FMB Triggers for 4.15.x Request

[Tolwyn]

In a cursory look, the last post I saw was from 2014, so I'm bringing it up again.

I'd love to see about getting a trigger-system implemented in 4.15x. And if there's a way to "grease the skids" on making this happen. Kickstarter? A flat-fee type thing? I'd consider it, to be honest.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to steal the ideas and work of the people (or person) who HAVE created triggers for the FMB in HSFX. Yes. I know they are there. I'm coming at this with the notion that triggers in combat flight simulators generally all do the same thing with the same features and options... so it's not like I'm stealing intellectual property. That being said, kudos to the chap who did make triggers for the FMB as the syntax is very well done, easily editable in the FMB or in a text editor, etc.... (I edit almost 50% of my missions in notepad++)

As a result, for the original implementation, I thank and recognize LAL_Catsy for the work and LAL_Anatoli (and C6_Armand) for the documentation. I wish not to "reinvent the wheel" on this, and I have no idea if TD and these guys could "talk" and make this happen. The documenation is mirrored on my site here: Triggers_Eng_v1.0.pdf

Most options are included for each trigger type.

• Army
• Timeout (hours in the first box, minutes in the second) when the trigger is "asleep" and won't activate.
• Radius (valid: 2m to 49.5km)
• Whether the radius is "entering INTO" or "LEAVING FROM" (aka Activate on Exiting). This is a check box; otherwise the Trigger is activated on ENTERING the radius.
• Probability (1% to 100% probability that the trigger will activate).
• Attach (Set Target)
  This one confused me for a while until I "got it":
  That "ATTACH" (set target) is important to note that if this is implemented, that means the trigger itself (and its radius) FOLLOW the moving chief or aircraft throughout its flight. "The trigger will move in the same way than the object / plane and will not be active if the object / aircraft is destroyed." (source unknown, sorry).

CENTER-PRINT Message (Trigger Message)
I'd like to also see the "message" trigger (I don't know who did this one).
This is a Center-print message with a duration the mission builder specifies (in seconds). I don't think it can be segregated by army, but if it can, breat.

Triggers can only be used once, then they are removed from the mission (they are instantiated at runtime).
I'm not sure, but triggers SHOULD be EITHER "AI Only" or Not. If NOT then EITHER Humans OR AI can activate.



Additional IDEAS:
In addition to the triggers mentioned above (which I think are great)...

play_audio_trigger
A new folder would be created under samples called "trigger" or "audio" (whatever). This plays an audio file (encoded like the current requirements of custom radio audio). All players would need to have the mp3-encoded (RIFF Header) audio file and place it in the folder (see above); else, the client would not hear the audio being played. To combat this, the mission designer could use a "subtitle" field to display txt instead. If user is playing a radio, then this trigger's audio would take priority (or simply play along with it?). For encoding instructions and RADIO usage: Please see my site.

Parameters

• Filename (WITH or WITHOUT extension)
• I thought about including or suggesting a LOOP option, with a whole-number (1 to 'n') but I think that might not be a good idea.
• ARMY (red, blue, etc.)
• radius
• timeout
• subtitle
• other "typical" params you'll find in these triggers

NESTED Trigger with a Nested Target parameter

(or a new trigger called... Trigger Group)

New TAB for "Child Trigger(s)" Where one trigger can actiate multiple "child" triggers.
Triggers can be nested; meaning that a trigger could activate another trigger. This might be hard to do.

[Sita]

yes we want triggers in Il2 too ...

if i remeber correctly triggers for HSFX was made by Catsy?

[Tolwyn]

Yes. As far as I know, too. And I referenced him and their documentation team above.

Originally Posted by Sita

yes we want triggers in Il2 too ...

if i remeber correctly triggers for HSFX was made by Catsy?

[wheelsup_cavu]

The current version of Triggers in HSFX can break the ntrk function since it uses the .mis file instead of the .properties file for the message.

Using any of the <ARMY> tags as part of the message will cause the ntrk function to fail.

