Why not make an in depth Tutorial for the simulator ?
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other than the throttle being your “gas pedal”, is also contains a portion of the HOTAS functions - for a complete experience you need to have the HOTAS control in both hands, beyond the expeience of what it’s actually like to “drive” a real airplane.
Once you’ve got this under control you’re also going to want a set of rudder pedals…
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Honestly, there are some really good youtube tuts out there already. I personally got started off of Krause’s tutorials, and occasionally go to back to them.
Pro tip, if you are set on going it solo there are some “IQT” (initial qualification training) videos that people from various VFWs have posted on youtube. Those go over the fundamentals in detail.
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@Chu:
Quick question about equipment. While i probably wont think about a Track IR in the near future, i think it might be a good idea to get a stick. is there a need for a throttle? or rather, what IS a throttle, like what would it improve on the game experience, other than the physical aspect of having a throttle in hand. is HOTAS combo thingy a better way to go at it? Is just a stick fine, that’d be nice on the pocket at the least, i don’t mind getting both if need be. anything you recommend ? I think i might be in for hell if i stay with the keyboard. Please excuse the obnoxious barrage of questions, i’m shooting in the dark.
Hotas for sure, you can get a very good condition Saitek X45 for dirt cheap on ebay, bought a new one in the box as a spare for something like $30 shipping included. Which OS are you running?
Marc…
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Myself started with Krause’s tutorials and ChuckYeager’s from install to combat ready in 1 hour video and started succeeding at campaign before even touching BMS tutorial docs. And, boy, are BMS tutorials counter-intuitive and anti-newbie. They start you with a ramp start and bombard you with abbreviations essentially sending you back to read a complex theory. Aforementioned video just sends you flying right away before touching on complicated topics
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Learning to fly the Falcon is just your ticket to the dance…
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HOTAS is Hands On Throttle And Stick. Essentially, in RL, aircraft have all the most pertinent controls on the stick and throttle so that the pilot never has to take their hands off the controls while fighting and in other high workload situations. If you can, I would recommend getting a HOTAS if you are serious about getting into the sim. It makes life exponentially easier. But I understand that not everyone is able to just shell out hundreds of dollars. A stick is an absolute must for the sim though. You will have a hell of a time flying on only a keyboard.
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A stick is an absolute must for the sim though. You will have a hell of a time flying on only a keyboard.
I kindly agree!
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And, boy, are BMS tutorials counter-intuitive and anti-newbie.
Might be the case for 4.32, but is no longer the case for 4.33 onwards.
@Chu:
Quick question about equipment. While i probably wont think about a Track IR in the near future, i think it might be a good idea to get a stick. is there a need for a throttle? or rather, what IS a throttle, like what would it improve on the game experience, other than the physical aspect of having a throttle in hand. is HOTAS combo thingy a better way to go at it? Is just a stick fine, that’d be nice on the pocket at the least, i don’t mind getting both if need be. anything you recommend ? I think i might be in for hell if i stay with the keyboard. Please excuse the obnoxious barrage of questions, i’m shooting in the dark.
Think of it this way…. you can drive a racing simulator using the keyboard or using a steering wheel. Which one do you think will give you better control? You can also control your gas/brake by using the keyboard or using pedals. Which one do you think will give you better control?
Look at a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro as a bare minimum. You get a stick, some buttons, and a throttle. Look at a Thrusmaster Warthog as near the top of the controls pyramid. You get a HOTAS setup (Hands On Throttle And Stick), much more travel (range of movement) on the throttle, and way more buttons. The Logitech option is trash if you’re serious about flight simming, but the Thrustmaster option is trash if you’re only trying it out. The first one is nowhere near what you need for this sim (if you’re serious), the second one will only be an expensive paperweight (if you’re only trying it out).
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Learning to fly the Falcon is just your ticket to the dance…
What I mean by that is learn to fly the jet first, before trying to learn to fight in it.
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What I mean by that is learn to fly the jet first, before trying to learn to fight in it.
I agree
Marc…
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For $99.99 on amazon right now you can get the Thrustmaster T.16000M HOTAS system. For my needs, this has been vastly better than just a stick with integrated throttle. You can do most of what you need in BMS (override modes, CMS, TMS, DMS, cursor, zoom, etc.) with the T.16000M and be pretty happy. I’m not “hard core” into BMS…I’ve read the manuals and know most of what I need to complete A-A and A-G missions and probably spend ~6 hours a week on BMS and this setup works perfectly for me. This HOTAS has a very nice feel (especially the stick…just the right amount of resistance) and won’t break the bank. Just my opinion.
But also, get some head tracking equipment. It really does help. It takes a lot of practice to get used to, but once you do, close in engagements are much easier to manage. I spent probably 10+ hours mastering the “Dogfight” mode using my TrackIR to get comfortable with WVR fighting. It’s very rewarding when you get it right.
Just ask yourself, how much do I want to “get into” this?? BMS is THE best simulation of an F-16…which for the last 30 years has been the first choice front line multirole fighter for the USAF.
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And, boy, are BMS tutorials counter-intuitive and anti-newbie. They start you with a ramp start and bombard you with abbreviations essentially sending you back to read a complex theory.
