Help Needed: Move Group to Zone via Lua (DCS 2.9, MIST OK, Beginner)

[Leopold]

Hi all,

I'm completely new to coding and scripting in DCS and have spent several days trying to get a simple task to work using Lua. I want to move a ground group (TestGroup) to a trigger zone (TargetZone) when the mission starts.

What I'm trying to do:

Use Lua scripting to move TestGroup to the center of TargetZone at mission start. I’ve used MIST before and don’t mind using it, but I’d like to understand how to do it with or without it — mainly to learn scripting basics for future use.

What I’ve tried so far:

Using Group.getByName("TestGroup") and getController():setTask() → errors like:

vbnet

KopieraRedigera

attempt to call field 'setTask' (a nil value)

Using routeSet(), moveGroup(), and pushTask() — all resulted in errors or did nothing.

Tried per-unit pushTask() as well, based on what ChatGPT generated — no luck.

Tried scripting both inline (DO SCRIPT) and with external .lua files (simple_pathfinding_vXX.lua), loaded with dofile().

Also tried MIST’s mist.goRoute() after converting a route with mist.taskToRoute() — this version worked the best, but I’m still trying to understand why.

My setup:

DCS 2.9 stable

Group name: TestGroup

Trigger zone name: TargetZone

MIST is loaded via a DO SCRIPT FILE at mission start

What I need help with:

A simple, working example of moving a ground group to a zone using Lua

Ideally an explanation of why certain methods (like setTask, pushTask, etc.) fail or silently don’t work

Bonus if you can show how to do it both with and without MIST

Also: I’ve been working with ChatGPT to get started, and while it’s helped with structure and ideas, the actual DCS scripting details have been really difficult to get right.

Any help is appreciated! I'm just trying to understand the basics here so I can build missions that use simple automation like this.

Thanks in advance!

[Kanelbolle]

On 5/24/2025 at 9:38 PM, Leopold said:

Hi all,

I'm completely new to coding and scripting in DCS and have spent several days trying to get a simple task to work using Lua. I want to move a ground group (TestGroup) to a trigger zone (TargetZone) when the mission starts.

What I'm trying to do:

Use Lua scripting to move TestGroup to the center of TargetZone at mission start. I’ve used MIST before and don’t mind using it, but I’d like to understand how to do it with or without it — mainly to learn scripting basics for future use.

What I’ve tried so far:

Using Group.getByName("TestGroup") and getController():setTask() → errors like:

vbnet

KopieraRedigera

attempt to call field 'setTask' (a nil value)

Using routeSet(), moveGroup(), and pushTask() — all resulted in errors or did nothing.

Tried per-unit pushTask() as well, based on what ChatGPT generated — no luck.

Tried scripting both inline (DO SCRIPT) and with external .lua files (simple_pathfinding_vXX.lua), loaded with dofile().

Also tried MIST’s mist.goRoute() after converting a route with mist.taskToRoute() — this version worked the best, but I’m still trying to understand why.

My setup:

DCS 2.9 stable

Group name: TestGroup

Trigger zone name: TargetZone

MIST is loaded via a DO SCRIPT FILE at mission start

What I need help with:

A simple, working example of moving a ground group to a zone using Lua

Ideally an explanation of why certain methods (like setTask, pushTask, etc.) fail or silently don’t work

Bonus if you can show how to do it both with and without MIST

Also: I’ve been working with ChatGPT to get started, and while it’s helped with structure and ideas, the actual DCS scripting details have been really difficult to get right.

Any help is appreciated! I'm just trying to understand the basics here so I can build missions that use simple automation like this.

Thanks in advance!

Grimes already posted an example how to make units move with MIST. You just have to modify it to your need.

 

[DD_Friar]

@Leopold

I strongly suggest you check out the DML Tool box by @cfrag.

If you are wanting to stretch what you can do with a mission but are unsure of coding, this utility (which is not a mod so other players do not need to download anything or install compilers etc).

It is made up of copy and paste scripts / modules that open up a whole new world of functionality.

I can not speak highly enough of it.

get it here

 

[Kanelbolle]

@Leopold

 

I modified it in to a working example:

function getGroupPos(groupname)

	local unit1 = Group.getByName(groupname):getUnit(1)
	local targetCoord = unit1:getPoint()
	return targetCoord

end

function goRoute(MoveGroupname, targetGroupName)

local targetCord = getGroupPos(targetGroupName)

local misTask = { 
	id = 'Mission', 
	params = { 
		route = { 
			["points"] = 
									{
										[1] = 
										{
											["alt"] = 13,
											["type"] = "Turning Point",
											["ETA"] = 0,
											["alt_type"] = "BARO",
											["formation_template"] = "",
											["y"] = targetCord.z,
											["x"] = targetCord.x,
											["ETA_locked"] = true,
											["speed"] = 30,
											["action"] = "Off Road",
											["task"] = 
											{
												["id"] = "ComboTask",
												["params"] = 
												{
													["tasks"] = {},
												}, -- end of ["params"]
											}, -- end of ["task"]
											["speed_locked"] = true,
										}, -- end of [1]
										[2] = 
										{
											["alt"] = 13,
											["type"] = "Turning Point",
											["ETA"] = 65.493407534521,
											["alt_type"] = "BARO",
											["formation_template"] = "",
											["y"] = targetCord.z,
											["x"] = targetCord.x,
											["ETA_locked"] = false,
											["speed"] = 30.5555555555556,
											["action"] = "Off Road",
											["task"] = 
											{
												["id"] = "ComboTask",
												["params"] = 
												{
													["tasks"] = {},
												}, -- end of ["params"]
											}, -- end of ["task"]
											["speed_locked"] = true,
										}, -- end of [2]
			}, -- end of ["points"]
		},	
	},
}	
	
	local group

	if type(MoveGroupname) == 'string' then
		env.info('MoveGroupname was string, getting group')
		group = Group.getByName(MoveGroupname)
	end

	local groupCon = group:getController()
	if groupCon then
		env.info('groupCon is valid! Pushing task!')
		groupCon:pushTask(misTask)
		return true
	end

end

env.info('Script Loaded!')

goRoute('Ground-1', 'Ground-2')

 

And if you want it to go to a trigger zone, you can use

zone = trigger.misc.getZone('zonename')
if zone then
  targetCord =zone.point
end

 

 

 

Move_Group_to_other_Group_Location.miz

Edited May 30 by Kanelbolle
added trigger zone