ED User Files - please help me to better find stuff

[cfrag]

Dear ED,

     I'm an avid fan of DCS, having purchased all modules, tech and maps that you offer, and I have contributed the odd mission and other titbit to the DCS community. I want DCS to thrive, and that is why I am taking time and effort to try and improve the "DCS experience". I believe that good content is what will make or break DCS in the future, especially good user-created content.

In the past months I've been troubled by - what I think - ED's failure to put their best foot forward when it comes to presenting (or accessibility) of user-created content on their "User Files" repository.

I like that ED provide a repository for users to share their work - that is excellent! While I believe that the process for users to share their work can benefit from your immediate attention (I recommend that ED build sharing, and updating, missions into Mission Editor), I believe that discovering content may be in even more urgent need of improvement. I believe that integrating mission discovery into DCS's main could also be a significant step into the right direction, yet that is not my focus here.

Let's assume that a user has found their way to ED's User files (I maintain that today this is a hurdle far too few people are willing to overcome and should be addressed). From my experience, finding content, even for people who know where to look, is disquietingly unintuitive.

Please allow me to give an example:
In the past I created two "Tourist Map" missions and shared them at user files (here and here). The goal of these maps is for players to explore points of interest on their map. For "Sinai Tourist", the kind folk at OnReTech provided me with location info for those POI, for "Hamburg Tourist" I knew them from when I grew up there. Now, for both I created an easily re-usable script so people can re-create similar tourist maps for "their" cities, and people have asked me if they can use these scripts. Of course they can -- I want more great tourist missions, I'm looking forward to seeing these contributions.

So, occasionally, I search ED user files for new "Tourist" maps, and I find that ED user file's search function to be less than intuitive to use. For example:
I enter 'tourist' into the search box, and press return. I get the following:

Please note the distinct absence of any relevant "tourist" missions, it seems the search term isn't applied at all.

"Very well", I thought, so maybe I'm not sorting by the correct term. I open up the "sort by" dop-down - which posts more questions that it answers.

"Relevance" didn't do anything - what does it mean? And "Ratings"? I believe is has been a couple of years since you (thankfully) removed that troll-attracting attribute. Are there still ratings being kept, and if so, how are they managed? If not, I recommend that this is removed from the 'sort by' drop-down.

So, it seems, today I am too stupid to figure out how to get a list of all missions that contain the word "tourist". What am I doing wrong? How can I get a list of missions that contain a keyword in their title? 

And while I'm at it - there now seems to be a mysterious "vote" link at a mission.

Whatever is this for? What am I voting for if I click on it? What are the consequences? Will this perhaps provide some algorithm with data so I am served similar missions in the future (that's what I'm hoping). Put differently: Why is there a vote link? What does it do? Why would I want to click it?

I strongly recommend that ED improve the User Files interface to be more user-friendly, obvious, and self-explanatory so stupid people like I can better navigate its content. I believe User Content can drive DCS's popularity, and I believe ED's User Files can contribute more if the interface improves.
 

[Kang]

I concur that it is, sadly, very frustrating to find what one is looking for in the user files, and it is best seen when trying to 're-find' something one saw once. The way the search function just, well, doesn't, is somewhat hard to excuse really.

Another issue with the repository is that all instructions on how to use any of the files are between non-existent and vague. Yes, I know, this varies greatly with what the files are and most of the community is somewhat tech-savvy and can figure it out, but the section really should have a small note on how to easily get downloaded missions into the game for example.

User content can certainly drive DCS' popularity, and in some cases, it has to.

[waterman]

12 hours ago, cfrag said:

I have contributed the odd mission and other titbit to the DCS community

   That is the DCS  " Understatement of the decade "  

I wish they would just wake up and listen to your ideas and wisdom before its too late 

You created DML that introduced features way ahead of their time that also Simplified and Improved the Mission Editor useability beyond all expectation 

I hope you are still adding ingredients to your DML Cooking pot and one day resume your regular " DML Updates "  

Very Sad that most recent DML update was 3 months ago i do hope you are still developing and having fun with DML  

I hope one day to be able to once again use my Railway Timetable you helped Me with using your DML Scheduler to clone declone Trains etc. The "TEAM"  Broke the Trains Deactivation when they made everyone use the MT Version. Now when Trains declone or despawn they float off in the air !

Hope there are some constructive replies to your "User Files" repository request.

