I have released a very simple, free app for Android devices to help with building situational awareness when facing Bullseye calls. The app is named BullseyeHelper. This demo video shows it basic use in less than one minute:

https://youtu.be/b46GXcgMI7s

Background

When airborne in BMS we may receive bullseye calls, for instance telling us where enemies are or where a tanker is available. Seasoned virtual pilots are able to quickly figure out what the picture is from that information. Some of us have used pen and paper to plot the location of our jet vs. those enemies to figure out if the enemy is close enough to be a concern.

This app is essentially a digital version of such a pen-and-paper tool that runs on your phone or tablet.

Features

You can simply tap the screen to place markers (and optionally rotate your own jet to the proper heading). The app will then tell you distance to contact and which heading you need to assume to point the jet at the contact. For higher accuracy, type in exact coordinates in the two fields up top.

The app also contains practice modes so everyone can become better at building the mental image of our jet vs. the enemy. It works by throwing bullseye calls at you for you to solve.

Finally, the app can connect to BMS which automatically places your ownship on the bullseye chart.

The video - or these screenshots - should convey how the app works in showing the tactical picture and how practice mode works.

The picture below shows that the enemy is 73nm away, at our 8’oclock. If we wanted to point the jet directly at him, we should turn left and assume a heading of 228.

The next picture below is from the “hard” practice mode, including a countdown after which the picture of both jets will be revealed (the screenshot is from an older version)

How to use it

In-game you would find your ownship bullseye coordinates either on the HUD (only in A-A or NAV mode AFAIR) or on the HSD, lower left corner.

You then put in ownship and enemy symbols by simply tapping the screen. Every tap alternates between placing the ownship and enemy symbol. For proper heading of ownship, use the rotation arrows. Hold to rotate, tap for fine tuning.

You may also type coordinates into the two fields at the top for

• control over accuracy of coordinates vs pressing with a finger, and
• ability to enter the exact heading for ownship

With the keyboard you start entering values by tapping one of the two grey fields at the top. In this screenshot, I have entered ownship coordinates radial 20, distance 85 and heading 340 and I am about to press Send (button in lower right corner):

The entry fields accept coordinates in two formats, either “20-85-140” (for coordinates radial 20, distance 85 and heading 140) or equivalently “020085140”. In the latter format you must supply 3 digits for each coordinate value.

Enemy or tanker coordinates only require the first two values as input (radial and distance), since we usually do not receive a heading value from AWACS.

Practice

To practice bullseye calls, simply tap one of the Practice buttons at the bottom. Every time you press a button, a new challenge is produced to be solved within a certain time. In the practice modes you may tap the screen to indicate where you believe the symbols will appear once countdown is done.

The “hard” mode gives you your coordinates and those of the enemy, the challenge is to build the picture mentally before it is revealed after the countdown (default 10 seconds) and you can see if you got it right.

The “easy” mode works the same way, only here you are shown the placement of your own jet as a help so you only need to place the enemy jet at the correct location to gauge distance and aspect from that. Default time here is 5 seconds.

The HSI mode is described in detail in post from 22Jan2022 in this thread.

The RESET button cancels practice modes and BMS mode and returns you to the standard mode (plain bullseye chart).

Connect to BMS (optional)

The app will work entirely on its own, no connection to BMS is required. That said, the app is able to connect to BMS by running a small companion program. If you choose to do so, a connection to BMS will enable you to press the BMS button and have your ownship information entered for you (when you are in-game in cockpit in 3D).

The BMS button will turn black to highlight the selection of that mode. When connected, every press of the BMS button will load the current position for your ownship. Enemy markers can then be placed on the screen with a simple tap, or (if you prefer extra precision) by using the enemy entry field and the in-app keyboard.

The github page has more information on how to set up the companion program.

Resources

You may find the Android app and the companion program here:

Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.companyname.BullsEyeHelper
Github page with more info, apk file and companion program (BMSBullsEyeServer) : https://github.com/JBoysen1/BullsEyeHelper

The app has been tested on Android 8, 10 and 11 devices, both phones and tablets. If you find any issues, feel free to report them here or as issues on Github.

Updates

10Dec2021: Version 2.21 fixes an issue on Android 10 with inability to use keyboard after having tapped to place symbols

13Dec2021: Version 2.30 adds options to perform range scaling (range increase/decrease) and rotation of ownship heading for proper “X o’clock” call

21December2021: Version 2.40 adds zoom functionality

10January2022: Version 2.45 fixes layout for tablets and has some minor improvements

22Jan2022: Version 2.50 has a countdown slider and a new HSI practice mode.

Just got off the boom, hanging with my AI buddies (and celebrating that my screenshots are working again)

haha, those are really well done. “zero paid DLC” lol

@tgw One thing especially with 4.36 that I am looking forward to is the improved fog. That might give us the ability to come closer to encountering situations like this. Notice how the stern is barely visible from the LSO station so imagine the cockpit experience:

Image is from this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUSVJ-pncNs

I would say the terrain too - and with that comes better (more believable) cities, forests, coastal areas, ocean. From far up they look ok, but they should look good up close as well.

