Basic LUA Scripting in DCS - Part 2

In this installment of "It's Not You... It's ME" we continue ot look at basic LUA scripting for DCS. Grab your favourite "Defense Agains the Dark Arts" talisman and follow me as we discuss some basic Object Oriented Programming terms and do a little bit of coding.
If you have any comments, suggestions or questions please drop by my Discord at: / discord

[@MagnusDivision]

I've wanted to get into scripting for DCS for some time but didn't know where to start. This video and the previous one has given me that starting point, thanks.

[@wardenteegs6148]

Thanks for making these videos. Your content is top notch. I've spent more time in ME then flying in dcs. I've been wanting to dip my hand into making custom scripts. Keep it coming!

[@Sidekick65]

Outstanding. Glad to hear that you find the videos helpful. Drop by the Discord if you want to discuss things in more detail.

[@TheEarthwinders]

Wow, the ability to use names instead of flag numbers! I had no idea. OMG so useful! Thankyou for that tidbit.

[@sandwich5344]

A very solid explenation on Object Oriented Programming! Descriptive and short. [Silly opinion]: Funny thing about OOP not being a thing back in the days, nowadays with C# and Java being some of the most used languages these days - are some of the most OOP "autistic" languages. Comming from a background of C/C++ i tend to joke that "the more makeup you put on a face the worse it starts to look" refering to how in C++ you dont HAVE to use OOP, while C# and Java will... Or how in C, we dont have anything like objects! Just structs and magic- Oh what were these languages so much simpler back in the day when they were created... and so much more flexible :) (within reason ofcourse!)

[@Sidekick65]

Glad you liked. It has been a bit of a journey for me to dust off my coding "skills" learned in the era of Pascal and FORTRAN and try to apply them to LUA for DCS. Fun though!

[@flightsimstuff5417]

Everything is a layer on top of C - which is a scripting language for those that don't want to write in ASM. :)

[@sandwich5344]

@@flightsimstuff5417 one day, maybe one day!! as i strive to get closer and closer to the actual hardware at service im sure i'll end up writing in assembly eventually - but for anything more intense i'll grab C and run away with it :D

[@flightstuff6757]

Really do appreciate these videos. You're explaining something that I've been wanting to do in DCS mission editing for a while now...thanks so much.

[@Sidekick65]

Glad the videos are helpful. Thanks for letting me know.

[@frankb.modelling3116]

Thanks very nice Video...just at the right time as i want go deeper in the ME..

[@Sidekick65]

Glad it was helpful! Let us know how it works out.

[@frankb.modelling3116]

@@Sidekick65 It helps me to write much less TRiggers, before i do Missions with many different Planes the spawn if i get in a Triggerzone, it was 50 lines of Triggers. It works, no problem, but it was a much writing. Since now i know how to use only a handfull of lines to do that...... I hope you don`t stop that videos about scripts...it helps many people that goes into the mission building

[@cerealex3499]

Amazing!! This give me a lot of ideas!! Thank you so much!!

[@Sidekick65]

Glad you found it helpful. Let us know how you make out.

[@flightsimstuff5417]

The hardest part about writing everything - everything! - in lua, for DCS, is finding a good IDE, with a debugger.

[@Sidekick65]

Well, that and the need to go back and load the script file from the trigger EVERY time you change ANYTHING. Debugging scripts in DCS is not at all optimised...

[@flightsimstuff5417]

@@Sidekick65 There's way to do this but it has it's own share of warts, see: loadfile(). The next trick is specifying the folder where the scripts are. In the end, while debugging, I use a const that defines root folder for all scripts, then using doScriptFile() for release builds. I can edit/save outside the ME then each time I "fly" it uses the new files.

[@antonizick]

Fantastic content Thank You. I've Liked and Subscribed. 1 question and 1 request idea please.... 1. Are there other learning resources you recommend (hoggitworld as a language reference obviously, any other stand outs?) 2. Request/Idea I'd like to assign point values to enemy air and ground targets , and on a multiplayer server server-wide announce scores, winners, etc. I'll keep learning with these tutorials and try to build it myself, bur perhaps a good example mission to build for the channel? Thanks again, these are great !!!

[@MiklaDfar]

Folks should also know about block comments by enclosing the block of code/text between --[[ and --]]

[@Sidekick65]

Good point. Thanks for pointing that out.

[@ecmo1226]

If you make a table of ground units will the function randomly call both ground units and locations? What point does DCS use as the origin when determining the location of a point (X,Y,Z)? Thanks for these tutorials. Great series!

[@Sidekick65]

Thanks for the interest. I'm not sure I know the answer to either of those questions. If you drop the Discord there might be someone there who could help.

[@jimmorrison2783]

Is that a program that is changing the background or are you changing it between cuts?

[@Sidekick65]

That's me. Assuming you are referring to the intro part of the video. The audio and video were recorded separately so I just recorded a few different wallpapers in DCS and then changed them in the background before adding a voice-over separately.

[@jimmorrison2783]

Yea that's what I was asking.

[@damoneswoope7332]

I have a question for you DCS drivers… can anyone show me a keyboard set up to fly any aircraft on a laptop. I fly a-10s for the us Air Force by I’ll be damn if I can fly this plane I love in DCS… please help… Thanks guys