deliveries of the same cargo object to the same zone are counted multiple times (e.g. bounces). When set to true, each cargo can only be delivered once per receiver zone. Defaults to true (one delivery per zone)

And the new module, I welcome your feedback

 

 

cargoReceiver.lua

[Chad Vader]

2 hours ago, cfrag said:

I've modified cargoReceiver in a way that should work according to your needs:

Below please find a pre-release version that still needs regression testing, and I award you the honor of being part of that

Here's the updated dox - it's backward compatible and I still recommend that you use the new (shorter) cargoReceiver! semantic. Note the new noBounce attribute that defaults to TRUE:

Name	Description
cargoReceiver!	Output flag to bang! when the cargo object is delivered onto the ground inside the zone.   Marks this zone as a cargo receiver zone. MANDATORY
cargoReceiver   deprecated	Marks this zone as a cargo receiver zone. Value is ignored   deprecated
autoRemove	Delete (despawn and remove from game) a cargo object <removeDelay> seconds after it was successfully delivered. This is helpful for most ObjectSpawnZones set-ups to trigger their spawn cycle Defaults to false
silent	Set to true to turn off this zone’s directions. Defaults to false (zone will talk to pilots)
method cargoMethod	DML Method for output Defaults to “inc”
f! cargoReceived!   deprecated	The flag to bang! when the object is destroyed. Use only one synonym per zone.
removeDelay	The delay (in seconds) after which after a successful delivery of a cargo object is removed. Requires that autoRemove be set to true. Defaults to 1 (second), Minimum is 1
noBounce	Prevents multiple deliveries of the same cargo object to the same zone are counted multiple times (e.g. bounces). When set to true, each cargo can only be delivered once per receiver zone. Defaults to true (one delivery per zone)

And the new module, I welcome your feedback

 

 

cargoReceiver.lua 8.72 kB · 0 downloads

This is brilliant thank you  Do you have a Paypal, I can send you a coffee

[DD_Friar]

Module: RadioMenu

Bug, Un-Planned Feature or Something else

Salute @cfrag,

I am currently working on a very simple mission that will use the nested radio menus to act as a way for members of my squad to select the mission they wish to play on our server.

We do have the dedicated server web utility available but it means giving out an important password to too many people, my thinking is this way ANYONE of our squad can choose which mission to load up.

The Workflow will be the menu bangs a flag that then uses the standard DCS trigger action of "Load Mission"

My problem is building the structure for a map that may have more than 4 missions available (in my example its the Caucuses). (Note to self- I have just spotted my spelling mistake in the screen shots)

In the screen shots you can see I have managed to get 8 options on one menu but have two entries. The second Caucuses is blank with no entries.

My question is, is this expected from the module? If I rename the second Caucuses to have a unique name then it works with 2 x 4 options menus?

[DD_Friar]

EDIT - Right after posting the above I had a better idea and have nested the Caucuses menus, which actually works better

 

Edited November 1, 2024 by DD_Friar

[Chad Vader]

5 hours ago, cfrag said:

I've modified cargoReceiver in a way that should work according to your needs:

Below please find a pre-release version that still needs regression testing, and I award you the honor of being part of that

Here's the updated dox - it's backward compatible and I still recommend that you use the new (shorter) cargoReceiver! semantic. Note the new noBounce attribute that defaults to TRUE:

Name	Description
cargoReceiver!	Output flag to bang! when the cargo object is delivered onto the ground inside the zone.   Marks this zone as a cargo receiver zone. MANDATORY
cargoReceiver   deprecated	Marks this zone as a cargo receiver zone. Value is ignored   deprecated
autoRemove	Delete (despawn and remove from game) a cargo object <removeDelay> seconds after it was successfully delivered. This is helpful for most ObjectSpawnZones set-ups to trigger their spawn cycle Defaults to false
silent	Set to true to turn off this zone’s directions. Defaults to false (zone will talk to pilots)
method cargoMethod	DML Method for output Defaults to “inc”
f! cargoReceived!   deprecated	The flag to bang! when the object is destroyed. Use only one synonym per zone.
removeDelay	The delay (in seconds) after which after a successful delivery of a cargo object is removed. Requires that autoRemove be set to true. Defaults to 1 (second), Minimum is 1
noBounce	Prevents multiple deliveries of the same cargo object to the same zone are counted multiple times (e.g. bounces). When set to true, each cargo can only be delivered once per receiver zone. Defaults to true (one delivery per zone)

And the new module, I welcome your feedback

 

 

cargoReceiver.lua 8.72 kB · 0 downloads

OK, so this work but there is a crazy interaction with the chinook.

