MIssion Scripting Tools (Mist)- enhancing mission scripting Lua

[Grimes]

On 5/26/2024 at 5:51 PM, Pizzicato said:

I'm wondering if something changed in the last patch? The mission engine that I'm writing still works fine, but I've started seeing a bunch of MIST warnings in my DCS.log along the lines of:

I will have to check it out. That error is from the database update scripts. Simply put the mist.DBs.X won't be updated with that object. 

You can get me the table that you passed to coalition.addStaticObject that generated the error would be most helpful. Assuming you have lfs and io commented out in missionScripting.lua, this line will write a table to a file in your dcs/logs folder. 

mist.debug.writeData (mist.utils.serialize,{'static', whateverTablePassedToAddStaticObject}, 'dbUpdateERror.lua')

Or if you have other means of getting a serialized version of the table passed to the function. 

[Pizzicato]

@Grimes Here's what got output to the dbUpdateERror.lua file.

static = 
{
	["y"] = 760119.6875,
	["type"] = "S-300PS 5P85D ln",
	["name"] = "Dead_SAM - SA-10 Grumble-4",
	["x"] = -124575.9375,
	["heading"] = 2.8198712957479,
	["dead"] = true,
} -- end of static

 

[Grimes]

I think it is the unique situation that a dead object is being spawned. It has a spawning event, but it can't get data about the object because it is dead, therefore an error. It is a little weird because the mist DB will populate the DB entries for statics set as dead in the mission file, but everything it knows about that is from the miz and not derived from other functions at runtime. 

[Geff]

Let me start by saying that I love MIST, and use it for all MP missions my friends and I fly.

 

This little problem however I cannot solve: when using the "mist.groupToRandomPoint" function for ground forces it does work. Most of the times. But not always. When the unit to move to is respawned / teleported and the group is ordered to go to the then new point they don't move, or stop moving.

 

Cannot figure it out. The destination is "just is a point", a vec3 value, that is passed to the function. Also noticable is that when the group does not move (anymore) after exiting the mission it can take up to minutes to get back to the menu / mission editor, while looking at some in-between screen.

 

Attached the mission file, and the function that I wrote. In testing you will see that most of the times after respawning or teleporting the goto test person the ground forces just stop moving, and then after exiting the mission it will take some time to get back to the ME.

Tested it in both MT and no-MT versions, and in all kind of different scenarios and maps. Hope this demo/test mission will be of help.

 

Again, thanks a lot for MIST !!!

gotopoint.lua testGoTo.miz

Edited June 1, 2024 by Geff
typos

[Grimes]

I think it is AI path calculation more than anything mist is doing. Most of what that mist function does is it generates the points given to the route table and assigns the task to the AI. Try it without the disableRoads being defined, meaning mist will find the closest road from the start and destination points. 

[Pizzicato]

@Grimes Did you ever get the chance to look into the issue with the "This should not be possible." when updating the dynamic database? It's definitely related to me using destroy() on specific Units and then using coalition:AddStaticObject() to spawn a "dead" replacement.

2024-06-11 04:18:56.033 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-6 Site-D-6 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.033 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-6 Site-C-9 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.033 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-19 Tunguska-B-1 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.033 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-15 Gauntlet-C-1 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.033 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-6 Site-D-10 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.033 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-19 Tunguska-A-1 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.033 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-6 Site-B-1 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.033 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-6 Site-C-6 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.033 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_GND - Trucks-J-2 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.034 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-6 Site-A-1 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.034 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-15 Gauntlet-B-1 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.034 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-6 Site-D-1 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.034 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-6 Site-A-9 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.034 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-6 Site-C-1 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static
2024-06-11 04:18:56.034 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|dbUpdate|990: Dead_SAM - SA-6 Site-D-9 is not a Group or Static Object. This should not be possible. Sent category is: static

 

[Geff]

On 6/5/2024 at 1:57 AM, Grimes said:

I think it is AI path calculation more than anything mist is doing. Most of what that mist function does is it generates the points given to the route table and assigns the task to the AI. Try it without the disableRoads being defined, meaning mist will find the closest road from the start and destination points. 

Thanks for your reply Grimes

 

It indeed seems to be working without the disableRoads. Most of the times it works flawlessly that way, but sadly not always. I'm trying to find out what might be the cause of it not working sometimes ... If I can find it, and it has relevance, I will let you know.

