Daunt
MLG Pro
Alright I'm making this pretty simple guide to help anyone who is interested in Falcon BMS (questions? see: http://bandofothersgaming.com/forum/showthread.php/2275-What-is-Falcon-BMS )It may seem daunting to put together but once set up you're good... Considering it's built upon a game that is now approaching twenty years old, the UI is still very good, but it has its weaknesses.
Installation & Initial Setup
This is pretty simple. The only tricky part is that, while not ACTUALLY used, you need to get ahold of the .exe for the original Falcon game. Falcon BMS and its updates do not use this, they merely check to see you have a copy of the game only upon initial install. If you need help acquiring this, contact me or Quick. We can get you hooked up.
Anyway, for BMS , head over to BMS forums and register: http://www.bmsforum.org/ Once there and registered, use their annoucements area to get ahold of any files you may need. The main one you need is here: http://www.bmsforum.org/forum/showthread.php?23313-Falcon-BMS-4-33
Installation instructions can be found in this manual: http://www.ravico.com/ST/BMS_433/Docs/BMS-Manual.pdf (see section 3)
Once you get it installed, (pay attention to where you install it, as this makes things easier if you keep it where it says to, which I believe is the base C/ folder.) run it and verify in the in-game menu that the version is correct at the bottom right.
Key Bindings Set Up
This is incredibly important. Once in-game, making sure to go through your setup menu to map key bindings will save you a ton of time in the future. Its unfortunate that you cannot set these while in-sim, so having one thing wrong may render a current flight useless. The laundry list of buttons is extremely long, and very tough to find specific buttons if you are just going through, but I have compiled a list, for even newbies to go by that they can reference and know they'll need this button, even if they don't know what it is yet.
First, decide what works for you as far as view goes. Do you want to use the HAT switch to look around, mouse, or something else? Second, start mapping everything you can that is important to your HOTAS stick and throttle. The obvious ones being: gun, pickle (fire missile/drop bomb), A-A mode (and possibly A-A hardpoint cycle) A-G Mode, Nav Mode, run countermeasures program (this drops flares and chaff), air brake, radar curser (if you're not using the HAT switch to look) TMS Up and TMS Down.
Data Cartridge
There are a few other things to set up, mainly regarding the data cartridge. It is tough to explain what it is without knowing more to the game... but basically in real life, pilots use data cartridges somewhat like a USB. They us the DC to plot out the flight plan, threats, and things like that. There are also really important comms info, MFD (multifunction display) defaults and countermeasures programs. The former, dealing with flight plan and threats, is done automatically. When you load a mission up (but don't hit takeoff yet) you'll see the map, with your flight path, any threat circles, and other info. This is what is loaded into the DC. You can screw with it as needed and it will be reflected later in your HSD (pretty much your map on your MFD).
The other part of the list is something you'd setup once and not worry about again. comms you don't really need to mess with except to set a default, and make sure your default is set to tower. I'd do a number in the teens to be safe. Otherwise you're going to load into the game with no default comms and not set to tower, so you'd have to manually find what the tower's freq is.
MFD defaults are what displays on the MFD and the MFD easy switch buttons. The F-16 has two MFDs, and in each mode you can have the MFDs display a certain mode, while also displaying important types for that particular mode. For example, in A-A mode, you don't need to show a bomb-related mode, but it is helpful to have the FCR (fire control radar) display always first, and have the option to switch to stores management page.
Last, the countermeasures section are just the individual programs that run when you click the run countermeasures program. Instead of deploying one chaff or flare at a time, you'd hit this and it deploys what you programmed it to... so maybe your program deploys 3 flares per second for 5 seconds, and a couple chaff. Or 1 chaff and 1 flare per second.
I think this is a good starter's guide. Look for more upcoming guides and additions to this post, as this is definitely not exhaustive. Remember to check Krause's tutorials for help, as this is a great reference.
Installation & Initial Setup
This is pretty simple. The only tricky part is that, while not ACTUALLY used, you need to get ahold of the .exe for the original Falcon game. Falcon BMS and its updates do not use this, they merely check to see you have a copy of the game only upon initial install. If you need help acquiring this, contact me or Quick. We can get you hooked up.
Anyway, for BMS , head over to BMS forums and register: http://www.bmsforum.org/ Once there and registered, use their annoucements area to get ahold of any files you may need. The main one you need is here: http://www.bmsforum.org/forum/showthread.php?23313-Falcon-BMS-4-33
Installation instructions can be found in this manual: http://www.ravico.com/ST/BMS_433/Docs/BMS-Manual.pdf (see section 3)
Once you get it installed, (pay attention to where you install it, as this makes things easier if you keep it where it says to, which I believe is the base C/ folder.) run it and verify in the in-game menu that the version is correct at the bottom right.
