Welcome to the DCS: OpenSource NavDataPlugin Wiki!#

Introduction#

This contains installation instructions, and documentation to create the backend of a powerful navigation system using raw data from DCS.

Why does this exist? While all the functions to create this yourself are exposed in DCS Lua, they are chaotic and undocumented. This plugin streamlines the process, by doing the data collection for you, and collating it into one big table.

Features#

Airport Data
Beacon Data
Supplemental Data replacement (to replace missing DCS Data or overwrite existing data)
Helper functions for various useful tasks such as range sorting.

Download and install guide#

.git submodule#

Navigate to Cockpit/Scripts/ in your terminal
Run git submodule add https://github.com/DCS-OpenSource/NavDataPlugin.git
commit the submodule file to your repo

Manual Install#

Download the latest release (the .zip, not source code)
unzip, and place the folder in Cockpit/Scripts/
verify the relative path to Nav.lua is Cockpit/Scripts/NavDataPlugin/Nav.lua

Configure the NavdataPlugin:#

-- This allows the use of require statements. require uses . instead of / for folder sepparators.
-- Require only loads the lua once saving loading time.
package.path = package.path..";"..LockOn_Options.script_path.."?.lua"
package.path = package.path..";"..LockOn_Options.common_script_path.."?.lua"

require("NavDataPlugin.Nav")

Function Details#

get_ILS_beacons()#

Description
Returns all ILS beacons in the beacons file.

ILS Beacon Types

Beacon Type	Integer Value
`BEACON_TYPE_ILS_LOCALIZER`	16640
`BEACON_TYPE_ILS_GLIDESLOPE`	16896
`BEACON_TYPE_ILS_FAR_HOMER`	16408
`BEACON_TYPE_ILS_NEAR_HOMER`	16424

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
none	`nil`

Returns
table: ILS_beacons - Table of ILS Beacons on the Map

-- Example of one entry in the returned table
  [1] = {
    type = 16896, -- matches beacon type table above
    beaconId = "airfield1_0",
    positionGeo = {
      longitude = -115.691917,
      latitude = 36.585008,
    },
    sceneObjects = {
      [1] = "t:85164032",
    },
    display_name = "Creech",
    channel = 24,
    direction = -88.617531,
    position = {
      [1] = -360394.21875,
      [2] = 952.944679,
      [3] = -76976.257813,
    },
    callsign = "ICRR",
    frequency = 108700000, -- 108.7
  },

#

get_TCN_beacons()#

Description
Returns all TCN beacons in the beacons file.

TCN Beacon Types

Beacon Type	Integer Value
`BEACON_TYPE_TACAN`	4
`BEACON_TYPE_VORTAC`	5

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
none	`nil`

Returns
table: TCN_beacons - Table of TCN Beacons on the Map

-- Example of one entry in the returned table
  [4] = {
    type = 4, -- BEACON_TYPE_TACAN
    beaconId = "airfield4_1",
    positionGeo = {
      longitude = -115.025113,
      latitude = 36.244644,
    },
    display_name = "Nellis",
    channel = 12,
    sceneObjects = {
      [1] = "t:41518947",
    },
    direction = -141.002194,
    position = {
      [1] = -397135.9375,
      [2] = 564.647598,
      [3] = -16545.675781,
    },
    callsign = "LSV",
  },

#

get_VOR_beacons()#

Description
Returns all VOR beacons in the beacons file.

VOR Beacon Types

Beacon Type	Integer Value
`BEACON_TYPE_VOR`	1
`BEACON_TYPE_VOR_DME`	2
`BEACON_TYPE_VORTAC`	5

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
none	`nil`

Returns
table: VOR_beacons - Table of ILS Beacons on the Map

-- Example of one entry in the returned table
  [1] = {
    type = 5, -- BEACON_TYPE_VORTAC
    beaconId = "airfield3_4",
    positionGeo = {
      longitude = -115.159816,
      latitude = 36.079576,
    },
    sceneObjects = {
      [1] = "t:69208390",
    },
    display_name = "McCarran-International",
    channel = 116,
    direction = -179.199384,
    position = {
      [1] = -415686.09375,
      [2] = 657.922167,
      [3] = -28303.363281,
    },
    callsign = "LAS",
    frequency = 116900000,
  },

getAirports()#

Description
Returns all Airports on the map, with extra filtered data.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
none	`nil`

Returns
table: Filtered Airport Data - Table of Airport Data

Nellis = {
    radioid = {
      [1] = "airfield4_0",
    },
    radios = {
      radioId = "airfield4_0",
      uniform = 327,
      victor = 132.55,
    },
    runways = {
      [1] = {
        runwayLength = 9454.0715925188,
        runwayEnd1 = {
          y = -18395.984375,
          x = -399101.90625,
        },
        name = "03L-21R",
        runwayEnd2 = {
          y = -16538.4921875,
          x = -396898.875,
        },
      },
      [2] = {
        runwayLength = 9437.9092172239,
        runwayEnd1 = {
          y = -18160.181640625,
          x = -399295.1875,
        },
        name = "03R-21L",
        runwayEnd2 = {
          y = -16306.291992188,
          x = -397095.5625,
        },
      },
    },
    positionLatLon = {
      lon = -115.03300055101,
      lat = 36.235224110884,
    },
    name = "Nellis",
    position = {
      y = -17233.236816,
      x = -398195.375,
    },
    beacons = {
      [1] = {
        beaconId = "airfield4_1",
      },
      [2] = {
        runwayName = "03R-21L",
        runwayId = 2,
        runwaySide = "21L",
        beaconId = "airfield4_2",
      },
      [0] = {
        runwayName = "03R-21L",
        runwayId = 2,
        runwaySide = "21L",
        beaconId = "airfield4_0",
      },
    },
    isCivilian = false,
    ICAO = "KLSV",
  },

sortAirportsByDistance({x, y})#

Description
Returns the same as getAirports() but sorted by distance to the player or other defined point.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`ownPos`	`table`	`{[1] = x, [2] = y}` Users current position

Returns
table: Filtered Airport Data - Table of Airport Data

Nellis = {
    -- All the same as getAirports() with the addition of two new fields
    distanceToPlayerNM = 15.6 -- Distance from player to point in NM
    bearingToPlayer = 330 -- Bearing from player in degrees
  },

Data Supplementation#

The Data DCS provides is often less than perfect, especially around radios on certain maps. Nellis (NTTR) and Caucasus work as expected, but ED seemingly updated the TDK after those maps, so data such as radios is hidden/inaccessable sometimes.

To circumvent this, I added a way to add additional data to edit the dynamically aquired information.

How to setup data supplementation#

Make a new folder in your Cockpit/Scripts/ folder called NavDataPluginExtra
Make sub folders for each map, the name should match the theatre name.
- You can get the theatre name using:
- For NTTR this would look like Cockpit/Scripts/NavDataPluginExtra/Nevada/
```
do_mission_file("mission") -- Load the mission file
local theatre = mission.theatre -- map name string
```
Make a file in the new folder called theatreName.lua (in this example Nevada.lua)

Paste the following into the file:

-- This Lua file contains an array of data to supplement the existing data pulled from DCS
local Airports = {
    ["Nellis"] = { -- This needs to match the airport name on the F10 Map
        name = "Nellis Air Force Base",
        ICAO = "KLSV",
    }, 
}
return Airports -- Don't forget to include this at the bottom

You can edit every value, providing you match the format

Radio supplement example:

["Groom Lake"] = { -- Area 51
    name = "Homey Airport",
    radios = {
        uniform = 250.05,
        victor = 118.00,
    }
}

The data is automatically supplemented, if the file exists, so no extra function calls needed