SPON Kits & ACE Laser Designators

[zonker3210]

I've defined the following custom loadout...

Code: [Select]

[ // Forward Observer
  "ForwardObserver_OTP",
  [
    ["ACE_SCAR_L_SPECTER", "ACE_ANPRC77_Raid", "ACE_Laserdesignator", "NVGoggles"],
    [
      ["30Rnd_556x45_Stanag", 7],
     
      ["HandGrenadeTimed", 1],
      ["ACE_LaserDesignatorMag", 2],
      ["ACE_Bandage", 3],
      ["ACE_Morphine", 4],
      ["ACE_Epinephrine", 1]
    ]
  ]
]

As you can see, I've assigned both a laser designator and the appropriate batteries. The loadout appears fine in the game, however, the laser designator isn't marking targets.

Any ideas as to what I might be overlooking?

Thanks!

[Spooner]

Have you tried just adding the LD and LD mag using setWeapon and setMagazine in the editor init line and seen if that works?

Other thing could be that the target is being marked, but you aren't seeing the dot (this is only shown if tracers are enabled in difficulty settings). Use SPON Rangefinder (and configure it to use the ACE rather than vanilla Arma LD class) to see clearly if the designator is working.

You possibly need to reload the designator before you use it? Shouldn't need to though.

[zonker3210]

Thanks for the quick reply, Spooner. I removed the LD & batteries from my kit config and added it to the player's init line as follows...

(init code broken into multiple lines for ease of reading)

Code: [Select]

f_GrpBLU11A = group this;
nil = [this, "ForwardObserver_OTP"] execVM "SPON\Kits\assignKit.sqf";
this addMagazine "ACE_LaserDesignatorMag";
this addMagazine "ACE_LaserDesignatorMag";
this addWeapon "ACE_Laserdesignator";
Still no dice. (Just for the record, I used addMagazine/addWeapon since I didn't find any setMagazine/setWeapon commands.) The items are added but I still cannot mark targets. I don't see any way to reload the batteries, either. I tried pressing "R" but didn't see any results...should I be doing something else?

You mentioned that I might not be seeing the dot due to difficulty settings...this setting would be server-specific as opposed to map-specific, correct? If so, I *should* be seeing the dot since I see it on other maps. Also, nothing appears on the map and air support cannot see the designated targets. I'm sure I've an error somewhere in my code but I've no clue as to where it might be.

Thanks again for the advice, though!

[Planck]

I'm not convinced that you should be using a command name as a variable, to whit ... nil.

Have you tried a different name like dummy for example?


Planck

[zonker3210]

I'll give that a try, Planck, but, as example code in my previous post suggests, it's not the SPON kits that are giving me problems. Any time I manually add a Laser Designator & batteries that I find that I cannot mark targets using the designator. Works as a very expensive set of binoculars, really. Still, I'll give your idea a shot and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

[Spooner]

Yeah, I think I use nil = in some of my old scripts, so you can blame me for giving him a terrible example (I'm a bad man!). The absolute best way to avoid the editor complaining is actually to not use a global at all:

Code: [Select]

call { [this, "ForwardObserver_OTP"] execVM "SPON\Kits\assignKit.sqf"; };
Regarding "the laser designator isn't marking targets" comment, please can you be more clear? What exactly is it that it isn't doing? Does the vanilla bis LD "mark targets" (test in a clean mission) and how is that different to the ACE one you are trying to use? Do you see the overlay coming up when you look through the LDs or not? Have you remembered to press right-mouse-button to bring the LD up to your eye (required for ACE LD)?

Incidentally, laser batteries last forever, so you only ever need one.

[zonker3210]

I replaced the "nil = ..." code with the "call"-based syntax. No change. Regardless of whether I use the BIS' "LaserDesignator" object or ACE's "ACE_Laserdesignator", I get the same result. When I equip the LD and bring it to my eyes, I do see the correct overlay. However, if I use the "ACE_LaserDesignatorMag" object, left-clicking does not activate the laser (white diamond icon overlaid on LD's crosshairs). When I use the "Laserbatteries" object, I am able to activate the laser...so perhaps I was simply using the wrong battery/mag.

The feature that I'm not seeing (and expected to see) is the context menu (lower-right corner) that says  "transmit laser target". I'm used to seeing this on maps like Domination so I just assumed (and we know what that means, eh?) that it was standard behavior. After digging into the Domination code a bit more, I can see that this functionality is tied to Mando Missiles which kind of makes sense because I'm want to use the LD to mark stuff for Mando Air Support's laser-guided bombs.

Sorry for the mixup but I do appreciate the help. At least I learned about the "call" command so that's cool.

Thanks again,
 - zonker

[Spooner]

Ah, now it becomes clear. Yeah, the transmit action is specific to missions that add that. SPON Rangefinder is intended for use with players (you can enable an automatic side-based marker placed and moved with your laser dot) or with AI if you script it yourself (look in the demo init.sqf to see how I pick up the laser dot via a SPON event and show global particle effects at its position). Thus, SPON Rangefinder is a lot more versatile if you want to extend/configure it to be so, so the transmit action could easily be added with a short script, but by default is just an overlay for the local player.