FLAGS and VALUES

[BossBearFace]

I'm wanting to create more scripted missions, and this will obviously require me to do more with flags.  I think I've got the fundamentals, but it would be great if some one could correct me if any of the following is wrong.  I've tried to keep this simple:

Flags act like switches: they can be ON or OFF.  Each FLAG has a name, which can be a number or text or both.

Flags can also have VALUES e.g FLAG 1 has a value of 10.

These VALUES can be increased or decreased using trigger action ACTION:FLAG INCREASE/DECREASE.  This does not change the flag name.

Thanks in advance.

[Cyking]

You are right, you can also create random flags values. 

[rob10]

2 hours ago, BossBearFace said:

I'm wanting to create more scripted missions, and this will obviously require me to do more with flags.  I think I've got the fundamentals, but it would be great if some one could correct me if any of the following is wrong.  I've tried to keep this simple:

Flags act like switches: they can be ON or OFF.  Each FLAG has a name, which can be a number or text or both.

Flags can also have VALUES e.g FLAG 1 has a value of 10.

These VALUES can be increased or decreased using trigger action ACTION:FLAG INCREASE/DECREASE.  This does not change the flag name.

Thanks in advance.

Yep.  You can also use SET FLAG VALUE to set a flag to a specific value.  One other thing to remember is that flags are CASE SENSITIVE, so "Flag 1" is different to "flag 1".

Also with FLAG ON/OFF – on and off DO NOT use integer 1/0 when evaluated (i.e. if you set flag ON, it won't evaluate to 1 in "if flag=1“)

[BossBearFace]

Thanks guys. Appreciate it. Especially learning that FLAG ON/OFF isn’t an integer. 

[cfrag]

On 9/14/2024 at 9:43 PM, rob10 said:

Also with FLAG ON/OFF – on and off DO NOT use integer 1/0 when evaluated (i.e. if you set flag ON, it won't evaluate to 1 in "if flag=1“)

While I agree that using ON/OFF is something better not used and it would be much better to set a flag to a specific value, I feel somewhat compelled to comment:

1. Flags in DCS now ARE implemented internally as integers. OFF is logically defined as "flag == 0", and therefore ON is "flag ~= 0", which is decidedly different from "flag == 1"
2. There is no action named FLAG SET VALUE [EDIT: SIlly me. There is an action called SET FLAG VULE. It's just not grouped with the other FLAG actions. Yeah, DCS...]. Use FLAG SET RANDOM VALUE instead and set min and max to the same value (silly, yes. But this pretty much encapsulates the entire DCS ME experience: annoying, user-hostile quirks abound)
3. FLAG SET ON will set a flag to the value of "1". Flag SET OFF will set a flag to the value of "0". Still, testing for ON must be done via "If flag ~= 0 then .. end"
4. Never try and interpret flag values as bools in your script as that will always fail.

Here's a small miz to illustrate above. Note that due to my laziness and the silly way radio menus work in DCS (see "annoying, user-hostile quirks", above) you can only use each menu command once.

 

 

flaggerbasted.miz

Edited September 16, 2024 by cfrag

[rob10]

Thanks, good to know.