Triggers - repeat smoke on object

[Jel]

So i´m working with triggers quite a lot recently and ran into some obstacle, i hope someone can point me in the right direction:

I created a trigger that checks for aircraft entering a given trigger zone. If condition is met - trigger activates smoke on a small object (a tiny flag) i´ve placed on the ground.
This is working fine so far.

Problem: It works only once. As soon as the smoke runs out (5 minutes), the activation won´t work a second time.

I´m planning to have smoke activated every time a plane flys into the zone - for now this only worke once.
I don´t want smoke to be there infinitely (i know how i can set that), instead it is meant to run out and to be activated again the next time an aircraft enters the zone.

Any ideas what i can do to make it work repeatedly ?

[spike2071]

Switched Condition?

The idea behind that is it checks when the trigger is true and fires. When the trigger is no longer true, it resets and will fire again when the trigger is true again.

Only issue is that if your trigger looks for any plane to be in the zone, then ALL planes must leave the zone for it to reset.

[Jel]

I´ve tested it in single player with just me and no other plane in the area.
When i enter the zone - trigger activates - smoke fires.
I leave the zone, wait for smoke to run out (usually around 5 minutes) and then enter the zone again - trigger won´t activate again.

[Sizigmund]

You have to set the trigger to a "Switched condition" or "Activate continiously". Whe you are creating the trigger, it is set to a "Activate once" by default. Click the dropdown list under the "trigger" field and change it.

The "Activate continiously" option will activate your trigger when your plane will enter the trigger zone and will stay in this trigger zone. So it is not the best option.

The "Switched condition" option will activate your trigger each time your plane entering the trigger zone. So to reactivate the trigger, you have to leave the trigger zone and enter it again.

Also when you set the trigger condition, keep in mind that you can set it for a group. So when all the planes of a group will enter the trigger zone, only then the trigger will activate. You can set it for a part of a group in zone. But as I already learned from my own experience, it is not the best solution, because ED can change the meaning of the "Part of a group" and the trigger could stop working. For example in one version "Part of a group" can be one plane from a group, in other version it can be a 2/4 (1/2) planes from a group, in the next version it can change to a 3/4 planes from a group. So it is better to set the trigger condition for an "Object in zone" and than set your speciffic plane. So if you are making an online mission, it is better to create a trigger for each object (plane) of your mission that will enter this zone. The only bad thing about it is, if all of the planes will enter the zone, they smoke will activate for every plane that entered the zone.

[spike2071]

I just tried it with a switched condition and it worked. The only issue I had was with the trigger thinking the plane re-entered the zone on its way out. I don't know if the AI plane was skimming the edge of the zone, but I had to put a 3 second delay on when it checked the switched trigger after leaving the zone.

I also used the Smoke and Fire effect instead of the smoke signal since I could easily stop the smoke/fire effect when I left the zone.

I can send you the mission if you want. It's a whopping 3 triggers. :)

[Jel]

I see, the problem actually is translation (german).
The trigger type "switched condition" makes perfect sense - and it works.
Thing is, it is labeled as "Vorbedingung" in german, which means something more like "precondition". And i always wondered "which precondition ?"

Thanks for the quick response.