DCS World Mission Building - Tutorial Video Series

Range79,

Awesome videos, they really help in understanding the beginnings of mission building and the prework that needs to happen. I look forward to some more advanced stuff Lua scripting, how to get classes and the arguments for classes. keep the video coming.

thanks

76th Falcon

Excellent Job Ranger, thanks for these!!

great vid series!!

Remake of video 7 is posted, tested the mission, worked pretty well, might lower the total number of enemy units in each group by 20% so it's more easy with 2 hogs.

Hey Ranger79 - thanks for the videos. I'm fairly proficient with the ME but I've watched a few of them as I figured I might pick up a tip or two, which I have. I just finished your #6 video - I like your twisted sense of humor :). Oh, BTW, you could have also just put one CAP Trigger right between the two hangars and that would have caught them regardless of if they went west or east on the taxi way :).

 

Are you going to add any more videos for some basic Lua scripting? That's something I'm trying to read up on now, but haven't quite wrapped my head around the best way to do things just yet.

 

Thanks again.

Relent

You were right about the trigger placement, fixed that and implemented in the mission. Thanks for the suggestion.

Just stumbled onto this thread. Thank you so much Ranger! I'm a budding newbie with the ME and have just tried incorporating some lua scripts into two missions I've made for myself. I look forward to learning lots from these! Thanks again sir!!

Thanks for the kind words. I will look into making some lua scripting videos, but I just do basic lua so I dont have to fix too much between patches.

I would benefit greatly from that! In the short time since November last year I seem to have a pretty firm grasp on using ME, but where I need some serious 101 is in lua scripting. So far the most I can do is mod label scripts, and the radio menu... oh and adding back in the Su-27 and F-15 icons and wallpaper to my lineup.

Didn't watch them all yet but they look like very helpful !

I suggest that this topic should be a sticky !

Thank you Ranger

This. Can this thread be a stickie please? These videos are so useful for mission creators...

Moderators can you make this thread a sticky please?

Thanks for taking the time to put these together. Much appreciated

These are great, Ranger!

Thanks so much for taking the time to do these videos. I am still learning the ME, and I expect these will be tremendously helpful!

EDIT: Yep! I've figured out many of the basic things, and many of the quirks you've discussed so far on my own, but it's nice to have validation! Getting into the trigger video now, but I didn't know about the free camera in airbases, which will be super helpful!

I am an audio engineer by profession, so I thought I could add a little information, and a couple alternative options for your sound video.

Quick and dirty explanation:

Recording a mono, 8-bit .WAV file at an 8,000 KHz sampling rate will reduce the file to a manageable size (about 600KB/minute of audio) and naturally produce the desired filter effect! This is a nice, quick way to get reasonably convincing "radio" VOs without jumping through hoops converting files and applying effects.

SCIEEEEENCE:

The way analog audio works is by capturing a representation of the sound wave (which is the movement of air) and translating the image of that movement into another medium, 1 to 1.

The way digital audio works, is a file has a sampling rate, and a bit rate. The sampling rate is how many times per second a picture of the movement of air is captured, the bit rate is how detailed that picture is.

Both of these factors contribute to how "natural" digital audio sounds (but we won't start an analog-vs-digital debate, that's for another forum haha) but most notably with respect to what we're discussing here, they drastically affect the file size and some key characteristics of the sounds themselves.

A higher frequency sound like a bird chirping, or a whistle, vibrates the air much faster than a lower frequency sound like a bass drum.

Keeping this in mind, a digital audio recording with a lower sampling rate cannot capture higher frequency sounds, as the "pictures" it is taking of the movement of air are too infrequent to capture the information. Imagine trying to watch a car drive by at 90mph, only opening your eyes once every 5 seconds. There's a good chance you'll never see the car.

BUT WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MY DAMN MISSION VOS, you ask?

