I used to fly Falcon 4. A lot. A hell of a lot. I've always been in to flight sims. I have some internal debate about which was actually my first flight sim. After years of trying to remove the veil of time and ever-older age I think I've concluded it was actually the helo sim Apache by Digital Integration if anyone might recall that one. That was 1995. It could have been Fleet Defender, or maybe that was my brother. So we'll go with Apache. That sparked the fire and soon I was neck-deep in sims. Longbow. US Navy Fighters, F-15, F/A-18, well all of the Jane's titles. May of us have walked a similar path. You've been there, done that. Remember all of these sims with fondness and nostalgia. Like me, many of you got your start in that Golden Age of flight sims, when you got a CD or floppies even, a big manual, wall maps, keyboard templates. The good old days.

By 1998 I had found my way on to the interweb and looked for like-minded individuals who shared my love of sims. I ended up at Combatsim and loved being able to talk to others about this hobby of mine. Around this time the sim MiG Alley was released. I loved it. The flight models, the dogfighting and especially the campaign The Spring Offensive were amazing. Soon I was posting AARs and campaign tips. That gained the notice of someone named Mark Bush, owner of a fledgling website called Frugal's World. He asked me to join the staff. I said yes before he was done asking!

At that time Frugal's World was but a minor site, dealing more with the original X-Com than flight sims. It was done in neon green text with a black background using the infamous Comet Cursor! But Mark wanted to expand the scope of the site. Flight sims got their space and dedicated forums. We began publishing reviews and feature articles. Guys like Ken "KC23" Cook and William "BBall" Ball wrote some great pieces and the site began to grow and gain new members. And we did away with the old look and installed a vBulletin board, so common now, but back then a new style board after years of those cascading thread boards that I hate so much.

At the end of 1998 Falcon 4.0 was released. Mark gave the new sim it's own forum. And the rest is history. Figuratively, and sadly now, literally. I miss that place. But it is what it is. But for a time Frug's was the go-to place on the web for everything Falcon 4. And my home on the web.

From release through about 2009 I flew F4. I couldn't get enough. SP, MP, AARs, campaign tips, just lived and breathed the sim. I enjoyed being a part of this great community. I flew with a regular crew at Frug's and also a group here at SimHQ. In 2009 I got married and had a son the following year and the Cougar got put away. Just no time. I missed it, but there were other things to do.

Now, 8 years on, I have the time, a blazing fast new box, and Falcon BMS. In this thread I will write about my experience in getting back up and running in Falcon 4. After 8 years I have forgotten so much, and so much has changed. It's like starting over. This is the sort of stuff I enjoy reading and I hope others will enjoy following along as I re-learn F4.

Recently I decided to build a new box. The old one was 4 years old and showing it's age. So I started doing the research and ordered the parts. Here's what we're using.

-- i7 6700K Skylake
-- Asus Z170 mainboard
-- 16 gigs o' RAM
-- EVGA 750w power supply
-- 500 GB Samsung SSD
-- 2TB Seagate mechanical
-- Asus GTX 1070 8GB
-- Win 10

That should handle Falcon I reckon.

To begin I would need to accomplish a few things. First, I needed to find my F4 CD. That's right, a CD I bought 20 years ago. But once a simmer always a simmer and I had tucked it away in a box with dozens of other old titles. All those Jane's CDs, Silent Hunter II, OFP, and dozens of games and sims from the turn of the century.

Nostalgia overload as my mind flashed to each game in turn as I shuffled through them. And there's F4 from Microprose. Good. Old. Days. And I grabbed the F4:AF CD too.

With CD in hand I found the box with the Cougar in it. Pretty dusty. A little rust on the screw heads. Not a fate worthy of such a great piece of kit. So I set about cleaning it and restoring it's luster. All that's left is which version of Falcon to install. I was a big fan of Allied Force. As much as I like flying and fighting the jet, I might enjoy the campaign a little more! And AF had the best campaigns, with the most control.