All, I am about to push a version 2.2 which allows you to tap the screen to place enemy and ownship symbols on the Bullseye chart, instead of using the app keyboard. You may still enter coordinates using the app keyboard, both methods work.

For the practice modes, tapping the screen will place a circle showing the user estimate for where the symbols are going to end up. I believe that was the notion behind your idea, @foxster. An example is this screenshot (I was a little bit off for both symbols):

In the regular mode (not practice, not BMS) every tap alternates between placing the ownship and enemy symbol. That way the keyboard is not necessary to use any longer, unless:

• you want very high control/accuracy of coordinates, or

• you want to enter the precise heading for ownship, or

• you want to place a symbol outside the 100nm default distance, in which case the rings will scale to accomodate the longer distance from BE.

In this mode the ownship heading defaults to 360 as a nod to Rolling Fire but you can change it with the keyboard. If someone has a gesture suggestion for the heading let me know.

The BMS button will fetch the full set of coordinates for ownship (including current heading) and display that. In BMS mode, every tap will place an enemy marker and give directions towards it.

The release should roll out to devices soon (it has passed Google Play review). I will also put together a short demo video of the app

To be continued…

-jb

@Leandro It is described on p. 239 of the BMS-Training.pdf.

But basically, to input the coordinates you

Open DEST on the ICP, using LIST-1
Set a number, say 56 and press ENTR
Go down to where it says “LAT N”, then press 2
Input the N coordinates, press ENTR
You are now at “LNG E”
Press 6, then input the E coordinates, press ENTR

You may enter an altitude as well.

You can now set 56 as a Steerpoint

-JayB

Just as a heads-up, 4.36 now allows for inversion of throttle axis

Hi, as many others I sometimes fly as #2 with the AI for a quick flight, to do formation training. Practicing rejoins, going spread, echelon right etc.

One thing I noticed about the lead #1 is that his comms around the ATC is very good. Orders the flight to push tower, approach, which formation to assume for landing etc.

The next phase outside ATC is a bit lacking though, after taking off he does not announce to “push Tactical” after we have been on Departure. And when coming up on a tanker, he does not announce that flight should push the tanker UHF to listen in on his comms with the tanker. It would be nice if that could be remedied at some point.

But getting back to the formation practice: In between steerpoints flying is pretty smooth. That is when it is possible to fly alongside the lead and practice formations.

But when transitioning to next steerpoint, his manouvering can get a little unstable. Going burner, abrupt altitude changes etc.

This wouldn’t be so bad if it was announced, like a human lead would do.

So say we are flying between steerpoint 2 and 3, and coming up on steerpoint 3. The next path from 3 to 4 requires a left turn.

A few improvements in comms could go a long way:

Announce in advance when transitioning to next steerpoint. For instance, “Spade 1, reference steer 4”.
Announce in advance how he plans to manouver onto the next part of the flight path (from 3 to 4): “Spade 1, 30 degree left turn, angels 26”

These messages contain information that he has and is going to apply himself, and hearing it out loud would go a long way to make the #1 a good lead.

It would be nice to see some attention to these suggestions at some point, although I have no idea how hard it is to do.

Thanks,
JayB

<p>@Gear5 I would guess that you got the calls “is there a problem?” or “expedite taxiing” since you were a bit late to start taxiing? Ground aborting your flight might have resolved the situation, allowing the other flights to move. You did taxi late, after all, so aborting and then re-requesting taxi again could perhaps have resolved the queing issues in the mind of the ATC. <br /></p>

@CaptCanada A very common use for WDP is to set up the kneeboard pages. This video shows how to use WDP for that purpose. It covers basic use of WDP with BMS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFZyDA1TCmc

Having landed as lead of a 2-ship at Muan (TE was TE_BMS_000_Welcome_436) I got stutters when wheels down and eventually crashed. No stutters at other airbases that the mission has you fly to (Incheon, Yangyang)

The session crashed when I was on the Echo taxiway, right after I had requested taxi back to ramp and started moving. My #2 had landed as well, but had not talked to tower yet.

Here is the crash description, I have dump file if relevant.

================================== CRASHLOG =====================================
Falcon BMS.exe caused an EXCEPTION_BREAKPOINT in:
0000000004CE7F84 Falcon BMS.exe, ObjectiveClass::IsParkingPointOccupied()+180 byte(s), E:\WIP\BMS\Repo\Code-Dev\CAMPAIGN\CAMPLIB\Objectiv.cpp, line 2039
Exception handler called in UnhandledExceptionHandler.
BreakpointBytes at CS:RIP: CC 32 C0 48 83 C4 28 C3 CC CC CC CC 48 8B 81 80 

