-Ice's Falcon BMS Helios Profile Updated!

For those that use Helios and a touchscreen for BMS.... and for those who are thinking about buying a touchscreen....


BMS Helios Profile Updated!








My first profile got almost 800 downloads so I'm really excited about this one! I hope this would add better functionality and immersion to your flights!

Great stuff! Thank you so much for making this. Does it work with 4.33, or is there some tweaking required?

Edit: I'm setting up my system to run Falcon 4.33 with a Warthog, Saitek Combat Pro pedals, and Helios with your profile. I haven't had time to dig into it yet, but my hope is to have it up and running when the weekend comes.

It is indeed running with 4.33 using my old .key file. You will want to get the latest MFDE program as well as the older ones are obviously not compatible with 4.33.

It will take some time for me to update my .key file to include the changes in the 4.33 .key files but for the purposes of the Viper, my .key file should work fine.

Sounds great! I'm trying to shoehorn Morphine's Warthog profile into the mix as well. There are some versions of that upgraded to full 4.33 .key functionality, so I'll be able to diff and see what I need to do to make it all work together. With your excellent profile I won't need to use my Cougars, which is both sad and very good at the same time.

Can this work without a touch screen? Do the MFDs display on the second monitor?

Well, you can use the Cougar MFDs but that meant that you were limited to putting them at the edges of the screen. I felt that the "real estate" of a 22" or 24" monitor was too precious to waste on it so I "built in" the MFDs.

specialksl, it is indeed designed to work with a touchscreen. That is the whole purpose of it!

That sure is a good looking profile, thanks for making it!

That said, I'm having a bit of trouble getting Helios to talk to Falcon..
I have your profile running in Helios like it should, or so it seems, it's just not sending anything to Falcon.
The keyfile (Ices BMS WH Profile v4.key) is in "Falcon BMS 4.33\User\Config" and loaded in the setup inside the sim.

I see no where inside Helios to point it at the BMS install dir, like with DCS profiles? Is that right?

Any touchscreen recommendations?

Tell Helios to look for Falcon 4.32

HardTale, I am using an iiyama ProLite touchscreen, but others have used Dell and other brands as well. I would recommend getting a 24" one.

Oh I told it so, multiple times, but it just sat there, making faces at me and rolling it's little eyes..

No, seriously, when opening your profile and trying to add interface, I had no Falcon entry in the menu. So I was beginning to think Helios should be pointed at BMS in some other magical way..

However, by making a new blank profile, Falcon appeared in the menu, and then I just copied your profile over, from another instance of the profile editor.
All is well now (I hope)

That's weird. Why will it show up on a new profile but not on mine? Hopefully you copied everything over. This is the first time I've heard of this error to be honest. Maybe worth trying to re-download my profile and see if that helps? Maybe you just got a corrupted download?

Updated the blog page to include a new profile and .key file that works for BMS 4.33. I've only spent a day on it so there still might be problems that I've not found/fixed.

If you find any, please feel free to post them here! Thanks!

After working with Helios for a few hours again, I understand now what is happening. Falcon is not an "entry in the menu" because it is already added. The menu only shows you what you have not added yet. In order to see the Falcon tab and to update the .key file or whatever, go to the Profile Explorer, click on the > beside Interfaces, and then double-click on Falcon. A new tab should open up and you can set the Falcon version you are running and change/update the .key file as necessary.

Going through my profile today and have managed to double check all switches and knobs and hopefully everything is working fine now. I've added a few switches such as the MWS and EWS switches on the CMDS panel and the new buttons on the ICP (WX, FLIR). The new manual frequency knobs of the Backup UHF panel has not been put in yet and is a bit low on the priority list --- I don't think this will be needed with any great urgency anytime soon so I'm putting it off for later.

I've also managed to make the JFS, Autopilot (Pitch), and Parking Brake switches respond to changes in the cockpit. The Landing Gear also syncs with the aircraft, going to the up or down position as necessary at the start of the mission, but this sync is quite temperamental. I think if you can keep focus on the BMS window, Helios will pick up whatever it needs to pick up to sync the LG. However, sometimes my PC will lose focus on the BMS window... need to test this out a bit more.

