DCS Mission Editor Tricks

Due to popular request I made a 'short' , more in-depth video about the DCS Mission Editor and the triggers and conditions I like to use. Basically 1 hour 45 minutes of me rambling incoherently, yet I hope you'll find something useful in there :)

[@warrior4452]

Mate, I`ve had DCS since December 23 and knew nothing, thought it would be a laugh to pass a bit of time, I could see that it was a bit more complex. I watched couple of your tutorials on the Mosquito and wow got that straight away; I`m now obsessed and learnt a lot thanks to you! Look forward to more, oh yeah Manston is nice flew in there years ago.......in a twin!

[@Mightymoose02]

This is a gold chest of tips, tricks and advice from the expert of missions! I am half way through the video and my OneNote is full of new info. Thanks!

[@awcleve]

Man, it’s great to get mission building tips from the best! Reflected makes the best campaigns, hands down!

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Thank you!

[@paulrjohnson58]

Thanks for your time and effort in producing these guides. To create missions by trying to decipher the mission editor from new is so much harder than someone giving such good guidance.

[@captain_kaoss]

Thank you for making this video. Great insight into triggers and examples of how they can be applied in missions. I can’t wait to build my next mission!

[@philhealey2520]

This is a fantastic resource. Thanks reflected!

[@CakePrincessCelestia]

Seen the notification, thought it'd be like 10-15 minutes telling us some sekrits to make life with that tool a bit easier and then I realize it's almost 2 owas worth of information. Not bad, will keep this bookmarked, will watch later :)

[@ReflectedSimulations]

I thought so too, then I stood up from the microphone and looked at the length of the recording, and I realized why my brain was melting :D

[@mr.coffeeninja8233]

Thank you! You're tutorials are so detailed and helpful. One thing that I love about yours is you try and get as close as possible to real doctrine. Keep it up!! Thank you again, this is how DCS should be.

[@gicknordon_]

There is some incredibly useful information in this video. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into your campaigns (ESPECIALLY Fear The Bones). You've been a huge inspiration for me to pick up the ME and try making my own little scenarios. Looking forward to the next F14 campaign!

[@alcmann]

Excellent Video thanks for Elaborating on a lot of this stuff where there is 0 explanation from ED for this.

[@indianajon7980]

Wow. OK I need to watch this more than once to make it sink in. It has opened up the dark arts though so thanks

[@MasterZelgadis]

For leaving airfields it's also a good trick to have 2 concentric trigger zones with different sizes. A departing unit ist outside the smaller zone but inside the bigger zone. This also work with late activated units

[@lankypilot778]

Terrific thank you! There's always a part of me in the editor watching things unfold in you're missions & this helped clear up some things unfamiliar with, especially the x-arguments & keystrokes. It often gets a lot of flak but aways thought the editor was great. Sure it be good to have a 3d option for placing ground items but functionality for someone who doesn't know scripting like me, I've found you can still be quite creative like you say just by playing around with what have in there. Main issue i have is my obsessive compulsivness lol. Either with feature creep never settling on anything & wanting more till gets over convuleted & break half stuff ive done already, or seeing flag numbers out of sequence after continually adding new things.. agghh!

[@man_vs_life]

Very bloody cool of you to share your experience. Thank you!

[@justinian_dude]

Thanks for making these and all the great campaigns!

[@Ravasssz]

Yeeah! This is the video I was waiting for! I just started making simple missions so this is very helpful! Thank you for taking the time to make a long video like this!

[@madaxe606]

This is incredibly helpful stuff. Thank you so much for uploading this. :)

[@MrT-hk9wn]

Thanks for sharing your expertise.

[@mikem.8826]

Huge thank you!

[@remingtonsteele3493]

Thank you very much for this awesome video and your effort 👍🏻😃 I really like and enjoy your content 😊

[@jep1103]

Lovely job, very interesting and informative

[@einweiesblattpapier2676]

This is so great. i can finaly start to make some serious stuff in the mission editor, thank you so mutch!!!

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Good luck!

[@MisterMannIndy]

Gold mine! Thanks for sharing with us, Reflected.

[@hmleao]

Great stuff. I like creating missions myself. Nothing as complex as the ones you do, of course. But enough to have some fun with friend. This added more tools to my bag of tools xD.

[@timothysmith7364]

Thank you for the time and effort!

[@OliverMilas]

Thanks for your sharing your knowledge and experience with us

[@matastorxt5796]

Thanks for this wonderful video!

