How To Activate Runway Spotlights

[coconut]

Hi,

 

Yet another question from me: How does one activate the spotlights that illuminate the start of the runway during night missions? I'm talking about the spotlights that are directed at the runway, not the searchlights that search for enemy aircraft in the sky.

 

I tried a "start effect" command, but that did not work.

[WWSitttingDuck]

not sure which spotlights you are talking about....

 

but did you trigger the "start effect" command?  

 

for things like fires, you have to target link a timer, or begin of mission to the start effect, then link the start effect to the fire

[Sokol1]

Is the left side searchlight, with one crew, probable to illuminate the runway and not search planes in the air like the one in right side.

I too dont discover how light them...

 

 

But with this "super-moon", at  03:00AM - the more "dark" hour, who need this? 

 

The white sky is overcast clouds...

Edited March 7, 2015 by Sokol1

[Wandalen]

Hi,

 

Yet another question from me: How does one activate the spotlights that illuminate the start of the runway during night missions? I'm talking about the spotlights that are directed at the runway, not the searchlights that search for enemy aircraft in the sky.

 

I tried a "start effect" command, but that did not work.

 

Command detection:

I will guess the same way you set up the flare. When player or plane get inside a preset radious, they get acctivated

[6./ZG26_Custard]

I actually think only certain airfields have this feature where the lights are shone onto the end of the runway. Most other times flares are shot up or you have bonfires by the side of the runway.

[AbortedMan]

Spotlights work just like AAA with any attack command.

 

-Spawn spotlight (or start it enabled)

Trigger:Mission Begin>>timer>>Command: Attack Area (set for attack air units and a duration)>>link to spotlight

 

You can also use Trigger: check zone (for AI) and Complex Triggers for players to start the attack command so they always go off when they're needed (something goes into the area)

[coconut]

AbortedMan: But what would the landing lights "attack"? Don't they need an enemy unit to attack? I tried spawning enemy fake blocks, but that did not seem to do it. Maybe because they aren't air units...

[Sokol1]

This work for searchlight

 

image sharing

 

Attack area target can be: Air target, Ground (?) and Grounds Targets. Searchlight and Landlight are artillery.

 

But for some reason here the Landlights dont work with this commands... when the player plane are near.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AbortedMan]

If you're trying to illuminate an airfield, use the city_fire effect under the effects menu with a mission begin>>start effect linked to it and place them along the runway. This will simulate piles of burning material where you place them. I'm pretty sure this is what they historically did.

Edited March 20, 2015 by AbortedMan

[No601_Swallow]

I've tried to lift the searchlights and runway beacons from campaign missions. They look bleedin' complex, but - the searchlights aren't searchlights! They're an artillary object called "Landlights". Maybe that's why they illuminate the runway like that!

 

Testing continues...

 

Edit: Sokol has already mentioned this, sort of!... Landlights and Searchlights.

Edited March 20, 2015 by No601_Swallow

[No601_Swallow]

Runway lights and beacons, lifted from a campaign mission! I've no idea how it works, but it does. The lights come on at sunset. The only thing I've added is a flare that pops whenever an aircraft comes close.

 

https://app.box.com/s/7th72k5mgki3l70kpy5eg0opfhbd5dqa

[AbortedMan]

Wait, what's a landlight? Are you trying to get spotlights or are we talking about a light fixture? I haven't seen the latter yet.

 

I suppose if you want a spotlight to shine on your aircraft you could set it to the opposite country you are, make non-engageable then set an attack command on the area like sokol showed...but then it will blind you on final approach heh.

Edited March 20, 2015 by AbortedMan

[No601_Swallow]

AM, in the much maligned "campaign" missions, there are actually some cool touches, one of which is that the boys at your home base lights beacons (small bonfires) for you to outline the runway when you approach. It looks pretty! Also, there are usually a pair of searchlights that are swivelled to light up the runway threshold. Anyway, these special searchlights are called "landlights" in the ME. They're in the "artillary" category.

 

I managed to untangle them from a campaign .msnbin file in the ME, and save them as a group. They should work fine. There's a trigger that detects certain times of day, including sunset.

 

(In general, the campaign missions are mostly pretty complex and pretty busy. What a pity that most of us viewed them as "work" and so let them annoy us. Big lesson for the Devs, in my humble opinion!)

Edited March 20, 2015 by No601_Swallow

[coconut]

Great job, it works! I also tried looking at a campaign mission file, but could not see anything special with them. I did not trying extracting a group, though. There must be some detail I missed, and failed to reproduce manually.

