Plugin “Scheduler”

With this plugin you can decide when to run your DCS servers, when to run which mission and how long a specific mission shall run, either in local time or in mission time. Tasks that can be achieved with this solution are below others:

  • Have a server rotate a mission every 4 hrs.
  • Restart the mission before it gets dark.
  • Have two servers run alternately, maybe one with password, one public
  • Change time and weather in your mission on specific times or randomly

The plugin is one of if not the most complex plugins of DCSServerBot. Read this documentation thoroughly.

Configuration

Examples:

{
  "configs": [
    {
      "warn": {
        "times": [ 600, 300, 60, 10],         -- warn users at 10 mins, 5 mins, 1 min and 10 sec before the event
        "text": "!!! {item} will {what} in {when} !!!",
        "sound": "notify.ogg"                 -- play this sound (needs to be loaded with a preset first!)
      },
      "presets": {                            -- Weather presets (see below)
          "Winter": { "date": "2016-01-10", "temperature": -10 },
          "Summer": { "date": "2016-07-26", "temperature": 18 },
          "Early Morning": { "start_time": "04:30" },
          "Morning": { "start_time": "08:00" },
          "Noon": { "start_time": "12:00" },
          "Evening": { "start_time": "18:00" },
          "Late Evening": { "start_time": "22:00" },
          "Night": { "start_time": "01:00" },
          "Calm": {"clouds": "Preset1", "wind": {"at8000":  {"speed": 2, "dir": 305}, "at2000": {"speed": 5, "dir": 280}, "atGround": {"speed": 0, "dir": 290}}},
          "Windy": {"clouds": "Preset3", "wind": {"at8000":  {"speed": 15, "dir":  105}, "at2000": {"speed": 10, "dir": 130}, "atGround": {"speed": 10, "dir": 20}}},
          "Storm": {"clouds": "RainyPreset3", "wind": {"at8000":  {"speed": 25, "dir": 305}, "at2000": {"speed": 20, "dir": 280}, "atGround": {"speed": 15, "dir": 290}}, "hidden":  true},
          "Default": ["Summer", "Morning", "Calm"],
          "Sounds": { "files": ["sounds/notify.ogg"] } 
      },
      "extensions": {
        "SRS": {
          "installation": "%ProgramFiles%\\DCS-SimpleRadio-Standalone"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "installation": "instance1",
      "affinity": [2, 3],                     -- CPU affinity for this process
      "schedule": {
        "00-12": "NNNNNNN",                   -- instance1 will run everyday from 12 to 24 hrs, besides Sundays.
        "12-24": "YYYYYYN"
      },
      "extensions": {
        "SRS": {
          "config": "%USERPROFILE%\\Saved Games\\instance1\\Config\\SRS.cfg"
        }
      },
      "restart": {
        "method": "restart_with_shutdown",    -- restarts the whole server instead only the mission
        "mission_time": 480,                  -- restart the mission after 8 hrs (480 minutes),
        "max_mission_time": 510,              -- restart, even if people are in after 8:30 hrs (prior warnings will apply if configured) 
        "populated": false                    -- no restart of the mission (!), as long as people are in
      },
      "reset": "run:del \"{dcs_installation}\\SnowfoxMkII*.lua\""   -- delete files (persistency) on .reset command
    },
    {
      "installation": "instance2",
      "schedule": {
        "00-12:30": "YYYYYYY",                -- instance2 runs Sunday all day, rest of the week between 00 and 12:30 hrs
        "12:30-24": "NNNNNNY"
      },
      "extensions": {
        "SRS": {
          "config": "%USERPROFILE%\\Saved Games\\instance2\\Config\\SRS.cfg"
        }
      },
      "restart": {                            -- missions rotate every 4 hrs
        "method": "rotate",
        "local_times": ["00:00", "04:00", "08:00", "12:00", "16:00", "20:00"]
      },
      "settings": {                         -- Weather will change on a timed basis
        "00:00-07:59": "Winter, Night, Calm, Sounds",
        "08:00-11:59": "Winter, Morning, Windy, Sounds",
        "12:00-19:59": "Summer, Noon, Calm, Sounds",
        "20:00-23:59": "Summer, Night, Storm, Sounds",
      }
     "onMissionEnd": "load:Scripts/net/persist.lua", -- load a specific lua on restart 
     "onShutdown": "run:shutdown /s"                 -- shutdown the PC when DCS is shut down
    },
    {
      "installation": "instance3",
      "schedule": {
        "00-24": "YYYYYYY"                    -- Server runs all day long,
      },
      "restart": {
        "method": "restart_with_shutdown",    -- restarts the whole server instead only the mission
        "local_times": ["03:00"],             -- check for restart at 03h
        "mission_end": true                   -- restart the server after the next mission end only
      }
    },
    {
      "installation": "missions",
      "schedule": {
        "21:30": "NNNNNYN",                   -- Missions start on Saturdays at 21:30, so start the server there
        "23:00-00:00": "NNNNNPN"              -- Mission ends somewhere between 23:00 and 00:00, so shutdown when no longer populated
      },
      "settings": [                         -- Weather will change randomly
        "Winter, Morning, Windy, Sounds",
        "Summer, Morning, Calm, Sounds"
      ],
      "onMissionStart": "load:Script/net/f10menu.lua"  -- load some lua in the mission on mission start
    }
  ]
}

Section “warn”

Parameter Description
times List of seconds, when a warning should be issued.
text A customizable message that will be sent to the users when a restart is pending.
{item} will be replaced with either “server” or “mission”, depending on what’s happening.
{what} will be replaced with what is happening (restart, shutdown, rotate)
{when} will be replaced with the time to wait.

