DML - Mission Creation Toolbox [no Lua required]

[DD_Friar]

18 hours ago, cfrag said:

Not any longer:

nope - all good now, many thanks once again for the quick fix.

[DD_Friar]

@cfrag ..........

Having last night attended the theater in London to see the worlds longest running play "The Mousetrap", it has been running for 73 years and last nights performance was number 29796, I thought I would stay in that vein with this post.

The scene, cfrag sitting at his desk, there is a knock at the door and in walks Friar.

cfrag "Yes, now what Friar..."

Friar "You know how you have just finished amending heloTroops to add yet another request from me..."

cfrag "Yes..."

Friar <pause> "Well please may I make one last request for this excellent module and I will completely understand if you say no"

cfrag "Despite the fact that I have just had all the nuts and bolts for this module spread across my desk sorting out your issue, and have put them all back together again, you are going to ask me to take it apart again aren't you?"...

Friar "Well..., when troops are deployed from the helicopter rather than have them go to circle out around the helicopter, how about using the logic you have that controls how units spawn in with the spawner for example grid, line or scattered or even just scattered instead and also have them spawn in offset 5 meters at 90 degrees from the center of the helicopter. The reason for this is that I think it will look more natural and also if a player has selected auto-deploy on touchdown, they may do what I am prone to do, is that if I still have forward movement I end up running over some of my brave soldiers and killing them right out the door.

I thought, and we all know how dangerous that can be, is that you could perhaps add new parameters to the heloTroops module of deployFormation and even perhaps deployHeading. I would not have a problem with the formation defaulting to scattered but them all facing a chosen direction would be good, or would even be happy if they all faced zero degrees upon deployment, but at least they would be off to the side of the helicopter and out of harms way. This drop off would also look quite cool for troops being left in a dropZone with the new keep-wait option, rather than staying in a circle forcing the helicopter to go straight up to avoid killing troops. Anyway, see what you think."

Having dropped this bombshell, Friar bows and backs away slowly out of the office leaving cfrag sitting with his head in his hands.

End scene.

 

[cfrag]

10 minutes ago, DD_Friar said:

Friar "Well..., when troops are deployed from the helicopter rather than have them go to circle out around the helicopter, how about using the logic you have that controls how units spawn

"DD_Friar isn't in many ballads, but he's still an important part of the DML band."  - we do have the code for that in DML, and we sure can try. DCS, to keep with "Prince of thieves" our "Sheriff of Nuttingham" here, often isn't amendable to those exploits. A circle formation ensures that no unit comes too close to the helicopter to be killed on spawn, while no such guarantee can be made for other formations. 

I'll see what I can do. Few things are as gratifying as re-purposing existent code, so it's at least worth a shot.

Edited March 1 by cfrag

[cfrag]

2 hours ago, DD_Friar said:

add new parameters to the heloTroops module of deployFormation and even perhaps deployHeading.

After some engineering pause (involving a short and salty, non-alcoholic!) Apero, I came up with a nice way to fit in this new ability, independent of how troops spawn: a deploy menu that pilots can use to set troop deployment formation when they leave the helicopter. And the formation is always relative to the helo's current heading to make it easier on everyone.

null  (<-- ED, please get some real HTML talent, and make your main discussion site behave professionally)

Still working out the kinks, but it seems to integrate well, I should be able to pass out pre-release versions tonite before I go for the Apero's Encore (some "Bisteaka Fiorentina" - or similar. She's Italian, not I)

Edited March 1 by cfrag

[cfrag]

And here we go, as promised:

 

heloTroops.lua

[DD_Friar]

@cfrag

applause, applause, applause

This will so much to the way we pick-up and deploy troops.

You have obviously enjoyed this one since you turned it round so fast.

P.S

Do you think you will do a little widget for turning drawings on and off now we have the logic or it just as easy to use the standard ED triggers for this?

 

Edited March 1 by DD_Friar

[cfrag]

Just now, DD_Friar said:

You have obviously enjoyed this one

Hell yeah - it fit snugly into the code I crafted months and years before, the vector algebra, rotation and formation stuff was a joy to add, performance is great, and it took next to no effort to build. I'm almost disappointed that I'm done with this  

 

[ChuckIV]

Hey Everyone, quick question...  I want to send a message to BLUE coalition when an AI bomber comes into a zone.  WHAT KIND OF ZONE you ask???  That's the question.  I tried a unitZone with messenger and keep getting an error about wilcards.  Can someone show me (without telling me to go the manual) how to do this simple thing?  Send a message to BLUE coalition when an AI aircraft comes into a zone.

Thanks Everyone!  ChuckIV

[cfrag]

13 hours ago, ChuckIV said:

WHAT KIND OF ZONE you ask???  That's the question.

I think a bett question would be 

"what kind of error?"

[DD_Friar]

@ChuckIV

unitZone with parameter of red (only looking for red units)

enterZone! flag name to bang that the messenger is looking out for.

 

messenger? same flag as enterZone!

 

I would take time to look through the excellent user guide that cfrag has produced. It really will help.

[DD_Friar]

@cfrag

Question (and NO, I am not asking for a change, I think I have used up all mine for a while), just config advice, if the answer is "No" I will work round it. Its just that I have tried combinations I can think of but may be missing something.

I would like to generate a group of troops that can be seen by the heloTroops module menu as ready to load when the player lands within range, without them being requested first.

Half way through typing this I thought about the CSAR module but that will only be 1 unit if I am correct.

