DCS Mission Editor | Setting up an Infantry JTAC Mission [Tutorial]

104thphoenix.com/
Welcome back to another video this time we are taking a look at how to set up a mission with an infantry unit acting as a JTAC who will laser designate targets for you!
Thanks to Ciribob and his fantastic CTLD Script we can set this up pretty quickly.
DOWNLOAD THE CTLD SCRIPT HERE - github.com/cir...
The MIST and CTLD files required for this Mission are available to DOWNLOAD at the link above. Simply download the CTLD Master File and extract it somewhere on your PC.
Once you open the Mission Editor use the DO SCRIPT FILE trigger as shown in the video to navigate to the MIST.lua and CTLD.lua files.
ctld.JTACAutoLase('JTAC 1', 1688, false,"all")
^ - The line above is what you copy and paste into your JTAC ON Trigger if your JTAC is called JTAC 1 (3rd trigger shown in video). If your JTAC is called something different simply change JTAC 1 to your unit name eg - ctld.JTACAutoLase ('HAWKEYE 11', 1688, false,"all")
Remember 'JTAC 1' is the units callsign, 1688 - is the laser code you want to use, false - means we do NOT want smoke on the target, set this to TRUE if you want smoke ,"all" - means we want the JTAC to target ALL targets. You could put troops or vehicles in this field if you wanted to. Eg - ctld.JTACAutoLase('JTAC 11', 1692, true,"vehicles")
RAF Skin Pack for the DCS AV-8B Harrier - www.digitalcom...
The mission in the video is available to DOWNLOAD here - www.mediafire.c...

[@conner3206]

Welp... Watching this at 3:17am on New Year's day. Great way to start off the New Year xD

[@andrewross55]

Great video, tried your mission, then recreated my own mission with F-18 and AGM Mavericks, worked flawlessly!! Thanks for these fantastic training videos.

[@glennet9613]

Excellent presentation. I really liked that you kept right to the point without any superfluous explanations or complications, just the essentials. Nice pace, not too fast so it was hard to follow, not too slow so it was hard to concentrate. Thanks.

[@benjiminus04]

I think I enjoy watching your videos more than I do actually playing! You are the man!!

[@honourmoameng7594]

Well done,thank you sir. I also learnt simple tanker setup from you.

[@garethsebburn5749]

104th_Maverick..your data on smoke is inaccurate....JTAC's can mark targets with smoke. Its called artillery or mortar smoke..It happens a lot..i am was a JTAC and artillery forward observer in the British Army for 14 years..also, you wouldn't be able to see "Laser" at night with NVG either, and sparkle is IR pointer not laser..and the laser doesn't get turned on until the pilot requests it at 10 seconds before splash of weapon, the reason for this is two fold, 1st, enemy can use your laser to acquire your position and engage, 2nd if you leave the laser on for to long, the weapon will run out of power before reaching the target and hit the wrong place, GBU units work on bang bang guidance, if the laser is on all the time the guidance will run out of battery power long before it hits the ground ..the only exception to this is if the JTAC wanted to use the laser spot for target acquisition for the pilot.. But good effort

[@104thMaverick]

In DCS the AI fires the Sparkle at the same time as the Laser mate and the burn out is not modelled, although it is for clients and you can switch between laser and sparkle or have both on, but with this script the AI fires the Sparkle with the Laser. Thanks for the info and for your service!

[@garethsebburn5749]

Ah,i did not know that.. i now work in Defense simulation for the past four years since leaving, all focused mainly around JTAC and CAS Pilots... We have been trying to get Matt Wager to let us help with making the JTAC more realistic in DCS, as the guy who helped them initially was a US CCT and not a JTAC.. here some vids of the company i worked for, im the guy in dome kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpjXeX-pq7WhpLc kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3nQpaarl9enr7s I know own my own simulation business called Black Widow Simulations www.blackwidowsimulations.com/ im thinking about creating JTAC missions for DCS from real world scenarios we use in JTAC training and from real Ops in afghan and Iraq. I wasnt trying to rain on your parade just trying to help And thank you

[@garethsebburn5749]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXiUmWicmNpskLs And this is me controlling the real deal

[@Silver_Dragon_Minoslas28A27]

Garreth Sebburn. DCS World has not only entertainment simulator, that has as Military Training Simulator (The Battle Sim). The Old A-10C module was a Desktop trainer simulator of the A-10C for USA Air National Guard. The actual "entertainment" module version (autorized release by the ANG and USA military stament with some changes), has implemented JTAC procedures. You can see them on a old 2010 A-10C Beta video show. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKq2cqmKj7SJi6s Normally the community "build" your ours scripts to simulate a "easy" mode as show in the video, but the A-10C JTAC with procedures can be added to other aircraft's modules.

