Damage Report for Linked Plane Blocks

[[VF-84]Karetaker]

Salute crew.

 

Within Mission Editor, I have set a block: static Yak, onto my airfield. I have clicked on "Create Linked Entity" within the Block Properties window. Clicking on the small arrow next to NAME opens the Block Advanced window. Near the top of this window is "Damage Report" with a number that can be changed. (Mine currently shows 50.)  What does this number represent and what happens if changed?

 

I understand the "Durability" entry in the Block Properties window, but not this "Damage Report".

 

Thanks.

 

[JimTM]

Here's an extract from my upcoming Mission Editor Manual (in the editing phase right now prior to release):

 

Damage Report

Specifies a percent damage level that determines when an OnDamaged event message is produced by the object. You set up the OnDamaged event message in the "On Events Table" section of the dialog.

 

The damage level is a percentage of the object's "Durability" value, which is set in the Object Properties Dialog. Durability defines how much damage an object can take before it is destroyed. Objects other than airfield, block, bridge, and building have built-in durability values.

 

The percent damage specified in this field represents either a damage threshold or step-by-step damage amounts. For details, see the "Damage: (Threshold|Step)" option in this topic.

 

Damage: (Threshold|Step)

Determines whether the "Damage Report" field represents either a damage threshold or step-by-step damage amounts.

 

Selecting the Damage check box gives you "Damage: (Threshold)". In this case, the OnDamaged message is sent once the percentage of durability remaining falls below the value in "Damage Report". For example, if "Damage Report" is 75, then OnDamaged is sent when 75% of the durability is left. After the threshold is passed, additional damage produces additional OnDamaged messages.

 

Clearing the Damage check box gives you Damage: (Step). In this case, the OnDamaged message is sent every time the percentage of durability lost exceeds the value in "Damage Report". For example, if "Damage Report" is 20, then OnDamage is sent every time another 20% of the durability is lost.

[[VF-84]Karetaker]

JimTM, thank you for the intell. Unfortunately, I am just cutting my teeth in M.E. and I don't understand the language you use above. I see within the M.E. the various windows, check boxes, etc., but at this point I just don't understand what it all means.

 

What I would like to do is populate various static planes, buildings, vehicles, etc on an airfield that can be attacked and destroyed. But I would like to have these objects "blow up" or "catch fire/burn" etc.,  with different levels of damage. (makes no sense to have an entire hangar blow up with the same amount of damage needed to blow up a small plane.)

 

The "Durability" block seems to get me what I want, but I have no idea which numbers to use. Example: For a static Yak, with a Durability number of 500, when hit is seems to blow up too easily. The M.E. will not except 700...it keeps changing it back to 500. Going to 1500 seems to work, but this number doesn't seem to make any difference than the 500 number. Going to 2000 seems to make the Yak way too hard to destroy...short of flying into it.

 

Perhaps this Durability block only excepts numbers in 500 increments? Again, I just have no idea. Trial an error could work, but that takes a ton of time to make a change, launch Dserver, launch TIR, launch the sim, log in, log into my server, choose a plane, populate...

 

Also, once this static yak catches fire, it only burns for about 30 seconds then stops. I would be interested in lengthening this burn time...possible?

 

Thanks again. Looking forward to your finished manual.

[Urra]

JimTM, thank you for the intell. Unfortunately, I am just cutting my teeth in M.E. and I don't understand the language you use above. I see within the M.E. the various windows, check boxes, etc., but at this point I just don't understand what it all means.

 

What I would like to do is populate various static planes, buildings, vehicles, etc on an airfield that can be attacked and destroyed. But I would like to have these objects "blow up" or "catch fire/burn" etc., with different levels of damage. (makes no sense to have an entire hangar blow up with the same amount of damage needed to blow up a small plane.)

 

The "Durability" block seems to get me what I want, but I have no idea which numbers to use. Example: For a static Yak, with a Durability number of 500, when hit is seems to blow up too easily. The M.E. will not except 700...it keeps changing it back to 500. Going to 1500 seems to work, but this number doesn't seem to make any difference than the 500 number. Going to 2000 seems to make the Yak way too hard to destroy...short of flying into it.

 

Perhaps this Durability block only excepts numbers in 500 increments? Again, I just have no idea. Trial an error could work, but that takes a ton of time to make a change, launch Dserver, launch TIR, launch the sim, log in, log into my server, choose a plane, populate...

 

Also, once this static yak catches fire, it only burns for about 30 seconds then stops. I would be interested in lengthening this burn time...possible?

 

Thanks again. Looking forward to your finished manual.

Do all the testing in SP mode for MP missions. And enable external views. Also add air start plane. So that you just enter mission flying and turn on external view to see all your icons on the ground. Much quicker.

 

Burn time can't be changed yet. My squirrel logic says that a block plane somewhere on side of runway should not really explode under light machine gun fire because they weren't fueled up. Fuel was precious at the time and to tank up unused planes would be wasting the most precious commodity on the battlefield. 2500 durability should allow a sitting block plane to get destroyed completely with 50kg bomb going off within its blast radius. And it gives incentive for players to use bombs instead of bullets for everything.