 

Again, many many thanks for Mist and your support !

[Tricky11]

Morning all. I have currently got a problem with the range script not working on the kola map. Now the range script uses mist but im not sure whether its mist not loading or the range script. Is there anyway i can see if mist is running?

[Grimes]

On 6/30/2024 at 4:33 AM, Tricky11 said:

Morning all. I have currently got a problem with the range script not working on the kola map. Now the range script uses mist but im not sure whether its mist not loading or the range script. Is there anyway i can see if mist is running?

In DCS.log there will be a line stating mist loaded. The lines are basically it started loading and it finished loading. 

2024-07-01 19:24:54.392 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|init|1675: Init time: 0.101
2024-07-01 19:24:54.392 INFO    SCRIPTING (Main): Mist version 4.5.127 loaded.

 

[Tricky11]

Just now, Grimes said:

In DCS.log there will be a line stating mist loaded. The lines are basically it started loading and it finished loading. 

2024-07-01 19:24:54.392 WARNING SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|init|1675: Init time: 0.101
2024-07-01 19:24:54.392 INFO    SCRIPTING (Main): Mist version 4.5.127 loaded.

 

Cheers i will take a look

[toutenglisse]

Hi, I don't know if it is normal or not, but when missing a variable by mistake using mist.scheduleFunction(function f ,table vars ,number t , number rep ,number st ), it creates an "error in error handling", instead of creating a usual log error with indication of problematic function and line inside the script to help debug (UTD mist 4.5.126).

[Lekaa]

Helloooou 
Any ETA on the upcoming update?
Cheers!

 

2024-07-12 15:57:41.297 ERROR   SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|f|1471: Group not accessible by unit in event handler. This is a DCS bug

 

Edited July 12, 2024 by Lekaa

[RUNEofORM]

DCS patch screw up Mist? Got all sorts of random issues now. Things no longer working for Red side but will for Blue. AutoJTAC no longer works like it used to.

[Skewgear]

We've had to disable MIST and everything reliant on MIST as it seems to have been broken thanks to the last DCS update.

[Lekaa]

Anyone managed to sort this portion of mist?
 

	local function groupSpawned(event)
		-- dont need to add units spawned in at the start of the mission if mist is loaded in init line
		if event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_BIRTH and timer.getTime0() < timer.getAbsTime() then

			if Object.getCategory(event.initiator) == 1  then 
				--log:info('Object is a Unit')
										  
														 
				local g =  Unit.getGroup(event.initiator)
				if g and event.initiator:getPlayerName() ~= "" and not mist.DBs.MEunitsByName[event.initiator:getName()] then
				--	log:info(Unit.getGroup(event.initiator):getName())
					local gName = g:getName()
					if not tempSpawnedGroups[gName] then
						--log:warn('addedTo tempSpawnedGroups: $1', gName)
						tempSpawnedGroups[gName] = {type = 'group', gp = g}
						tempSpawnGroupsCounter = tempSpawnGroupsCounter + 1
					end
				else
					log:error('Group not accessible by unit in event handler. This is a DCS bug')
				end
			elseif Object.getCategory(event.initiator) == 3 or Object.getCategory(event.initiator) == 6 then
				--log:info('staticSpawnEvent')
				--log:info(event)
				--log:info(event.initiator:getTypeName())
				--table.insert(tempSpawnedUnits,(event.initiator))
					-------
					-- New functionality below. 
					-------
				--log:info(event.initiator:getName())
					--log:info('Object is Static')
				tempSpawnedGroups[StaticObject.getName(event.initiator)] = {type = 'static'}
				tempSpawnGroupsCounter = tempSpawnGroupsCounter + 1
			end
				
			
		end
	end

it's triggering this error:
 

2024-08-19 09:15:28.205 ERROR   SCRIPTING (Main): MIST|f|1488: Group not accessible by unit in event handler. This is a DCS bug

 

[AngelRR92]

Hello all, first of all, THANKS to the creators of this wonderful tool.