[@Dutcheagle_ks]

Outstanding information. Need to watch it more than once to absorb it. Thanks for doing this, it helps a lot and gets the brain in action. I'm calling Winchester right now LOL

[@ReflectedSimulations]

LOL my brain called '2 bingo fuel...2 ejecting' at about the 1h mark :D

[@blackknight3311]

01:55:44 She: The size doesn't matter! That's what she Sayed 😂 😂 You got me off guard

[@yta7777777]

That was funny!!! It's at 1:05:34

[@goldenstateaviation2861]

This is great! Thank you

[@stevegriffiths4954]

Brilliant! Helped me a lot 👍

[@3dmax911]

thanks a lot great tips

[@redtailpilot]

I've only dabbled in simple mission building for practice. These tips are extremely helpful! One thing that has bugged the shit out of me is, the horrible AI fuel issue. Running out and then ejecting. Has anyone figured out a way around this? Really ridiculous to still have this bug after all of these years. I fly mostly the Viper

[@outdooring8187]

Super useful. Thank you

[@ebubekircagrsen7824]

wow amazing content

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Thanks!

[@ashitaka74]

Great content. Thank you for the effort. I've been working for some time with the ME and achieved some pretty cool stuff. Alas, there are some things I still can't figure out. If you are making a campaign and, let's say there are some bombers player and their men have to destroy in the runway, so it's a major goal in the mission. If they achieve it, in the next mission they continue as planned... BUT IF they didn't, those bombers are going to attack I don't know, whatever you need to protect, so the next mission would be different depending on how succesful they were in this one. How do you play with variables? How can you say the program "if they destroyed this, load mission A. If the didn't load mission B", you know what I mean? Congrats again on this most interesting video!

[@BlindxSide]

Hey Reflected! Really love your videos and dedication you put into immersion and realism in your campaigns. I've personally not played any of them (don't own any of the aircraft your campaigns are for) but I was wondering if it's possible to have persistence throughout campaign missions? For example if there is an S-300 site, but you destroy it in the first mission, it will no longer be there in future missions, or trigger branching events in future missions. Or for example if you destroy an enemy frontline in one area, friendly forces will advance in that area, or be pushed in that area if failed to do so... etc.

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Hey, that's a good question. And no, currently that is not possible, a mission cannot get any data from a previous mission. Optionally you could put 2 followup missions in the same stage - one with the other without the SAM, but that would require you to build 2 missions, different voice overs, etc...huge work, and you wouldn't be able to branch it any further. That's why I like to stick to scripted campaigns and make the most of them, rather than trying to turn them into something they're not (dynamic campaigns)

[@Ravasssz]

I was wondering if you could talk about how to make cutscenes for missions. It would be great to hear about tips and trick of how to use cinematic cameras, how to move cameras in cutscenes and the corresponding triggers or settings. I would also like to hear what you think about the AH-64D and if you are planning to make a mission or campaign for that heli.

[@ReflectedSimulations]

I'm not really an Apache guy, sorry...As for cutscenes, they're easy: the camera follows the first AI aircraft in the mission, if there's none, then the first ground AI. You can late activate the rest 1 second later. Then just tell them what to do and pray they actually do it. Add music and conversations, and voilá. The player handles the camera with their mouse.

[@stephensanford5273]

Thanks for this Reflected. I make most of the mission for my squadron, and while I'm learning, you're tutorial has certainly helped. If you are interested, I'd be willing to do voice recordings for you if you want. You can kind of see what I sound like on my youtube page. But really, thanks for this, it was very helpful. If I can do anything to help, let me know.

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Thank you for the kind offer, appreciated. I'll keep it in mind.

[@hubardable]

Many many thanks 🙏

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Thanks for the support!

[@phantomhornetproductions]

Is it possible to change what file folder DCS starts searching in when trying to import sound files or pictures or etc. For example: Every time I want to import a sound, the file search window opens up the users/myname/saved games/dcs openbeta/missions folder for me to look for a file. Can I change this to open users/myname/desktop/dcs folder in stead?

[@colinkelly990]

Awesome video! I built one campaign with limited voice overs (used text to speech for some of the voices). I would like to revamp the campaign and maybe get volunteers for the voices. What sound software do you use or recommend? Your campaigns are great BTW! And yes you are correct it can months to build a campaign. By the time you build it you have flown each missions tens of times, and still overlook something obvious. Any great video and campaigns!

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Thank you! I'm using Sony Vegas to edit the voice overs.

[@colinkelly990]

@@ReflectedSimulations Thanks!

[@MedicineWolf]

Great video, really helped. Question, I am running the latest beta, but I don't have the AI override option under 'set options'. Anyone know why?

[@einweiesblattpapier2676]

So I am trying to put an atc coversation into my mission right? THe Player is ment to press spacebar to check in with Vaziani Tower. but for some reason the "cockpit value equals" Föag does not Work for me. I m not sure if I overheard the important information for me but i have watched this part of the Video several times now and still dont understand why the trigger doesnt work. Can anybody help me, pretty please?

[@simonhouel1984]

Hi Reflected ! Thanks for your video :-) I always observe how your scripting evolves in your campaigns to build uo my own missions. One question though : Regarding the sounds ... where do you put the sound files so they are available to another player if I give him the mission to play on his computer ? For now my sounds are in a specific folder on my PC, but as soon as the .miz file will be used on another machine the path will be broken. Thanks :-)

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Sound files are stored within the miz file. That's why using Wav formats makes the mission file way too large.

