Mission Editor, Install and use Static Templates

[Gpruitt54]

I have found several templates on the User File resource.  Once I download and Un-Zip the files, what do I do with the files?  Where are static template files stored? When I open the Load Templates from within the mission editor, there are no files in the list.

 

[draconus]

Custom templates are saved to\loaded from \Saved Games\DCS\StaticTemplate

Depending on the map, you may find default templates on the left side.

[Gpruitt54]

I will try again.  Maybe there something which prevented the list from populating.  

[Gpruitt54]

Great.  I got it working.  It seems that I had changed the folder name as StaticTemplates.  The folder name should have been StaticTemplate.  Interesting that one letter in the folder name was enough to foul up the works. 

Now that I am able to access the StaticTemplate list, I have another.  I just added one of the templates to two airports in the map, added a player flyable plane.  However, I cannot fly the edited map.  Is there something different in the map once a StaticTemplate is added?  How do I fly the map?

[Boosterdog]

11 hours ago, Gpruitt54 said:

 Interesting that one letter in the folder name was enough to foul up the works. 

Now that I am able to access the StaticTemplate list, I have another.  I just added one of the templates to two airports in the map, added a player flyable plane.  However, I cannot fly the edited map.  Is there something different in the map once a StaticTemplate is added?  How do I fly the map?

Stab in the dark. There is a possibility the template may use a Mod. If it does, you need that mod. As you are talking airports I will take a further leap and assume you are perhaps using @Rudel_chw's excellent creations.  In which case you will need the VPC airfield objects mod and its associated "fixes". 

If you are not you may still need a mod such as the Frenchpack (V4.8), SAM Asset pack (V1.8) and NATO personnel (for instance with the latest Syrian airfeild tempates posted).  All of those mods figure quite heavily in user created templates as frankly speaking the stock ED selection is so poor so as not to be worthwhile bothering with. Be aware DCS updates sometimes break Mods so things will stop working for time until either a further ED patch or, more likely a new version of that mod is produced. 

Always best to install any MOD using a manager like OvGME as it allows swapping in and out quickly and safely. 

BTW - if a program is set to look for a folder of a certain name- it wont second guess it. 

[Gpruitt54]

Actually, I have never used a mod manager with DCS.  I tried one with MSFS2020 and it was a real mess as the mod itself needed updating which caused all sorts of issues, on top of the mods themselves.

Regarding the mods needing other mods, I cannot say.  The descriptions of the StaticTemplates say nothing about other mods being required.

[draconus]

On 2/8/2022 at 11:56 PM, Gpruitt54 said:

How do I fly the map?

You don't You fly the aircraft. Cannot start the mission? Upload here for us to test. Or just the template.

[mkrasin]

Quick question - is there any simple way to determine what mods are used in certain static template?

I have created some for my own personal use that I can load in ME but then I can't save mission or fly mission, which is usually a sign that some mod is missing.

Since these are *.smt files I can't use DCSNoMissionRequirements as it's only for *.miz files.

[Rudel_chw]

18 minutes ago, mkrasin said:

Quick question - is there any simple way to determine what mods are used in certain static template?

 

Not that I know of, the STM file does not include a list of Mods, like MIZ do.

 

18 minutes ago, mkrasin said:

I have created some for my own personal use that I can load in ME but then I can't save mission or fly mission, which is usually a sign that some mod is missing.

 

On my case, I realized early on that updating or modifying existing templates was hard to do with just the STM file, so I started to create my templates as MIZ files on a separate "Templates" Folder from my usual missions. Whenever I did an edit or improvement to the template, I did it on the MIZ file and the used "Save as Static template" to re-generate the Template, as well as saved the updated MIZ.

 

This way, today I still can attempt to load a template Mission, and the editor will tell me which Mods it uses:

 

 

The editor used to refuse loading a Mission unless you had all User Mods needed, but nowadays there is no such safeguard and the ME will happily load the mission while discarding all modded objects, and if you have them hidden you might not notice that, then save the mission, and bam, you lost all your modded objects ... not good. So, at this point click cancel and make sure that you DO HAVE all required user Mods available, then the mission should load fine and you can edit it as needed:

 

 

[mkrasin]

It seems that it will need to be my new best practice... 

