F-14A Dynamic Campaign: Battle Group Delta

These are Intruder loadouts. The F/A-18A serves as a placeholder until Heatblur releases the AI A-6E.

Just wanted to say thanks to Mbot for this campaign. I'm about 8 missions in and really enjoying it. Everything working remarkably well with very effective strikes by the AI. Only thing noted is that HARM shots vs Hawk tend to go to the stratosphere, I don't think I've seen any Hawk radars taken out by HARM.

Had the message that the CVN would be able to move closer, but still operating from the original location. Hopefully it will relocate soon, some long flights in!

Only tweak I've made was dropping wind over deck/CVN speed as recommended to avoid catapult cold shots. Haven't had any issues at all since that.

Thanks Mbot!

Glad you are enjoying it.

I have written a script that allows SAMs to shut down temporarily when under ARM attack. Therefore HARM will usually just suppress a SAM far a limited amount of time and hit only rarely. This is also supported by real-life ARM combat performance against competent radar operators.

Sorry MBot but no dice. I have tried your instructions on targeting the First Mission BAT file and camp_init.lua properly and all I get is this ERROR:

C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\bin\luae.exe: cannot open C:\Program: No such file or directory

C:\Users\Herman\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Mods\Tech\FA-18C_Battle_Group_Delta_v20191230\FA-18C Battle Group Delta>

grant977 are you sure that you unpacked campaigns into your user savedgames \Mods\tech\DCE\Missions\ folder and not into DCS installation? I made such a error as I went ahead and didn't read instructions carefully.

Also as I had to make symbolic link alias for my user savedgames folder DCS.openbeta to DCS as it is hardcoded there.

Sorry MBot but no dice. I have tried your instructions on targeting the First Mission BAT file and camp_init.lua properly and all I get is this ERROR:

 

C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\bin\luae.exe: cannot open C:\Program: No such file or directory

 

C:\Users\Herman\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Mods\Tech\FA-18C_Battle_Group_Delta_v20191230\FA-18C Battle Group Delta>

Your installation directory is wrong. It should be:

C:\Users\Herman\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Mods\tech\DCE\Missions\Campaigns\FA-18C Battle Group Delta\

Great Stuff! Thank you!

Stickied.

Thank you IronMike, much appreciated!

May I make a humble suggestion for a VF-21, USS Independence, 1990 livery for the F-14A?

In July 1990 USS Independence at the center of Battle Group Delta is commencing an Indian Ocean patrol as a crisis in the Strait of Hormuz calls the carrier into action against Iran. Join VF-21 on Independence and fly the Tomcat into combat.

 

Features:

• Dynamic campaign with a duration of approximately 30 missions
  
• All air/ground/sea losses persist from mission to mission
  
• Every mission uniquely generated depending on available assets, remaining targets, threat situation, time of day, weather etc.
  
• Air Tasking Order generation with packages and routes for player and AI
  

 

 

DOWNLOAD

 

 

Installation:

1. Download Dynamic Campaign Engine and extract to "...\Saved Games\DCS\Mods\tech".

2. Download Battle Group Delta campaign and extract to "...\Saved Games\DCS\Mods\tech\DCE\Missions\Campaigns".

 

Make sure that your install directory is 'Saved Games\DCS'. If you need to install it under DCS.OpenBeta:

a) Adjust filepath in camp_init.lua from 'Saved Games\DCS to 'Saved Games\DCS.OpenBeta'.

b) Edit FirstMission.bat to point to your DCS installation directory

c) Run FirstMission.bat

 

 

MissionScripting.lua modification:

Dynamic Campaign Engine requires the following modification of your DCS installation to work. Open the file "...\DCS World\Scripts\MissionScripting.lua" with a text editor. Add two minus signs in front of line 16 "sanitizeModule('os')" and line 17 "sanitizeModule('io')". The code block from line 16 to line 20 should then look like this:

 

--sanitizeModule('os')
--sanitizeModule('io')
sanitizeModule('lfs')
require = nil
loadlib = nil

NOTE: This modification has to be repeated after every update of DCS World, as each update reverts the file back to its original state.

 

WARNING: This modification will allow the execution of any LUA code included in any downloaded and played custom DCS mission and is potentially harmful to your system. Modification at your own risk.

 

 

Notes:

- F-14B as placeholder for F-14A (pending F-14A by Heatblur)

- F/A-18A with special loadouts as placeholder for A-6E (pending A-6E AI by Heatblur)

- S-3B Tanker as placeholder for KA-6D (pending KA-6D AI by Heatblur)

- CVN-74 Stennis as placeholder for CV-62 Independence (pending Forrestal-class by Heatblur)

- Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate as placeholder for every USN ship

- Tarantul-class corvette as placeholder for every Iranian Navy ship

- Gepard SPAAA as placeholder for Iranian 35mm Oerlikon AAA

In this universe, does Saddam Hussein invade Iraq a month later? :)

Well got them working Now i think i have the permissions issue. How did you solve it Dave? I looked l already have all the boxes check for saved games folder.

