Collect a map's airbases — step by step¶

You will: start a small program, open a mission in DCS, type one command. It creates one file to send back to David. One map at a time. About 5 minutes.

Before you start¶

DCS World installed, with the map to process.
The kit: download veaf-map-capture-kit-<version>.zip from the VEAF releases page and unzip it into a folder. ⚠️ Keep everything together, don't move anything: the programs look for each other.

0 · A one-time tweak on your DCS ⚠️¶

By default DCS forbids scripts from talking to the outside world. Without this tweak nothing will work (the black window will never show DCS connected).

Close DCS completely.
Open this file in Notepad (inside your DCS installation folder): Scripts\MissionScripting.lua
Delete everything from the line starting with local function sanitizeModule(name) to the end of the file.
Save.

🔁 Redo it after every DCS update (updates restore the original file). 📖 Details: dcs-bridge prerequisites. It is the same tweak other well-known DCS scripts require (e.g. the STTS text-to-speech module) — if you already did it, there is nothing to redo.

1 · Start the small server¶

Double-click dcs-serve.exe. → A black window opens and stays open. That's normal — leave it alone (don't close it until you're done).

The window closes by itself? A server is already running: close the other black windows and try again.

2 · Open the mission in DCS¶

Launch DCS.
Open the mission missions\bridge-<Map>.miz (the one for your map).
Click play ▶, then pick the "Spectators" slot and confirm to enter the mission. → No need to fly: the mission just has to be running.
Wait ~5 seconds. In the black window you should see DCS connected appear.

No mission provided for your map? See "Make the mission yourself" at the bottom.

3 · Run the collection¶

Open the kit folder in Windows Explorer.
Right-click in the folder → "Open in Terminal" (or: click the address bar, type cmd, Enter).
Copy-paste this line, then Enter:

.\veaf-tools.exe dcs capture-map --out-dir .

→ A <Map>.json file appears in the folder (e.g. Syria.json). 🎉

Nothing to configure: the program picks up the access code created by dcs-serve.exe on its own (in the dcs-serve.yaml file, next to it).

Keep the .\. "Open in Terminal" opens PowerShell, which does not search the current directory — on purpose. Without the .\ it tells you veaf-tools.exe "is not recognized", naming the very file you are looking at. In cmd, both forms work, so .\ is right everywhere. See PowerShell or Command Prompt?.

If David asked you for the parking spots as well¶

Add --parking at the end of the line:

.\veaf-tools.exe dcs capture-map --out-dir . --parking

That makes two files instead of one: the usual <Map>.json, plus a parking/<Map>.json with the spots an aircraft can park on. It takes a little longer (a few tens of seconds more), and the airbases are captured first — so if the second half stalls, you still have the first, which is the useful one.

A map returning no parking spots is not a failure: some simply have none. Send both files in that case too.

4 · Send it¶

Send that <Map>.json file to David. Done for this map!

Next map: quit the mission in DCS, open the other map's mission, and redo steps 2 → 4. (No need to restart the black window, leave it.)

The maps: what's done, what's left¶

Tick as you go. No need to redo a map already ticked.

✅ Every current DCS map is covered 🎉¶

[x] Syria · Caucasus · Cold War Germany · Marianas · Normandy
[x] Persian Gulf · Sinai — collected by David
[x] Nevada · The Channel · South Atlantic (Falklands) · Kola
[x] Afghanistan · Iraq · Marianas WWII — collected by Reaper, thanks!

So there is nothing left to collect right now. What we will still need:

a brand-new DCS map ships → collect it (the mission takes two minutes to build in the editor, see just below);
an existing map gains airfields in an update → a fresh capture simply replaces the old one.

Make the mission yourself (map not provided)¶

In DCS: Mission Editor → New Mission.
Pick the map.
Place one aircraft anywhere (required — otherwise DCS won't save).
Save as .miz. Remember where.
In the terminal (like step 3), type (use your mission's real path):

.\veaf-tools.exe dcs inject-bridge "C:\...\my-mission.miz"

→ Your mission is ready (a backup copy is created automatically next to it). 6. Open that mission in DCS and resume at steps 2 → 4.

If it gets stuck¶

What you see	What to do
The black window closes at once	A server is already running — close the other black windows, redo step 1.
`cannot reach dcs-serve`	The black window (step 1) isn't open. Restart `dcs-serve.exe`.
The black window never shows `DCS connected`	Step 0 was not done (or a DCS update undid it). Redo it.
`504` or `bridge exec failed`	You didn't enter the mission (Spectators slot), or it's still loading. Check the black window shows `DCS connected`, wait 5 s, retry.
`no API key found`	`dcs-serve.exe` was never started from this folder (it is what creates the `dcs-serve.yaml` file). Do step 1, then retry.
`HTTP 403`	The access code does not match: close the black window, restart `dcs-serve.exe`, retry.

Anything else? Take a screenshot and send it to David.