opsdcs-setup

DCS LUA coding setup

Prepare VSCode

1. Install VSCode

2. Install tangzx.emmylua extension (debugging and stubs)

3. Install omltcat.dcs-lua-runner extension (inject code at runtime)

4. Install dcs-fiddle-server.lua into Saved Games/DCS/Scripts/Hooks folder (required for lua runner)

5. Create a launch.json debug config (emmylua debugger setup)

Injecting code at runtime

For mission and gui environments, just send the code (snippet) to the DCS LUA Runner extension (^k ^s to setup hotkey).

Enable debugging

1. Run following code snippet in the env you want to debug (by either injecting, or insert in any script)

   package.cpath = package.cpath .. ';C:/Users/USERNAME/.vscode/extensions/tangzx.emmylua-0.8.18-win32-x64/debugger/emmy/windows/x64/?.dll'
   local dbg = require('emmy_core')
   dbg.tcpConnect('localhost', 9966) end)

2. Desanitize DCS World/Scripts/MissionScripting.lua to enable mission scripting debugging and fiddle server (for DCS LUA Runner)

   sanitizeModule('os')
   sanitizeModule('io')
   sanitizeModule('lfs')
   -- _G['require'] = nil
   _G['loadlib'] = nil
   -- _G['package'] = nil

3. Start the VSCode debug config

4. Start DCS

Auto-completion via LUA stubs

Create .emmyrc.json in root directory of your project, and set path to stubs in workspace library, see .emmyrc.json

Notes on debugging

1. Hooks are loaded only once on game/server start, so you need a restart on change, when debugging hooks

2. While working in the ME, scripts are in a temporary folder, so the debugger can't match the file path

3. You can workaround in both cases by using dofile('/path/to/script.lua') (either within a hook callback, or within a "DO SCRIPT" action) to force correct path

4. To debug other scripts besides mission script, put the debug snippet in the any file (Export.lua, entry.lua, ...) where package/require is available

Get a shell

Install https://www.msys2.org/

Add to VSCode terminals:

"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
    "MINGW64": {
        "path": "C:\\Dev\\msys64\\usr\\bin\\bash.exe",
        "args": ["--login", "-i"],
        "env": {
            "MSYSTEM": "MINGW64",
            "CHERE_INVOKING": "1"
        }
    }
}

Add to Windows Terminal:

{
    "guid": "{a0a1a2a3-a4a5-a6a7-a8a9-aaabacadaeaf}",
    "name": "MSYS2 MinGW64",
    "commandline": "C:\\Dev\\msys64\\usr\\bin\\bash.exe -l -c \"/mingw64.sh\"",
    "startingDirectory": "%USERPROFILE%",
    "icon": "C:\\Dev\\msys64\\msys2.exe"
}

Start script ming64.sh (in C:/Dev/msys64)

#!/usr/bin/env bash
export MSYSTEM=MINGW64
export CHERE_INVOKING=1
exec /usr/bin/bash -l

Useful commands:

• Find files with "pilot" and "edm" in name

  find /e/Games/DCS\ World -iname "*pilot*edm"

• Log file realtime viewing with filter

  tail -f /c/Users/user/Saved\ Games/DCS/Logs/dcs.log | grep -i a4e

• Update mingw64

  pacman -Syu

• Some packages

  pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-neovim
  pacman -S tmux
  pacman -S git
  pacman -S python
  pacman -S python-pip