Included a pic of the Error I get when I land and end the first mission.

Well got them working Now i think i have the permissions issue. How did you solve it Dave? I looked l already have all the boxes check for saved games folder.

 

Included a pic of the Error I get when I land and end the first mission.

the solution is simple: if your saved games is located anywhere else other than in your standard $USERPROFILE$ location on the C: drive, then you have to create a Junction Link in the $USERPROFILE$ folder called "Saved Games" which points to the actual location. This step is needed in addition to the modifications in the scripts as described by MBot.

Alien what is the procedure for that?

My saved game folder is in this path: C:\Users\Herman

Is that not the default path?

In that folder I have a Public, defaultuser0, and Default (Which is a hidden file).

Alien what is the procedure for that?

 

My saved game folder is in this path: C:\Users\Herman

 

Is that not the default path?

 

In that folder I have a Public, defaultuser0, and Default (Which is a hidden file).

that sounds right. that is the default path. might be some permission issue then, I am not sure. I struggled long with mine but that was the solution i found for my issue.

I’ll have to check all the permissions again maybe I’ll just move everything to the main dcs folder forget this saved games stuff.

Well I am about to give up. I moved it to main folder made sure all permissions were granted and still same bug. Anyone have any ideas?

I got the same problem when I finish a mission. On hold now...

Well I am about to give up. I moved it to main folder made sure all permissions were granted and still same bug. Anyone have any ideas?

Moving DCE to the DCS main folder will certainly not work, it is hardcoded to be installed under your Windows user's Saved Games folder (unless you do some of the Junction Link magic, which I have no experience with).

I tried that in desperation and nothing. I don’t understand the error I am getting above. The first mission bat works fine then when I finish a mission that error happens. Do you need to also correct the debrief bat and skip mission bat as well?

No, the bat files are not needed for regular play. FirstMission.bat working is not saying much, as it has nothing to do with running the campaign. Its purpose is to build/update the first campaign mission in case a init configuration change of the campaign has been made.

The error you are getting means that a log file could no be created because the folder where it should be created doesn't exist or because the system doesn't have the right to write the file. This could have one of the following reasons:

1. Incorrect installation folder structure. If you can see the campaign on the Campaign page in DCS you probably have this right.

2. DCS.OpenBeta vs DCS folder in Saved Games. If you install it under DCS.OpenBeta you have to do:

a) Adjust filepath in camp_init.lua from 'Saved Games\DCS to 'Saved Games\DCS.OpenBeta' (is that how the open beta folder is called exactly? I don't know).

b) Edit FirstMission.bat to point to your DCS installation directory

c) Run FirstMission.bat

3. Running DCS as admin and having admin rights for all respective folders.

Unfortunately I can't think of anything else.

Gonna just start clean will go though that checklist again.

Thank you for putting this together, MBot! I am planning on giving it a run this weekend.

I have fond memories of flying your Mig-21 dynamic campaign with some friends several years ago.

Is this F14 campaign co-op capable, or SP only?

is it possible to fly this campaign in two player cooperative, and if so, how?

Each time before hosting a mission, you need to open it in the Mission Editor, find the player flight and change the skill settings for all aircraft of the flight to Client.

MP is naturally limited in DCS due to the lack of the Mission Planner (which exists in SP), so you might have difficulties with finding out your flight route and target location.

Hi Mbot. Thank you for making this mission generator. I'm having multiple issues though: one is deck sliding which results in a situation where I can't launch. Second is the escort cruiser sailed I to the side of the carrier.

Those two issues made it impossible to play.

Hmm, tested that now, but we couldn't even spawn as we just got the message "flight delayed". The problem is that the client will always spawn on the catapult for some reason, while the host spawns on the ramps as he is supposed to. It doesn't matter who takes lead and who takes wingmen, the client always spawns on the catapult, where he will get crushed by other Hornets spawning.

We will try the Tomcat campaign instead now as we can fly as RIO and Pilot in a single aircraft, which should cause less spawning issues.

Ok, tried that now and same issue. Unfortunately, of the two of us, the pilot is the client, while I'm the host and RIO. That means the client has to spawn first and then we run in the same issue that the client always spawns on the catapult instead of the ramp and we then get crushed by other spawning AI aircraft... :(

That's obviously not your fault Mbot, as it is on ED to ensure proper spawning, but I wonder how you did it when you flew the campaign in coop. I hope the supercarrier DLC arrives soon and spawning works better there.