Make the Mission Editor Trigger/Condition/Actions Extendable by 3rd party plug-ins

[TEMPEST.114]

My idea would be that a 3rd party, like all of us scripters / mission creatives here, would be able to write a 'plug-in' that would add a new CONDITION or ACTION to DCS.

These would be bundled with DCS in each update as new ones are submitted and vetted by ED.

That way, new mission editor features would be available to all players and would no longer require the general user to learn lua.

All that work will have been done by the plug-in author.

They could have a different colour or an asterisks in front of them, telling users they are from a 3rd party not ED in case they only want to use vanilla CONDITIONS/ACTIONS.

However if the 'plug-in' api and submission process was rigid and thorough enough then there could be no distinction between any of them. 

 

What this would allow is that rather than waiting decades for a new CONDITION i.e. Group's Altitude AGL above Limit, a scripter could write, using the DCS Scripting Engine code alone, the code for that, and then everyone can take advantage of it. 

It would negate the need and complexity of 3rd party super-scripts like MOOSE and MIST and the problems that come with them, because at the end of the day, everything any script can do, will be done via the DCS Scripting Language code. These 3rd party script libraries just obfuscate and work as facades for the DCS SL and add additional features by doing all the legwork for the end user's benefit.

Having M.E. Trigger plug-ins would give EVERYONE the power of these scripts, in bite-size atomic CONDITIONS or ACTIONS and thusly relieving some of the pressure from the M.E. devs to add this stuff as they work on more larger and general improvements to DCS.

 

What do you think? 

@Flappie Is there any way you could make sure the M.E. devs or people who do planning could see this please? I know it's a big ask, but this would radically expand the Mission Editor and mission capabilities for all players, without having to learn lua or scripting or use 3rd party libraries. 

Thanks.

Edited May 4, 2024 by TEMPEST.114

[Flappie]

This means even more work for ED devs. Seeing all that ED has planned already (Dynamic Campaigns, ATC rework, Vulkan, fixing multithread... and many more things that have been announced through the years), I think they cannot afford to implement what you describe at the moment.

[TEMPEST.114]

4 hours ago, Flappie said:

This means even more work for ED devs. Seeing all that ED has planned already (Dynamic Campaigns, ATC rework, Vulkan, fixing multithread... and many more things that have been announced through the years), I think they cannot afford to implement what you describe at the moment.

Sad panda.

Seemed like a way to unleash power and creativity for a “little” upfront work, but okay.