[Sokol1]

This thing is trick, I try remove the bonfires leaving only the landight but stop work...

Here the flares dont work, even the one tied to the complex trigger, that is not hooked with other triggers/timers...

 

I end "lightning" the sky. 

 

 

 

[No601_Swallow]

This thing is trick, I try remove the bonfires leaving only the landight but stop work...

Here the flares dont work, even the one tied to the complex trigger, that is not hooked with other triggers/timers...

 

I end "lightning" the sky. 

 

That's a bit strange about the flares. I just added the flare/complex trigger. You should be able to take that out or leave it in (might not work in SP, now I come to think of it - I'm still not relaxed about the complex trigger!). The others - the fires and the landlights - they all seem linked together. I would think taking away the bonfires - or adding a couple more - would be possible - maybe I'll try tonight (I've still got to build a CloD mission for my squadron!  ).

 

But in general, it's really hard to figure out someone else's missions and groups. The runway lights was a bit of a nightmare - I think I struck lucky in getting all of that tangle out in one piece. But even "easy" bits of the campaign missions (and if you really want to: Blow. Your. Mind. - have a look at Veteran66's!) are pretty involved. For instance, I've just extracted a "village fires" group from a mission. It seems  complex to understand what's going on!

 

 

It looks like right from the start of the mission the village smoke "effect" is being turned on and off in overlapping waves repeatedly. Why? Do I look like a rocket scientist?

 

Here it is, by the way: https://app.box.com/s/2llz22mri9slboxeqkbgnmeltm8p364l

Edited March 21, 2015 by No601_Swallow

[Sokol1]

 

 

might not work in SP,

Is this, are - in this thread - a trigger for flare in SP, no complex trigger is needed, just a check zone. 

 

 

Think this various timer triggers is for make the village smoke appear in waves making then more convincing, like the bonfires in previous group, that are lighted one be one.

 

Someone can write a "ME for Dummies"? 

[No601_Swallow]

Think this various timer triggers is for make the village smoke appear in waves making then more convincing, like the bonfires in previous group, that are lighted one be one.

 

 

This is my theory as well. But it still seems more complex than you'd think necessary.

[Jupp]

~S~ Swallow,

 

I've just used your Group posting of this, a little edited, to spruce up the multiplayer mission I just released yesterday.

 

Go figure I love it. Here's what the version 2.0 Work In Progress now looks like with it edited in. Transforming-ly cool!

 

There's an used 0sec Timer Trigger in a fire effect next to a landing light btw. No biggie, and thanks for your contribute!

 

First Picture is of the German Airbase, the Second is the Russian Airbase, and the third is on the Runway in a Fw-190a3.

 

Edited March 22, 2015 by Jupp

[Sokol1]

Now the game only needed a option to use these nice effects in SP missions: Real Night ON or Super Moon OFF.

 

BTW  - What is the purpose of these 0 seconds timer triggers? 

Edited March 22, 2015 by Sokol1

[coconut]

I finally figured it out. What controls the turning on and off of landing searchlights are the "force complete" MCUs. If the priority is low, the light is turned on, if the priority is high, it is turned off.

[No601_Swallow]

When I lifted the group from the campaign missions, I just ran the whole lot from a "Mission Begin" MCU that points to the time-of-day-detector MCU.

 

Since then I've looked at them quite carefully. A lot of the campaign missions' groups use a sort of activate-deactivate loop which uses checkzone MCUs to check if the player is closer or further away from the object than a pair of thresholds. Here's one (with my attempt to understand it) linked to - in this case - a spawn/delete cycle (the loop itself is numbers 1 to 3  and 6 to 8 on the right hand side):

 

 

I think the runway lights (it's actually two elements - a flare effect that fires off four flares - and a "start-the-lights/stop-da-lights" group which actually gets the lights going) are similar.

 

I've managed to adapt (in a stupid way, I expect, but it works!  At least I think it works...) these groups for MP missions using the complex trigger. The advantage for the mission builder here, is obviously that objects only appear in the mission when someone or something is close enough to them to matter. Therefore you can simulate a pretty busy world with - hopefully - not much of a resource hog. My own versions are probably over-complex but testing... will... continue...!

 

Here's a mission with the runway lights and the flak/searchlight combos which try to use my version.

 

The mission is a just an airfield (Kalach). It's intended as a blank canvas for my squadron's training and testing missions. There are three groups - an "Airfield furniture" group, a flak and searchlights group and the runway lights and beacons group. Hopefully the flares start firing when a player gets within - I think - 5000m of the runway and the lights start coming on when the player is closer. Looks even perdier! 

