Target or Object Linking multiple entities in one shot

[IckyATLAS]

If one wants to Target link say 20 vehicle to a leader vehicle it is easy to do. You select all the vehicles and then you can Shift T and target link all the selected vehicles to the leader in one shot.

But how to do things the other way round. Say I want to Object link a Deactivate MCU to 20 different objects. Is there a way to do this in one shot?

[Sketch]

Lshift + T = target link

Lshift + O = object link

 

 

 

 

 

alt+f9 = black viewport/map viewport toggle

 

 

 

Select an MCU, hold shift and left click on the viewport will create a duplicate of that MCU and target link itself to the original MCU. This works great for creating waypoints or a series of icons.

[IckyATLAS]

Thanks Sketch, but how do you do the inverse operation of your first example in your post. That is the thing I am looking for.

[Sketch]

19 minutes ago, IckyATLAS said:

Thanks Sketch, but how do you do the inverse operation of your first example in your post. That is the thing I am looking for.

Unfortunately, the only way I know how to do that is by pressing shift + t or o, or going through the right click context menu, and then clicking each individual entity.

 

 

You can also use ctrl + x to cut a MCU that has multiple connections that you don't want. Then, you paste that MCU back and it'll be disconnected. 

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by Sketch

[IckyATLAS]

I found the answer to the problem.

It is easy to select multiple objects and target or object link to one element. But the opposite is not straightforward to do because you cannot select one object then the link type (shift T or O) and then select a group of object. Because when you do this new selection of objects you loose the link type.

In fact the way to do this is to use the "Search and Select" functionality.

 

Let me digress a moment here:

Search and Select is a very powerful tool that allows you to work on your tree and all the entities on the map without the map just your tree. It works across the groups or the links and allows you to work directly on each entity. It gives direct access to each object of whatever type or MCUs and you can select them in the group format you wish. You can in this way change parameters directly on one entity or many across the whole map without bothering how they are linked or grouped. When you have hundreds of groups and subgroups and sub-sub-sub groups Search and Select is the perfect tool to work. This will help you avoiding crisscross your map doing selections, with all risks of doing wrong actions on the map. We do not have an undo button so it is even more important to have this Search and Select functionality.

 

Back to the topic:

Example you have a Delete MCU that will be object linked to 30 Ships in various places on the map. Either you do one by one which is long tedious with editor crash risks, continuous saves, you move around the map, you forget some of them etc.. Or you select the Delete MCU, then you press SHIFT O for Object Link and then you go to the Search and Select (Top left of your main window) functionality and open the Find Mission Objects tool in the list, then you do a search to list all the ships you want to link. You can search the whole database (tree) either through the ship type or through the names you have given to your ships, you have a lot of possibilities, just practice. Then once you have selected all your ships in the displayed list of items just press the "Add to Selection Objects Selected in Found List" button, and then you close the Find Mission Objects window and go back to your map.

 

All the selected ship icons across your map will be highlighted and will be all inside a yellow rectangular frame. The frame has the size needed to cover all the selected objects and it can be the size of the map. You will also see that your mouse pointer arrow now does have the Target Object link function still active. Just click inside the yellow frame and all the selected 30 ships will be linked in one shot.

 

Isn't that beautiful. A fantastic tool this editor. Well done devs.

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited December 5, 2020 by IckyATLAS

[Beebop]

On 11/11/2020 at 10:18 AM, Sketch said:

alt+f9 = black viewport/map viewport toggle

Thanks!  I did not know that.

 

Another "multiple linking" question.

I have a group of Blocks Objects (Buildings. "static objects" etc.) I have made into Linked Entities to be targets for a bombing mission.  I wanted to link them all to a Counter so when the specified number of objects is destroyed I send out a message. 

I select the objects and group them by drawing a rectangle around them (all objects are highlighted), open the 'Advanced Properties' box,  and choose "Add Event".  I choose 'OnKilled' and find the Counter as the Target.  I double click and OK/OK but only one Linked Entity has the purple line going to the Counter. 