[@garethsebburn5749]

Hi Angel Francisco Vizcaino Hernandez, im very familiar with the Battle Sim,and the history of DCS, I work in defense simulations designing and building simulators for JTAC's and CAS pilots, and i work with some of the original coders of the ANG A-10 desktop procedural trainer, and i also know the guy who was the SME for DCS JTAC procedures, we was a combat controller, not a JTAC. I am also a JTAC of many years with deployments

[@LetsplayIndieGamesChannel]

thank you SO much for this! i will use this in my channel , translate it for folks who dont understand english so well :D great great video ! thumbs up

[@airlogic]

I will not accept your apology for being Scottish...! :) Awesome Holiday Mission for me to setup and learn the Harrier... Thank you Thank you Thank you... Yes.... 10/10 Sir...

[@unsaved013]

Awesome video, copied your instructions and it worked perfectly.

[@fortinero3361]

"...enemy spotted" :V nice video by the way

[@glennet9613]

Just a note, download the zip file using the green “clone or download” button on GitHub. The video tells you to do it that way but I copied and pasted the lua files which are also available there instead. One of them must be wrong, because I got a script error. If you make the same mistake delete the mission and start again, just replacing the files didn’t work.

[@dpierron]

Excellent tutorial thanks mate !

[@TheBix8257]

Great video, you explained it very well!

[@SpaceLaddie]

Great video. I've been wanting to get involved in a virtual squadron for DCS for a while and checked out 104th phoenix but was a bit intimidated as I don't think I'm at that level of skill yet. Would u recommend any other squadrons that are a bit more casual or would u recommend giving phoenix a go. Many thanks!

[@D001lz]

Excellent video! Thanks

[@hardcard254]

*After dropping a bomb...* --> 19:29 ^^ Everybody knows that bombs consciously disarm when there's people around...instead of blowing them to bits ^^

[@CI777]

Great video! Thanks. I have a question... Can JTAC follow moving vehicles?

[@Wrahns]

I have come into a problem. If i use the "All" designation he works fine and transmits his first target designation. As soon as i change it to "vehicles" and also tried "Vehicles" he no longer transmits his information that he does when you put all. Anyone know why? or had this problem?

[@iranazadi7]

but how do I get a ground unit to actually lase in mission editor?

[@aDutchy1975]

Thank you very much, I was looking at the scripts earlier this week. Very helpfull, are ye planning to do more on the other options of the CTLD? Thnx Solex Ahoyworld

[@aDutchy1975]

When loading the mission on a multiplayer server (1.5.8. Open Beta) the JTAC doesnt laze, I do get the messages from JTAC that they are active but I cant find the sparkle. In the editor it works fine. An extra TOW hmmv as JTAC doesnt work either.. Its driving me bonkers.. Thanks again.

[@aDutchy1975]

It was a case of user error, not aware of the buttons next to the FLIR switch.

[@MauriceColontonio]

Great video, thanks! Can you get the JTAC to lase a specific building?

[@104thMaverick]

Put an enemy infantry unit on / in the building ;)

[@Schneids]

hey man awesome video, nice and easy to follow, but I do have a question that I can't seem to find. Is it possible for the JTACs just to lase armor, like tanks and bmps? I have a mission where a mobile arty element is oscar mike with an escort of 3 bmps and 3 t72s. There's a friendly armor element coming in from the north so I'm trying to make the mission for the air just the escort so the friendly armor can finish off the arty. I haven't actually tried replacing "all" with "armor" yet but Ill try that when im home.

[@104thMaverick]

Hey man! What you can do is set targets as a matter of priority to be lazed. To do this you have to put one of three codes before the name of the unit. So under the unit name (not the group name) you would put hpriority for high priority targets, mpriority for medium and lpriority for low priority targets. Make sure you place this code before anything else in the name field, so for example if your group name is Armor Group One and the first unit in the group is called unit#01 you would put ‘hpriority’ before unit#01 so it looks like .. Hpriority unit#01 This should make the JTAC laze any units set as high priority before anything else.

[@LeoH3L1]

Got it working, but could you go into more depth about targeting specific units, you mention you can target "all", but if I want a specific unit out of a tank column, say a mobile AD unit, can we do this?

[@thouanpierre7099]

Same question here. Can we designate "BAD GUYS1" a group of 4 unit ?

[@RealVENOMous]

@104th_Maverick Does MIST work with the most updated releases of both Stable and Beta versions? I have tried this and I see nothing

[@sprebound3805]

I've downloaded the files, and followed the instructions to the "T". Every time I try to do my own custom mission following these instructions I get "unexpected errors" for each of the 3 triggers. I downloaded your mission and it works without a problem...I'm not sure what I'm messing up.

[@104thMaverick]

Fom another user who had the same problem "Make sure the files you downloaded off of Github are not the actual scripts but HTML files. You cannot right click save as on the file list in GitHub. Either open the files in GitHub, click raw and copy and paste into a file on your computer or download the whole repository with the green Download button and take the files from there." Hope that helps mate

[@sprebound3805]

Yeah, I had read that comment last night when I was trying to sort it out and ended up downloading the whole zip file. For some reason, even after downloading all of the files and replacing them the mist.lua file was still messed up and that was causing my problems. For some reason, the text formatting was messed up. I opened the file in github, copied all of the text, and pasted it in the mist.lua file. This fixed the formatting problem and everything works great now. Thanks for putting up this tutorial! Using a JTAC is so much more effective than dropping dumb bombs.

