Using Mission Generator - Can we modify template?

[Ripcord]

I am interesting in exploring this mission generator tool a little more, possibly in the hopes of making a proper campaign with ample and adequate missions.

 

I can see that the MG pulls from a template, or rather a handful of LUA files in the MISSIONGENERATOR/GENERATORDATA folder, to generate the mission -- and I noted that one of these files names OTHERS.lua includes the mission brief and basic scoring parameters, along with little message like 'good hit' and 'got him'. So I think I will probably revise a few of the messages to fit my own concept of what real A10C pilots would and wouldn't say on the radio during combat ('hog heaven' is clearly out), and I will also modify the mission brief somewhat, to allow for different types of missions.

 

OK here is what I would like to do.

 

I would like to provide some more specific mission goals - eg., kill GROUP X, or Defend GROUP A, or don't allow GROUP X to reach AREA Z. And I would like to add these into the template somewhere so that I don't have to go through each and every mission to add it in.

 

Is that possible? I would think there is a way to do that probably by modifying one of these lua files.

 

Ripcord

[Ripcord]

OK, nobody knows.

 

More questions then, again related to this mission generator:

 

Has anybody done any experimenting or playing round with the nodes? Seems not all of them will actually generate a mission - some will some won't. And in some case, those that won't can be moved to other locations where they WILL in fact generate a mission.

 

My initial thoughts here are that there might be limitations in terms of terrian, altitude or distance from the enemy positions, but testing isn't really bearing this out, to be honest.

 

Anybody got some input on this?

 

EDIT: Figured it out -- I had the 'start from ramp' selected. If select 'start from air' or 'Random' then all node will generate. Just the mission generator doesn't like having the A10C airbase too far away from the action, so that's a limitation or at least work-around for any campaign builder to keep in mind.

Edited January 7, 2011 by Ripcord

[Ripcord]

Well, I continue digging through all these lua files and I see now where the mission goals should go, or at least I think it should go there. Only I don't know the syntax to enter it in there.

 

What I would like to do is put two goal in there, both of which refer to a trigger zone.

 

Goal one will be called Blue Advance and the conditions are PART OF COALITION IN ZONE (BLUE). Point total will be 25 points or so.

 

Goal two will be called Kill Zone and the conditions are ALL OF COALITION OUT OF ZONE (RED). Point total will be about the same.

 

Of course the trigger zone will be set in a place where some red units are located, and some blue units will be advancing to.

 

Of course I could go through and quickly add these goals in by hand, in each and every mission, but that somewhat defeats the purpose of having this mission generator, right?

 

Ripcord

[Ripcord]

I guess there are not any mission / campaign builders out there that are all that interested in this mission generator tool. The thing has a lot of potential, IMHO, but it just isn't completed yet.

 

It really needs to place all those mission objects onto an existing mission, a template of sorts, that already has goals and triggers and a few objects. Then it would be a really powerful tool for building really big and robust campaigns. Wouldn't be exactly DC but it would good enough that it wouldn't really feel that far off.

 

Ripcord

[Ripcord]

Not much interest here in this topic, that I admit, but I will just report that I have figured out how to modify the mission generator template, at least a little bit. So far have been able to modify:

 

-- mission brief and task description

-- trigger zones

-- mission goals

 

I think have also figured out how to add ones own triggers as well, but have not actually done that yet. That's a little more tricky I suspect.

 

Now if I can get some of my main objects to copy over then I'll be in great shape.

 

Ripcord

[Kiruha]

Hi, Ripcord!

I'm glad that you've insterested in this tool. I've worked on it, so may be I can help.

Now you can't add some triggers there. Because most of triggers are depends of current zones, groups, units or terrain, so they depends of current mission.

But we can add some more common triggers, like "coalition kills more", "coalitions units count less", "playing time more" and use them in generator.

Now you can change current set of nodes and templates. Please see special tool for it's in MissionEditor->Generator->nodes, templates menu. Your changed files would be placed in Config/MissionEditor/ directory (not in MISSIONGENERATOR/GENERATORDATA).

Also you can add new unit groups and formations in generator by changing "others.lua".

[Ripcord]

Kiruha,

 

Thank you for preventing me from further carrying on this discussion with myself. I beginning to enjoy my own company.

 

It is also very nice to see some ED crew here to talk with about this intereseting subject.

 

I have actually managed to accomplish this by modifying some files and it does work OK for me, but yes, I agree they do require a little 'adjustment' in each mission. For instance I might have adjust the position of my zones, or add in the units that the triggers are referring back to. It takes just a couple minutes, which is acceptable.