In the end I chose BMS. It looks fantastic as F4 goes, and from what I read the work put in to it really makes it the pinnacle of all the Falcon iterations. I knew though that to do so would force me in to a long, steep learning curve. I would need to truly learn, not just jknow enough to get by, but truly learn systems that I had only cursory knowledge of before. Things like radio procedures and TACAN. I could always find and talk to a divert base, or land in the soup. But I cannot say I had those systems mastered, just enough to get by. But this time it's going to be different. I think. And the way BMS is, you really need to know the jet. Inside and out. All systems and procedures. Or you can't talk to the tower. Or fire a missile. You need to know the jet.

So I googled and found that I would need to register at the BMS forums to get the software. Did so without fuss and downloaded the mod. Version 4.33 comes in about 1.9 gigs and 10 minutes later I installed the CD and the mod over it using the self-installer. Easy.

Fired it up and the sim ran fine. My stick, not so much. The throttle didn't work. After quickly determining it wasn't a setting or the sim, I concluded the throttle pot is bad. So in the meantime, until or unless I can get it fixed, I have assigned the throttle to antenna elevation rotary. Not a big deal, if a bit of an immersion killer. Everyone loves using a throttle. It's just so jet-simmy. But we'll have to make do.

Next, I had to decide on a stick profile and key layout. I began reading some of the included documentation. And a quick word about that. The documentation included with BMS is superb. Truly. BMS has a very professional feel, and the developers and all who contributed deserve my most sincere gratitude for all of the years of hard work they have put in to it. And then give it to us for free. How great is that?

The concensus for stick files seems to be Dunc's. They are included in the download. Another quick google search revealed that Cougar World (which had been hosted as part of Frugal's World) still existed on the web! From there I was able to grab the most recent software suite, from 2007! With that I was able to install CCP and Foxy (Cougar Software). Ran through all of the Cougar basics. Flashed the firmware, ran the calibration. Saved profiles, compiled stick files and downloaded to the stick. The Cougar, sans working throttle, was ready to step.

Eager to be back in the cockpit I fired it up with my 6 year old son Ben alongside me. He loves this sort of stuff. He loves everything military and especially fighter jets, so he was as eager as I. I selected the navigation training. Just a quick hop about Korea to get back in the groove. Ahh, so familiar and at the same time a little foreign after such a long layoff.

Clickable 3D pit. Kidding me right? Sweet! Panned around and saw the slammer out on the wingtip.

"Fire a missile Daddy!" Sure son. A-A mode. Master arm on. Pickle a maddog. Err, OK so nothing happened. The missile wouldn't leave the rail. Uh, sorry Benny, Daddy has some reading to do.

Welcome back into the fold!

I started simming quite late; although I was able to try stuff like Commanche, it was on a neighbor's computer. I got bit by the bug flying Jane's F/A-18; I had missed the boat on Falcon 4.0 due to starting college at that time. I "seriously" got into Falcon with Allied Force, but there's quotes around that term because I did not have TrackIR, I played with a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro (which had to have the pots cleaned every 2-3 months), and I restricted myself to A-G roles due to these "hardware" limitations. I'm really only now getting into these study sims with proper STUDY taking place.

While BMS raises the bar in terms of simulating the jet, you're not really starting from square 1. There's just a little more steps between square 1 and square 2 For instance, you now have to set your pre-planned threats yourself. Comms now need you to tune in to the right frequency instead of the sim doing it for you. Stuff like that. I guess it's taking out the "training wheels" that were inherent in the old sim versions.

IMHO, a fully-working, fully-clickable, 6DoF cockpit is what sets this apart from previous sims. I used to have a control on my Cougar that would swap me from 2D pit to do cockpit work to the 3D pit to keep up SA. While it was something I had to live with before, not having to do that now just increases the immersion factor a whole lot.

So again, welcome back and enjoy!

ps. that rig should run Falcon BMS fine. I have a slightly older setup and I'm pushing 5 screens with it.

Thanks Ice. The rig does indeed run the sim well. It's butter smooth, at least outside of the campaign. Easily the best Falcon has ever looked or ran for me.




Quoted for truth. It really is fantastic. And true, I'm not starting at square one. I have some experience. But there is so much to still learn, and to re-learn. I want to learn these systems. Master them if possible. It's going to be a good journey. Hope you stick around to help me!

With the sim purring nicely and the stick sorted, where to begin? Takeoff and landing seems a fair one. I jumped in and found myself in the 'pit of a Hog. Forgot to change the pilot to a different flight which would have been a Viper. No matter, let's see how the old girl flies. Chose runway start. Very similar to the old Falcon with the countdown screen, though the actual screen background has been changed, and no pie screen any more.

Once in the 3D I couldn't contact the tower as I didn't pay any attention to the TACAN station. What the hell. Stood on the brakes and spooled 'em up. A I started the roll I began drifting left. I hadn't hooked up my pedals (an ancient set of TM Elites) yet. Unsure if I was mis-calibrated or not I took off from the grass alongside the runway since I had no way to correct the drift. I guess this was cross-wind? And not a problem with the stick. After liftoff and gear up I realized I'll need to sort out my trims. The A-10 is no electric jet. The nose kept climbing and since I didn't know how to trim it out I exited and tried again, this time in the F-16.

In the meantime I got the radio dope and could talk to the tower. Big step! Took off and flew off to 25 miles and called inbound. One of my favorite things about F4 has always been the ATC. I know plenty of players that ignore that aspect, just call emergency and grease it right on in. But I love entering the ATC flow and following her instructions. It harkens back to my days in F/A-18 flying in the stack. For me, these sims' ATC features are amazing, and from reading the docs I realize that the ATC has been further refined in BMS. It all went perfectly. What F4 pilot doesn't love the tower turning you on to final and saying welcome back?

My landing went smoothly, even if I was little under on the AoA. Touched down just past the threshold and realized I didn't know how to engage the nose wheel! What a noob! But the first landing in 8 years went off without a hitch and I was reasonably chuffed about that. Honestly though, landing the F-16 has never been a big challenge. Just get your parameters right (speed, AoA, jet config) and put your FPM just past the runway threshold and follow it on down.

So takeoffs and landings are sorted, at least in the clear. I'll still need to work out ramp starts (daunting!) and bad-weather ops. Landing by ILS. I haven't flown a campaign yet, but I assume I'll be flying in the soup at some point, so working on ILS procedures is on the to-do list. I also need to work on contacting alternative bases. Radio work and procedures.

I'm still a long way from combat, for now it's about systems. Gotta lay the foundation first. A big change from what I am used to from older versions is now the pilot needs to load his own data in to the jet as Ice alluded to in his last post. Gotta get that sorted soon.

I think in 4.33 there's a "default" set of data loaded in the DCS, so at least your MFDs and CMDS programs are present. Imagine the learning cliff in 4.32 when you had to set these up yourself.... which is pretty easy but the "cliff" for the newbie was WHAT to set it to! Just make sure you save Tower freq in case you change airbases. Or just print out the freq sheet so you can input tower freqs manually if needed.

Also in Landing, you can request Autonomous Approach now so no need to keep declaring fake Emergiencies!

How are you with A-A refuelling? They've taken the "tractor beam" effect from 4.33 so it's much more challenging now!

All I can say is that I have successfully done it. Which version, or how long it's been I can't say. Probably in AF. I never practiced it much other than to prove I could actually take on fuel. Fuel was never a concern in F4 campaigns so I never needed to use it in practice. If it's even more difficult now then I don't know! I think I need a tractor beam.

You just need a second screen, Helios, a touch screen profile from the BMS forum and maybe an upgrade to the TM Warthog HOTAS. ICE has the best Helios profile, but he is preparing a new one.

Good luck.

I was lucky to get what I have up and running so let's not complicate things

The Warthog's a sweet piece of kit no doubt, but no new stick is in my forseeable future. If the Cougar dies then yeah. But she's still kickin'.

Got in a little air to air Instant Action tonight. Not much is different from what I remember, but the HUD and FCR symbology have some small differences from AF. But it's essentially the same, as you'd expect. Worked through MRM, SRM and Dogfight modes. Shot down some stuff. Managed to get shot down by a MiG-21 who I never saw and if he lit me up I never noticed. Good SA. Where's an AWACS when you need one?

Love the gun tracrs in BMS.

Didn't get around to trying out the HMCS. Or maybe this aircraft didn't have it. I'm not entirely happy with the panning. Do you guys use Track IR, or how do you handle view panning from the 'pit?

The two-bag D model trainer. I take it by my instructor's silence that he approves.





View from the 'pit.

Good read DBond and yes, we all miss Frugals, alot (ok, yeah, Mark too).