I'm creating a basic script to replicate a HUD with some pre-made images but i'm not sure if I can call them to be used with a DO SCRIPT with MIST. I tweaked some basic lua code but my main concern is how to tel  the mission to load and manipulate a given image, I have this:

 

--Image resize

do

local screen = platform.window
local w, h = screen:width(), screen:height()

local image01 = image.new(_R.IMG.image01)

local im01w = image.width(image01)

local im01h = image.height(image01)
local imw, imh       --Introducing 2 local vars that will be defined in the future

function on.resize()

 im01w = image01w:width()

 im01h = image01h:height()

 image01 = image01:copy(0.5*im01w, 0.5*im01h)      --Creates a 50% size copy of the image01

 --screen:invalidate() +--Not sure if must be added, Test

end

function on.paint(gc)

gc:drawImage(image01, (w - im01w)/2, (h - im01h)/2) 

--function to draw image centered, tweak “(h - im01h)/2” argument to put it up or down as required

end

[Grimes]

8 hours ago, AngelRR92 said:

Hello all, first of all, THANKS to the creators of this wonderful tool.

I'm creating a basic script to replicate a HUD with some pre-made images but i'm not sure if I can call them to be used with a DO SCRIPT with MIST. I tweaked some basic lua code but my main concern is how to tel  the mission to load and manipulate a given image, I have this:

You can't. The only rendering behavior with lua is only within the context of the mission editor. 

[AngelRR92]

hace 12 horas, Grimes dijo:

You can't. The only rendering behavior with lua is only within the context of the mission editor. 

Thanks Grimes, is there any way to increase the "refresh rate" os DCS ME? every trigger is capped to 1 check per second and is not enough for a HUD...

[Grimes]

On 8/29/2024 at 4:08 AM, AngelRR92 said:

Thanks Grimes, is there any way to increase the "refresh rate" os DCS ME? every trigger is capped to 1 check per second and is not enough for a HUD...

Nope, its hardcoded. Only option is to use lua where it is applicable to rewrite the conditions and actions to run at a faster rate. 

[AngelRR92]

En 28/8/2024 a las 23:09, Grimes dijo:

You can't. The only rendering behavior with lua is only within the context of the mission editor. 

Thanks, I will end up digging into how to mod it.

 

[rwbishUP]

Is there a way to script ground units to, patrol route using, MIST?

[Lekaa]

 

 

 

@Grimes

I think i fixed the 

Group not accessible by unit in event handler. This is a DCS bug

 

local function groupSpawned(event)
		if event.id == world.event.S_EVENT_BIRTH and timer.getTime() > event.time + 1 then
			if Object.getCategory(event.initiator) == 1 then
				local g = Unit.getGroup(event.initiator)
				if g and event.initiator:getPlayerName() and event.initiator:getPlayerName() ~= "" then
					local unitName = event.initiator:getName()
					if unitName and not mist.DBs.MEunitsByName[unitName] then
						local gName = g:getName()
						if not tempSpawnedGroups[gName] then
							tempSpawnedGroups[gName] = {type = 'group', gp = g}
							tempSpawnGroupsCounter = tempSpawnGroupsCounter + 1
						end
					end
				else
					log:error('Group not accessible by unit in event handler. This is a DCS bug')
				end
			elseif Object.getCategory(event.initiator) == 3 or Object.getCategory(event.initiator) == 6 then
				local staticName = StaticObject.getName(event.initiator)
				if staticName then
					tempSpawnedGroups[staticName] = {type = 'static'}
					tempSpawnGroupsCounter = tempSpawnGroupsCounter + 1
				end
			end
		end
	end

 

by adding 

> event.time + 1 then

 

Edited October 26, 2024 by Lekaa

[=475FG= Dawger]

@Grimes

Hello,

Do you know of any reason why this would not count CTLD dropped infantry? 

Quote

mist.flagFunc.units_in_zones{

      units = {'[red][vehicle]'},

      zones = {'Jirah'},

      flag = '_redJirah',

      zone_type = 'sphere',

      reqnum = 36,

      interval = 10,

    }

 

[Bingo911]

Is there an option in mist to set the alarm state of a group when cloning/spawning? I'm not placing the units on the map. I'm using their ID to spawn them and the answer has eluded me for a few days.

 

[Grimes]

Easiest would be to pass the optional value to inherit initial tasks and set the alarm state as desired on the group it is using as a template. 

 mist.cloneInZone('groupName', 'zone', nil, 4000, {initTasks = true})

Next easiest would be to use the table returned by the spawning functions to get the group name and then assign the setting via  Controller.setOption() a short moment after it spawns.