The "AM radio" effect you are applying is a filter, which removes the low and high frequency content from the voice. Assuming most people are using crappy desktop or webcam computer mics, the low frequency content should already be absent, or can easily be made absent by holding the microphone a little farther away from your mouth (this is called the proximity effect, and is another lecture :lol: )

Recording your .WAV file at 8KHz will mean your file is tiny, and also that the high frequency content in your voice is naturally cut off because the medium is incapable of capturing it. Reducing the "detail" of the picture from 16-bit to 8-bit will add a "grainy" quality to the voice.

And voila, instant, reasonable VOs with things you already have, and windows sound recorder.

Now, that being said, taking a more invested approach like Ranger and using a multitrack program to add background noises for flavor, and effects for your voice, will give you much finer control over the final product. I just thought I'd offer this one for anyone who finds that idea intimidating.

2ND EDIT:

Just a few other resources that I've found helpful.

Voxal Voice Changer - http://www.nchsoftware.com/voicechanger/

This will apply effects to your microphone in real time, so all you have to do is set up a template and it will automatically apply them whenever something uses your microphone. It is an unquestionably cheap looking program, and not of professional quality by any means, BUT it's easy to use and will do what you need. There is a free 15 day trial period, and then the full version of the program is something like $20.

For my "pilot" VOs on my campaign, I apply a low pass filter at 4KHz, a high pass filter at 1KHz, and 100% distortion at -32db.

You'll also have access to pitch shifters. Tuning your voice a tiny bit in either direction will still sound fairly natural and is a great way to get more out of your voice if you're trying to sound like a bunch of different people.

I know it's kind of hilarious that I'm using this rather than a professional audio program, but all my audio stuff is on a different OS and porting crap back and forth between machines is a PITA!

Online .OGG Converter - http://audio.online-convert.com/convert-to-ogg

For when it's still just too damn big. Just point to your file, and the webpage will spit out an .OGG for you to download.

Guys, added Operation Takeback to the main post for download. Its a MP 3 A-10C slot mission made from the video tutorial series. Enjoy.

Guys, added Operation Takeback to the main post for download. Its a MP 3 A-10C slot mission made from the video tutorial series. Enjoy.

Cool mission. It may get lost in this thread so how about putting it in the missions section. There are many of us old hawg drivers that would be thrilled to see more missions like this that don't necessarily take the many hours needed for your epic productions but would be equally enjoyable and provide something even more valuable.......something new on a regular basis. Can I get an amen?

By the way, there are plenty of voice actors available and on standby if needed.

Cool mission. It may get lost in this thread so how about putting it in the missions section. There are many of us old hawg drivers that would be thrilled to see more missions like this that don't necessarily take the many hours needed for your epic productions but would be equally enjoyable and provide something even more valuable.......something new on a regular basis. Can I get an amen?

 

By the way, there are plenty of voice actors available and on standby if needed.

HUGE AMEN!!! The video series was outstanding and many thanks for taking the time to produce them. I'm looking forward to additional missions.......your missions are always outstanding.

HUGE AMEN!!! The video series was outstanding and many thanks for taking the time to produce them. I'm looking forward to additional missions.......your missions are always outstanding.

Thanks guys, good idea on the smaller missions much easier to do.

Cool mission. It may get lost in this thread so how about putting it in the missions section. There are many of us old hawg drivers that would be thrilled to see more missions like this that don't necessarily take the many hours needed for your epic productions but would be equally enjoyable and provide something even more valuable.......something new on a regular basis. Can I get an amen?

 

By the way, there are plenty of voice actors available and on standby if needed.

this is awesome, I definitely want to learn how to make missions in DCS. Thanks a TON for making those videos, I will for sure watch them!

Cheers!

Oh, yay! I'll finally know how to set trigger. Thanks! Hopefully, 2.0 won't make these obsolete.

Oh, yay! I'll finally know how to set trigger. Thanks! Hopefully, 2.0 won't make these obsolete.

Everything is working great regarding ME for 2.0 so far, very excited!