Cheers Waterman  

 

 

[MAXsenna]

Wise words and on point @waterman!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[Hiob]

@cfrag you are 100% on point. The search function in the user files is borderline useless (though I might speculate that the actual problem is the indexing of the contents). No matter the cause the result is that it is a tedious chore to find anything interesting in the user files.

@BIGNEWY please take notice, TY!

[Actium]

I absolutely agree that the user files need a user-experience improvement. However, I do not expect any short-term wonders to that end.
A possible workaround is to use a search engine with the site:www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/ parameter to restrict the search results to DCS user files. Example with Google and "tourist".

P.S: Not addressed at above posters, who I'd expect to be fully aware of that option, but rather to help the less tech savvy DCS users make better use of the user files right now.

Edited Sunday at 08:20 AM by Actium
Fixed Google example link

[waterman]

I tried what you said and it does work now thankyou.

 

Edited Sunday at 08:34 AM by waterman

[Hiob]

40 minutes ago, Actium said:

I absolutely agree that the user files need a user-experience improvement. However, I do not expect any short-term wonders to that end.
A possible workaround is to use a search engine with site:www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/. Example with Google and "tourist".

P.S: Not addressed at above posters, who I'd expect to be fully aware of that option, but rather to help the less tech savvy DCS users make better use of the user files right now.

That's actually a god idea!

4 minutes ago, waterman said:

I tried what you said and got this -

worked for me. Did you try the hyperlink he provided?

 

[Actium]

I may have accidentally botched the link when removing the tracking parameters. Fixed that with proper URL-encoding and disambiguated the phrasing a bit. Hope it's clear now.

[waterman]

Yes thanks i understand now  

It does work very well thanks i will use this method from now on.

Just a quick Note    A search for trains works if theres a space before trains

site:www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/ trains

but does not work if theres no space.

site:www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/trains

So dont forget the space  

Edited Sunday at 08:44 AM by waterman

[AdrianL]

So you can create custom Chrome search to limit to a site. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95426
This is how I have mapped it, with a shortcut of 'd'

The trick is in the url. It is the google search with the site and then the "+%s" at the end. The +%s will append anything you type.
 

https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Adigitalcombatsimulator.com%2Fen%2Ffiles+%s

Once set up, in the address bar I just type d and press tab, at which point it will change the the image below. Now just add your search terms.

Note you can use hyphen to exclude terms i.e. trains -attack. Or excluded images, etc https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433

I have done the same for the forums. Just added a new mapping, changing the shortcut and the site

Edited Sunday at 09:52 AM by AdrianL

[MAXsenna]

Yeah, a better search system of the user files and this site would be great.
Like some of you point out above, I also tend to use a search engines to find stuff at both places. And now I've learned a trick or two, to make the searches even better. Thanks!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[cfrag]

3 hours ago, Actium said:

A possible workaround is to use a search engine

I believe that this is the sad and salient point. We both know that few people, if any, work at your level of expertise, @Actium. What makes me sad is that ED seemingly invests so little into their customer experience. If "Joe Simpilot" comes to DCS, he takes a look, is unimpressed. Maybe he hears about "Foothold" or "Pretense", the two missions that almost single-handedly saved multiplayer for a couple of years. Someone tells him that he should download it, and DCS will look much more interesting. Problem is: even if you can get Joe to go to UserFiles, searching for "Foothold" gives him this:

Joe neither knows nor cares that there is a great mission available, hidden somewhere. He's just been given the finger by User Files, knows a good-bye when he hears it -- and DCS has lost a potential customer - simply because other games handle their customers a lot better. That is heart-breaking. I believe that ED should invest more into their DCS user experience. The current experience has a lot of room to improve.

But this is only half of the tragedy: imagine Joe miraculously receives a link to Foothold, and downloads it. As @Kang pointed out: Now what? What does he do with that mysterious .miz file? I believe that a game should shield their users from silly minutiae like this. And I find it supremely disquieting when the company that wants to sell you 'quality software' seemingly can't even get a simple SQL query right on their main user site. It makes them look bad, and it reflects badly on their reputation. 

 @Actium that was a clever, and to me exceedingly helpful post - thank you!

What pains me is the fact that it is necessary at all, and that for most DCS neophytes, their visit to User Files is going to a one-time experience. They shrug and then they are gone. Most players aren't looking for a challenge to get their sim to run. They are looking for a good time. I think that ED can and should do better.

Edited Sunday at 10:49 AM by cfrag

[Minsky]

Not arguing that the search output is utter garbage (been like this for years), but:

1. The site-wide search dropdown works much better:

 

2. The filter helps in content discovery:

 

Clearly, attempts were made to make the User Files section useable. However, as many things in DCS, this also moves at a glacial pace.

