Basic flight-and massive confusion-Which manual applies…
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My first “real” post here, so take it easy and have compassion on my noobiness please.
I finally got the game, graphics, hardware tweaked to where F4BMS is running okay. (Old rig, and a “generic” Logitech extreme 3D pro joystick.)
Good points, the game looks nice, would look nicer on a better rig admittedly.I can fly, take off, land, and go to guns in instant action. Any other weapons I can’t get to work or have no idea how to set them up. I hit the AA or AG buttons…then what? How to lock up a target for missile shots, where the missile actually launches to the target? In other words, which manual do I use for BMS? I have it updated to version 7. DO I use the original falcon 4.0 manual?
I’ve been looking at the key binds, but so many acronyms, wow.
Would like to at least start out in instant action and build up my experience from there. Guns is ok, until the migs show up. lol. I understand most set ups are different, so it may be hard to explain to me what to do. This is waaaay different than Falcon 4.0 that I had bought ages ago.
Oh, and yes, I have watched some general youtube tutorial videos, but nothing that shows me a total noob on the weapon set up on how to proceed.
Thanks for reading.
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Almost no one is going to agree with me, but I always start with the original Falcon 4.0 manuals.
When I am picking up a new skill, it goes like this:
Load whatever I need onto the jet. Play around with the jet on the taxiway. See if I can figure it out.
When I inevitably fail, pause the game, alt-tab to Chrome, google Krause’s youtube videos and watch a relevant video. If there aren’t any, I skip this step.
Un-pause the game, fly a mission, still fail. Quit the game.
Find my original binder with Falcon Manual inside, read all the relevant chapters.
Open the BMS manual on my tablet, read the relevant sections.
Fly the mission again, and this time successfully fire a Maverick/Harm/Jsow/AMRAAM etc etc etc and suddenly realize how overly complicated I was making it out to be.
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Air to air weapons I would learn “inside out” close range weapons first and BVR last so guns, AIM-9, AIM-120. Most of the difficulty in using AA weapons revolves around learning the radar either in the ACM (visual) or CRM (long range) modes. The radar and weapons are complex enough it’s worth it to learn the weapons really well without radar then the radar really well without weapons and only then experiment with radar-cued weapons.
As for a weapon delivery procedure manual, it doesn’t exist for BMS. It would be the -34 manual. There is a manual called that but it’s a feature update primer instead. Normally you would read the Falcon 4.0 manual to get the general idea and then the -1/BMS manual for details but weapons mechanization is one of those things that was changed so much from Falcon 4.0 that the original manual is different enough that it’s possible to get confused.
I would suggest you learn the AA radar modes first. Punch the AA button on the ICP and just play with the FCR MFD page. Use all the buttons around the side of the screen and try the TMS switch (up down left right) in different ways. The BMS manual (the one called -34, not -1) has good info on what the TMS switch does in this context as well as explains AA FCR operation. Practice on big, slow, friendly airplanes as your radar contacts like a KC-135. It’ll be frustrating to practice on anything enemy and/or maneuvering. That counts for missiles too. Don’t worry you can shoot your friends down in TE all day and not suffer any black mark on your record.
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My first “real” post here, so take it easy and have compassion on my noobiness please.
I finally got the game, graphics, hardware tweaked to where F4BMS is running okay. (Old rig, and a “generic” Logitech extreme 3D pro joystick.)
Good points, the game looks nice, would look nicer on a better rig admittedly.I can fly, take off, land, and go to guns in instant action. Any other weapons I can’t get to work or have no idea how to set them up. I hit the AA or AG buttons…then what? How to lock up a target for missile shots, where the missile actually launches to the target? In other words, which manual do I use for BMS? I have it updated to version 7. DO I use the original falcon 4.0 manual?
I’ve been looking at the key binds, but so many acronyms, wow.
Would like to at least start out in instant action and build up my experience from there. Guns is ok, until the migs show up. lol. I understand most set ups are different, so it may be hard to explain to me what to do. This is waaaay different than Falcon 4.0 that I had bought ages ago.
Oh, and yes, I have watched some general youtube tutorial videos, but nothing that shows me a total noob on the weapon set up on how to proceed.
Thanks for reading.
Original manual for the basics. Red Dog has an updated FBMS manual out. Also Krause’s vids are good for those with short attention spans.