Thanks for sharing Rudel!

[mkrasin]

Unexpected plot twist - actually it turns out that it is possible to check what mods are required for certain static template.

You need to open the *.stm file with the Notepad or any other text editor and after scrolling all the way down to the end of file you will be able to see the list of the required modules.

null

In my particular case it didn't really help as all the mods listed in the *.stm file were the ones I was currently using so I must dig deeper.

Eventually, I managed to identify the issue by cross checking the items in the *.stm file with the items loaded with the static template on DCS side using View Unit List using Unit ID number.

As you can see Item no. 22 is missing on the DCS side, but it's still listed in the respective *.stm file.

After deleting item 22 I was able to load the template, save the mission and fly it with no issues. The downside is that this item should be considered lost.

I assume that item identified as ERO_MHU-141-Hellfire-1 that was part of the SAM Site Asset Pack was renamed or deleted in the most recent version for whatever reason.

[Rudel_chw]

2 hours ago, mkrasin said:

Unexpected plot twist - actually it turns out that it is possible to check what mods are required for certain static template.

You need to open the *.stm file with the Notepad or any other text editor and after scrolling all the way down to the end of file you will be able to see the list of the required modules.

null

 

 

Then it should be easy for ED to have a check when attempting to load a Static template, in the same way as it used to do for the MIZ files.

I wonder why they removed the safety check that prevented loading a mission unless you have the needed user Mods, as it stands now is a real trap ... looks like they want to discourage the employment of User Mods.

[ldl01031]

Question: How many statics are too many? I have a beefy system (64GB RAM, 4090, i9-13900K), but... well, how many do others populate on any given map? Do you load things only right where you plan to be active?

 

I haven't tried to quantify it yet but loading more objects into a template with 1000 already there... can take minutes. Is that expected? Or maybe I need some cleanup, or...? Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[razo+r]

How long to load is too long to load depends on you, how much are you willing to wait for it to load?

And how many units is too many also depends on you. You might have a beefy system, but are you planning to publish the template? If yes, you might have to consider to remove unneeded units.

[ldl01031]

Thanks for the thoughts. This is just for me, and I can be plenty patient... as long as it doesn't cause slowness or crashes.

So, as long as everything loads ok, I should be good from there?

[Rudel_chw]

2 hours ago, ldl01031 said:

how many do others populate on any given map?
 

 

I try to keep the unit count on my missions under 1,000 … but I have a 5 year-old PC, so a more powerful computer may allow more.

 

2 hours ago, ldl01031 said:

 

Do you load things only right where you plan to be active?

 

yes, I only add airbase elements on those I will be actually flying from/to.

 

[ldl01031]

Thanks. I think I'm getting the hang of this...

For one thing, I found that, while stacking templates to create one giant 'for that map' template takes forever, it actually loads pretty quick as a static template.

And I can see it makes sense to populate a map more selectively.

I've just taken a few minutes (maybe more) to download and install every static template on the forums, plus chased down many more to enable those to work. So, I now have flexibility. 

 

1 hour ago, Rudel_chw said:

 

I try to keep the unit count on my missions under 1,000 … but I have a 5 year-old PC, so a more powerful computer may allow more.

 

 

yes, I only add airbase elements on those I will be actually flying from/to.

 

BTW. So much of this is your work. I'm very grateful. Thank you.

[draconus]

10 hours ago, ldl01031 said:

How many statics are too many?

Best to keep it to minimum only in places where the players are expected to be. Also it's not only about numbers. Some objects can be much more demanding than others.

For templates it's always better to have them as small and separated as possible, ex. 1 airbase, 1 FOB, 1 SAM, etc. You can then easily add only the ones you need.

High end PC helps but it's the disk speed that counts most for loading speed - do you have it already on M2 NVME?

Edited September 1, 2024 by draconus