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Accurate map for DCS 2.5 Caucasus theatre


Flappie

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Thank you. :)

I'm using a paying hosting service, yes. It costs me around $90 a year, domain name included. That's not much. If the server gets crowded someday, I might add a "Donate" button to host the webmap on a better server.

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And we'll donate, promised !

Zip - VEAF :pilotfly:

 

If you want to learn, talk and fly with french-speaking friends, the Virtual European Air Force is here for you ! Meet us on our Discord and our forum

If you're a mission creator, you may want to check the VEAF Mission Creation Tools (and its GitHub repository) a set of open-source scripts and tools that make creating a dynamic mission a breeze !

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  • 1 month later...

I'll update the webmap very soon with a new ruler tool and the "donate" link.

 

In other news:

 

1/ I've found out one can easily replace the ingame kneeboard map tiles. I want to make a kneeboard mod out of my GeoTIFF map. It might take some time because I need to reproject my map in the exact same projection used in the original kneeboard map. I don't know yet if this mod will break the integrity check or not.

 

2/ Viktor_UHPK has asked me to add some stuff, like minimum off-route altitude (MOR) and navaids (lighthouses, TV masts...). If you want, you can help by listing ingame navaids in this sheet. And if you know an automatic way of listing those, please tell me.

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I'll update the webmap very soon...

Hi Flappie,

Love what you've done so far. Just wondering if you plan to add more zoom levels to the WMS map? For us rotor-heads it would be very nice to get more low level details. But I also know high zoom levels require a lot of storage space for the tiles.

Helicopters and Viggen

DCS 1.5.7 and OpenBeta

Win7 Pro 64bit

i7-3820 3.60GHz

P9X79 Pro

32GB

GTX 670 2GB

VG278H + a Dell

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Storage is not the issue. Quantum GIS 3 keeps crashing when I try to render a bigger map.:( I've been looking for a solution, but nothing so far. Let's hope QGIS will do better in a next build.

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Storage is not the issue. Quantum GIS 3 keeps crashing when I try to render a bigger map.:( I've been looking for a solution, but nothing so far. Let's hope QGIS will do better in a next build.
Ah, that's a bummer. I cross my fingers...

Helicopters and Viggen

DCS 1.5.7 and OpenBeta

Win7 Pro 64bit

i7-3820 3.60GHz

P9X79 Pro

32GB

GTX 670 2GB

VG278H + a Dell

PFT Lynx

TrackIR 5

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Excellent ! This most useful feature allowed me to measure the way we drove yesterday during the Rallye des Ailés : 311km in the mountains, from Beslan to Kutaisi.

 

 

Merci Flappie for your outstanding work !

 

 

PS : I searched a bit but couldn't find a database with the navaids in the DCS files (although I found that all the cities are listed in Mods\terrains\Caucasus\Map\towns.lua, which I used in a script of my own ^^)

  • Thanks 1

Zip - VEAF :pilotfly:

 

If you want to learn, talk and fly with french-speaking friends, the Virtual European Air Force is here for you ! Meet us on our Discord and our forum

If you're a mission creator, you may want to check the VEAF Mission Creation Tools (and its GitHub repository) a set of open-source scripts and tools that make creating a dynamic mission a breeze !

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Funny rally event! I'm glad the new tool was put to good use so quickly.

 

Yes, I used the very same LUA file to display the town names on my map. :)

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Coming soon: new data!

 

  • MEFs (Maximum Elevation Figures)
  • Landmarks (oil derricks, tv towers, comm towers, lighthouses...)

wip.png

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Flappie thanks for all the great input to the community, your map is great (using with CF) and now webmaps looks to be another great addition for sim fans. :)

 

There is tons of useful data that can be added to the map, but I'd like to ask for some kind of simple ruler to measure distance and heading as things with the higher priority. Distance is covered, please think about adding simple measurement of the track/headings. With that VFR flight planing would be much, much easier. :pilotfly:

 

Thank you in advance for consideration of this feature request! :)

Zapraszam na Gildia.org - polska społeczność DCS. :thumbup:

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Flappie thanks for all the great input to the community, your map is great (using with CF) and now webmaps looks to be another great addition for sim fans. :)

 

There is tons of useful data that can be added to the map, but I'd like to ask for some kind of simple ruler to measure distance and heading as things with the higher priority. Distance is covered, please think about adding simple measurement of the track/headings. With that VFR flight planing would be much, much easier. :pilotfly:

 

Thank you in advance for consideration of this feature request! :)

Hey, thank you for your support! This feature is already on my TODO list. :smilewink:

Here it is:

 

1. Add beacons (imminent)

2. Add landmarks (need to split data into two different layers - landmarks should be online within a week)

3. Add heading to measurement tool (I also plan to add a list of waypoints, but I'm a crappy programmer, so bear with me)

4. Add peaks

5. Add Maximum Elevation Figures

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Hi Flappy,

 

Following your mapping thread since the beginning. Great effort you have put so far.

