Trying to make a mission...

[Taproot]

But I find it difficult with all the ideas I get as I go along.

 

For example: How do I get an aircraft to stay on the tarmac for, lets say 40 minutes, then start up?

 

I dont get this flag thing. What are the purpose of flags?

 

And the condition of unit thing.. What does it meen if I set condition to f ex 60%?

[Oznerol256]

There are two ways to do that: One way is to tick "late activation" and activate the group using a trigger like that:

ONCE -> Time more (2400) -> Activate Group (your aircraft)

 

Or you can add an advanced waypoint action to the takeoff waypoint of your aircraft: Perform Task -> Hold -> Stop Condition -> is User 1.

To activate the group you would use a trigger like that:

ONCE -> Time more (2400) -> Flag On (1)

 

The first way makes the aircraft spawn after 40 minutes and takeoff immediately, the second way makes the aircraft wait for 40 minutes and take off after that.

 

For Flags: Flags are basically integer variables. Every Flag can hold an number. If you just use the flag as off/on or true/false then the Flag will hold 0 for off/false and 1 for on/true.

You can use Flags every way you want to. They are intended as help for the mission builder so you can create mission logic the way you want to.

Edited April 22, 2013 by Oznerol256

[Taproot]

Where is the "hold" option you are refering to?

[Oznerol256]

Where is the "hold" option you are refering to?

 

Look at the screenshot i have attached.

 

Select a waypoint of your group. Then click on advanced (waypoint actions).

Then click the lower add button. Select Perform Task as Type and Hold as action. Click stop condition and tick is user. Set the Flag you want to (make sure you dont use 0 as this isnt a valid Flag).

[Taproot]

ah. You explained it well Oz, only problem is that there is no Perform Task -> Hold option on the aircraft..

[Oznerol256]

Really? I didnt notice that. In this case you can try AI deactivate and AI activate to make the airplane wait on the tarmac.

MISSION START -> no condition -> Group AI off (your group)

ONCE -> Time more (2400) -> Group AI on (your group)

[mjeh]

There are two ways to do that: One way is to tick "late activation" and activate the group using a trigger like that:

ONCE -> Time more (2400) -> Activate Group (your aircraft)

 

While that will work, the aircraft won't be visible on the tarmac before it starts. Late activation means the unit group isn't spawned in until triggered to. You need to tick the 'Uncontrolled' box, which becomes available once you've selected 'ramp start' on the first waypoint. You must then go into 'triggered actions' which is a submenu of the waypoint menu, and add 'perform command -> start'. You can then use this as a hook for the trigger to activate the aircraft, like so;

 

ONCE -> Time more (xxxx) -> AI Task (start)

 

See attached mission for difference in how the two methods work

Aircraft Spawn Test.miz

Edited April 22, 2013 by mjeh
Did mistake

[Taproot]

Problem is that the plane wont spawn before the trigger. But I figured it out. The answer was in a thread 2 posts down.. >.< Looked before posting, but not good enough I guess.. :p

 

What about the condition of units and purpose of flags?

[mjeh]

Problem is that the plane wont spawn before the trigger. But I figured it out. The answer was in a thread 2 posts down.. >.< Looked before posting, but not good enough I guess.. :p

 

What about the condition of units and purpose of flags?

 

Yes I noticed and was in the process of editing before you sniped ;)

 

Condition of units isn't implemented yet, I think it will set a condition that needs to be met before the unit group in question is spawned.

 

Flags were covered pretty well by Oznerol, but I can elaborate some I guess.

 

They're basically useful for storing values, these values can then be used for conditions for further triggers.

 

Say you have 3 events that happen through triggers, A, B and C. You want event B to happen 30 seconds after A and event C to happen 60 seconds after B.

 

An easy way to do this through flags is when you activate the trigger for event A, you set flag 1 to ON. (I think this will give it default value of 1 but not sure, main point is it is now active which means you can read if it is).

 

Then, as condition for trigger B, you have Time since flag (1) -> 30 seconds.

 

As condition for trigger C, Time since flag (1) -> 90 seconds. (You can of course make trigger B set flag 2, and then do Time since flag (2) -> 60 seconds.)

 

There's a practically infinite number of other uses for flags, just play around with them and you'll see :)

[BBQ]

Only way I could figure it all out was to go "heads down" in the manual, and not move on to next section until I thoroughly understood the section I had finished. Many times this meant trying things out in the ME to make sure. I've been away from simming for a bit but was pleasantly surprised to see the manual had been revised - there are tutorials/examples in there for many of the more difficult features - including flags.

 

It's one of those things where you really have to buckle down and read it thoroughly or you'll never get it. It really is quite powerful - good luck!

[Taproot]

@bbq: Are you reffering to the 600 page manual?

 

Is it possible to get an enemy AI chopper to land, wait for x minute, rearm then continue with a mission?

[mwd2]

take a look here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=94862

[Taproot]

Thanks mwd2, but I knew about that one. :)

 

Thing is, I want the chopper to land on farp, shutdown, rearm and then take off after x minutes.