It took them nearly four years after my complaints on removal of the "upload bumping" to came up with the subscription system, which works quite nice.

Give them another four, and maybe your little rant here will also lead to a beautiful new search  

 

[Hiob]

You‘re right. Nothing to add….

and though I can help myself around computers and come up or at least make use of some workarounds like this, I have to admit that I can’t keep record of all the necessary little tweaks and tools and workarounds. So I often find myself doing the same stuff over again when somebody brings it up.

1 hour ago, cfrag said:

I believe that this is the sad and salient point. We both know that few people, if any, work at your level of expertise, @Actium. What makes me sad is that ED seemingly invests so little into their customer experience. If "Joe Simpilot" comes to DCS, he takes a look, is unimpressed. Maybe he hears about "Foothold" or "Pretense", the two missions that almost single-handedly saved multiplayer for a couple of years. Someone tells him that he should download it, and DCS will look much more interesting. Problem is: even if you can get Joe to go to UserFiles, searching for "Foothold" gives him this:

Joe neither knows nor cares that there is a great mission available, hidden somewhere. He's just been given the finger by User Files, knows a good-bye when he hears it -- and DCS has lost a potential customer - simply because other games handle their customers a lot better. That is heart-breaking. I believe that ED should invest more into their DCS user experience. The current experience has a lot of room to improve.

But this is only half of the tragedy: imagine Joe miraculously receives a link to Foothold, and downloads it. As @Kang pointed out: Now what? What does he do with that mysterious .miz file? I believe that a game should shield their users from silly minutiae like this. And I find it supremely disquieting when the company that wants to sell you 'quality software' seemingly can't even get a simple SQL query right on their main user site. It makes them look bad, and it reflects badly on their reputation. 

 @Actium that was a clever, and to me exceedingly helpful post - thank you!

What pains me is the fact that it is necessary at all, and that for most DCS neophytes, their visit to User Files is going to a one-time experience. They shrug and then they are gone. Most players aren't looking for a challenge to get their sim to run. They are looking for a good time. I think that ED can and should do better.

 

[cfrag]

1 hour ago, Minsky said:

1. The site-wide search dropdown works much better:

It does... except you may have also noticed that it does not show the original foothold mission. Why can't we simply look for all missions that contain the name foothold, and indulge ourselves, discovering new stuff, have fun? That's how I would design User File's main interface (I'd also integrate it into the "Missions" part of the main DCS app, but that's just wishful thinking, I'm afraid).

1 hour ago, Minsky said:

2. The filter helps in content discovery:

It unfortunately also presupposes a lot of information that a neophyte user does not have nor should be forced to have: "Multiplayer", "Caucasus", "Downloads". You obviously know what to look for. But you are a power-user, anything but a neophyte. For those, I think it's bad UX design that easily turns into a bad experience. My point isn't so much that it is impossible to find something, it's that inexperienced users have a terrible experience that can easily turn them away. And you definitely must know what you are looking for in order to find it - that's not discovery to me, that is merely retrieval.

I would want neophyte users to enjoy what they see, to make them hunger for more, to become addicted to DCS. Currently, I think that we are at the 'scare them off' level of UX.

That being said, I thank @Actium for a great solution! Normal DCS users are borked, sure. That's ED's problem. 

Edited Sunday at 01:21 PM by cfrag

[Minsky]

1 hour ago, cfrag said:

That being said, I thank @Actium for a great solution! Normal DCS users are borked, sure. That's ED's problem. 

In ye olde Internet webmasters used to use a Google Search widget scoped to their sites.

Was a hip way to disguise the inability to set up one's own search.

Maybe ED should revive that practice.

[kotor633]

@cfragFor the past few days, I've been intensively working with DML. I want to create missions for the MiG-29 Fulcrum using it. I'd like to briefly go off-topic and express my huge gratitude. DML is fantastic, and I don't have to mess around with scripting much, which is great because I simply don't have the time for that. The features that DML offers are simply brilliant. End of off-topic.

[silverdevil]

On 10/26/2025 at 2:05 AM, Hiob said:

(though I might speculate that the actual problem is the indexing of the contents)

bingo hiob. many people do not realize that search db is different from operational db. the search db is created by incremental crawls to find the differences. i believe dcs is using the crappy forum backend searching. this likely would not change anytime soon. i commend y'all to make the effort to educate in the use of google. obviously a superior search.