 

Let me tell first what I am trying to do. I am attempting to show how this MG tool can be used to BUILD a decent and compelling campaign by generate a large amount of different kinds of missions with different structures.

 

The goal here is to use the MG to create many similar missions quickly, but with troops and players in different locations, with a maximum level of variation. They should have a similar structure, meaning triggers, goals etc., and they should allow me to create MANY MISSIONS with a very limited amount of editing. I am thinking on the level of 20-40 missions here, all of which having an adequate level of random content.

 

Then once i have enough of this missions structure, then we create a different mission structure, with slightly different goals and objectives, and tweak our MG template. Then we repeat the same process by cranking another 20-40 missions. Then do it again and again, so that we have a half dozen different basic mission structures.

 

Previous mission score determines two things in the campaign engine - which campaign level you advance to (or are pushed back to), and also the selection of the different types of missions. If you are pushed back, then maybe you are not going to draw an offensive type of mission -- perhaps it is more likely that you are trying to halt the enemies advance, or support a counterattack or some kind of flanking maneuver.

 

What I am hoping to prove here is that, with some decent thought and planning, this campaign engine can support an interactive campaign experience that really isn't that bad.

 

I REALLY REALLY like the way you did the nodes, that was brilliant. I have now about 150 nodes on my own map. I moved them all and changed all the templates to better support my 'campaign storyline'.

 

What I have so far been unable to do is add some 'permanent units' to the map so that they will every time in the same place. Or rather I have managed to do this, but then the MG doesn't work and the units are not generated from the MG templates. So it is either this or that, not both. At least right now.

 

my preference obviously is not to hack at that thing but to work within the intended framework of the MG. You comment that the user can add new unit groups and formations in generator by changing "others.lua". I am going to experiment more with this -- how to do this so that I have my AWACS in more or less the same area each time (eg, say in Turkey)? The way it is set up, the locations of all template units are set relative to the nodes. Can we have fixed locations?

 

Interesting to hear your thoughts

 

Ripcord.

Edited January 23, 2011 by Ripcord
spelling

[Kiruha]

I am attempting to show how this MG tool can be used to BUILD a decent and compelling campaign by generate a large amount of different kinds of missions with different structures.

 

Ok. There is a interface to fast generate large amount of missions (or to test your new nodes and templates). You can use "generate" button in nodes panel (MissionEditor->Generator->Nodes) for it. Select some node on the map and select templates for both coalitions on panel (both of templates should be checked). Then use "generate" button to create a mission in current node with selected template. Others preferences (weather, forces etc) are taken from generator options dialog.

 

What I have so far been unable to do is add some 'permanent units' to the map so that they will every time in the same place.

Unfortunatly there is no legal way to add static data in your missions (trigger zones or awacs in Turkey). You can try to write lua script to postprocess generated missions, but it's not easy to do.

 

For changing unit groups structure and their start positions see tables "platoons" and "startPositions" in others.lua. For example you can add large air defence company and born them in battle-order.

 

For dynamic company it's good to run generator every time with different parameters for every new mission, without changing them in editor, but now it's not fit for it well :)

[Ripcord]

This little idea is not meant to be really dynamic. Just trying to illustrate what CAN be done right now with what we already have.

 

The ability to write lua script to postprocess generated missions is what I need -- and also what I lack.

 

Ripcord

[BrumTx]

What I'd like to know is why there is no satellite view connected to the mission generator, is it a legal thing between Ubisoft or what ?. When I make missions I like to place things and be able to see immediately if a Humvee is sitting on top of the control tower, I've purchased FC2, B S and now A-10C and still no satellite view unless you use F 10 (in game) apart from that I dont have any complaints, well apart from when's the next beta coming out (joke)

[Kiruha]

That is not in my competition. There are some big steps in this direction (new directx GUI). I think there is no license or serious technical problems to make satellite view in mission editor. Simply it hasn't been done yet.

[BrumTx]

That is not in my competition. There are some big steps in this direction (new directx GUI). I think there is no license or serious technical problems to make satellite view in mission editor. Simply it hasn't been done yet.

 

Thanks Kiruha, finally someone from ED has an answer I appreciate your time answering

[Cibit]

I don't know if this is of interest but a real time 3d editor was created for Arma/Arma 2.

http://rte.jonasscholz.de/blog/2009/09/03/rte-capture-manual

 

maybe someone can put them together and come up with 3d editing for DCS:music_whistling: