Unit naming convention changed, and copy pasted became hell

In the latest version (2.5.6.53756) the units naming convention changed.

When copy/pasting a unit in the previous version, the name of the unit and group were copied and, if needed, a "#00<n>" suffix was appended (e.g. "#001") to keep the names unique.

Now, the system detects a duplicate and simply resets the names.

The framework I wrote make use of these names to store important information, and this change make it all but impossible to copy/paste units in my missions.

Could we get the "#00<n>" suffix feature back please ?

Unfortunately, no. I really need at least an option ; I searched but didn't find any workaround.

I rely on the unit name to store commands that are run when the mission starts, or when a specific action is taken in the radio menu (i.e. activating a combat zone).

For example, some of the unit names I use are :

• #spawnGroup="Prohladniy-manpads",#spawnCount=2,#spawnChance=25
  
• #command="-transport, size 5, defense 0, armor 0" #spawnRadius=500
  
• #veafInterpreter["_spawn group, name hawk, country USA"]
  
• #veafInterpreter["_spawn samgroup, side blue, defense 2"]
  
• #veafInterpreter["-sa6, country RUSSIA"]
  

Before (with the previous version) when these "names" were copy/pasted, DCS simply appended "#00<n>", and my code is made to support this behavior.

Now, it does this :

• group name: combatZone_rangeKiryatEasy → combatZone_rangeKiryatEasy-4
  
• unit name: #command="-transport, size 5, defense 0, armor 1" → combatZone_rangeKiryatEasy-4-1
  

Hey, thanks for the feedback.

 

The naming convention was changed by user request to have a better, smarter and cleaner naming convention, and would honor new names given, etc.

 

Say Ground-1 (group) Ground-1-1 (unit) is copied and pasted it would become Ground-2 (group) Ground-2-1 (unit), leaving a much cleaner looking name.

 

We can talk about tweaks, but reverting I don't think is the right answer, is it not something you can work with with whatever you have created?

That's definitely something I wanted to talk about for a long time, I just thought it was too convenient/nonimportant to bother you folks about with.

So if this is part of the general improvement of the Mission Editor, then yes please :)

I still didn't send in the PM I was suppose to send about ME improvements from the big official wishlist thread, will get back to it.

Well, that is what I am asking, can you not adjust your code to adapt the new names?

NineLine, thanks for your answer.

However I don't think you understood my problem.

Let me rephrase it simply.

Situation before last update:

When I copy/paste a unit named #command="-transport, size 5, defense 0, armor 1" it becomes #command="-transport, size 5, defense 0, armor 1" #001

My code is adapted to this appending of a #00<n> suffix and simply ignores whatever is after the last pound sign.

Situation after last update:

When I copy/paste a unit named #command="-transport, size 5, defense 0, armor 1" it becomes combatZone_rangeKiryatEasy-4-1

Now, as you can see, the data I need is completely gone. If you have any idea about how I can adapt my code, by all means tell me, I'm quite desperate at this moment.

This is hundreds of hours of coding work, so please understand that this is very important to me and all the people using my work.

I am happy that old naming is gone as it was required to be gone for better AI communications. But sure now many needs to find way to change their scripts and codes to new.

So now, during the copying, it automatically disregard the unit name and make it up from the group name instead with added -number?

Makes life easier if you don't want special names but if you do use your own unit names ME will change them, making your life harder.

So now, during the copying, it automatically disregard the unit name and make it up from the group name instead with added -number?

Makes life easier if you don't want special names but if you do use your own unit names ME will change them, making your life harder.

Exactly !

And in my case, not only do I use my own unit names but I need them as they are !

I made a modification of the game files to restore the old behavior in select conditions :

• If a unit name ends with #n where n is an numeral, then the ME will simply increment the numeric part when pasting.
  
• Else, the new mechanism is used (replacing the unit name with a new name based on the group name, completely ignoring the unit name)
  

I tested it and it work as advertised.

Here's the source code, and I attached a ready-to-use OvGME version.

Dear ED, could you please take 5 minutes to look at my code and maybe (maybe) integrate it in one of your next releases ? Or do something completely different, but with the same result, as you wish ?

Please ?

Pretty please ?

Love you !

Zip.

By the way, using reverse() to search from the string's end is a very clever trick ! Kudos to the dev team !

Correction - MissionEditor - Unit naming when pasting.zip

Hey, thanks for the feedback.

 

The naming convention was changed by user request to have a better, smarter and cleaner naming convention, and would honor new names given, etc.

The new naming convention works for me as it follows the pattern that I've come up with, but I'm not surprised that it's not universally liked. I assume this change was made by listening to majority opinion, but the problem with that is that there can still be a large dissenting opinion.

In the future would it be possible to implement changes like this as options? Say a tickbox in the game options for "original" and "new" unit naming schemes? I realize that this is likely more work for the developers and so might not always be possible, but it should be better for the users as you can satisfy both sides at once.

Well, that is something we can ask to improve, if the Unit name is changed, that the ME uses that when copy and paste is done, instead of deferring to the group name every time.

Thanks Nineline, that's the spirit !

The code I added does just that : if the unit name ends with "#xxx" then it keeps it and tries incrementing the numeric, else the new algorithm is used.

I am using the ME for the first time since these Unit Naming changes.

This new approach is putting in Unit Names that are not appropriate. I create a new group from a Copy Paste. The 1st unit gets a Unit name from the previous group, which can be a different type like armor vs air defense; the next units in the group get this new naming convention of the (new) group name & '-x' where x is 1 through n; but 'x' is one less than the Unit Number; so Unit 2 is '-1'. But really, the Unit Name should revert back to the old method of like 'Unit #xxx' so we mission designers can use what we want when we want to without having to spend time correcting auto-generated names.

I updated my mod to make it compatible with DCS 2.5.6.54046.

I attached the release to this post, and the source code is still at the same place.

Here's a quick gif of copy/pasting without the mod :

https://imgur.com/a/32SWd6O

And now copy/pasting with the mod :

https://imgur.com/a/Bkx5DTf

Correction - MissionEditor - Unit naming when pasting.zip

The new automatic Pilot Naming is the worst. Where is the setting to turn it off?

just above your post ;)