*Need help please with FLAG RANDOM VALUE and LOAD MISSION action

[JEFX]

Hi Druid, Grimes and all you trigger gurus!

 

I am having a bit of a problem with these concept. This is what I am trying to achieve :

 

I always thought that the campaign engine is a bit boring for one big reason : if you fail you go down one stage : fine... but if you succeed in that lower stage, you therefore climb back again to the stage where you were before, making the campaign quite linear and not branching at all... I have been thinking that one could achieve this better with the LOAD MISSION trigger action?

 

I want to be able to load a random mission (from a set of, say, 3) if a particular condition is met (say success) in my mission and if the conditions are not met, I want to load another random mission from another set of 3, etc. (in a way, it does the same thing as the campaign engine but with a system like that I never have to go back to the same level again, I can make my story jump to whatever stage I like, a bit like if the campaign engine allowed to jump over a stage...)

 

Experimenting, it doesnt work and I might very well be doing something wrong. Here is how I tried to do it :

My first stage mission is called 1-1. If my mission is a success I want to load one of three missions called 3-1, 3-2, 3-3 and if my mission fails, I want to load one of those three : 2-1, 2-2, 2-3. Just for simple experimentation I assigned a radio item (F10) to success : FLAG 1 and a radio item to fail : FLAG 2.

Then I tried the following triggers : (the missions were already made beforehad)

Once FLAG 1 is true set random value (1, 1, 3) (that would mean that if flag 1 is true, its value is random between 1 and 3, right?)

Once FLAG 2 is true set random value (2, 1, 3) (same would go for flag 2)

Then

Once FLAG 1 is true AND FLAG 1 equals 1 LOAD MISSION 3-1

Once FLAG 1 is true AND FLAG 1 equals 2 LOAD MISSION 3-2

Once FLAG 1 is true AND FLAG 1 equals 3 LOAD MISSION 3-3

Once FLAG 2 is true AND FLAG 2 equals 1 LOAD MISSION 2-1

Once FLAG 2 is true AND FLAG 2 equals 2 LOAD MISSION 2-2

Once FLAG 2 is true AND FLAG 2 equals 3 LOAD MISSION 2-3

 

I thought that this would do the trick but… no… Actually nothing happened.

My questions are :

1) Is LOAD MISSION really working and how does it work?

2) What would you guys do what I am trying to aim at?

 

Thanks that help would be very appreciated!

 

JEFX

[JEFX]

by the way, I just tried the LOAD MISSION action and I am not sure it is working???

I tried it simple : with a radio item that activates FLAG 1

 

and the following trigger :

 

ONCE FLAG 1 is true LOAD mission xx

 

I start the simulator, I hit the radio message F10 : activate flag 1

 

... and nothing happens :(

[JEFX]

while waiting for some help, I searched the GUI manual (latest version) and here is what I found :

 

LOAD MISSION. This is a very useful action that allows you to load a new mission in multiplayer, as a result of the rule conditions. As such, you could have different missions loaded depending on what is happening in the mission. This can be used for both single player and multiplayer missions. In this way, you can use this action to create multiplayer campaigns. Working in the multiplayer only.

 

now does that mean that this feature works only in the multiplayer PROGRAM of DCS world as seems to be implied in the last sentence (which is rather confusing in its syntax?) or if we read a few sentences higher : ''this can be used for both single player and multiplayer missions'' ???

 

there seems to be a paradox here? And I must say that it does not seem to be working in single player...

 

JEFX

[JEFX]

SOLVED!

 

Solved!

 

I just made an experiment in the Multiplayer module of DCS and my thing works flawlessly :

when my trigger is hit, LO automatically a mission is loaded (and the randomization that I made works as I thought).

 

So I guess that it is true that the triggered action LOAD MISSION is exclusively a MP feature.

 

JEFX

[mjeh]

yes I just tested this and it is as you say, you need to host a multiplayer game for the load mission action to work, it does not at all work if you start it as a single player game

 

(I realize me repeating that isn't very helpful, but you beat me to it ;) )

[JEFX]

THanks Mjeh for experimenting.

probably did it at the same time :)

 

I really wished somtimes that DCS manuals were more exact and precise about that sort of thing.... Very often the features are described but much more rarely their usage is described...

 

It is a pity that this LOAD MISSION feature does not work in single player. I guess I will try and make my pseudo-campaign in MP and just host it for myself, it is fine.

 

By the way, can anyone tell me if there are any particular advantages or disadvantages to playing a single player mission in the SP or in the MP module of DCS world ???

 

 

thanks

 

 

JEFX

[mjeh]

It's a little back-and-forth, to be honest. As you've noticed the main difference (as far as I know) is what triggers are available and the number of players involved.

 

In single-player mode you have access to things like the 'on take control' event, the 'set failure' options, the 'read cockpit argument' conditions etc, so it's easier to make a narrative and/ or manipulate the player aircraft (as opposed to the client aircraft in multiplayer, for which you do not have these options). In multiplayer you have ... well... Load mission :) (And most importantly, more players!)

[Grimes]

About the only way you can do it is to build it in SP is to build it as a campaign. Utilizing mission goals and the campaign builder you can specify which mission is next by loading specific missions based on the mission score of the previous mission.

 

Of the stuff that is different in SP and MP...

Mission goals:

In MP, Red, Blue, and offline are 3 independent scores

in SP it only recognizes the offline score and triggers checking for red/blue instead check offline score.

 

If a mission uses SLMOD the SLMOD features can only be used in MP as it modifies server files.

 

All stuff limited to "player" aircraft like cockpit arguments (for training), set failures, and all conditions related to cockpit arguments.

[SNAFU]

Is the trigger "Once - on take control" activated when any player in mulitplayer joins a plane/heli or is this only acitvated in SP?

[Grimes]

Is the trigger "Once - on take control" activated when any player in mulitplayer joins a plane/heli or is this only acitvated in SP?

 

Probably SP only. Haven't tried using it though, so it might work in MP.

[SNAFU]

Will try and report back, when I get some time.

 

I am trying to set a flag for every avtive player in a plane and want to deactivate that flag, when player plane crashed or player left game. At the same time a flag value should always refer to the number of active players-planes.

Trying to realize this by a zone around the spawn-place with a trigger:

Once – on take control -> Unit inside zone/Unit alive X /Flag A false -> Set Flag A true/ Increase flag B value 1

and

Switched condition -> Unit X dead/Flag A true -> Set Flag A false/ Decrease flag B value 1

 

guess if this on take control activates the trigger everytime any player takes control/ spawns, I could spare that “inside zone” condition?