[Oznerol256]

Thanks mwd2, but I knew about that one. :)

 

Thing is, I want the chopper to land on farp, shutdown, rearm and then take off after x minutes.

 

You could deactivate chopper's group once landed and activate a new group. Not really the answer you were looking for, and if the player looks closely, he may be able to see the cheat.

 

Im not sure what exactly makes the AI refuel and rearm.

[arteedecco]

Thanks mwd2, but I knew about that one. :)

 

Thing is, I want the chopper to land on farp, shutdown, rearm and then take off after x minutes.

You cannot do this exactly as you want... Oznerol256 has the solution pretty good. (quoted below). However, you may be able to use the scripting engine (MIST, search forum for that [EDIT]here ya go: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=98616[/EDIT]) to change a Unit's fuel and armament state, but I've never done this myself.

 

The best I have done is had a chopper land and hold for X number of hours, minutes, seconds (even days if you like) then takeoff again. But rearm / refuel.... not yet...

 

Again... you could spoof it with two identical groups. This is probably your quickest way to achieve your desired effect. Makes triggers a little confusing, but not terrible if you use good group name schemes.

 

You could deactivate chopper's group once landed and activate a new group. Not really the answer you were looking for, and if the player looks closely, he may be able to see the cheat.

 

 

Im not sure what exactly makes the AI refuel and rearm.

He wants these AI choppers to land, shut down, refuel and rearm, then takeoff again. Edited April 22, 2013 by arteedecco

[Grimes]

AI helicopters can only land, rearm, and refuel, and takeoff again when they are in a player controlled group and the player lands at a farp. Fixed wing aircraft lack this capability entirely. With 1.2.4 there is a solution of sorts, but I need to code it into Mist. :)

 

 

However, you may be able to use the scripting engine (MIST, search forum for that) to change a Unit's fuel and armament state, but I've never done this myself.

 

The scripting engine can't change any properties of an aircraft other than its task and other options which can also be set or changed mid mission by the editor.

[arteedecco]

You know (tangent time)...

 

There are things that people try to do over and over... I wish we could make script-lets, modules, what-have-yous that address these things... maybe HOWTOs by game version.

 

For example... there's always something about this topic: Aircraft landing, rearming, refueling, and getting airborne again.

 

There's also always questions on getting AI aircraft to do aerial refueling.

 

I know we have a sticky for "tricks / tips" on the ME, but ... there's gotta be a better, more comprehensive way of a.) solving these problems and b.) getting the solutions out there to the masses.

 

[EDIT]I R genius... as if you read my mind... http://en.wiki.eagle.ru/wiki/Mission_Editor:_Tanker/AAR_(Air-to-Air-Refuelling)[/EDIT]

Edited April 22, 2013 by arteedecco

[BBQ]

@bbq: Are you reffering to the 600 page manual?

 

Is it possible to get an enemy AI chopper to land, wait for x minute, rearm then continue with a mission?

 

I'm referring to the 240 page "DCS User Manual". --> :book:

[Taproot]

Thank you all! I will toss out rep tomorrow. :-)

 

Another q:

If i use a trigger (once) to spawn a unit when i enter a client aircraft. Will the unit spawn again and a again for everytime i enter the aircraft if im f ex shot down?

[Grimes]

No, units only spawn once.

[ENO]

Client aircraft will just recycle provided you have unlimited aircraft selected in the airbase supply menu. At least that's the impression I got.

 

As for the rearming etc if you put a zone around the airport if you enter conditions like AI unit in zone/unit speed and altitude less than 10 you can always late activate its replacement. If someone is watching it may look a bit weird but frankly I'm finding people are generally too busy with what they're doing to nitpick over that kind of stuff.

[Oznerol256]

He wants these AI choppers to land, shut down, refuel and rearm, then takeoff again.

 

Just to clarify:

I know that he wants the AI to do that. I meant that i dont know under what circumstances the AI refuels and reams. This means i dont know how to get the AI to do that. However, as Grimes stated, rearming and refueling for AI seems to be impossible anyway.

[Taproot]

Tossed out rep to thos I haven't given rep before. :)

 

One more q. Is it possible to activate a client aircraft on a trigger?

 

I have done a client aircraft that is activated on a trigger, but it seems that the AI then takes over the plane... :s

[Oznerol256]

Tossed out rep to thos I haven't given rep before. :)

 

One more q. Is it possible to activate a client aircraft on a trigger?

 

I have done a client aircraft that is activated on a trigger, but it seems that the AI then takes over the plane... :s

 

Yes it is possible. DRAGON has used this in the Mission HardcoreTerrorists.

There is a FARP that is full of enemy forces. Once the FARP is clear, a friendly chopper lands there and after that you can choose a "KA-50 captured" and you spawn on the FARP.

 

The "captured" group isnt late activated. Instead, Dragon uses a Flag to determine wheather the choppers are allowed to spawn or not. He uses a continous trigger that explodes all the units as long as the Flag is false. This means once someone spawns before the FARP has been captured, his KA-50 will explode immediately.

[Taproot]

Cool! Thx!

 

One more: how do i get a coy of armor to go in a formation at f ex wp 4?