Section “preset”

Weather presets can be combined by comma separating them in the appropriate server configuration. You can either create full-fledged weather presets already and load them later or you combine them like in the example above.

If using the presets / settings, your missions will be amended automatically by the bot. You might want to create safety copies upfront.

Parameter Description
  First parameter is the name of the preset.
date The missions date.
start_time The missions start time in seconds.
temperature Temperature in °C.
clouds Name of a DCS cloud preset.
wind Wind atGround, at2000 (m) and at8000 (m) in m/s
qnh Pressure at sea level in mmHg
groundTurbulence Ground turbulence in 0.1 * meters
enable_dust Whether to enable dust or not
dust_density Dust density in meters, 0 = off
enable_fog Whether to enable fog or not
fog Settings for fog (thickness, visibility)
halo Settings for halo (new with DCS 2.8)
requiredModules Modules required for this mission (can be empty to disable the requirements check).
accidental_failures Set that to false, if you have issues with your mission that accidental failures are enabled even if you disabled them.
hidden If true, this preset is not selectable in the .preset command

If you have lots of presets, and you don’t want to have them in your scheduler.json because it will get messy, you can put them in a separate json file like so:

{
  "configs": [
    {
      [...]
      "presets": "config/presets.json",
      [...]
    }
}

Section “schedule”

First Parameter Second Parameter
Timeframe, with start and end-time in either HH24 or HH24:MM format.
If only one time is provided, the action (see second parameter) has to happen at exactly this time.		 The second parameter contains a character for every day, starting Mo and ending Su. Depending on the character, the behaviour will be selected:
Y, N or P - the server should run in that timeframe (Y) or not (N). P means, it should only run, if populated.
Examples:
Time between 12:30h and 18:00h => 12:30-18:00
Time between 09:00h and 21:30h => 09-21:30
Time between 21:00h and 03:00h => 21-03 (next day!)
All day long (00:00h - 24:00h) => 00-24
 Examples:
YYYYYYY => every day
YYYYYNN => weekdays only
 
 

See the above examples for a better understanding on how it works.

Section “extensions”

A list of extensions that should be started / stopped with the server. Currently, only SRS is supported. If SRS is listed as an extension, a configured SRS server will be started with the DCS server.

Parameter Description
installation Directory where SRS is installed.
config The server specific configuration.

If you want to use different versions of SRS, you can overwrite the installation path on each server, otherwise specify it in the default section.

Section “restart”

Parameter Description
method One of restart, restart_with_shutdown, rotate or shutdown.
- “restart” will restart the current mission,
- “restart_with_shutdown” will do the same but shutdown the whole server
- “shutdown” will only shutdown the server
- “rotate” will launch the next mission in the mission list.
mission_time Time in minutes (according to the mission time passed) when the mission has to be restarted.
max_mission_time Time in minutes (according to the mission time passed) when the mission has to be restarted, even if people are in.
local_times List of times in the format HH24:MM, when the mission should be restated or rotated (see method).
populated If false, the mission will be restarted / rotated only, if no player is in (default: true).
mission_end Only apply the method on mission end (usually in combination with restart_with_shutdown).

Section “settings”

Timeframes in which a weather preset is valid or a list of presets that should change randomly. If not provided, the mission will run as is.
Presets can be stacked by comma-separating them.

on-commands

Parameter Description
onMissionStart Called at the start of a mission (onSimulationStart).
onMissionEnd Called, when the Scheduler (!) ends a mission. Not if the mission is ended in any other way.
onShutdown Called, when the DCS server is being shut down.

Commands can be executed in different ways:

Starts with Description Example
load Load an external lua file into the mission (do_script_file). load:Scripts/net/test.lua
lua Run this lua script inside the mission environment (do_script). lua:dcsbot.restartMission()
call Send a DCSServerBot command to DCS. call:shutdown()
run Run a Windows command (via cmd.exe). run:shutdown /s

The following environment variables can be used in the “run” command:

Variable Meaning
dcs_installation DCS installation path
dcs_home Saved Games directory
server internal server datastructure
config dcsserverbot.ini representation

Section “reset”

Parameter Description
  Command / Script to be run at .reset. The on-command syntax applies.

Discord Commands

If a server gets started or stopped manually (using .startup / .shutdown), it will be put in “maintenance” mode. To clear this and give the control back to the scheduler, use the following command.

Command Parameter Channel Role Description
.startup   admin-channel DCS Admin Starts a dedicated DCS server process.
.shutdown [-force] admin-channel DCS Admin Shuts the dedicated DCS server process down.
If -force is used, no player check will be executed and no onShutdown command will be run.
.start   admin-channel DCS Admin Starts a stopped DCS server.
.stop   admin-channel DCS Admin Stops a DCS server.
.status   all DCS Shows the status of all configured DCS servers.
.maintenance   admin-channel DCS Admin Sets the servers maintenance mode.
.clear   admin-channel DCS Admin Clears the maintenance state of a server.
.preset   admin-channel DCS Admin Changes the preset (date/time/weather) of a mission. Multiple selections will apply all presets at once.
.reset   admin-channel DCS Admin Calls a configurable reset command.