DBS : Digital Bot Simulator

A DCS World Discord bot by Asta☠

What the bot can do or not

• Share DCS/Tacview/LotATC/SRS server info (names, IP, ports, passwords, players online, etc...) directly on your Discord
• Get the DCS events (connections, slots, takeoffs, shots, team shots, kills, ejections, crashs, landings, messages, server ready)
• Talk between DCS ingame chat ([2all] only) and a Discord channel (also works with LotATC's chat). I had to remove every special characters from Discord to DCS chat to avoid "<BAD UTF>" problem
• The bot is working with one server instance, I don't know for more instances (I guess you would have to duplicate and configure one bot for each instance)
• Your bot will not be boosted by Discord Nitro, so you will have two limits, the bot can't use emojiIDs from another Discord, and the bot has a limit of 2000 character per message.
• If there is a bug, report to me on the ED's forum thread, I'll see to correct it.
• For now, I don't take "feature requests", "ideas", "customization", etc... everyone will have a different idea of what its bot should do and/or how it should be, so if you need something specific, feel free to make your own modifications (the server is under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), so you can make modify it)

What I ask in exchange?

• Mention a small credit to me in your server/mission 🥰

Requirements before installation

• Be admin on the Discord where you will install the bot
• Have access to your DCS server with SRS + Tacview + LotATC
• Be able to edit configuration files (no need to have skill in development, but must feel OK with file editing, Notepad++ strongly recommended)
• Be able to enter commands in the Windows prompt (or Powershell)
• Be aware this bot is very CPU+RAM consuming (joke 🤡), see by yourself:

Installation

• Shutdown your DCS server
• Install node.js link (tested and working well with 18.14.0 and 19.6.0)
• Create folder where the bot will be installed and go inside using the Windows Command Prompt (CMD)
• When inside, type npm init
• Install node plugins npm install discord.js
• Download and unzip the .zip file
• Take the DBSGameGUI.lua file and put it in the folder ../SavesGames/yourDCSserver/Scripts/Hooks/
• Take the other files and put them where you created your bot's folder
• Create your Discord bot link.

It must have those permissions : read Messages/View Channels, send messages, Manage messages, read message history, use external Emojis, add reactions

Follow the steps until this part: link putting your ID in the config.json (see screen below)

• You need to activate PRESENCE INTENT and MESSAGE CONTENT INTENT (see this screen)

• Create two Discord channels, one for server info' and the second one for all the events (including the chat)
• Get the developper Discord mod (settings ⚙ => advanced => Developper mod) (see screen below)

• Right click on the channels and get the IDs to put them in the index.js file. (see screens below)

• Same for the bot's ID (see screens below)

• Still in the index.js file, you must change some paths regarding where your files are located on your computer
• In the index.js file, you can see different "TODO" to identify where you need to make modifications

• Run the bot, for that, use the Windows Command Prompt (CMD) where the index.js is, and type node index.js (see screen below)

if error because missing dgram library, still with the Windows Command Prompt (CMD) where the index.js is, type npm install dgram same for http if needed npm install http

• In the info channel, type !init
• It will make the bot to answer. First message!
• Take the ID of this message without deleting it. And paste the ID in the index.js file (if you delete this message by accident, remove the ID, save, restart the bot and redo "!init")

- Then, you should have 4 IDs (= 2 channelID + 1 messageID + 1 botID) used like this:

- Restart the bot (To stop the bot,in the CMD windows, do CTRL+C, and start in again the bot with "node index.js") - Start DCS server Should works! 🤞

Customize your bot

• The biggest part is in the ../SavesGames/yourDCSserver/Scripts/Hooks/DBSGameGUI.lua file. You can of course change the ports if needed (if modified, must be also edited in the index.js file) And you can decide what info' you want to send from the DCS server to the Discord bot, choosing true or false at each item. If you modify something here, it will be applied to the server only at the next server start.

• If you want to use your custom emojis from your server, you need to get their IDs and put them in the index.js ( //TODO put your own Emoji ID ) file and in the DBSGameGUI.lua file (mostly in the function getIcon) To get the emoji ID of something you added to your Discord server:
• Type in Discord: \:TheNameOfYourEmoji: And you should get something like that <:TheNameOfYourEmoji:aRandomNumber> (or see the screen below)

• Then you can copy it and paste it in your index.js and/or DBSGameGUI.lua files 🙂 Saved, reboot and enjoy 🙂
• If you want to remove an info from the bot (a password for example, or the IP, or player list, ...) you just need to comment the line "messageToShow" adding // just before, in the index.js file. For example, if I want to not share the list of players online, I add // at the beginning of the messageToShow line.

//****************
//* Players data *
//****************
if (playersData != null && Object.keys(playersData).length > 0) {
	playersData.forEach(function(player) {
		//messageToShow += "  "+getColorString(player.side)+"*"+player.name+"* "+player.aircraft+"\n"
	});
}

• If you want to run your Discord bot automatically when you are running your server, I suggest you to create a .bat file and call it with the Windows task scheduler, doing something like that:

cd "C:\yourPathToTheBot"
node index.js
PAUSE

Or even that if you prefer to run it with pm2:

cd "C:\yourPathToTheBot"
pm2 start index.js
PAUSE

License

CC BY-NC-SA: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.

CC BY-NC-SA includes the following elements: BY – Credit must be given to the creator NC – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted SA – Adaptations must be shared under the same terms See for LICENSE.MD more details.

Any question?

If you have any question, find me on my Discord in a public channel (please no DM, your question can help other people 😉) => or on the ED's forum :) => link

Did you like my work?

Then, feel free to buy me a coffee ☕

Thank you

Asta☠