If the cargo is despawned before the cargo is released, the cable is removed and the hook is stuck down.

Then if I try to pick up anymore cargo the cargo just floats under my aircraft with no hook attached

It seems to happens when I unhook the cargo inside the receive cargo zone.

Madness! Submitted a bug report 

 

Edited November 1, 2024 by Chad Vader

[AC_Snowman374th]

Thank you!  I'll check it out, and see what I can do

[Grindmetal]

@cfrag 

Is it possible to set this configuration globally for all zones without having to set them one by one?

if possible, how do you do it, I can't figure it out 

[Priest]

You could copy and paste the zone with the attributes you want duplicated with ctrl-c and ctrl-v then rename and resize the new zones as desired then add zone specific DML functions afterwards. If you have a bunch of DML zones already created only I can think of is go through the mission's lua file and copy and paste attributes into the zone entries there.

[cfrag]

1 hour ago, Grindmetal said:

Is it possible to set this configuration globally for all zones without having to set them one by one?

airfield config zone?

[Grindmetal]

4 minutes ago, cfrag said:

airfield config zone?

I'm using cfxZones and I found it much easier thx 

[cfrag]

2 minutes ago, Grindmetal said:

I'm using cfxZones and I found it much easier thx 

That's interesting. How? Are you modifying cfxZones?

[DD_Friar]

@cfrag

Modules: Convoy and Clone Zone (and possibly Airfield)

Issue: Difference in spawn logic at mission start

Salute Sir,

I think I may have found a difference in the way the two (or three?) modules behave at the start of a mission. I believe the new logic you added for the convoy module may differ slightly from that of the approach the Clone Zone (and airfield?) uses.

Clone Zone example - I have an "ownedZone" set to "red" within the parameters. I then have a nearby "cloner" that uses the "ownedBy#" flag and a "cloneTriggerMethod" set to =1 for the spawn to take place. If the town is captured by blue I do not want them spawning next time the mission starts (I will be running this mission with persistence). When the mission starts the units I require get spawned in the town (I am using the "inBuiltup" parameter set to 15 and it is working really nicely by-the-way). All good.

Convoy example - I have an airfield which is set to red within the mission editor, it also has cloned red units which are activated onto the airfield at mission start (onStart=true). I then have a nearby convoy that uses the "ownedBy#" flag as well and the new "convoyTriggerMethod" set to =1. At mission start the convoy is not triggered. I am assuming that it is not detecting the value of the flag already set and is only looking for change?

If I change the airfield to neutral in the editor, the occupying cloned red forces change the ownership to red and the convoy starts as expected (with helicopter escort which is another nice feature).

If I am correct this shows a slight difference in the "at mission start" logic. If this is what it has to be, no problem, it still works this way but I thought I would highlight this in case it was not what you intended and/or point it out for other builders.

As always, many many thanks for all the hard work and regular updates and new features you add to this excellent toolbox.

Cheers

Friar  

 

[DD_Friar]

@cfrag or anyone else that can see what is going on - all advice welcome!

Salute one and all,

I am currently trying to implement a scenario where attacking convoys are only created if key building have not been destroyed, a sort of way of encouraging blue forces to strike key infrastructure buildings to weaken enemy response. These buildings my not be where I want the convoys to start from, hence have shied away from the "factory" module (is that the right thing to do?)

I have tried to use the changer module as a gate but have got something wrong as with the key building in tact the convoy still fails to spawn.

I attached a below a screenshot of my logic which I can not get to work and and would very much welcome some pointers

The convoy should spawn if "ownerairfield" = 2 and "testbuildingdestroyed" = 0

null

[HanuXXL]

On 10/31/2024 at 1:41 PM, cfrag said:

Here's the updated cicAir that works with buggy Syria.

And, wow, Ben Gurion! 

Note that CivAir is currently still a bit chatty, make sure to disable verbosity. The next DML release will probably have a verbally slightly more restrained version. The text you see now is to help in diagnosing other odd stuff Syria/ECS might throw at us.

 

civAir.lua 30.25 kB · 4 downloads

Great job again, thanks!

By the way, if time permits and you get inspiration... Especially when using CAM on civAir, it would be much more immersive if you could set altitude per plane. I mean if you could somehow separate the behaviour of the planes. The best example is naturally Cessna; when they are cruising on 10km like intercontinental planes it feels quite awkward. And usually they should only fly short bush trips, compared to Boeing 747 which have very different flight profile. Different type of trigger perhaps, civAir_domestic with cruise altitude value,  which would not be connected in route-finding algorithm to general civAir triggerzones, but would connect only those domestic/local triggers.

Just a suggestion. I hope you understood what I was trying to describe.

Thank you for doing this and adding CAM overall here; for historical reasons been using MOOSE RAT traffic, but as we are aware it keeps degrading and thus I've been using DML in my latest missions.

[cfrag]

21 hours ago, DD_Friar said:

The convoy should spawn if "ownerairfield" = 2 and "testbuildingdestroyed" = 0

At first blush, the logic appears sound to me. Are you sure that the objectDestructDetector fires? Perhaps connect a messenger to it to see if that works. After we are certain that that part works we can go deeper.

 

6 hours ago, HanuXXL said:

t would be much more immersive if you could set altitude per plane.

That's an interesting idea that I could add similar to the way you can add liveries in a table: type/alt. I'll see if I can fit it in somewhere. 

[DD_Friar]

11 minutes ago, cfrag said:

Are you sure that the objectDestructDetector fires?

In my initial tests I am playing with the building in-tact so the convoy should generate as the building has not been destroyed, but its generating.

[cfrag]

21 hours ago, DD_Friar said:

I attached a below a screenshot of my logic which I can not get to work and and would very much welcome some pointers

The convoy should spawn if "ownerairfield" = 2 and "testbuildingdestroyed" = 0

So what have you tested, in whcih configurations, what do you get, and what did you expect?

 

Just now, DD_Friar said:

In my initial tests I am playing with the building in-tact so the convoy should generate as the building has not been destroyed, but its generating.

Hmmm. I'm not sure I can follow.

[DD_Friar]

26 minutes ago, cfrag said:

28 minutes ago, DD_Friar said:

building has not been destroyed, but its generating.

Hmmm. I'm not sure I can follow.

Yes I can see why  That should have said the convoy is NOT generating, but it should as the building has not been destroyed.

My tests so far are as with the code snipits as provided. The airfield changes from red to blue, which should then trigger the red convoy. At the moment nothing happens.

Other than the "ownerairfield" flag none of the other flags seem to being affected.

 

[cfrag]

42 minutes ago, DD_Friar said:

The airfield changes from red to blue, which should then trigger the red convoy. At the moment nothing happens.

So let's simplify until we find out what's wrong, and trace the signal back to its source. For my money, the misspelled "ownerairfield" is a strong contender...

 

Edited November 4, 2024 by cfrag

[DD_Friar]

@cfrag - I must have stared at that logic for hours on Sunday afternoon and did not spot that.! Dam you!

That said, it has not solved my issue.

May I ask, do you have Combined Arms? I would like to post a very simple mission that will hopefully explain the scenario better and one that you and others could use to help me fix my logic and one that if they wanted to implement the same scenario.

I ask about CA as I am using a tank in front of a small building that I can shoot and blow up as it is easier to test?

regards

Friar

[cfrag]

Just now, DD_Friar said:

do you have Combined Arms?

I believe CA is a bad tarnish on ED's otherwise clean(ish) west. And I have it, of course. 

Just now, DD_Friar said:

I would like to post a very simple mission that will hopefully explain the scenario better and one that you and others could use to help me fix my logic

Let's fix the mission instead  

 

1 minute ago, DD_Friar said:

I ask about CA as I am using a tank in front of a small building that I can shoot and blow up as it is easier to test?

I'd like to get you into the habit of using TheDebugger. It makes that kind of stuff trivial