Edited October 22, 2016 by Smok

[JimTM]

JimTM, thank you for the intell. Unfortunately, I am just cutting my teeth in M.E. and I don't understand the language you use above. I see within the M.E. the various windows, check boxes, etc., but at this point I just don't understand what it all means.

 

The OnDamaged event message will be introduced at the start of the manual. The message allows you to trigger other mission elements when the object that produces the message is damaged to the level set in Damage Report.

 

What I would like to do is populate various static planes, buildings, vehicles, etc on an airfield that can be attacked and destroyed. But I would like to have these objects "blow up" or "catch fire/burn" etc.,  with different levels of damage. (makes no sense to have an entire hangar blow up with the same amount of damage needed to blow up a small plane.)

 

The "Durability" block seems to get me what I want, but I have no idea which numbers to use. Example: For a static Yak, with a Durability number of 500, when hit is seems to blow up too easily. The M.E. will not except 700...it keeps changing it back to 500. Going to 1500 seems to work, but this number doesn't seem to make any difference than the 500 number. Going to 2000 seems to make the Yak way too hard to destroy...short of flying into it.

 

Perhaps this Durability block only excepts numbers in 500 increments? Again, I just have no idea. Trial an error could work, but that takes a ton of time to make a change, launch Dserver, launch TIR, launch the sim, log in, log into my server, choose a plane, populate...

 

Yes, it appears that Durability only accepts increments of 500; I hadn't noticed that before now. I haven't seen a comprehensive list of durability values to use for various objects and I haven't had time to do extensive tests on exact values. My examples in the manual use values that seem reasonable.

 

Also, once this static yak catches fire, it only burns for about 30 seconds then stops. I would be interested in lengthening this burn time...possible?

 

You cannot control the burn time for an object. This demo mission uses the "Landfire" effect to make it look like a plane is burning but it may be overkill and may suck up mission resources if overused:

 

JimTMTestEffects5.zip

 

Thanks again. Looking forward to your finished manual.

[[VF-84]Karetaker]

Thanks guys for the support. I will use the advice given and play around with the various options in the M.E. and see what I can come up with. The details in M.E. are quite impressive.

[Urra]

Jim,

Is it possible to add aircraft back to an Airfield that has been depleted? Is there more than one way to trigger the OnaircraftAdded function, or does someone have to land, and that is the only way?

[JimTM]

Jim,

Is it possible to add aircraft back to an Airfield that has been depleted? Is there more than one way to trigger the OnaircraftAdded function, or does someone have to land, and that is the only way?

 

Yes, you can add aircraft back. Here is an extract from the manual for topic "Replenish or Change the Planes Available In a Multiplayer Mission":

 

Extract - Replenish or Change the Planes Available in a Multiplayer Mission.pdf

 

The only way that I'm aware of to generate the OnPlaneAdded event message (not OnaircraftAdded) is to select the Renewable option in the Plane Settings Dialog for the airfield object (see details in the extract).

 

Update: Re. the extract above, here's the details of the Renewable/Renew Time option in the Plane Settings dialog for the airfield object:

 

Renewable/Renew Time

Replenish the available count for the current plane after a player exits the plane or the plane is destroyed. No matter how many planes are exited or destroyed, replenishment is done one plane at a time, with the specified time period occurring between each replenishment. 

 

Renew Time (minutes and seconds) for the current plane starts when a player spawns in that plane.

 

For example, assume that a runway spawn point has two Yak-1s available and Renew Time is set to 5 minutes. Two players spawn at the same time and immediately takeoff together. Here are some possible scenarios:

 

  - If both players crash on takeoff, one Yak becomes available again once Renew Time has passed, that is, five minutes after the players spawned in. The second Yak becomes available five minutes after the first Yak becomes available.

 

  - If both players crash five minutes or more after takeoff, one Yak becomes available immediately because Renew Time has passed already. The second Yak becomes available five minutes after the first Yak becomes available.

 

Note: This option is overridden if you select "Return Planes" in the Object Advanced Properties Dialog (pg. 200) and a player returns the plane to the airfield intact. In this case, the plane is added to the available count immediately.

Edited October 23, 2016 by JimTM

[Sim]

About the durability value:

 

The fact you can only define in 500 increments seems to be related to .msnbin file format (it was probably an optimization to store durability in a single BYTE done long time ago during RoF development).

 

The data files for static blocks also have this property:

 

BallisticsMaxDurability=1600

 

Which basically means that if the durability is above this value - you can only destroy this object with bombs (and not machine guns). All static plane blocks have this set to 1600 (which explains the difference you have noticed between 1500 and 2000 values).

[JimTM]

FYI, I updated my post above to add some extra information.

[Urra]

Thank you for the detailed info. I will see about getting the above posts moved. If I place an Airfield that has no aircraft but is active, I end up with this scenario...An empty Airfield will not accept any new aircraft that land safely if it had zero to start with even if the return aircraft check box is marked?..

[JimTM]

Thank you for the detailed info. I will see about getting the above posts moved. If I place an Airfield that has no aircraft but is active, I end up with this scenario...An empty Airfield will not accept any new aircraft that land safely if it had zero to start with even if the return aircraft check box is marked?..

 

Here's an interesting post from Coconut re. transferring an AI aircraft to an airfield and having it turn into a player-accessible plane. With his permission, I'll add that scenario to a future edition of the manual soon.