I currently have to do this one at a time for each Linked Entity. 

 

Q.  Is there a way to group all selected objects (capable of sending Event messages) and have all of them linked with one action? 

For instance when choosing a flight of planes, by highlighting all I can change altitude, skill level, enablement etc. for all planes selected.

 

(my guess is i overlooked something...? )

 

TIA

[Sketch]

You can use the Object Filter to hide entities so you can select the entities you want. Once the objects you want are selected, you can turn the Object Filter back off. Then, right click to the context menu and select the desired event. Once you have the desired event, you can left click on the entity you wish to pulse that event to. In my case, it's the p40's Counter MCU.

 

Object Filter out the entities you want to select. In my case, I want to select the p40s.

 

Left click and drag across the objects you wish to select.

 

With the objects selected, go back to the Object Filter and select all entities again.

 

With the entities you wish to add an event to selected and the Object Filter having all entities back on, right click to select an event for those entities you have selected through the context menu. Then, with an event selected, left click on the MCU you wish you pulse the event to. In my case, I'm pulsing an onKilledEvent from all the p40s to the p40 Counter MCU.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by Sketch
Clarity

[Beebop]

DAMN you're good!

Great explanation and video's to go with it for the "galacticly stupid" ( Lt. Kaffee to Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway, A Few Good Men) like me.  ?

Thank you so very much!

[IckyATLAS]

Eureka! Thanks Sketch, I was wondering how to use those functions. All clear. You're the editor master reference. 

[IckyATLAS]

I found an extremely easy way to target or object link from one object to multiple other ones in one shot.

Let's say that you want to target link a Delete MCU to 20 other objects.

• Open the Delete MCU Property window
• Double-click in the Target Link entity list box. This will open the list of all the objects that you are allowed to link to.
• Select the multiple objects you want to link. You can use shift+click to select multiple object that are contiguous in the list or use ctrl+click to select mutiple objects dispersed in the list. You can rearrange the lists in alphabetical or numerical order as you wish if it helps selecting.
• Once you have all your objects selected just hit the Enter key and hopla all the selected objects will be copied automaticcaly in the object list box of the Delete MCU and in this way linked in one shot.

I use only this technique now. It works perfectly well if you have a strict naming convention for your objects, which allow you to properly distinguish them but also have them properly listed.

Correctly naming all the the objects is very important as when you build very large and complex missions it allows you to easily identify and select them quickly and avoid errors.

All this can be done in the mission tree directly without using the map. I am now working more and more on the mission tree on missions that are now existing.

When you build you need to work more on the map, but very quickly the mission tree becomes your friend.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by IckyATLAS

[Beebop]

47 minutes ago, IckyATLAS said:

I found an extremely easy way to target or object link from one object to multiple other ones in one shot.

Let's say that you want to target link a Delete MCU to 20 other objects.

• Open the Delete MCU Property window
• Double-click in the Target Link entity list box. This will open the list of all the objects that you are allowed to link to.
• Select the multiple objects you want to link. You can use shift+click to select multiple object that are contiguous in the list or use ctrl+click to select mutiple objects dispersed in the list. You can rearrange the lists in alphabetical or numerical order as you wish if it helps selecting.
• Once you have all your objects selected just hit the Enter key and hopla all the selected objects will be copied automaticcaly in the object list box of the Delete MCU and in this way linked in one shot.

I use only this technique now. It works perfectly well if you have a strict naming convention for your objects, which allow you to properly distinguish them but also have them properly listed.

Correctly naming all the the objects is very important as when you build very large and complex missions it allows you to easily identify and select them quickly and avoid errors.

All this can be done in the mission tree directly without using the map. I am now working more and more on the mission tree on missions that are now existing.

When you build you need to work more on the map, but very quickly the mission tree becomes your friend.

 

 

Another candidate for the Mission Editor Hall of Fame! ?

[DD_Friar]

On 11/11/2020 at 5:57 PM, IckyATLAS said:

If one wants to Target link say 20 vehicle to a leader vehicle it is easy to do. You select all the vehicles and then you can Shift T and target link all the selected vehicles to the leader in one shot

 

Does doing this have any impact on the way a convoy behaves?

I thought they had to be linked to the lead in turn so that if something happened to the lead (0) unit 1 would take over? and so on?

 

Loving these quick tips by the way, it was only recently I found the quick way of adding waypoints that linked them back to the lead object, a great short cut!

 

Salute

Friar

[IckyATLAS]

1 hour ago, DD_Friar said:

 

Does doing this have any impact on the way a convoy behaves?

I thought they had to be linked to the lead in turn so that if something happened to the lead (0) unit 1 would take over? and so on?

 

Loving these quick tips by the way, it was only recently I found the quick way of adding waypoints that linked them back to the lead object, a great short cut!

 

Salute

Friar

 

I need some explanations here. The standard name of artillery pieces is also Vehicle on the map, same as vehicles with wheels that can move. In my previous post I was thinking of fixed artillery objects. You can manage giving orders to the 20 artillery objects simply by giving orders to one that is the leader. This to work you have to connect all the 20 objects to the leader. Here is where this approach mentioned in my post is useful as you can do it in one shot.

But beware if the leader gets killed there is no leader object capable of transmitting the orders anymore. 

The solution is to have as leader a fake_vehicle that is made unvulnerable and so it is not visible and nobody can destroy it. And the beauty of this way of doing is that if you deactivate the leader, then you deactivate all the 20 objects linked to it. This means they all disappear from the map. In this way you reduce the CPU load when the objects are not needed. 

In this way I can make appear and disappear complete artillery or AAA defense systems in one command to the leader. Very useful indeed.

 

The good thing is that what is mentioned above applies the same to all vehicles, even those with wheels that can move around.

If you want to build a convoy then you need to connect each convoy element to the leader of the convoy which here is the vehicle in front of the convoy.

I advise that you name at least each vehicle. Some examples like:  

leader, vehicle 1, vehicle 2 etc.

or better like: 

Anapa Tank Convoy Leader, Anapa Tank Convoy  1, etc.  

or:  

Anapa Tank Convoy Leader, Anapa Tank Convoy T70 - 1, Anapa Tank Convoy T34 - 2

and so on. Do as you like but have every vehicle clearly and logically identified. It will help you a lot when you work in complex setups.

 

Once you have built your convoy, you open the advanced parameters window of the leader vehicle. His number in the formation is always 0.

Click on the Formation button and you will have listed in order all the convoy vehicles with their formation number in the convoy. Check that the vehicles in the convoy on the map are indeed in the same order as in the list and if not you can move them in the list to have the formation list reflect exactly what is on the map. 

 

You cannot link the vehicles one after the other. You can in fact do it and you will have them linked and visible on the map but it won't work and will create problems in the behavior of the convoy.

You will get an error if you do a Check Integrity Test. Always do this test after you have made convoys flight paths with lots of waypoints etc. It will help you debug your mission. 

So here it will tell you that there is an error because you cannot be a leader and a follower at the same time. It will list you the objects and their number which caused the error. There is only one leader per convoy. All vehicles must be directly connected to the leader. It is the same thing with planes. Ships however do not work that way.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by IckyATLAS

[DD_Friar]

26 minutes ago, IckyATLAS said:

The solution is to have as leader a fake_vehicle that is made unvulnerable and so it is not visible and nobody can destroy it. And the beauty of this way of doing is that if you deactivate the leader, then you deactivate all the 20 objects linked to it. This means they all disappear from the map. In this way you reduce the CPU load when the objects are not needed. 

Another piece of wisdom I shall take from these threads. Every day a school day....

 

Many thanks

 

Salute

 

Friar

[Beebop]

@IckyATLAS Thanks for the  fake vehicle tip.

 

Now when I build I mark every linked object as a "NOICON" because I don't want to see them in the game as I use the plane's HUD.  I only use names for testing to see what the object is or is not doing.  Therefore every vehicle in a convoy is named NOICON but if I want to find out wheich vehilce is is I chek the Model in the objects properties file.  (I can also change the type there as well if I put the wrong type in).

As for the Leader's death, I assume (always dangerous around the ME) that you were speaking of AAA positions.  As I understand it in a flight of planes or convoys of ships or vehicles, if the leader is killed the next plane/vehicle in line assumes command.  (?)

[DD_Friar]

I just recently discovered the "NOICON" trick. As a squad we have two custom Icon mods that we apply via JGSME.

One for when we are flying planes that just gives a small triangle over the plane of the appropriate colour (red danger/enemy, blue friendly) plus ground targets and for when we are in tanks no icons for tanks but triangles for planes (should there be any). There is no point setting an ambush or trying to creep through a town if you have a dirty big sign above your head.

This mod does show other vehicles and AAA on the map so when building missions to avoid giving away where the action may be (even if one of our squad is not using the mod, until we get server side settings for this sort of thing it has to be done on trust) having "NOICON" means that nothing appears on the map and I can hide the "surprise". Both options still give just your own plane / tank on the map, no RADAR (we tend to get lost a lot!)

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by DD_Friar

[IckyATLAS]

6 hours ago, Beebop said:

@IckyATLAS Thanks for the  fake vehicle tip.

 

Now when I build I mark every linked object as a "NOICON" because I don't want to see them in the game as I use the plane's HUD.  I only use names for testing to see what the object is or is not doing.  Therefore every vehicle in a convoy is named NOICON but if I want to find out wheich vehilce is is I chek the Model in the objects properties file.  (I can also change the type there as well if I put the wrong type in).

As for the Leader's death, I assume (always dangerous around the ME) that you were speaking of AAA positions.  As I understand it in a flight of planes or convoys of ships or vehicles, if the leader is killed the next plane/vehicle in line assumes command.  (?)

Normally yes for planes and vehicle convoys yes. I consider ships more complicated to manage and it is better to have all ships indipendent and have a coordination made by yourself. See the typical example of ship convoys I have posted. Ship convoys when designed like vehicle convoys do not work well at least this my experience.

[jollyjack]

On 1/29/2021 at 10:55 PM, IckyATLAS said:

. See the typical example of ship convoys I have posted. Ship convoys when designed like vehicle convoys do not work well at least this my experience.

 

Thanks Icky; found them: https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/14803-the-groups-sharing-corner/page/11/?tab=comments#comment-1044213

 

PS One Q: should you set the proximity enable to the parties involved that should fire them? f.i. true for allies and axis planes?

Edited January 31, 2021 by jollyjack

[POC]

On 1/28/2021 at 2:32 PM, IckyATLAS said:

I found an extremely easy way to target or object link from one object to multiple other ones in one shot.

Let's say that you want to target link a Delete MCU to 20 other objects.

• Open the Delete MCU Property window
• Double-click in the Target Link entity list box. This will open the list of all the objects that you are allowed to link to.
• Select the multiple objects you want to link. You can use shift+click to select multiple object that are contiguous in the list or use ctrl+click to select mutiple objects dispersed in the list. You can rearrange the lists in alphabetical or numerical order as you wish if it helps selecting.
• Once you have all your objects selected just hit the Enter key and hopla all the selected objects will be copied automaticcaly in the object list box of the Delete MCU and in this way linked in one shot.

I use only this technique now. It works perfectly well if you have a strict naming convention for your objects, which allow you to properly distinguish them but also have them properly listed.

Correctly naming all the the objects is very important as when you build very large and complex missions it allows you to easily identify and select them quickly and avoid errors.

All this can be done in the mission tree directly without using the map. I am now working more and more on the mission tree on missions that are now existing.

When you build you need to work more on the map, but very quickly the mission tree becomes your friend.

 

 

 

That solution also solves one of the problem I've been struggling with for weeks : how to target links entities in groups.

 

I was about to ask the forum and I find this

Finally, I will stop breaking my groups just for the sake of being able to do a target link In or Out of the group. I was getting crazy about it ^^

Thank you!

Edited February 17, 2021 by POC