DCS MAP — LOCAL EXPORTER

how to install it, and how to build it yourself

A small add-on for your own DCS World that feeds the map faster aircraft updates, with altitude and heading, plus neutral units and terrain heights. It runs on your PC only; the map works as before without it.

Download

rotorheads-exporter-1.1.0.zip

What you install. Windows, 64-bit.

rotorheads-exporter-1.1.0-source.zip

The full source, and how to build it.

These steps are also in README.txt inside the first zip. CREDITS.txt in both lists the open-source code the DLL is built from.

Install

Find your DCS user folder: C:\Users\<you>\Saved Games\DCS or DCS.openbeta (if both exist, the one whose Logs\dcs.log is newest). It is called Saved Games\DCS... below. Close DCS and unzip the download.

Copy rotorheads_exporter.dll to
```
Saved Games\DCS...\Mods\Services\RotorheadsExporter\bin\
```
creating the folders if needed.
Copy rotorheads-exporter-hook.lua to
```
Saved Games\DCS...\Scripts\Hooks\
```
Copy rotorheads-exporter-export.lua to
```
Saved Games\DCS...\Scripts\
```
Open, or create, Saved Games\DCS...\Scripts\Export.lua and add this line, last, on a line of its own:
```
pcall(function() local lfs=require('lfs'); dofile(lfs.writedir()..[[Scripts\rotorheads-exporter-export.lua]]) end)
```
Leave other tools' lines (SRS, Tacview, DCS-BIOS) as they are.
Start DCS.

Turn it on in the map

In the map's panel, open Advanced and switch on Local exporter. On this PC the address is already right. The note under it says when the map is reading it.

To check the exporter by itself, open http://127.0.0.1:31490/v1/status on the PC: in a mission on the Rotorheads server, state reads mission and exportState reads running.

For the Quest or a phone

By default the exporter answers only the PC it runs on. To read it from another device on the same network:

Copy rotorheads-exporter.lua from the zip to
```
Saved Games\DCS...\Config\
```
and set lan = true in it. Restart DCS. A mistake in that file turns LAN listening off and is written to Saved Games\DCS...\Logs\dcs.log; a wrong terrain_micros only keeps its default.

Allow the port through Windows Firewall, in PowerShell as administrator (right-click Start, Terminal (Admin)):

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Rotorheads exporter" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 31490 -Profile Private -RemoteAddress LocalSubnet -Action Allow

In the map on that device, under Advanced, enter the address shown in /v1/status under lan, such as http://192.168.1.20:31490.

The rule opens port 31490 to devices on your own network, on networks Windows calls private. Through the exporter they can read what it serves -- the units and terrain of the server you fly on -- and change nothing.

If Windows asks whether to let DCS through the firewall, tick Private networks only, or press Cancel and use the rule above. Allow with Public networks ticked opens all of DCS on every network.

When travelling -- a VPN, a hotel, café or other public Wi-Fi -- set lan = false: those networks look like a home network to the exporter.

Uninstall

Delete the three files you copied and remove your line from Export.lua. If you added the firewall rule, remove it in PowerShell as administrator:

Remove-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Rotorheads exporter"

If something doesn't work

Search Saved Games\DCS...\Logs\dcs.log for ROTORHEADS-EXPORTER: every line the exporter writes is tagged with it.

Nothing on http://127.0.0.1:31490 at all	The hook isn't loading. Check step 2, and look for `hook: not loaded`.
exportState reads "not-installed"	The `Export.lua` line is missing or wrong (step 4).
exportState reads "stopped"	A tool loaded after yours cut it off. Move your line back to the end of `Export.lua`.
state reads "other-server"	You are not on the Rotorheads server; the exporter gathers nothing anywhere else.
The Quest or phone can't reach it	Check the three steps above, and that the device is on the same network.

Building it yourself

The source zip holds everything, with BUILDING.txt. You need rustup (the toolchain is pinned in the source) and MinGW-w64 on your PATH for the linker; Visual Studio isn't used. In PowerShell in the unzipped folder, run .\build.ps1, and copy the DLL it leaves in target\x86_64-pc-windows-gnu\release\ in place of the one in the binary zip. cargo test runs the tests, which need neither DCS nor a built DLL.