What a stunning new development. I am walking the same road as you, working currently on a web app and exporting scenery objects as well as grouping them e.g to factory complexes.

See Project Dynamism - Persistence and Dynamic Content Creation Framework for DCS World

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=234640&stc=1&d=1588699280

 

In my case they are targets for dynamically created missions and damage persistence.

  • bridges
  • factories with smokestacks
  • communication towers
  • weather radars
  • oil platforms and pumps

 

For exporting points of interest in any DCS map I am using DCS Witchcraft and a custom LUA script to search for scenery objects. It creates GeoJSON format with X/Y/Z and Lat/Lon corrdinates.

Interesting objects you can find by inspecting the ZIP files in <DCS_Installation_Folder>\Mods\terrains\<terrain>\Models\

e.g.
\Mods\terrains\Caucasus\Models\BlockBuildings\BlockBuildings.preview.zip
\Mods\terrains\Caucasus\Models\CaucasusAFBbuildings_new\CaucasusAFBbuildings_new.preview.zip

 

 

If you are interested I can provide you the script and instructions how to get DCS Witchcraft working.

It should then be straightforward to automatically listing ingame navaids like towers, stadiums, bridges, smokestacks, remarkable buildings, etc.

 

 

BTW: In map #60 How did you get the oil derriks (the illuminated towers) exported? I can only get the pumps.

The derriks themselves seem somehow exist only in a hidden state (even AI can not attack them properly)

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Hi, and thank you for the offer! I would be very happy to use your magic to retrieve all interesting buildings. Please, teach me your ways, Sensei!

 

So, you want to know my little secret to locate all the derricks, uh? Simple! Since I had no solution to my problem, I "simply" followed an AI Viggen flying all over the map, and I spotted the buildings of interest with my own eyes, in F2 view. It took me around 3 days. :P Then I put a unit in the middle of all these buildings in the ME, and I retrieved their coordinates thanks to a MOOSE script.

 

You'll find my list with coordinates attached to the present post, derricks included. I'm pretty sure all derricks are in there, because they are visible from far away in the game. And I'm also pretty sure I'm missing a few buildings of interest (mostly stadiums).

 

PS: Your project rocks! I'll have a look.

Navaid_Coordinates_8may2020v4.zip

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Hi Flappie,

 

Let me introduce you to the magical world of automation then :smartass:

 

1) First you need DCS Witchcraft and integrate it into DCS World

- Original project see https://jboecker.github.io/dcs-witchcraft/

- Original download + instructions see https://github.com/jboecker/dcs-witchcraft

- Problem is the included NodeJS version. Needs to be replaced by newer one, see: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=4199952#post4199952

 

2) Then set up and run a "Witchcraft enabled" mission in DCS and connect to it via http://localhost:3000/console.html

 

3) Fire the following script in the Witchcraft LUA Console while the mission is unpaused... might take a time... especially for first execution

-------------------------------------------------------------------
-- scenery object as GeoJSON
-------------------------------------------------------------------
local foundUnits = {}	 
local volS = {id = world.VolumeType.SPHERE,params = {point = {x = 0,y = 0,z = 0},radius = 2000000000}}
local ifFound = function(foundItem, val)
   if string.match(foundItem:getTypeName(), 'METEOBURO') then
	local point = foundItem:getPoint()
	local lat,lon,alt = coord.LOtoLL(point)
       local entry = {
		type = 'Feature',
		geometry = {
			type = 'Point',
			coordinates = { lon, lat }
		},
		properties = {
			uid = foundItem.id_,
			type = foundItem:getTypeName(),
			location = {
				x = point.z,
				y = point.x,
				z = point.y
			}
		}
   	}
   	foundUnits[#foundUnits + 1] = entry
   end
end

world.searchObjects(Object.Category.SCENERY, volS, ifFound)

return foundUnits

 

4) The result is a GeoJSON (minus some header and footer).

- Copy paste the result into

{
   "type": "FeatureCollection",
   "features": 
        <copy_Witchcraft_output_here>
}

- Now you can paste the whole thing here for a nice map view: http://www.geojsonlint.com/

 

 

Thats it!

 

Important for your scenery object search is the "TypeName".

For the example here I use "METEOBURO" which is some kind of weather radar with round cupola on a stone tower.

Many more interesting objects with thumbnail picture and type name you get from the \Mods\terrains\<terrain>\Models\ folder mentioned in the post before.