 

(It's called "OTU_template" because it's intended for my squadron's "Operational Training Unit"!) Feel free to pull it about, copy elements or groups, change stuff, etc, etc. Any comments, suggestions, corrections, etc, always welcome!

Edited April 27, 2015 by No601_Swallow

[No601_Swallow]

BTW  - What is the purpose of these 0 seconds timer triggers? 

 

I don't know, but I think some MCUs seem more reliable if they trigger or are triggered by timers (instead of other "action" MCUs). It might just be Dev mission builders being over-cautious. But hey, if it works for them, it'll work for us! 

[[DBS]Tx_Tip]

First thanks for the pic Sparrow. Having the sequence pictured is a real help.

Secondly. Now It would appear I need to revisit the Server missions and then again do some spawn corrections for resource purposes.

Thankfully I had just gotten started with that. Whew....

[No601_Swallow]

First thanks for the pic Sparrow. Having the sequence pictured is a real help.

Secondly. Now It would appear I need to revisit the Server missions and then again do some spawn corrections for resource purposes.

Thankfully I had just gotten started with that. Whew....

 

Tip: that flak position uses checkzones ("closer" and "further") - I don't think they work for human pilots in MP - although I may be wrong. My own version (there are several examples in the mission) uses the complex trigger (with  "events"). Mine is probably over-complex - lots of activate/deactivate bits - because I was worried about multiple events somehow activating the spawn command many times, resulting in  some sort of death-swarm of super-imposed flak. Or something. Anyway, I think it works OK for MP missions. But [altogether now...] Testing. Will. Continue!

 

But the principle of activating/deactivating or spawning/deleting stuff when players are nearby is pretty cool, I think.

 

Swallow.

[[DBS]Tx_Tip]

Copy that on the MP difference Swallow. Sorry called you Sparrow in earlier post.

It was the deactivate and then reactivate the Complex Trigger loop along with the delete that is very helpful.

Yep, testing, testing and more testing.

Thanks again Tip

[TP_Jacko]

I was looking for a reference for sunset and sunrise times but it looks like you can set the time as you like. Not sure if its covered above but I expect you can set a trigger to turn on the lights when the friendly air get close

[Jupp]

~S~  Jacko,

 

Yes, you can use a Complex Trigger for detection, esp. in Deathmatch aka MP, in combination with a few other MCUs to achieve that.

 

Also, these land lights are keen to use in other ways, take for instance, this little bit of light sculpture, that I created as a base allegiance identifier.

 

Keep 'em Flying,

 

!S -Jupp-

 

[No601_Swallow]

Jacko, I did some more work on the runway lights some weeks after I last looked at this thread.

 

In this mission https://app.box.com/s/u7w2j3u2xkrrvy7fd6y180stj1536kzk (which might be familiar), Kalach has a runway lights group (if I recall correctly) which retains more of the functionality of the group from the campaign missions.

 

The lights come on 1) if it's past sunset, and 2) when a player gets within - I think 5 km for the lights and 8 km for the flairs? I can't remember exactly (the lights and flairs have separate complex trigger MCUs). Hopefully, the lights go out five minutes after a player has come to a halt at the airport and/or five minutes after a player leaves the area.

 

I think they work OK. I was quite pleased with the flare. It keeps firing every minute or so once you're in the area.

 

 

Jupp: Pretty! 

 

Edit: I've already pointed to this mission in post 22 in this very thread.  D'Oh! 

Edited July 6, 2015 by No601_Swallow

[Habu]

~S~  Jacko,

 

Yes, you can use a Complex Trigger for detection, esp. in Deathmatch aka MP, in combination with a few other MCUs to achieve that.

 

Also, these land lights are keen to use in other ways, take for instance, this little bit of light sculpture, that I created as a base allegiance identifier.

 

Keep 'em Flying,

 

!S -Jupp-

 

May you give us acces to that star, to have a look how it works please.

[Jupp]

~S~ Habu,

 

Sure thing! Made a Group File of it, and created a download with a Read-Me with this screenshot. Here you go.

 

!S -Jupp-  

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/45l0u91heqz5yjs/BoS%20Russan%20Land%20Light%20Star.zip?dl=0

 

 

Edited July 7, 2015 by Jupp

[Habu]

THX Jupp.

[JG300_Tempest]

I finally figured it out. What controls the turning on and off of landing searchlights are the "force complete" MCUs. If the priority is low, the light is turned on, if the priority is high, it is turned off.

 

Merci, j'ai lutté, mais grâce à Coco, c'est bon. Tricky.