[@104thMaverick]

Nice one, glad you got it sorted!

[@GreyMaulkin]

I am getting a Mission script error: [string "C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\DCS\/~mis000055F7"]:7: unexpected symbol near '

[@104thMaverick]

Download the mission file I've put in the video description mate and look at the trigger set up.

[@GreyMaulkin]

I also tried moving the script files into the "Scripts" folder of the DCS World installation but that met with the same results.

[@GreyMaulkin]

I have compared the trigger setup in your mission to mine and I cannot see any difference. Not sure what I am doing wrong. What is even more confusing is that I removed the Mist.lua and CTLD.lua from my hard drive so I am not sure how your mission is accessing them.

[@104thMaverick]

Once you select these scripts in the mission using the mission editor it then saves these scripts in the actual mission folder itself mate. Look in your C:\Users\Saved Games\DCS\Missions folder and open the mission file you will see inside the mission file is now contained the MIST and CTLD script. So if you have downloaded my mission from the video description the CTLD and MIST files are already contained within that mission folder.

[@peterputer81]

I had the same problem. The files you downloaded off of Github are not the actual scripts but HTML files. You cannot right click save as on the file list in GitHub. Either open the files in GitHub, click raw and copy and paste into a file on your computer or download the whole repository with the green Download button and take the files from there.

[@CustomBikes1]

Got it to work using a A-10C with GBU-12's . . couldn't get it to work with Mavericks. Had to 're-profile' the bomb for the second target. Each bomb also had to have a 'laser time' entered to get it to work. Am I doing something out of order?? I plan on putting this in my current mission underdevelopment. Let me know if you think it should work with a missile, otherwise the 12's work fine, thank you!

[@CustomBikes1]

Got the Maverick to fire (my mistake), but the second target is hit or miss regarding locking on it. I've tried going further out . . less than half of the time will it find the laser. The first one locks up quickly. . . will keep at it.

[@CustomBikes1]

Got it . . everything works . . pilot error!

[@gurmitsingh-pr8mi]

thanks mate

[@piston_77]

is there any way to have the script tell you the elevation as well?

[@mpnewhart8022]

Hi thank you for the tutorial . I am new to dcs I play mostly online through the inferno server. How do I find the jtac? I cannot figure out how to input the lat log into the Harrier navigation?

[@104thMaverick]

It's not available yet sir, this should come out in a future update, hopefully soon!

[@derdezze]

Thx :)

[@chipwillis]

Will the Jtac automatically lase a new target once the first is destroyed?

[@104thMaverick]

Yes as long as he can see it. The script works on Line Of Sight, so as long as the JTAC can see it, he can laser it!

[@chipwillis]

Thanks man! Happy New Year!

[@Rhinozherous]

The jtac needs line of sight, but will he change Position if there is a building between him and the target?

[@104thMaverick]

No sir. The JTAC will not move once placed on the ground sadly

[@highway6334]

Good stuff :-)

[@mikeyforester6221]

See this is what I don't like about dcs and I love dcs but the explosions need updating and overhauled it lets the graphics down. Just look at Il2 they have good looking explosions its a massive part of a combat simulator in my opinion. That first strike the harrier made would of obliterated that target, yet only one vehicle was taken out. Another example of this is if you drop a bomb near a house you've positioned on the map it doesn't even take damage when a 500lb bomb lands 10 feet away? the planes look amazing especially from the cockpit when people use VR, but I feel this part of dcs needs major work it just looks old and pre dated it was even worse before 2.5 was released, at least now the forests look much better than it used too.

[@bish91]

Can JTAC direct more than one plane on to targets? or would I need to add in a second JTAC so my friend can practice aswell at the same time?

[@104thMaverick]

Yes, you and your friend can work with the same JTAC you just need to take turns each dropping a bomb as he won't laser two targets at once. What you can also do is put 2 JTACs in the mission, have one on Code 1688 and the other on Code 1689 and you and your friend can drop bombs in the AO at the same time on different laser codes.

[@bish91]

104th_Maverick Ah brilliant thank you! Cheers for making these tutorials mate , very helpful !

[@johnstolz18]

Nice video, well presented. Doesn't work for me though.

[@fortel7939]

Same, I have a message saying that the JTAC is lasing the target but I can't have the laser's signal...

[@john6203]

How do you Copy and past the last script?

[@john6203]

Never mind figured it out. Simple CTRL+V didn't think it would work within the game.

[@randyreal5871]

Jeez buddy can't just point the thing...Unreal

[@MajFAIP]

Can the infantry lase static aircraft

[@104thMaverick]

Jabby Jabara No, only “units”