Simple Scenery Saving (Map Persistence and Tools)

Similar to my Group and Static saving scripts, I am now releasing a script that can do the following:

• Save scenery that is dead from mission to mission. (also applies randomised DCS "Big Smoke")
  
• Tools to track Specific target 'lists' of scenery - i.e. you can select items from the map and get details on them, track if they were destroyed or not and use this as a target list for mission objectives
  
• An "Explode by map marker" and a Get COORDINATE marker for testing and evaluating your scenery based missions.
  

WHY?

The A-10C created a culture of CAS for so long that strike has been devalued as part of the simulation experience. DCS didnt really give us good tools to use for map scenery ... let me describe the old/current methodology:

1. Write a script that either used the complex world search return or an event handler that gave you the dead event and the event data.

2. Write a mission looking for likely targets and put a zone over them that triggered an explosion.

3. Execute a mission with it in and observe the event id of the things the explosion blew up (hopefully). Refine and repeat through several reloads until you have a list of scenery ID's

4. Create the mission proper, now filtering your event handler with the event IDs.

Scenery items are not in the MIST or MOOSE databases, because there are millions of them. Many of the API wrappers for them simply do not work and the only ways to get objects appears to be from the return of an event or world.search, which isn't quite the most basic. Whilst MIST does provide area search for polyzones of scenery objects, it isnt able to track them mission to mission after restarts. By combining the tracking into a specific text file saved to your disk, we can track specific scenery and nonspecific scenery on demand and very easily.

It's not surprising that you do not see many missions with "attack map object here" in multiplayer servers. Quite honestly, it's laborious and you wish there were more than 4 Fortification units.

Now you can get that scenery with a simple click of a marker and it's written for you directly to a file. You can do this 30x's over, it takes longer to choose which map object than to click the map. I made a mission targeting map objects in four minutes, that's an hour less than doing it the old way.

Say no to CAS missions! Demand that you destroy key warehouses at the docks of Bandar Abbas instead. Or Airport Hangars, or Bridges across the Inguri, or power stations. Get MORE from your DCS missions and let me help you achieve that quickly. Enjoy Deep strike and interdiction that doesn't end with that silly clunky factory with 4 polygons!

https://github.com/thebgpikester/SimpleScenerySaving

This is meant primarily for DCS mission makers. If the idea of adding a script to a mission is scary, you can walk away!

Full explanation:

Workflow (Quick):

speedtest.miz

As a side note, I'm using the file to create to a CSV, then upload to database with a workflow that will allow users to contribute to creating missions and supplying BDA via a CMS website that injects these targets to a mission whilst it's running. It's pretty cool but lots of work on the web side to go. Hopefully done next year.

Great stuff Pikes.

Thank you Pikey !

Nice!

Pikey thanks again for another great script!!!

Running it in now in my missions and its working great. The only thing I noticed and its a small thing is that the first thing you destroy does not get recorded properly.

I was trying out the script by bombing 1 target and thought I had something setup wrong because every time I restarted the mission the target would not get destroyed. I then reset the the script and bombed 2 targets and on the next mission start only the 2nd target gets destroyed. After the initial mission is ran all future destroyed targets get recorded properly. Like I said thou just a very minor thing.

My small group is really enjoying your unit/squadron/scenery scripts, thanks for making these available to everyone!!