Key Bindings Set Up
This is incredibly important. Once in-game, making sure to go through your setup menu to map key bindings will save you a ton of time in the future. Its unfortunate that you cannot set these while in-sim, so having one thing wrong may render a current flight useless. The laundry list of buttons is extremely long, and very tough to find specific buttons if you are just going through, but I have compiled a list, for even newbies to go by that they can reference and know they'll need this button, even if they don't know what it is yet.
First, decide what works for you as far as view goes. Do you want to use the HAT switch to look around, mouse, or something else? Second, start mapping everything you can that is important to your HOTAS stick and throttle. The obvious ones being: gun, pickle (fire missile/drop bomb), A-A mode (and possibly A-A hardpoint cycle) A-G Mode, Nav Mode, run countermeasures program (this drops flares and chaff), air brake, radar curser (if you're not using the HAT switch to look) TMS Up and TMS Down.
| Default | Mapping | What it does |
| Arrow Keys | Radar Curser | Slews around the radar curser to lock targets |
| Ctrl + Up Arrow | TMS Up | Locks Target |
| Ctrl + Down | TMS Down | Unlocks Target |
| Ctrl + Alt + Down | DMS Down | Switches Sensor of interest |
| Shift + / | NWS | Toggles Nosewheel Steering |
| K | Wheel Brakes | Applies wheel brakes |
| D | Dogfight Override | Override into Dogfight Mode |
| C | Cancel Override | Cancels override |
| Ctrl+J | Stores Jettison | Jettisons all weaponry in emergency |
| Cat I/III | Switches mode to allow for more maneuverability | |
| Spacebar | Pickle | Releases weapons |
| / | Gun | Fires cannon |
| T | Tower Radio | Contacts the tower (make sure comm freq is correct) |
| Q | AWACS Radio | Contacts AWACS |
| U | Uncage | Uncages heatseeker missiles |
| G | Landing Gear | Toggles Landing Gear Deployment |
| Enter | Cycle A-A Hardpoints | Cycles wing hardpoints (Allows you to cycle between weapons) |
| Backspace | Cycle A-G | Cycles wing hardpoints (Allows you to cycle between weapons) |
| Shift + B | Air Brakes | Toggles Air Brake Flaps |
| -- | Drop Chaff/Flare | Drops single countermeasure (you should try to use countermeasures programs) |
| Z | Last STP | Cycles to previous Steerpoint |
| X | Next STP | Cycles to next Steerpoint |
| A | Autopilot | Autopilot (How autopilot is configured depends on your settings) |
| 3 | 3D Cockpit (View) | Switches to normal 3D Cockpit view |
| 4 | Padlock | (Depends on padlock settings) Locks enemy object to center of screen so as not to require manual looking |
| 9 [Num Pad] | Look Forward | While held, allows you to temporarily look forward. Releasing will bring you back immediately to padlocked target |
| Delete | Comm Switch left | Data-link host (after comms is switched to continious) |
| Page Down | Comm Switch Right |
Data Cartridge
There are a few other things to set up, mainly regarding the data cartridge. It is tough to explain what it is without knowing more to the game... but basically in real life, pilots use data cartridges somewhat like a USB. They us the DC to plot out the flight plan, threats, and things like that. There are also really important comms info, MFD (multifunction display) defaults and countermeasures programs. The former, dealing with flight plan and threats, is done automatically. When you load a mission up (but don't hit takeoff yet) you'll see the map, with your flight path, any threat circles, and other info. This is what is loaded into the DC. You can screw with it as needed and it will be reflected later in your HSD (pretty much your map on your MFD).
The other part of the list is something you'd setup once and not worry about again. comms you don't really need to mess with except to set a default, and make sure your default is set to tower. I'd do a number in the teens to be safe. Otherwise you're going to load into the game with no default comms and not set to tower, so you'd have to manually find what the tower's freq is.
MFD defaults are what displays on the MFD and the MFD easy switch buttons. The F-16 has two MFDs, and in each mode you can have the MFDs display a certain mode, while also displaying important types for that particular mode. For example, in A-A mode, you don't need to show a bomb-related mode, but it is helpful to have the FCR (fire control radar) display always first, and have the option to switch to stores management page.
Last, the countermeasures section are just the individual programs that run when you click the run countermeasures program. Instead of deploying one chaff or flare at a time, you'd hit this and it deploys what you programmed it to... so maybe your program deploys 3 flares per second for 5 seconds, and a couple chaff. Or 1 chaff and 1 flare per second.
I think this is a good starter's guide. Look for more upcoming guides and additions to this post, as this is definitely not exhaustive. Remember to check Krause's tutorials for help, as this is a great reference.
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