I had a random thought 3 days ago.

"I wonder what ever happened to Falcon 4?" I started with F4 a week after it came out in '98. It fueled my PC building to get more FPS. I was around for the Source Code leak, I think it was a pre-christmas present from the soon to be unemployed developers.
I still have it on some HDD that probably won't spin. lol....I flew 3-4 times a week with a friend callsign ICER, I was of course NACMAN. Then in 2006 things got busy with life, I turned 40 and my career was in full swing. I tried F4AF but was not able to get into it.

I still own 2 sets of Cougar's and unboxed the second stick this week as the first one has a lot of play in it. I learned to fly real world during my F4 simming days. So when I googled the current state of F4 and saw it was ALIVE and well as BMS 4.33, I started the dance.

Damn I have forgotten more than I care to admit and alot of functionality has brought about change too. I am 52 now, and I am getting it, albeit slowly. I will be asking alot of noob questions that probably will seem simple to all you guys.

I wish I had bought the Hall Sensor kits when they were being made. If anyone can source them, I would like to rebuild my old first Cougar HOTAS while I fly with the new one I just unboxed.

I have seen the massive support for add-on hardware and track-ir stuff. Do most of you still fly with just a HOTAS and mouse and KB or should I get some new toys???? :-)

My plan is to do the training TE's until I am back up to flying and bombing and dogfighting again. Are there a lot of active VF squadrons?

What happened to Frugalsworld? Obviously it is gone but what happened to Mark? That is where I posted almost entirely, sometimes on combatsim too.

All for now - Glad to be back.



Nacman

Don't hesitate to ask any question whatsoever, even nose wheel steering ones
I fly Track IR 5 since a few years and today I honestly would never ever fly without it.
It did take a few flights to get used to coming from Saitek X52 POV button, I remember I strained my neck in the beginning.

Frugals is no more (well Mark is but not the site ) despite an attempt to get a "copy" of it up and running a few years back.
I would guess the last man here hearing from Mark must be DBond, maybe he can fill you in with more details than me.

Pretty sure there are VF squadrings out there but that kind of coop flight never really cought my interest but I think you can find a squadron list over at BMS site.

Welcome to SimHQ btw

Welcome to SimHQ Nacman.

I haven't heard from, or of, Mark in a long time. I know real life overtook him and he had less and less time to devote to FW. Eventually the site shut down. It was reborn for a short while, but that also came to an end.

I'll echo Oden that Track IR (or head tracking alternative) is essential. I flew for years without one, and did just fine. But once I got it I was blown away and as Oden said I wouldn't fly without it now.

And at 52 you're just about average around here. I also use a Cougar, and while some parts can be hard to obtain, Halls shouldn't be a problem. Cubby's site is still up, though I really don't know how active he is. Worth an email anyway.

http://cubpilotshangar.net/

Glad to see Cubby's site is up again. It was down for a while and didn't know it was back. Thanks for the link DBond!

Now for the "toys"...

Just depends on how serious you want to get. If you want to get in with a wing, you are going to need some level of proficiency and the more hardware you have, the quicker you will handle tasks whilst in the shiz-nit!

I started with a Logi Extreme back when the original 4.0 came out, but never had a computer that could handle anything more than the training TE's and it would struggle with that. About 13 or 14 years later I decided to give Allied Force a go because I heard it would run pretty stable on XP and I had a better PC, and had upgraded to the Extreme 3D Pro. I had some success with that and had actually started messing around in the campaign. Long story short, I eventually looked to the internet to see if there were any tips out there I could use to better my game. That lead me here and eventually to BMS. That was 5 years ago.

Now I'm using...
TM HOTAS Cougar X2
TrackIR 5
TM Cougar MFD X2
Logitech G13 gaming keypad (used as ICP)
Multiple screens for cockpit display extractions
Saitek Pro Combat Rudders
Logitech G510s Keyboard (18 programmable keys on left side I have mapped to various keystrokes for quick switchology)

I put those in some semblance of importance, with TIR and HOTAS being near equal, and the rudders and keyboard relatively same as well.

Here is a dated pic. (I've added a couple of screens) It's not fancy, but it's effective enough.

https://imgur.com/iTGM2QT

As for TIR, here is a video I made in dogfight mode a few months ago. No longer do you need padlocking. It was guns only, 3v1 so you can see how little time I spend looking forward, and how much time I spend looking at my lift vector. There are a few out there that can do this with a mouse or HAT switch, but headtracking is well worth it (There are other options to TIR if your a do-it-yourselfer). Sorry for the crappy res. Still practicing w/ making vids.



In regard to stick upgrades, I would recommend looking at the force sensing mods, if you have money to burn. I bought my spare Cougar with the intent to have one modded for force sensing and keep the other one with the Hall sensors for flying other AC that don't use force sensing. From what I understand there is nothing better than Flying the Viper with a force sensing stick. For 400 clams, I hope they are right(when I finally pony up).

BMS has it's own display extraction tool at the cost of FPS, and there is also some 3rd party software available (look on the BMS forums) that are not as thirsty. Search MFDE, YAME and HELIOS. HELIOS utilizes touch screen interfacing if that is an option for you. Ice, a guy that lurks around here, has a pretty good Helios profile (I hear) that is posted here on this forum and at BMS forums. He knows quite a bit, especially about hardware, so if he tells you something, you can usually take it to the bank.

I've had a bit of an busy year, and actually have only done a handful of flights over the last year, but I'm steadily getting back into it. If you want to go up sometime just holler and I'll be happy to help in anyway I can. Multiplayer is where I have learned the most.

There are other theaters, 3rd party tools for ACMI, mission planning, skins, theater development, etc. Too much to mention in one post. Anyway, hope you enjoy it. It has come so far it will blow your mind. Lots of documentation including Manuals, airport charts, stick profiles etc. included with the install, so tons of reading for you to do!

Clear skies!!!

Thanks all for the welcome! After 3 days of reading about BMS and working on an issue with my Cougar, I finally got in the air with the first TE.

That TE caused me to test out different AB settings and Idle detent. I am struggling with the idle setting.... I THINK. Initially, it was set too high and I was shooting out of the gate after releases brakes. So I brought it down more, was able to get the engine to 68-69% power. Even with that, releasing the brakes allows the falcon to start moving. Not of to the races as before, but still moving and increasing speed if I don't manually break.

Is that normal? If I go much below that 68-69%, I loose electrical power and avionics goes to #%&*$#. If it is screwed up, how do I fix it?


The Cougar, when I reinstalled it onto my win 7 64 box, no matter what I tried, registered the Microstick Y axis fully deflected with a raw value of 65535. Moving the microstick Y axis to the other extreme brought it straight to "0" value. It was like a switch as opposed to linear movement. The other axis was fine. I tried everything, including removing all cougar registry entries. Nothing! Tried the other set of sticks, same result.

Finding nothing definitive on the net, I dug into the registry on my own looking for microsoft keys for calibration. I found them and the HEX values for the ranges for that axis where FUBAR compared to the regular X/Y calibration data. Long story short, Copy the hex data from the keys and overwriting the microstick entries fixed it!!! So now i can control my targeting radar.

I am going to invest in a track IR after reading these posts.

Is there a particular force sensing solution for the cougar that works better than the other?


Thanks for all the info and video.

-Nacman

Yes, she moves on idle so keep parking brake on during ramp and use those toe brakes during taxi.
Can't advice on the Cougar, flying Warthog myself.

Similar story to you, Day 1 pre-order and been in and out over the years

Grab a touchscreen and feel some Helios / YAME64 love



Credit to @Ice for a great profile

Hello Nacman and welcome back to Falcon! Welcome to SimHQ as well!

Personally, I missed the boat on Falcon 4.0 but got in when Allied Force came out, finished a campaign or two... then RL. I've only really just come back to Falcon... picked up Allied Force again 7 years ago then got distracted by DCS A10C for about 2-3 years then picked up BMS. With 4.33.3, it's a good time to fly Falcon again!

As others have suggested, might be best to look at force-sensing solutions for your setup instead of HALL sensors. I don't think getting a HALL sensor is the issue but rather getting the gimbals to do justice to a HALL sensor mod. IIRC, UberNXT was the best for HALL sensors? Anyway, definitely force-sensing for the stick then a HALL sensor for the throttle.

I'm not sure why the topic of TrackIR came up but I can only +1,000 to that suggestion. IMHO, after a HOTAS, a TrackIR is the next thing to buy especially for Falcon. Rudders are not that important unless you fly WWII sims as well and in BMS, you can tie the NWS to your ROLL axis to steer on the ground without a twisty stick.

Speaking of TrackIR, I would not recommend buying the TrackClip Pro.... my suggestion is to take a look at UTC MkII by HAV.

After that, my recommendation is a touchscreen monitor for secondary instrument display. With Helios, you can basically control everything in the cockpit without having to use the keyboard or mouse.

Here's a pic of my current simpit:



Here it is in action:



Note that you don't need TWO touchscreens, I have a Helios profile for ONE touchscreen. The only reason I have two is because I bought a second one with the intent of selling the first touchscreen..... but never really got around to it and then had the "bright" idea of using both of them

No problem Jason, but like I said I don't know if he monitors it, or how quickly he might reply. But it would be a good place to start for Nacman to find what he's looking for.

Nacman, I'm glad you decided to get a Track IR. They aren't cheap, but it is money very well spent.

Your microstick issue is strange. Don't really know what to advise, though it seems you have it squared. I use the Dunc's files included with BMS, and it also includes a guide to get it up and running. I just followed those instructions and it worked, but there is some axis re-assignment required in that method. Perhaps somehow related to the trouble you ran in to.

