F-14A Dynamic Campaign: Battle Group Delta

[MBot]

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

Edited January 11, 2020 by MBot

[Nealius]

How's the deck setup in these missions? Anything more than a few legacy AI Hornets parked on the deck and VR is unplayable, with editing 30 missions between any and all campaign updates being impractical.

[MBot]

There are about 10 static aircraft of the various types parked on the deck. I play in VR exclusively and have no issues with performance.

 

The static aircraft should not be changed by the way. Every aircraft on the deck has been placed carefully to enforce spawn positions where the Deck Sliding Bug will not crash the player into other traffic.

[Nealius]

What's your specs? I can't have any Lot 20s or Tomcats on the deck at all. Two of either of them dumps my frames into the 20s in the Tomcat, even with shadows on flat and nearly EVERYTHING on low settings.

[Uxi]

I made a few missions of the CBG template posted in the downloads which it's probably a good 10-12 assorted planes. I replaced 2 Hornets with Jolly Rogers F-14A and no performance hit in VR though it's a new high end build. I did notice I was using about 30G of RAM, though.

 

I'm gonna download this campaign and give it a whirl.

[Jester986]

So I followed instructions and edited it as shown for the F-18 version to make it work with open beta, but after completing the first mission I get an error saying it couldn't record anything and then its just the first mission again? It doesn't seem to track any progress. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

[MBot]

What is the error you are getting?

[Scotch75]

Hi Mbot,

 

Many thanks for creating these dce campaigns. I started this campaign from scratch and noticed 2 issues.

 

1- The carrier seems too fast and won't let the tomcat hook up to the shuttle properly (it keeps bumping so won't launch after the sulute - I think related to the deck sliding issue). I have found the carrier into wind script and have reduced Vmax and wind over deck. I just don't have time now to test.

 

2- When exiting mission, the cmd screen does not show up to skip results etc. Only an error screen. I am running latest openbeta, I have changed the path in campinit.lua, and have edited the missionscripting.lua as per instructions. Also when I try to run the skipmission.bat, a cmd screen shows up saying "device not ready", to that effect.

 

Cheers!

 

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[Uxi]

Launching seems to be an issue since the last update even on a slow carrier. Sometimes throttling down then back up after the salute works for me.

[MBot]

1- The carrier seems too fast and won't let the tomcat hook up to the shuttle properly (it keeps bumping so won't launch after the sulute - I think related to the deck sliding issue). I have found the carrier into wind script and have reduced Vmax and wind over deck. I just don't have time now to test.

 

2- When exiting mission, the cmd screen does not show up to skip results etc. Only an error screen. I am running latest openbeta, I have changed the path in campinit.lua, and have edited the missionscripting.lua as per instructions. Also when I try to run the skipmission.bat, a cmd screen shows up saying "device not ready", to that effect.

 

I am also having frequent issues with the Tomcat not launching. It is a DCS/Tomcat bug that hopefully will get solved finally with the new carriers (together with the annoying deck sliding that is also screwing up the INS alignment).

 

When you did the camp_init.lua modification, did you also run FirstMission.bat? The new information will not be loaded into the mission until you generate a new first campaign mission (which has the information to start a new campaign baked into it).

 

Also, in order to use the bat files, you have to edit them as well with a text editor first. The bat files need to point to your actual DCS installation directory to use DCS's LUA interpreter. This is not required for regular campaign play, only if you want to use the bat files by hand.

 

Too bad that so many people are having installation issues. I was not aware that the DCS Saved Games folder is called differently for some open beta users. I am running the open beta myself, but my installation is just called regular DCS everywhere.

[Scotch75]

Quote: "Also, in order to use the bat files, you have to edit them as well with a text editor first. The bat files need to point to your actual DCS installation directory to use DCS's LUA interpreter. This is not required for regular campaign play, only if you want to use the bat files by hand."

 

Ahh, I didn't do this which is probably why it wasn't working - getting the "device not ready" prompt. I'll try this tonight after work.

 

Many thanks again @MBot

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[Maverick0]

Hi Mbot,

1- The carrier seems too fast and won't let the tomcat hook up to the shuttle properly (it keeps bumping so won't launch after the sulute - I think related to the deck sliding issue). I have found the carrier into wind script and have reduced Vmax and wind over deck. I just don't have time now to test.

 

Hello Scotch75! Could you please tell where I can find this wind script? I have same issue with starting TomCat from catapult.

