[TEC] Mission Editor and Campaign Tips

[tater]

Bigboywooly recently PMed me a couple questions about the way the Campaign files and editor values worked, and I thought that others might benefit from my answer.

Perhaps this thread could become a kind of clearing house for little gems we've learned. At some point it might get condensed into a FAQ.

(I'll paraphrase the questions).

1. What function does MaxInst=10000 and MaxUnitsCreated=100 have in the mis file?

Answer: MaxInst is the number of times the given random group is allowed to spawn. The default, 10,000, means that it would be possible for the same group to appear 10,000 times in a given patrol. Say the DelayMinInterv was set to 1400 minutes at 100% SpawnProbability=100 (%). Every 1440 minutes (24 hours) the group will spawn. It would take 10,000 days for the MaxInst to ever reach 10,000. MaxUnitsCreated is (I think) the number allowed on the map at any given moment. I need to experiment and make a definitive answer for you all.

2. Is it possible to add additional mission layers to the Campaign.

Answer: Yes. Any number is possible, they simply need to be added to Campaign.cfg following the pattern seen there.

[Section 13] (the number is serial, so add them to the end with last_number+1)

FileName=data/Campaigns/Campaign/42a_Jap_CoastalTraffic.mis (the path to your new mission layer)

StartDate=19420201 (the date that the game will load the mission when you leave on patrol. This needs to be a few weeks prior to the groups spawning in the mission!)

EndDate=19421001

GameModes=SingleMission,SinglePatrol,Career,Multip layer Cooperative (this is what mission types will load your new mission. The example shown here is ALL of them.)

InclusionProbability=100
MinimumDifficultyRating=0
MinimumPlayerRating=-3 (these need some experimentation on to see how they work. Inclusion seems obvious, so I presume that if set to 50%, half your campaigns might not have a given layer. Difficulty rating and min player... I have no clue)

EntryFocalPointLong=0
EntryFocalPointLat=0 (all set to 0, no idea here)

MaximumDistanceFromStartPoint=90000 (seems to be a toggle as to if it will load based upon the patrol start point. Unused in the stock campaign, this might be useful. Don't bother to load the Indian Ocean mission layers for Pearl Harbor boats, for example.)

ExclusiveLayer=No
ExclusiveLayerID=0 (I don't have the faintest clue here)


tater

[sergbuto]

tater,

I can see that a couple of SH4 Devs are poping up at Subsim quite often nowdays. Maybe you should take the opportunity and repeatedly ask them about things in campaign/MIS files which need to be clarified.

[tater]

Good point. Like my pet difficulty: How the heck does DynamicMiss.cfg work!

[sergbuto]

Post your questions in the topic they have already posted in and address the Devs directly because they are likely to look at that topic again. I am afraid this subforum is outside their scope.

[AkbarGulag]

So in that case, I could make multiple say, air layers. All running at the same time in one campaign?

Also, the function 'Delete on Last Waypoint'.

I want to use waypoints from a fixed airfield. At some point the waypoint link will terminate in a final waypoint. If my 'Delete on Last Waypoint' is set to true. Will this cease all aircraft activity in relation to that waypoint link after the first run?

As you can see, I got no idea what this feature does, but I do know that it will be important to my next project.

[tater]

Yes, you can add as many layers as you like.

Jap_AirCover_1942.mis, _1943.mis, whatever.

The date in Campaign.cfg is the date that the mission will load based upon patrol start date.

Delete on last waypoint, yes, this makes the unit disappear when it finishes. Note that units will not spawn within 20 miles of a player. It seems counter-intuitive, but there it is not unrealistic to have units spawn in the middle of the ocean. A player will never see them appear. You can use this to represent standing air patrols.


tater

[AkbarGulag]

So using this would stop the annoying 'yo yo' that aircraft on a standard radial pattern (with no waypoints) do.

Also, just to clarify, once the aircraft terminates, the waypoint string will still recieve fresh aircraft from it's start point?

[tater]

Depends on the spawn rate, but yeah.

You can make a triangle section of a patrol pattern for one plane. Have it spawn every 4 hours and they'll fly out, make a turn, then another back, get to the end and disappear.

The trick with planes is that you'll want them flying during the day and not at night.

That means MANY different plane groups. Best would probablt be to make a little radial triangle, then have it come back home, and make a 2d loop out. Even a 3d if you think there should be a plane flying the pattern all day long. Have it repeat every 24 hours, starting at 5am or something like that.

So the plane spawns at 5am, flys a pattern and comes home. Say it takes 6 hours. It makes a 2d loop before returning to near the start location at 5pm, where it depspawns.

[AkbarGulag]

One more thing on that Tater, I saw the hourly interval box in the editor. It's how I got the idea for night plane control. Thing is, I didn't see a clock start time :hmm:

In the middle of a nice big library merger atm. Finally tidying up the multidude of works that have been sourced from all over the place This S3D gets easier all the time.

I'll go have a look for the timestamp option. But yea, if that is there then it is going to make this layer so much more controlable. I'm starting to think doing a lot of this by hand is not such a bad idea. I realise you talked about this some time ago