Oden is right, that idle without brakes will result in the jet rolling. It should be just walking pace at first, but after a bit it will gather speed if not countermanded. So what you describe sounds normal. You can always set chocks until ready to roll.

DBond, I could be wrong about this, but I believe I heard a while back that Cubby had passed away. I always liked to deal with him.. I have his HS kit and anti-friction tape for my Cougar throttle.

EDIT: Found it. Thread.

EDIT2: Son of a #%&*$#... I read the obit and he's from Wallace, near Cheraw, where I was born.

EDIT3: I now have hope that I'm wrong... because on the ED forums his handle shows activity on 8/15/17 and says upstate NY.

Well, if he's gone that's a shame. Really helpful guy. Hope he's still kicking.

I PMed him on ED Forums... hopefully he responds. If he's in upstate NY, then the thread here might've had the wrong Ernest Smith.

Good to know. I will mark that off the "list of issues".

Holy crap that is nice! I see money pit in my future!!!

Well, why have one touchscreen when you can have two. Like they say in the IT world "2 is 1 and 1 is none" Always a backup!!! lol....

How does one tie NWS to the ROLL axis? In BMS or in FOXY.....I like that idea. I think the rudders are too sensitive in my setup so I need to do some axis shaping, but I like them only because I actually fly and I use them second nature now when I turn. I agree, the F-16 is so agile, a little roll and bank and it seems like a coordinated turn. lol.....

I love this setup too. Wife is gonna wonder if I even live here if I get all this stuff. :-)

-Nacman

If you hear from him, find out if he knows of anyway to still get his kits.

-Nacman

In BMS UI click Setup/Contollers/Advanced/View Control and then check the box on that page that says Enable Roll-linked NWS.

In BMS, under Setup>Controllers>Advanced>View Control (of all things)

And yes, Ice has all the cool kit

Ninja'd!

So what touchscreens do you recommend and what size? I have the Track IR coming tomorrow.

These MFD panels I see. Does anyone have a suggestion or review? I realize the MFD's can be extracted in BMS and output to the a window or monitor. How do you get one so small? Maybe I need to go investigate via google.


Kid in a candy store!

-Nacman

If you use a touchscreen, you really shouldn't need the MFD panels. Here's a link anyway.... https://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster...56657&sr=8-1&keywords=cougar+mfd

Extractions are just different windows, so you can re-size them.

Thanks, I was kinda thinking that. Need to find good touchscreens.

-Nacman

I have fat sausage fingers, so buttons are better for me.

I had a 27" Acer, but it was too big for my setup, hit my knees.

Picked up a Dell P2418HT and it's perfect. That's what I'm using in the video.

thanks. Looking now!

Thanks Ice!!! I am about to pull the trigger on some touchscreens. Which model do you have? I am looking at the Dells P2418HT's and which two in the picture are touch enabled? Does Helios only work with one?

-Richard

And when you see other people's pits, you'll see how my pit is quite "basic"



I recommend at least a 22" touchscreen, or 24" if you can. As jskibo said, any bigger and you'll likely have some sort of mounting issue. You can't go too low or you'll hit your knees, you can't go too high because you'll end up looking UPWARDS to look at your main screen. You can tilt the touchscreen a bit to reduce the vertical height, but tilting it too much may reduce your ability to reach for the top section of the monitor where the ICP is situated. So I think 24" may be the sweet spot. You don't want it too small.... one user had a 19" touchscreen and while it's still serviceable at that size, it's difficult to accurately manipulate the buttons/switches/knobs because the touch area becomes too small.

If you do get a touchscreen, there's no need for Cougar MFDs and I would actually advise against it. The Helios profile has MFDs built-in and the nice part is that the MFDs can be overlayed so you can still use the space that the MFDs occupy to display other useful things like charts, maps, etc. but you cannot do this with physical MFDs over a screen.



Both of the lower screens are touchscreens.... and Helios does work with more than one. Some users have three touchscreens or more!

It's all relative innit? Still, you have a nice setup. Mine is rather shabby in comparison

It is indeed Thanks for the kind words!

I'm baaaaaack!
😁

A guy takes a 12 year sabbatical from F4 to race cars, gets stalked and subsequently woken up from my F4 slumber by Nacman, and you guys have all gone crazy! HELIOS/TrackIR (which I actually did have an early version of and disliked intensely), 5 screen setups, 3rd iteration of BMS 4.33, all I can say is wow! I have a new Alienware R4 17.3" (non-touch UHD) screen with Tobi eye tracking and a full CH Fighterstick Pro setup (assuming it still works), is there any hope for me? Haven't tried the Tobi other than the setup test, seems to work well, no idea if it will in BMS. I already did the BMS U1/U2/U3 install and it comes up fine, boy do I have a lot to re-learn! My assumption is i'll buy a 42+" 4k monitor once I land in my new home overseas, but will make due until then. What voice comms program is being used, TS3 (assume MP works well?)? Are there graphics upgrades (like the old HiTiles)?