I wouldn't stand panning the view and warmly recommend Track IR 5, took me a few Days to get used to but today I would not even think of fireing up BMS without it.

Keep the walls of text coming, it's fun to read about your "journey".

Hey Oden, good to see ya. Yes, Frug's is missed, but luckily for us F4 hasn't stopped getting better and better thanks to all of the hard work put in by folks like the BMS guys.

I guess I'll need a TIR. Are there any good competing products? Nothing against TIR just want to make a considered decision. I really like features like the HMCS but without something like a TIR I wouldn't be taking full advantage. Sure, I could shoot off-boresight without one, but it's missing most of the point. Right now I've got panning on the hat of course, but it's awkward, partly because of the ergonomics and partly due to the inaccuracy. Through time it will become more natural (I flew this way for years). But it's not the best solution. And I suppose a TIR would free that hat for some alternative programming.

I'll throw this out now, and I'm not close yet. But once I get up to speed perhaps there's a few SimHQ'ers who would be interested in some MP campaign time. Been too long.

Blast from the past. Was just doing a little rummaging around the 'net.

Quick Campaign Tips thread from Frugs

Now that takes me back. Hey Skwabie where are ya?

And the entire board

Frugals World

lol skwabie is me:p i just go by schwalbe over here.
can't believe a part of frugs lives on o.O i certainly remember your AF campaign mgm tricks back in the dayz:) (apparently you play a lot of strategy games - i'm not surprised)

Get Out! *Elaine pushes Jerry*

No way, how's things? Great to see ya, and yes it's awesome to still have access. You were on at the instant that board was captured

bwahaha i was a hardcore falcon frugalite who flew the red chinese flag under a sea of stars and stripes on a military sim board;D unbelievable but hey we were young, at the time i was still in college!

yeah frugs was missed. ya know there are some ppl today call it flame war central of a public forum, but lotta guys obviously including us thought it was very fun. i hope Frugals is doing well himself.. a great service he did to the flight sim community.

He sure did, and most of it was after he ran out of time to actually have any of the fun. I've heard a few things here and there over the years about Mark, but I've had no contact in a long time. He's one of the good ones.

Flame wars? yeah, but ya know there were only a few who did it and it was always the same ones. Won't name names, but there were a few who I wanted to perma-ban just 'cause they got under my skin. But the mods had our own forum and we would all discuss each 'event' and usually the concensus was to give another chance or a short time out.

Honestly though I didn't let my personal opinion affect the moderating. I tried to treat everyone the same regardless of whether I actually liked them or not

Me? Aside from any moderator actions required, I stayed far away from all of that and just had a good time. Like you.

I don't think i've ever ran across any moderator action in frugs except one time.

I said the AIM-9X flight model was bugged.

There was this infamous guy called KidVicious (i think he's still around) and he said it wasn't.

He kept asking me to provide real life data otherwise no proof it's a bug. Of course it was Opsec impossible. But the FM is bugged by common sense.

So we went on and on for something like 10+ pages. In the end frugals himself locked the thread. Ofc LP later fixed the FMs 'twas just not in the patch notes - as i then knew the FMs could be read by a hex editor. That was the only one time where I'd encounter a thread lock outside of personal attacks or politics.

in a way frug's set the model for me about how forums should be. as mods you naturally want to use action, but i think it was because of your inaction, that the forums thrived.
-edit: iirc Mark was a lawyer and could that have something to do with it. but well 'tis just what i tell myself!

perhaps what i didn't know at the time was frugs was rare, or forums have generally gone downhill these dayz as the internet is getting old - a lot has happened since 2008.

Well I don't think there's any doubt we let alot go that isn't nowadays. But that's how it is.

You flying online these days?

Hey i think we owe you a thank you as well, despite extremely overdue

I did a lot of MP but 'twas with a VFW so it was very hardcore/serious. Ya can just try asking around for something casual on the forums and there could be takers. there was falcon online that's a bit like the old MultiVipers but.. a few differences. this sim especially BMS is best over multiplayer, i do think so yesss
well i'd like to help but my old contacts are all the serious type lol:D anyway these are me old squads in case ya wanna go that way. they're pretty good a bit european centric but have US members and/or flexible in flight time.
www.87th.org
www.viperdrivers.org