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This is the plain-English guide to using TDL. The parent page is the technical/architecture reference for modders — you do not need it to play.

If you only read one thing: grab an AN/ARC 231, double-tap L, and you are in ATAK. Everything else here is detail.

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1. What TDL actually is

TDL is a radio and tactical-awareness framework. It does three things:

  1. Networks. Radios form an ad-hoc mesh. You create or join a named, password-protected TDL network. Everyone on it sees everyone else's position, callsign and signal strength.
  2. ATAK. A tactical map interface on your device — blue force tracking, markers, drawn overlays, direct messaging, remote camera feeds, 2D and 3D map views.
  3. Radio realism. Crypto fill keys, half-duplex operation, frequency hopping, and cross-network bridging.

TDL does not ship a mission, a game mode, or a full kit of gear. It ships the framework plus three radios. Most of the devices you have seen screenshots of — EUDs, tablets, S23 phones, MPU5s — come from other mods that integrate with TDL, most notably the GRS ATAK asset pack. If a device is missing, you are missing that mod, not TDL.

2. Five-minute start

  1. Subscribe to Tactical Data Link in the Workshop. Load into any world.
  2. Open the arsenal and take an AN/ARC 231. TDL adds exactly three items to the US inventory catalog: AN/ARC 231, TDL TW, and a WR variant.
  3. Double-tap L (gamepad: double-tap RB). ATAK opens.
  4. To get anyone else on your map, you need a network — see the next section.

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The AN/ARC 231 is a complete kit on its own. It provides network access, GPS, display output and the ATAK device capability in one item. You do not need a separate tablet.

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What you need to open ATAK

ATAK opens when your gear collectively provides ATAK_DEVICE and DISPLAY_OUTPUT. Capabilities add up across everything you are carrying — held, vest, backpack, pockets — but only from powered devices.

Kit ATAK opens? Sees other players?
AN/ARC 231 (any variant), alone Yes Yes
MPU5 alone No — has no display output —
MPU5 + tablet / cable / phone Yes Yes
Phone alone Yes No — phone has no radio
Tablet or cable alone No —

An ATAK device with no networked radio shows an empty contact list. That is expected, not a bug.