Thanks!

Well, then welcome back. Like Ice, only more?

I used to live in Sherman, worked in Danbury. Nice area.

Thank you!
Funny, the name Icer is what, when I was a kid, used to call the brain-freeze you get when you drink something really cold too fast. It's been my call sign since the first MMP flight sim, Confirmed Kill (pre-cursor to Warbirds and Aces High) back in the 80's.... we used to connect by Telnet! The "Iceman" nick and all iterations seemed to explode right after Top Gun... me, I like causing headaches..

We use SimHQ's Teamspeak, sticky thread at the top of the forum. We would probably use the built-in IVC if we had more pilots.

If there are graphics upgrades I'm not using any. Everything runs like butter so I tend not to tempt fate, nor the Falcon gods.

Hahaha!! Welcome, Icer!!

Yep, there's still hope for you! Otherwise, what has the rest of us got to look forward to? TS3 is still being used, I'm not sure about Tobi working with BMS as it's the first time I've heard of it, and Polak's tiles are great and no need for HiTiles. Check out the Israel, Balkans, and Ostsee theatres to gawk at the great tiles.

Found them, looks great. Assume only get mods made for U3, yes?

What do you mean?

I think it's more accurate to say only get things for 4.33. I don't know that there is anything out there that would work on U2, but not on U3 for example. However, stuff made for 4.32 doesn't necessarily work with 4.33.

Thanks, i'll just be sure to get "made for 4.33" additions. Right now it's Falcon Christmas to me so i'm just going nuts reading about it. I tried just popping in using my CH joystick but it quickly became obvious I need my throttle and its ministick (and all the extra buttons for countermeasures/comms/etc.) to survive two minutes in Instant Action while I re-learn the old and slowly try and learn the new. Even the HARM missile deployment has changed (for the better!).

True dat. Just wait until you get to Mavericks!

Looks like I can just put in the general coordinates of the (moving) target in, let one rip from the runway and it will find it and kill it! Maybe a little exaggeration there..

Clearly you've been studying the manual. In general you just say 'this way', or alternatively, 'that way' and the weapon goes off to destroy your target.

A little-known trick is to say 'over yonder' for maximum destruction.

I've been using, Sick'em boy and that seems to work well with Mavs or Harm's

^ Quality

Why does that female voice keep telling me my dog's breed every time I fire an AIM-120? And how the heck does she KNOW?

OK, what does she say? I don't get it.

Speaking of what she says.....

I was flying the other night and noticed that the subtitle for a radio call said 'I have one life arrgghhh', without the Monty Python-esque arrgghh part.

But clearly she says 'I have warning lights arrgghhh' Who writes this stuff?

He's got pitbulls.... That's better that me raising mad dogs all day long.

Yep!

Subtitles???? My immersion...arrgghh!!!

Oh duh, yeah.

Schnidrman, I have to. Actually I think everyone should in MP so that we don't need to worry about stepping on other guys declaration and picture calls.

Radio discipline...

Flight lead should be making AWACS calls. But I can keep it simple as needed. BTW, I only use IVC in flight for comms. Hope that isn't an issue. My TS push to talk doesn't fit into my HOTAS setup, so if I'm flying w/ both hands, you won't get a reply on TS until I have at least one hand free. I don't mind if you would rather talk on TS, but I will be transmitting on IVC.

I have terrible hearing, but I think I have heard every radio call in F4 database umpteen million times and think I have 'em all memorized. I quit w/ the subtitles cuz they ruin my pretty screenshots!

BTW, what theater/campaign do you want to do? I have a Iron Fortress going that is around 10:30 AM Day 2. Still have plenty on the table in that one. Or would you rather start a new one?

I'm good w/ most theaters, but Balkans. That one is just too buggy and gets so many updates that finishing a campaign can be tough. I don't even think I have the latest version ATM.

I think that's a little optimistic in a sim like this with no IFF.

I'm OK with IVC if we can all get it working. I had tested it this spring, but we just used TS for all of our flights.

Any campaign is fine with me. In progress or new doesn't matter. If you're hosting, you can choose. KTO is perfectly fine.

I'll start a MP thread as we have thoroughly derailed this one.

You can have the TS PTT and IVC PTT on the same switch. I fly with that setup. If using IVC, then I just mute my TS mic, that way I'm only transmitting on IVC. If not using IVC, then the PTT works in TS as normal.

As for IFF, well, that's a whole big can of worms.... Fly with a TGP to help VID. Choose your targets, respect the commitment distances (I forget the term), and always keep SA. Not everyone has to be in the same fight/furball.