Configure HCP MACE

Open the plugin’s settings window from MACE’s toolbar (HEAT Capture Settings button, added by the plugin). Settings are written to an XML file in MACE’s own per-user settings directory when you save.

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Settings are converted into the running capture pipeline exactly once, when the plugin initializes. Saving a change does not reconfigure a plugin that is already running - restart MACE (or reload the plugin) before a saved change takes effect.

Connection

Setting	Type	Default	Effect	When to change
`CaptureBaseUrl`	string	`"http://localhost:5005"`	Base URL for both the session REST calls and the publish WebSocket (`ws://`/`wss://` derived automatically, path `/ws/publish` appended)	HEAT Capture runs on a different machine, or uses HTTPS
`AutoStartTransport`	boolean	`true`	Starts/stops capture automatically as the MACE mission runs, pauses and stops	See caution below

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There is no manual start control anywhere else in the plugin. Setting AutoStartTransport to false does not switch to a manual mode - it means capture never starts at all, for the entire MACE session.

CaptureBaseUrl defaults to HEAT Capture’s own shipped default (localhost:5005); no port correction is needed against a stock HEAT Capture install.

Capture cadence

Setting	Type	Default	Effect	When to change
`CaptureIntervalMs`	integer (ms)	`33`	Global capture tick; also the polling rate for transition detection (stall, target-lock, emission/ESM/jamming onset) regardless of any per-category interval below	`100` for 10 Hz, `200` for 5 Hz - reduces volume but can miss a transition that starts and ends between ticks
`ControlledEntityIntervalMs`	integer (ms)	`0` (inherit `CaptureIntervalMs`)	Minimum publish interval for the entity this MACE instance is actively flying (`IsInternalEntity && ManeuverState == maneuver`)	Rarely - this is usually the entity you care about most
`OtherEntityIntervalMs`	integer (ms)	`0` (inherit)	Minimum publish interval for every other entity	Raise to reduce volume in large scenarios without reducing the controlled aircraft’s fidelity
`EnvironmentIntervalMs`	integer (ms)	`0` (inherit)	Minimum publish interval for `AirData` weather and `CloudData`, evaluated only when the owning entity is due	Raise for slow-changing weather
`ResourceStoresIntervalMs`	integer (ms)	`0` (inherit)	Minimum publish interval for fuel and munition stores, evaluated only when the owning entity is due	Raise for slow-changing stores
`PlatformStateMode`	`FullRate` \| `OnChange`	`FullRate`	`OnChange` suppresses unchanged `Health`, aircraft/ground lighting, `TargetData`, and `LinkedEntity`; a disappearing value still emits one empty component as a removal marker	`OnChange` to cut slow-changing platform state

Per-category intervals only reduce how often that category publishes; they never reduce transition-detection polling, which always runs at CaptureIntervalMs. Discrete events (weapon fire, hit, collision, lased) are callback-driven and are never throttled by any interval setting.

Capture content

Setting	Type	Default	Effect	When to change
`CaptureEnvironment`	boolean	`true`	Include `AirData` weather and `CloudData`	Disable only when environmental replay is not required
`CaptureFlightDetail`	boolean	`true`	Include fixed-wing data, control surfaces, and rotary-wing detail. Core position, dynamics, altitude and health are unaffected	Disable for reduced-fidelity capture
`ContentMode`	`Full` \| `KinematicsOnly`	`Full`	`KinematicsOnly` retains entity identity, position, dynamics, health and every event, omitting every other component	Reduced-fidelity capture only - see the caution on the Data produced page

EW capture

Setting	Type	Default	Effect	When to change
`CaptureEwEmission`	boolean	`true`	Include `EmissionComponent` (per-mode emitter data), re-sent every tick for active emitters	Disable to cut frame size in EW-heavy, high-entity-count scenarios
`CaptureEwSensorContacts`	boolean	`true`	Include `SensorContactsComponent` (perceived, fire-control-assigned target solutions), re-sent every tick while a target is assigned	Same
`CaptureEwReceiverEnvironment`	boolean	`true`	Include `ReceiverEnvironmentComponent` (dynamic local RF conditions per receiver), re-sent every tick	Same

Diagnostics

Setting	Type	Default	Effect	When to change
`EnableSizeDiagnostics`	boolean	`false`	Periodically logs aggregate wire, entity, event, and component-group byte counts	To measure actual capture volume before tuning cadence
`SizeDiagnosticsIntervalSeconds`	integer (s)	`60`	Interval between size-diagnostics log entries; clamped to a 1 second minimum	Rarely

wire in the diagnostics log is the exact serialized Any payload queued for the publish WebSocket. Entity, event and component-group values are individual protobuf message sizes used for attribution and exclude enclosing-field overhead, so they will not sum exactly to wire.

Buffering

Setting	Type	Default	Effect	When to change
`MaxBufferedFrames`	integer	`300`	Maximum frames held while the publish socket is reconnecting	Bounds outage memory only - see caution below
`MaxBufferedMegabytes`	integer	`32`	Maximum total size of the frame buffer	Same
`MaxBufferedEvents`	integer	`20000`	Maximum entity events retained while frames cannot be published or during the identity grace period below	Same
`SessionIdentityBufferTimeoutSeconds`	integer (s)	`120`	How long events may be retained while HEAT Capture is starting a session with no valid user identity yet. Beyond this, pending data is discarded	Raise for a HEAT Capture instance that takes unusually long to establish a session

⚠️

Buffer size settings bound how much memory an outage can consume - they are not a capture-volume control. Shrinking them to reduce data volume produces unpredictable gaps in what reaches HEAT Capture instead of a predictable reduction.

Retry and timeouts

Setting	Type	Default	Effect	When to change
`RetryInitialDelayMs`	integer (ms)	`500`	Initial backoff delay before retrying a failed session start	Rarely
`RetryMaxDelayMs`	integer (ms)	`15000`	Maximum backoff delay between session-start retries	Rarely
`RequestTimeoutMs`	integer (ms)	`5000`	Timeout for REST session-control requests	Slow or remote HEAT Capture instance
`SendTimeoutMs`	integer (ms)	`2000`	Timeout for sending one frame over the publish WebSocket	Same
`StopDrainTimeoutMs`	integer (ms)	`3000`	Budget for flushing already-buffered frames when a mission stops, over the still-open socket. `0` discards them instead of trying	See Data produced for what happens when this expires
`HealthyPollDelayMs`	integer (ms)	`250`	Delay between connection health checks while connected; clamped to a 50 ms minimum	Rarely
`SocketKeepAliveSeconds`	integer (s)	`15`	WebSocket keep-alive interval	Rarely

A 60-second session-lifecycle timeout (covering the REST session start/stop calls themselves, distinct from RequestTimeoutMs) exists in the transport but has no corresponding setting - it is not configurable in this version.

Capture profiles

Profile is a write-once convenience, not a persisted runtime mode - selecting one writes the explicit values below, which is what actually gets saved and read back. Changing any one of those values afterward makes Profile display Custom.

Profile	Controlled / other entity interval	Environment / store interval	Platform state	Content
`FullFidelity`	inherit / inherit	inherit / inherit	`FullRate`	Every supported group enabled
`Balanced`	inherit / `200` ms	`1000` / `1000` ms	`OnChange`	Full content, EW enabled
`KinematicsOnly`	inherit / `200` ms	`1000` / `1000` ms	`OnChange`	Identity, position, dynamics, health and events only

All three profiles keep the 33 ms base tick, so transition detection cadence is identical across all of them - only per-category publish rate and content change. KinematicsOnly is reduced-fidelity capture: it cannot reconstruct an equivalent replay for the aircraft, environment, stores, platform, radio, attachment, combat or EW state it omits.

HEAT Capture team. Last updated 2 October 2026.

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