Obviously with the new .key file, much of the throttle buttons and switches are now sending callbacks they shouldn't be. This is because in Morphine's profile, the 32 DX buttons that can be assigned to "one" controller is mostly used up on the stick so almost all of the commands assigned to the throttle are done via the TARGET profile and it does so by issuing key commands and not callbacks. I've re-assigned the easily-accessed switches to what they're supposed to be and these are the ones that are on the throttle itself. The switches/buttons on the throttle base are still "Morphine's profile" so that needs fixing as well. However, most of his commands are what I already have in the Front Console of my profile. Things such as Master Arm, Landing Gear, Laser Arm, RF Norm, CAT switch, Parking Brake, etc. so I think it's best if I just re-map these to what is most useful.... for instance, I was thinking of mapping the Landing Gear Up/Down command to the flaps switch at the bottom of the throttle. The reason for this is accessibility. I think in the real jet, the pilot doesn't even have to look down to locate and operate the landing gear lever; the size and location of the lever leaves no room for error and the pilot could find it in the dark, I would think. This is the same for the flaps switch.... just follow the throttle down the left side to the base and even in pitch blackness, it'll be a miracle if you miss the flaps lever!

Another candidate is the CATI/CATIII switch along with the Emergency Jettison button. Sometimes, I get jumped by enemy fighters and I need to dump my ordnance and go CAT I and during these times, seconds matter. With a little practice, I can press the AP Engage/Disengage button and throw the EAC switch forward without even looking down at my throttle. Also, pressing a real button and throwing a real switch can be much rougher compared to the "delicate" motions you need when operating stuff on a touchscreen.

So, any suggestions for what other commands/callbacks I can map to the switches at the TM WH base?

Hi Ice,

Great work mate.

I tried your .hpf profile in Helios but it crashed the editor when I try and open it to reset my monitors for my under and over 2screen config.

Also tried your .tmc but TARGET is unhappy too.

I am on W7 64. Could this be the issue?
Zap

I'm on Win7 64bit as well.

Try downloading again. Could be a corrupted download. Note that I posted a new profile yesterday... make sure you are using the new TM WH profile, the new Helios profile, and the new .key file.

Thanks!

New files uploaded!

I cannot get this to work. I just downloaded the Helios profile and the images and put them in the correct place. But when I open the Helios Editor to adjust the touchscreen it just crashes.

See the thread in BMS forums

Nice Ice, I got your BMS fully functional using YAME64 all seems great now!

The only question I have is what is the small button or gauge above the LG?

Best regards

LaLa

Speedbrake indicator

Thanks Ice, profile complete now!

You're welcome. As mentioned in the other thread, you may want to try out Weepop's Helios profile for some improvements.

Has anyone tried Yame64 for a single computer and dual screens with either the profiles by ICE or Weepop?

I'm using YAME64. See my FPS Testing thread for more info.... although I'm not using my old profile but rather my new profile.

Hi guys,
Is -Ice still on the scene and/or providing support to his helios profile? Am starting up BMS again and I cant get his profile to play nicely anymore. Or is helios with BMS all dead now?

- Sharpe

He managed to get banned from both the BMS forum and SimHQ, so not sure how to contact him at this point. Perhaps he still pops in here. If you're in need of his help maybe post your email with a bot-guard on it. Like

dudeATyahooDOTcom

Or put it under a spoiler tag.

If he still checks in maybe he will contact you?

Welcome to SimHQ

You might try looking for him on Steam. Somebody had posted in a different thread, some time ago, that he remained active there. I have no idea if that is still the case.

He is back at Benchmarksims
https://www.benchmarksims.org/forum/showthread.php?36563-Flight-gear-for-sale

Marc..

That's a different guy...not the same -Ice

Yeah, that's Dutch Ice, he needs English Ice

Sorry didn't know there was more then one Ice

Marc..: