/DCS-The-Way

Imports waypoints from DCS F10 map into the plane navigation system, like a Data Transfer Cartidge.

Primary LanguageJavaGNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

This fork has been archived, and the parent appears to be more active. I would suggest checking with the parent repo.

DCSTheWay

Imports waypoints from DCS F10 map into the plane navigation system, like a Data Transfer Cartridge. Special thanks to kukiric for helping out with the lua side of things!

What does it do?

You choose points on the F10 map, press a button, and those points will be entered as steerpoints into your plane.

What is supported?

Supported modules:

  • F-16
  • F/A-18 (make sure you are not in the TAC menu)
  • A-10C and A-10C2
  • Mirage 2000
  • AV8BNA Harrier
  • Ka-50 Blackshark
  • AH-64D Apache

Multiplayer is supported as long as the server has ownship/player exports turned on.

How to install?

  1. Download the latest zip file from the Releases section, and extract The Way folder inside it in a convenient location, from where you will run the program.
  2. Copy the TheWay.lua file from the folder you just extracted into Users/YourUsernameHere/Saved Games/DCS/Scripts. The DCS folder name may be DCS.openbeta if you are on the openbeta version of the game.
  3. Edit the Export.lua file there and append this line at the end of the file, and save it:
local TheWayLfs=require('lfs'); dofile(TheWayLfs.writedir()..'Scripts/TheWay.lua')

If there is no Export.lua file already existing there, create it yourself, and it should include only the line above.

  1. Launch TheWay.exe and go fly!

If you are updating from an older version, simply download the newest release, extract your new The Way folder ontop of your old one, replacing your existing files with the new ones. Also don't forget to copy your new TheWay.lua file into Saved Games, and override your old one there.

How to use?

Video tutorial here:

DCSTheWayVideoThumbnail

Or follow these steps:

  1. Launch TheWay.exe.
  2. Click Start selecting on map, and a selection dot will show on screen.
  3. Enter the F10 map, position the dot on top of the desired place you wish to mark, and click Select point. Repeat this step to mark as many points as you want.
  4. When finished, enter the F1 cockpit view and click Begin transfer to DCS to begin the transfering process. It is advised that you refrain from additional cockpit inputs until the waypoints have been loaded.

Notes

  1. For those with non-standard monitor configurations, especially those where the UI is displayed on a different monitor to DCS (and/or different size to DCS), then the following command line options for TheWay.exe should allow the crosshair to appear in the correct location.
  2. Specifying an outputfilename will save waypoints collected by TheWay to the external file specified when the Begin transfer to DCS button is pressed.
  3. suppressdcsoutput will not send data to DCS when the Begin transfer to DCS button is pressed. (only makes sense in conjunction with outputfilename)
  4. Specifying an inputfilename will process waypoints stored in the external file specified.
  5. Unfortunately stdout does not currently display output due to the way that TheWay.exe is built so the help is shown below.
usage: Help
 -?,--help                                 Show Help
 -c,--cornerposition <TL | TR | BL | BR>   Corner position where the "The
                                           Way" window is placed.
                                           <TopLeft | TopRight |
                                           BottomLeft | BottomRight>
 -d,--displaynumber <displaynumber>        Number of the display device
                                           used for the F10 screen
 -h,--height <height>                      Height of the UI display area
                                           used for the F10 map
 -i,--inputfilename <filename>             filename of the file containing
                                           saved waypoints.
 -o,--outputfilename <filename>            filename of the file which will
                                           contain the collected
                                           waypoints.
 -s,--suppressdcsoutput                    Used to stop waypoints being
                                           sent to DCS.
 -w,--width <width>                        Width of the UI display area
                                           used for the F10 map
 -x,--left <left>                          Left position of the start of
                                           the UI display area used for
                                           the F10 map
 -y,--top <top>                            Top position of the start of
                                           the UI display area used for
                                           the F10 map

The displaynumber parameter will not necessary be the same number that appears in the Windows Display Settings panel so a little experimentation might be necessary

This is the way.