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Update
Read through some of the original falcon manual and got my first Missile AA kills last night. something other than guns, yay!
Short attention span you say? Ha. This is a at minimum a college level course, if not university! lol. Has to be an easier way to lock up a target though other than through the MFD?
This guy locks up one after another in rapid succession in this video. How’d he do that? And he even forgot what BMS the acronym for. That’s just funny.
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All of them.
Short of all of them, I have an abbreviated start up list of required reading which I suggest for people looking to learn. Its quicker, due to not reading ALL of them, but still a lot to take in.
In fairness you could have done a search of the forums for this question.
I recommend people start off with the F4:AF manual, as it is a lot more up to date than say the original, and there exists a very useful conversion guide from it to BMS. Just dont bother to learn the key combinations, as they have changed.
http://falcon.blu3wolf.com/Docs/AF%20manual.pdf
Having read the AF manual, the next port of call is Mower’s Excellent AF2BMS Conversion Guide, found here:
http://falcon.blu3wolf.com/Docs/AF%20to%20FBMS%20Guide%20v1.37.pdf
Those two ought to cover most of the basics, but at this point I start pointing those who are somehow still looking for more to read and memorise towards real manuals.
The Multi Command Handbook in your install has a lot of great stuff in it. A brief Google search can endow you with real -1 and -34 manuals which have a lot MORE great stuff in them.
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Update
Read through some of the original falcon manual and got my first Missile AA kills last night. something other than guns, yay!
Short attention span you say? Ha. This is a at minimum a college level course, if not university! lol. Has to be an easier way to lock up a target though other than through the MFD?
Depends what you are trying to do. If you are engaged within visual range, there exists a class of radar modes entitled Air Combat Modes - which allow you to lock a target by flying a HUD cursor over the target. Have a hunt through your manuals of choice for the dogfight override mode, and ACM radar modes.
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Depends what you are trying to do. If you are engaged within visual range, there exists a class of radar modes entitled Air Combat Modes - which allow you to lock a target by flying a HUD cursor over the target. Have a hunt through your manuals of choice for the dogfight override mode, and ACM radar modes.
Literally trying to learn this from the ground up. From air to air to air to ground attack, and everything in between. A “simple” search sometimes on a forum layout or format like this is not so simple. (yet another thing to learn that I have put off for years). Easier to just ask, for me anyway.
Thanks for the link/info on the AF manual. Wasn’t sure it would apply to this version of F4BMS. (Oh goody! Only 716 pages. I see my P key getting worn out in the near future from all the pausing :D)
“Just dont bother to learn the key combinations, as they have changed.”Yeah, that’s part of my nightmare here, no uniform set ups. Other than that, enjoying at least flying around and getting a feel for the sim.
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To those who have replied so far. Thank you.
To those who made BMS, Thank you.I know I asked some very broad basic questions that are hard to narrow down. Just need(ed) a couple of good starting points. I was a small plane pilot in real life. Always had a great interest in aviation, always will, almost as much as my interest in a good looking woman (checks over shoulder to make sure wife not up yet). What to look at Wings, or women? Decisions, decisions. Sigh.
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Almost no one is going to agree with me, but I always start with the original Falcon 4.0 manuals.
I actually agree. These are a good start for basic skills.
Then, as these manuals are outdated for quite a few things, seeing the dash-1 (basically, all the panels are explained here) and BMS-Manual (for more advanced stuff) is most of the time mandatory
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How much of Falcon 4.0 manual is written by Bonanni? He is a great instructor. He is clear without losing the audience.
Always with F-16 learning it is like eating a whole elephant. No one in BMS who knows a lot learned it in one day. It is too much. You have to each the elephant one spoonful at a time. Focus on small, manageable task skill upgrades one by one.
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How much of Falcon 4.0 manual is written by Bonanni? He is a great instructor. He is clear without losing the audience.
Always with F-16 learning it is like eating a whole elephant. No one in BMS who knows a lot learned it in one day. It is too much. You have to each the elephant one spoonful at a time. Focus on small, manageable task skill upgrades one by one.
+1
Learn by doing, in solo mission. You can do the training TEs with the manual one Alt-Tab away. Watching tutorial videos beforehand cannot hurt.