<ARMY NONE>This message is intended to everybody: you are flying in the </ARMY><ARMY BLUE>Blue</ARMY><ARMY RED>Red</ARMY><ARMY NONE>. So, cheers for the </ARMY><ARMY BLUE>Luftwaffe</ARMY><ARMY BLUE>Royal Air Force</ARMY><ARMY NONE> and good flight to all. </ARMY>

The <ARMY> tags also cause problems when running a dedicated/dogfight server. The dedicated/dogfight server will run the mission but Players can't join. The Player gets stuck at the Transferring mission screen and the mission never finishes loading. When the mission with the <ARMY> tags in the mission file finishes and the next mission in the server rotation that does not have any <ARMY> tags in the mission file is started the Player can join the server. If you remove the <ARMY> tags from the description in the mission file that won't load Players can then join the mission and they will see the message when it is triggered.


Using these will also cause the ntrk function to fail.

• %GRID% : displays the coordinates of the activated Trigger ;
• %ALTM% : displays the altitude (in meters) of the object that activated the Trigger ;
• %ALTF% : displays the altitude (in feet) of the object that activated the Trigger ;

(I never tested these using a Dogfight server but I suspect the same problems will exist.)

These are problems that needs to be addressed if people want to watch replays of their sorties.

Imo, You also need to be able to have more than one line of text shown.


Wheels

Edit:
here is a link to v1.2 of the Trigger manual which does address some of your requests already, including the Army function.
Triggers_EN_v1.2: http://www.mediafire.com/file/5dwwnd..._v1.2.pdf/file

[Tolwyn]

It likely breaks the packet recorder because certain variables aren't yet defined. So the game doesn't know what to do when that packet shows up on playback.

I'd imagine that if DT incorporated triggers, they'd work around that.

On an aside, where can I download JUST the 1.2 trigger mod for HSFX?

It's also likely a mission encoding issue that over the network, it's not expecting <army> syntaxes. So, yes, I agree that some work needs to be done.

I do NOT want NTRK functionality to break!

Originally Posted by wheelsup_cavu

The current version of Triggers in HSFX can break the ntrk function since it uses the .mis file instead of the .properties file for the message.
...
...

[wheelsup_cavu]

Originally Posted by Tolwyn

It likely breaks the packet recorder because certain variables aren't yet defined. So the game doesn't know what to do when that packet shows up on playback.

I'd imagine that if DT incorporated triggers, they'd work around that.

It's also likely a mission encoding issue that over the network, it's not expecting <army> syntaxes. So, yes, I agree that some work needs to be done.

I do NOT want NTRK functionality to break!

They are aware of the problem and I agree I don't want the ntrk function to be any more broken.

Originally Posted by Tolwyn

On an aside, where can I download JUST the 1.2 trigger mod for HSFX?

It may exist but I am personally unaware of a stand alone version of the v1.2 Trigger mod. It was incorporated into HSFX v7.03.
HSFX 7.0 to 7.03 patch: http://www.mission4today.com/index.p...etails&id=2313


Wheels

[Tolwyn]

My downloaded version of HSFX 7.0.3 ONLY included ver. 1.x of Triggers. I went to Mission4Today and downloaded THEIR version of 7.0.3 and it included Triggers v. 2.x. Weird.

** I simply extracted the files in their FILES folder into mine, which overwrote a few things... likely my triggers!

Originally Posted by wheelsup_cavu

They are aware of the problem and I agree I don't want the ntrk function to be any more broken.



It may exist but I am personally unaware of a stand alone version of the v1.2 Trigger mod. It was incorporated into HSFX v7.03.
HSFX 7.0 to 7.03 patch: http://www.mission4today.com/index.p...etails&id=2313


Wheels

[wheelsup_cavu]

Interesting Tolwyn. There have been confusing situations with docile enemies that have had plenty of fuel while I have been flying online with other group members and now I am wondering if there are two versions of 7.03 since you say that your 7.03 build did not have v1.2 of the Triggers.

Lucky me, I also found another way that the Triggers break the ntrk function today. I was working on a mission and I added a couple of "Message" triggers to keep some notes on the build and a 9.5 hour delay since I did not want them to show up during the mission. I ran it as a dogfight mission and when I tried to record a track I got the dreaded "track not saved" error even though the message was never displayed. I found out about this after flying for over three hours and right after I had dead sticked my P-38 in from 20,000 feet in for a really nice landing without breaking anything.

I removed those Message Triggers and flew the mission again and there were no issues with saving an ntrk.


Wheels

[Tolwyn]

DELETED.
We're all fine here. Nothing to see.

[Tolwyn]

FWIW, the Triggers 1.2 update is simply this file:


B44652ee36c23d32

In the ./files folder.