[@simonhouel1984]

@@ReflectedSimulations Is there a specific name for the folder, like for the kneeboard ?

[@ReflectedSimulations]

@@simonhouel1984 there are 2 folders, 1 for the kneeboard and one for everything else.

[@simonhouel1984]

@@ReflectedSimulations Allright :-) Thank you very much. I'll have a look at this :-)

[@craig8724]

Hi, great vid and thank you very much. Question at the 53/54 min mark about moving zones or trigger zone in general . How can I get weapons free and or weapon hold to trigger on and off while enemy is in zone then out of zone. My trigger comes on when Reds enter zone and engagement happens as planes, but I can’t get trigger to switch off and resume patrol in zone. AI goes off and kills every bad guy in range. In or out of zone. I’ve tried many deferent combos but I’m missing something. Playing DCS for 4 months now and I love mission editor/making missions. Thanks

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Set the event to ‘switch condition’ instead of ‘once’

[@craig8724]

@@ReflectedSimulations Thank you for the reply. I tried switched conditions several ways the other day. I watched your video again today for several different learning points and noticed something I was doing wrong as you call “have it in the bag” so I tried it another way and boom 💥 it worked. I also have my AWAC calling in/ turning on only when Bad guys inter my patrol zone. So worked out great. What I was doing was putting thing in was advanced waypoint options that look like “in the bag”. I used the bag to put weapons on/weapons off and awac on and off per entering/leaving zone conditions. I look forward to the Speed and angels campaign. I’m still learning the tomcat but almost have it. Thanks. Oh and I hear your going to make an F-16 campaign. YES!!!!!

[@JohnCinOz1]

Reflected mentions at 1:03:35 that there are scripts to trigger an action when a unit fires. I have tried in vain to find such a script but I'm sure they're out there. Anyone know where? Cheers, John

[@mitchr8481]

Getting a history lesson on badly designed ancient computer game interfaces is a value added benefit few seem to fully appreciate, lol. One of the biggest problems with ME is the terrible 80s era interface that was really bad in the 90s, lol. Having a Map without a way to view it in 3d is a total LOSS. I wont even get into the copy and pasting, lol. Your patience with this software is what you should be selling to us all, lol.

[@lasselahti4056]

Where did you get that flag 50?

Reflected thanks a lot for all these tips, I am now trying to apply all of what you mentioned here for a simple F-16C mission but I can't find the parameters to use whit the cockpit param equal to trigger, could you help me whit that? thanks once again!

[@benjamenfriesen5065]

I've searched this before, apparently there is not a chart type solution of values it involves coding, which I still swear I will dabble in, soon...

@@benjamenfriesen5065 thanks a lot champ, i've actually found a way to see the parameters using DCS Bios software, i did a step by step guide on the forums, i could share the link if you are interested

[@stuartbraithwaite1297]

Hi Reflected, Great Tutorial. I wonder if you could do a tut on loading different missions from f10 menu. I have three mission on a map and would like to load each one via f10 menu. everything I have tried doesn't seem to work correctly. Any help with this would be much appreciated.

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Hi Stuart! Just add a radio menu item, call it e.g. Load mission 1 - and give it a flag number. E.g. 1. Then, if Flag 1 = true --> Load mission: 'mission 1'. You can add further menu items, loading different missions with different flags. I hope this helped.

[@stuartbraithwaite1297]

@@ReflectedSimulations Hi Reflected, Thanks for getting back to me. Have tried what you suggested , and seems to be working fine. The main problem I had, was that I had a Base mission with player aircraft at different airfields, but once the mission loads have no aircraft. So I'm guessing you need all aircraft set in each mission. Thanks again for your guidance and look forward to more of your Tutorials. Cheers Stuart

[@goodboy1269]

Hey buddy. I'm trying to get Tu-95MS to drop bombs on a runway. I've gotten the FAB-500 equipped and when attacked they jettison bombs but will not drop. Can you help me with a solution?

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Try reaction to threat: no reaction or passive defense

[@goodboy1269]

I'm looking for a little help here. I've seen folks do some amazing things with dcs. Do you think you could get tu-95s to drop dumb bombs yourself? Funny thing I equipped them with aim-9x by accident, during the mission it launched one and took out my wingman. I still can't get it to drop bombs or launch the default kh-65 missile. I can't get any craft to drop bombs unless I use an external script ☹️

[@skywarp2180]

Hello Reflected!! Is it possible to change a mission language? I downloaded a mission in french and wanna change it to english....

[@ReflectedSimulations]

I didn’t even know my missions were available in French? Or is it not mine? I don’t know how translations work but my guess is it’s all manual text replacement

[@skywarp2180]

@@ReflectedSimulations no, not yours.... but you know DCS stuff better than me, so I asked...

[@NunyaBidness-gs6qh]

🤣 DCS mission creation needs a few dozen more steps, too easy as is.

[@nymerie]

I can't find the PARAM name for the Mi-24's R-863. I need this for the "X: Cockpit Param" condition to force the player to dial to a certain freq. Anyone, please?