Then, when you feel you know enough to make a campaign, start one, and pick up your skill one mission at a time. I actually learned how to use the HSI and TACAN when I took battle damage, and couldnt rely anymore on my HSD to do the navigation for me :mrgreen: Pause button, a look at the manual, struggling a bit with the control, and that was it !
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Update
Read through some of the original falcon manual and got my first Missile AA kills last night. something other than guns, yay!
Short attention span you say? Ha. This is a at minimum a college level course, if not university! lol. Has to be an easier way to lock up a target though other than through the MFD?
This guy locks up one after another in rapid succession in this video. How’d he do that? And he even forgot what BMS the acronym for. That’s just funny.
Yes! This is not a game. It is a sim (simulation). And, learning everything on this bitch takes lots of time. But, with enough practice, everything will seem quite simple enough later on. But, with an extremely high detailed sim such as this, there will always be something new that comes around to challenge you. I have been flying Falcon 4.0 since December 1998! Been through ALL of the mods past 1.08 (eRazor to SP to FF to RF to GF to BMS, I might have left 1 or 2 out, it’s been a long time). Even after ALL of that, I still come across something I either have to re-learn, or study. It is on going. Anyone who says they have mastered this sim is only fooling themselves. Add the MP environment, and everything changes. It is never the same twice. But, this is not World of Warcraft, this is FBMS! It does take a grain or two of brain matter to fly this sexy bitch!
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+1
Learn by doing, in solo mission. You can do the training TEs with the manual one Alt-Tab away. Watching tutorial videos beforehand cannot hurt.
Then, when you feel you know enough to make a campaign, start one, and pick up your skill one mission at a time. I actually learned how to use the HSI and TACAN when I took battle damage, and couldnt rely anymore on my HSD to do the navigation for me :mrgreen: Pause button, a look at the manual, struggling a bit with the control, and that was it !
And for the love of Allah, learn the desired aspect in the calmest, easiest, fastest situation you can. I can’t count the number of times my explanation went in one ear and out the other because the student was juggling the airplane or under threat or otherwise distracted. On the ground, autopilot on, or in a non-hostile piece of sky unless it’s absolutely necessary to do otherwise.
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And for the love of Allah, learn the desired aspect in the calmest, easiest, fastest situation you can. I can’t count the number of times my explanation went in one ear and out the other because the student was juggling the airplane or under threat or otherwise distracted. On the ground, autopilot on, or in a non-hostile piece of sky unless it’s absolutely necessary to do otherwise.
9 out of 10 training flights with my friends especially on new weapons systems last about an hour and never even get off the ground. Just remember in Falcon to switch OFF the tower frequency…
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9 out of 10 training flights with my friends especially on new weapons systems last about an hour and never even get off the ground. Just remember in Falcon to switch OFF the tower frequency…
Ahh, ok.
So I am the lucky one - never tried online flying. At least I get airborne all the time :mrgreen: -
Ahh, ok.
So I am the lucky one - never tried online flying. At least I get airborne all the time :mrgreen:I read an F-16 book, though I can’t remember which one, that equated training pilots to piling bricks on a single sheet of glass. It works as long as you do it carefully one at a time, without putting to much pressure on at once. I take the same approach when teaching my friends - especially because they typically have less interest and much less of an invested interest in learning it successfully then a real pilot would.
Because of this, I find it’s much easier to get them to understand the MFD menus and settings on the ground while not also trying to operate their jet, and they are much less likely to drive themselves into the side of a hill while staring at the MFD this way.
Then it’s just a matter of quizzing them outside of Falcon (usually while playing something else - probably ARMA 3) until I feel they have it down pat, then we try a mission, and usually they are able to successfully employ whatever I taught them.
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A good and surely rewarding approach, ASharpe! Nevermind my small joke on the online crowd. Soon enough I have to join a server and hope for friendly competition.
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Who is allah? I know who God is. Couldn’t resist.
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A good and surely rewarding approach, ASharpe! Nevermind my small joke on the online crowd. Soon enough I have to join a server and hope for friendly competition.
Well over the course of the last several decades I have bought multiple copies of F4:AF (before I knew about BMS, I swear! Don’t judge me!) and joysticks and handed them out freely to anyone hoping that one day, someone would fly with me.
The ARMA 3 link seems to be the trick that sucked them all into Falcon. Now that they can actually see a purpose behind it they are willing to learn what the Sim has to offer.