I tend to disagree. In reality, BMS is a study sim. Learn the -1 and -34 before touching the training missions. Sure there are youtubers out there that have great (and I mean GREAT) tutorials for getting up and running quickly. But that isn’t really the focus of BMS in my opinion. You can do a passable job as a driver in BMS, but you truly have to know the systems (and those pesky acronyms) to get the most out of it.
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I tend to disagree. In reality, BMS is a study sim. Learn the -1 and -34 before touching the training missions. Sure there are youtubers out there that have great (and I mean GREAT) tutorials for getting up and running quickly. But that isn’t really the focus of BMS in my opinion. You can do a passable job as a driver in BMS, but you truly have to know the systems (and those pesky acronyms) to get the most out of it.
Are you serious! Most of the documentation are for pit builders or hard core, I’m not and still enjoy BMS but not taking it to seriously. The original Falcon 4 manual was perfect for me
Marc…
Marc…
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The original F4 manual is so outdated that it will be more confusing to anyone than anything else
if you say that it’s because you didn’t take the time to understand how the BMS manuals are supposed to be used or you probably didn’t even bother to open them.
The BMS manual suite are NOT for pitbuilder and hardcore ppl they are meant for BMS users of ALL level - matter of fact, they are written in a language that is very newbee friendly, away from the techno mumbo jumbo of real documentation of aircrfat systems - on purpose.
Again if you can’t reckon that you didn’t even bother to check for more than 2 minutes.A F-16 is a complicated thing
BMS is trying to replicate an F-16 sim
Therefore don’t expect to find arcade type manuals with BMS
learning BMS will require efforts.
If you don’t use the right documentation suite, the one specifically made for BMS, then you are making your life more complicated than what it is already. Which IMHO is pretty dumb.Dash 1 is meant to learn aircraft systems
BMS manual is meant to explain the intracities of the simulator. (UI, setup systems, config options, …)
BMS training is meant for the first hours of flying
Dash 34 is meant for weapon and delivery use and advanced avionicsLike any sims use you should probably have a peek at the BMS manual until your environment is setup (HOTAS, config options according to your computer, TIR, comms, etc etc)
Then you should probably have a read of the dash1 to learn more about the aircraft system. You don’t have to read all of it, just what is enough for you to have your first basic flights
then you can have the training manual and log your first hours
Then a conbination of the 3 above manual will help you progress using the step by step training mission
Then once you start fighting in the jet (that implies you know how to fly first) you can start using the -34 and continue with the more advanced training missionsSo it is not mandatory to learn all of the -1 and -34 before starting the training mission. I believe a combination of all as explained above work best
But it’s clear that you can’t fly if you don’t know how the jet operates and you can’t fight if you can’t fly in the first place.For casual flyers not willing to invest a lot of time in learning BMS the training manual is more than enough to start with.
The training missions in there follow the EXACT same steps of the original Falcon manual - but relevant to BMS
So advising to use the original F4 manual is utterly stupid.
BMS Training manual does the exact same but is 100% to BMS 4.33So basically, make sure you start with the beginning and not like the fools who expect to be able to fire a maverick from their first flight - that always make me laugh.
Take TRN02 if you just want to fly around without starting the jet. Take TRN01 if you want to learn to start the F-16
Take TRN 03 to learn to land the jet
It can’t be simplier than this gents.
but yes it gets more complicated as the training progress - just like the real deal by the wayYou’re using a study flight sim gents, not an arcade point and shoot game
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We’re not saying the old manuals weren’t great, some of them stand out even today and I still have very fond memories of a number of them; it’s just that Falcon BMS has come so far that much of what the old manuals contain is now no longer relevant or actually factually incorrect.
For 4.33 we decided to no longer assume you’d read all those previous manuals and attempted to give you everything you needed in one place to get started. This approach was targeted particularly at people new to Falcon, as those already familiar with 4.32 would find 4.33 built on what they were already used to and just needed to dip into the more technical manuals to read up on the bits that had changed.
The harsh reality is however that this sim requires a certain amount of commitment in order to get going and even more time to understand things in enough detail to do well. The flipside to this investment of time and effort of course is that rarely, if ever, will you find a piece of software that can be so rewarding when you do get it right
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The Sticks/HOTAS setups which are most accessible to me would be that Extreme 3D Pro, Thrustmaster T Flight Hotas X, and the warthog. As much as i’d love to get the warthog, since just looking at it gets me excited, its not really affordable at the moment XD. So it’d have to be between the first two, which i can get as soon as this week. I could also go for the Thrustmaster T-16000M FCS HOTAS or flight pack, but both of which are somewhat overpriced here/
Should i just settle for the Extreme 3D Pro for a while? Get the Hotas X which seems to be better, and also very accessible for me, or really push it and go for the overpriced T16000M which costs around double what it should
I DO plan on taking the simulator quite seriously, since i’ve been looking for something like this forever, never knew it existed until a few days ago, and eventually would go out of my way for the marvelous Warthog, but thats far into the future.
So what specific order should i read the documents, so i don’t get confused beyond repair.
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Honestly I’ve been flying with the Extreme 3d pro ever since I got back into BMS (around the time 4.33 came out). It’s not the best, but it’s acceptable. What I really feel I’m missing however is a head tracking system. That’s my next upgrade when I can afford it.
Cheers!
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I never fly without my TIR…it’s a game…errr sim changer.