I would like to be able to send a 'Hook to a position to pick up the group of soldiers, without the player having to request them first for them to appear?

Any thoughts?

Cheers

Friar

[cfrag]

Just now, DD_Friar said:

Any thoughts?

Have you tried it?

"Note that Helo Troops can load any group that complies with Helo Troop’s ‘legalTroops’ unit filter "

It never says anything where those come from.

[DD_Friar]

@cfrag

Forget that. I have just got it to work. Not sure what I was not doing before, but I think I am ok now.

Cheers

Friar

[ChuckIV]

CFRAG,

Can you show me a picture of an example of using a unitZone with messenger?  What would the parameters look like?  Scenario...  blue AI B17 Bomber named "B-17 Bomber Group 1" comes into a unitZone and messenger puts out the message to blue coalition...  "Friendly bombers passing Isle of Wight".  Can this be done in the SAME unitZone ??  Chuck

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!
 

[cfrag]

2 hours ago, ChuckIV said:

Can you show me a picture of an example of using a unitZone with messenger?  What would the parameters look like?

 

entering twilight.miz

[ChuckIV]

cfrag,

Thanks for the picture, but that isn't what I was looking for.  I know you've said you are working on your English.  My original quote above states "I want to send a message to BLUE coalition when an AI bomber comes into a zone."  That's an AI bomber (not a player).  In fact, it's a VERY specific named AI bomber (B-17 Bomber Group 1).  So, I'm looking for a very specific name.   Also, I want to send the message to BLUE coalition ONLY (not to everyone).  I've added a picture of the unitZone parameters and the ERROR message that it gives off.  Can you help me?  

ChuckIV

[cfrag]

2 hours ago, ChuckIV said:

I know you've said you are working on your English.

My apologies for being obtuse. RTFM, and use the newest version of cfxZones.

[DD_Friar]

4 hours ago, cfrag said:

RTFM, and use the newest version of cfxZones.

here, here.

@ChuckIV cfrag spends a lot of time and effort updating the scripts and the matching user guides. It will really help you get to the bottom of your issue.

An old quote I liked to use when I used to deliver training.

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."

[DD_Friar]

@cfrag

BUG REPORT

MODULE: playerScore

Version: 5.21 (from 2.44)

Brief Description: Script Error (see below)

Full Description: I believe the issue is caused by the use of a "feat" zone. When used the spelling mistake comes into play and errors (see below)

I made the correction to my version of the script (I removed the "c" in front of "thezone" and the mission now loads correctly.

Regards

Friar.

null

Edited March 5 by DD_Friar

[ChuckIV]

So THIS WORKED in a super simplified sortie, but it kicks out this error in my much more detailed sortie.  Any ideas or thoughts of what might be going on?  I'm not using any WildCards in the unitZone/messenger parameters above, but the error message is all about WildCards.

 

 

 

[cfrag]

6 hours ago, ChuckIV said:

Any ideas or thoughts of what might be going on?

Yes. At least some of your modules are out of date. Please make sure that you are using the newest versions of cfxZones and dcsCommon. In general it is always a good idea to use the newest version of modules and don't mix modules from different DML versions.

[cfrag]

10 hours ago, DD_Friar said:

I made the correction to my version of the script (I removed the "c" in front of "theZone" and the mission now loads correctly.

Thanks! Ah, he pitfalls of using inadequate development systems (how much I wish that DCS supported a real IDE - this was no fault of notepad++, mind you, but ham-fisted I: I accidentally hit the c key when I finalized final version). Fixed - just like you recommended by removing the 'c'.

playerScore.lua

[ChuckIV]

Hey cfrag,

I am making progress on my sorties...  Quick question...  Using unitZone I've noticed that if I put red in the value box next to unitZone (see the picture), it seems to ignore this and "sees" me even though I'm a blue player in the zone.  It then sends the message that an enemy is in the zone.  I am using '*' for the lookFor value.  I thought that what I've created (see the picture) is saying....  "Look for any red player aircraft in the zone and tell blue coalition "Enemy aircraft at St Croix" for 10 seconds.  Do I have another module out of date again?  ....or am I doing something stupid again???  ChuckIV

 

[cfrag]

5 hours ago, ChuckIV said:

Using unitZone I've noticed that if I put red in the value box next to unitZone (see the picture), it seems to ignore this and "sees" me even though I'm a blue player in the zone.

Yes, that is (blush) an unfortunate result of some backward compatibility I put into unitZones. Historically, unitsZones supported a (now deprecated) 'coalition' attribute that defined which coalition unitZones should regard. I collapsed the function of 'coalition' into the 'unitZone' main attribute, simplifying the semantics of unitZone. To ease transition, unitZones still checks for the old-school 'coalition' and 'uzCoalition' attributes. Goldfishbrain I did not remove that backward compatibility (I simply forgot). This usually is not an issue UNLESS you stack unitZone with other modules that do use a coalition attribute AND that define a different coalition (which is exactly your use case: a messenger that warns the other side if a unit of opposing faction enters it). I now removed backward compatibility (support for "coalition" and "uzCoalition" attributes, the time to do that seems right ), please see below. It also means that yours can be the joys and privilege of supporting unitZone's regression testing 

An alternate option is to deconflict 'coalition' with the existing version of unitZone by unstacking and moving messenger to its own zone. But that is less elegant, and should be remedied with the updated unitZones version.

unitZone.lua

[ChuckIV]

You are THE MAN! cfrag!!!  The sortie now works!  Thank you so much for the very quick response!  ChuckIV