 

To get you easier started I packaged all together in a ZIP you can download here:

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/bd864a4a1ea1f9bfa2c03cbd18a02cd120200513145208/63c8e336aec18182b88814464ba29a0820200513152259/3beaad

30 MB, link valid for 7 days

- put "witchcraft.lua" into your DCS user files directory something like C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\DCS\Scripts

- adapt "MissionScripting.lua" in your DCS installation folder something like C:\Games\DCS World 2\Scripts to match the one in the ZIP (Attention, your DCS installation is now vulnerable to malicious missionscripts, see Witchcraft documentation)

- start DCS and run the contained mission Witchcraft_CAU.miz (if you trust me :music_whistling:, it basically only contains MIST library and the trigger to connect to Witchcraft)

- put "DCS Witchcraft" folder wherever you want. Run the "witchcraft.cmd" in the "windows" subfolder. Once DCS is connected you can open your browser to http://localhost:3000/console.html and the Witchcraft LUA console should appear...

 

Have fun!

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Do any of you find any use in the DME/VOR/TACAN frequencies ? (in blue below). I plan to remove those to only show channels and short name.

 

Example :

VOR Tbilissi = 113.7 MHz TB Ch 84

DME Mozdok = 820 MHz MZ Ch 20

TACAN Batumi = 135.90 MHz BTM Ch 16

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At least for the helicopters there is no channel numbering that correspond to the official channel numbers you propose, only some equipment with channels from say 1 to 10 wher the frequencies are set in ME. So to me it would be nice to have the frequencies avaliable for the other equipment with manual frequency settings.

Helicopters and Viggen

DCS 1.5.7 and OpenBeta

Win7 Pro 64bit

i7-3820 3.60GHz

P9X79 Pro

32GB

GTX 670 2GB

VG278H + a Dell

PFT Lynx

TrackIR 5

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Alright, sir. :) All beacons will then be displayed as:

 

Frequency Channel Callsign (and maybe some day, Morse code)

 

VOR Tbilissi = 113.7 Ch 84 TB

DME Mozdok = 820.0 Ch 20 MZ

TACAN Batumi = 135.9 Ch 16 BT

Is that OK?

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To me it looks perfectly fine. The morse code as an underscore of that information would be nice...eventually ;-)

Helicopters and Viggen

DCS 1.5.7 and OpenBeta

Win7 Pro 64bit

i7-3820 3.60GHz

P9X79 Pro

32GB

GTX 670 2GB

VG278H + a Dell

PFT Lynx

TrackIR 5

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Let's go, then.

I might find an elegant solution to enable the Morse codes in the webmap. Note that it's way easier to implement those on the static map (the one featured in CombatFlite).

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It would be a nice feature, but if complicated just let it be.

Without knowing how these things are developed, I can understand it's more complicated than the static map. All content being dynamic in size with zoom levels and such, making it look good on the screen. I have noticed some clipping of text when using the WMS in Oruxmaps on my phone and I guess it has something to do with the DPI/PPI (text being really small too). But it's a minor thing and a very special case not part of the main functionality, so don't bother about it. I just mentioned it as an example of why it's more complicated.

Helicopters and Viggen

DCS 1.5.7 and OpenBeta

Win7 Pro 64bit

i7-3820 3.60GHz

P9X79 Pro

32GB

GTX 670 2GB

VG278H + a Dell

PFT Lynx

TrackIR 5

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Hi Flappie,

 

Any luck with the export script?

Hope it will be useful for you and allow to automate some of the boring tasks.

 

You think it will be possible to use your realistic Caucasus map in my project?

The webapp I'm developing uses Leaflet, not OpenLayers. It can consume tile layers, WMS and GeoJSON.

 

Also, you managed to export the true DCS road network of Caucasus, right? So in theory it can be used to place vehicles on road and to check if and how they can reach a given destination (e.g. path finding).

 

The rivers and water bodies could serve as natural boundaries of movement.

 

Were you able to export/outline the forests as well?

 

 

Cheers

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Hi, I haven't messed with your script yet. You kind of scared me: I don't want to break my DCS! And I'm busy with the data I was able to collect manually. Would you be so kind and collect the data I'm looking for, please? All that you can see on the map but the hillshades are vector data. I can provide them, no problem. I first need to update my public repository. I've tried Leaflet but it was a bit slow compared to OpenLayers2. I'm OK to try, though. I've already been asked for this kind of interaction, but I haven't been through yet. This is not my specialty at all.

 

Those are:

 

-Stadiums

-TV masts

-Comm towers

-Derricks

-Lighthouses

-Wheather domes

-Observatories

 

In the meantime, I've just released an upgrade to the webmap. It contains all of the above that I collected manually (I'm pretty sure I missed afew of them), plus 2 oil platforms. I've also removed the DME/VOR/TACAN frequencies, because they don't seem to be used much. Have fun you all!

 

I'm now back to coding stuff. I want to improve the measurement tool by adding heading info.

 

The GeoTIFF / Combat Flite map will be updated but I don't know when. I must find a way to produce even bigger maps to have a decent max-zoom level.

 

image.png

 

 

image.png


Edited by Flappie

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