[Scotch75]

Hello Scotch75! Could you please tell where I can find this wind script? I have same issue with starting TomCat from catapult.

Hey Mav,

 

It's in the DCE folder you intstalled in mods/tech....

 

So ...../mods/tech/DCE/Scripts/Mission Scripts

 

Its called CarrierIntoWindScript.lua

 

Cheers!

 

 

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[Scotch75]

So I managed to solve the "not being able to launch" problem by reducing the carrier speed so the aircraft wasn't being thrown around on the shuttle. However, I am still getting the error when exiting the first mission, with DCS freezing up and not giving the dos pop-up window to proceed. I have edited the missionscripting.lua. and set my Saved Games path in line 7 of camp_init.lua

 

 

Any ideas?

 

 

Cheers!

[Scotch75]

Nvm,

 

I tinkered with the Saved Games path and it now works as intended.

 

Many thanks

 

 

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[MBot]

I am glad you could get it to work.

[ataribaby]

Was anyone able to take-off with F-14? I got a lot of shaking and gusts during cold start on the deck and when hooked on cat she shakes to sides a lot and I was never fired up.

 

Tried few generated missions. Same result. AI took-off and I was stuck on cat.

 

Possible cause because ship is traveling too fast?

 

EDIT: my bad I didn't see Scotch75 messages before posting.

[Maverick0]

So I managed to solve the "not being able to launch" problem by reducing the carrier speed so the aircraft wasn't being thrown around on the shuttle.

Cheers!

 

Thank you for your answer. Could you post screenshot of your CarrierIntoWindScript.lua, please? I tried to reduce Vmax to 10.4333 and windDeck to 8.89, but that didn't help.

[Scotch75]

Thank you for your answer. Could you post screenshot of your CarrierIntoWindScript.lua, please? I tried to reduce Vmax to 10.4333 and windDeck to 8.89, but that didn't help.

Ok, will do when I get home from nightshift. I also opened the firstmission.miz and the ongoingmission.miz in ME and changed the default Stennis speed to 10 knots on all waypoints.

 

 

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[Maverick0]

Ok, thank's. I will try that too.

[ataribaby]

I changed all speeds to 5 in CarrierIntoWindScript.lua and seems ok for newly generated missions

 

local function TurnIntoWind(GroupName, pos)
local Vmax = 5																			--standard maxiumum speed value of carrier: 30 kts
local windDeck = 5																			--standard desired wind over deck value: 27 kts

local typeName = Group.getByName(GroupName):getUnit(1):getTypeName()
if typeName == "LHA_Tarawa" then																--here it is possible to define individual values for specific carrier types
	Vmax = 5																			--Tarawa max speed 24 kts 
	windDeck = 5																			--Tarawa wind over deck 20 kts (?)
elseif typeName == "KUZNECOW" then
	Vmax = 16.3889																				--Kuznetsov max speed 32 kts 
	windDeck = 99																				--Kuznetsov should get as much wind over deck as possible
end

[Scotch75]

I changed all speeds to 5 in CarrierIntoWindScript.lua and seems ok for newly generated missions

 

local function TurnIntoWind(GroupName, pos)
local Vmax = 5--standard maxiumum speed value of carrier: 30 kts
local windDeck = 5--standard desired wind over deck value: 27 kts

local typeName = Group.getByName(GroupName):getUnit(1):getTypeName()
if typeName == "LHA_Tarawa" then--here it is possible to define individual values for specific carrier types
Vmax = 5--Tarawa max speed 24 kts 
windDeck = 5--Tarawa wind over deck 20 kts (?)
elseif typeName == "KUZNECOW" then
Vmax = 16.3889--Kuznetsov max speed 32 kts 
windDeck = 99--Kuznetsov should get as much wind over deck as possible
end

I believe the actual values to enter are in metres per second. So you will have to do a conversion from desired knots.

 

Cheers!

 

 

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[ataribaby]

Yep I see Scotch75. Anyway 5 (whatever units it is) works for me and I got cat shot in Tomcat.

[Scotch75]

Thank you for your answer. Could you post screenshot of your CarrierIntoWindScript.lua, please? I tried to reduce Vmax to 10.4333 and windDeck to 8.89, but that didn't help.

 

 

Here is screenshot of the .lua file.

 

 

Cheers!

[Maverick0]

I also opened the firstmission.miz and the ongoingmission.miz in ME and changed the default Stennis speed to 10 knots on all waypoints.

 

That really helped! Thank you!