Registers:
RAX=0x0000000107c10870  RBX=0x0000000107a98db0  RCX=0x0000000004ededf0  RDX=0x000000000000376d
RSI=0x0000000000000b73  RDI=0x0000000051397ec0  RBP=0x000000002f6aede0  RSP=0x000000002f6aec80
RIP=0x0000000004ce7f84  FLG=0x0000000000000206  
 R8=0x0000000107c108b0   R9=0xf3a508a3d7febd25  R10=0x0000000107a98db0  R11=0x00000100000001b3
R12=0x0000000051397fec  R13=0x0000000051397ff0  R14=0x0000000051397ec0  R15=0x0000000000000000
CS=0x0033  DS=0x002B  SS=0x002B  ES=0x002B  FS=0x0053  GS=0x002B

Call Stack:
0033:0000000004CE7F84 Falcon BMS.exe, ObjectiveClass::IsParkingPointOccupied()+180 byte(s), E:\WIP\BMS\Repo\Code-Dev\CAMPAIGN\CAMPLIB\Objectiv.cpp, line 2039, Parameters(0x0000000007A98DB0 0x0000000000000000 0x00000000C2440000 0x0000000000000000)
0033:00000000047772EA Falcon BMS.exe, DigitalBrain::FindNextTaxitforParking()+58 byte(s), E:\WIP\BMS\Repo\Code-Dev\SIM\DIGI\landme.cpp, line 2925+15 byte(s), Parameters(0x0000000048D1C366 0x0000000000000001 0x0000000000000001 0x0000000007A98DB0)
0033:000000000477D5CF Falcon BMS.exe, DigitalBrain::Land()+23823 byte(s), E:\WIP\BMS\Repo\Code-Dev\SIM\DIGI\landme.cpp, line 2774, Parameters(0x00000000071F8700 0x0000000023FD9E00 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000001)
0033:00000000047C6673 Falcon BMS.exe, DigitalBrain::Actions()+1043 byte(s), E:\WIP\BMS\Repo\Code-Dev\SIM\DIGI\Actions.cpp, line 262, Parameters(0x0000000000000001 0x000000002E8AD190 0x0000000000000001 0x0000000051397EC0)
0033:0000000004770C69 Falcon BMS.exe, DigitalBrain::FrameExec()+1193 byte(s), E:\WIP\BMS\Repo\Code-Dev\SIM\DIGI\Digimain.cpp, line 972, Parameters(0x0000000040200000 0x000000002EC1CD70 0x000000002F6AF380 0x0000000004AF6085)
0033:00000000046A9839 Falcon BMS.exe, AircraftClass::GatherInputs()+489 byte(s), E:\WIP\BMS\Repo\Code-Dev\SIM\Aircraft\AircraftInputs.cpp, line 290+30 byte(s), Parameters(0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000001 0x000000002EC1D108 0x0000000000000001)
0033:00000000046B483B Falcon BMS.exe, AircraftClass::DoLogic()+10715 byte(s), E:\WIP\BMS\Repo\Code-Dev\SIM\Aircraft\Aircraft.cpp, line 3099, Parameters(0x000000002F6AFD80 0x000000000E2D0C70 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000005221720)
0033:000000000499DF5A Falcon BMS.exe, SimulationDriver::Cycle()+1434 byte(s), E:\WIP\BMS\Repo\Code-Dev\SIM\SIMDRIVE\Simdrive.cpp, line 793, Parameters(0x000000002F6AFE01 0x0000000000000000 0x00000000022AE5B3 0x0000000000000000)
0033:00000000049E5F87 Falcon BMS.exe, SimulationLoopControl::Loop()+1143 byte(s), E:\WIP\BMS\Repo\Code-Dev\SIM\SimLoop\Simloop.cpp, line 558, Parameters(0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 0x00000000049E5B10)
0033:0000000004534E7D Falcon BMS.exe, ThreadUnhandledExceptionWrapper()+109 byte(s), E:\WIP\BMS\Repo\Code-Dev\FALCLIB\ehandler.cpp, line 1588+5 byte(s), Parameters(0x0000000000000000 0x000000002EA5EB00 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000)
0033:0000000004C944F1 Falcon BMS.exe, thread_start<unsigned int (__cdecl*)(void * __ptr64)>()+93 byte(s), d:\th\minkernel\crts\ucrt\src\appcrt\startup\thread.cpp, line 115+5 byte(s), Parameters(0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000)
0033:00000000885A7034 KERNEL32.DLL, BaseThreadInitThunk()+20 byte(s), Parameters(0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000)
0033:0000000088DE2651 ntdll.dll, RtlUserThreadStart()+33 byte(s), Parameters(0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000)

OK, some progress and observations: After landing at the first airbase (Incheon) and all had requested taxi back from tower, I stopped my jet in the taxiway, blocking the others from moving to the parking area. I then requested taxi for departure.

I had been first to land, #2 was last to land due to go-around. During the wait for #2, #3 was gone/despawned, leaving me, #2 and #4. #2 made an attempt at taxiing but seemed confused (or had problems getting around #4 who was stuck in front of him) and stopped at the opposite end of the neighboring runway we had gotten taxi clearance for. #4 was in a coma, probably from losing his element lead.

I taxied to the EOR and got the contact-tower call. #2 and #4 still stuck with #4 not having moved at all. I called “Ready for Departure” to tower and started entering the runway. At which point #2 woke up and started taxiing across taxiways and runways, just a beeline to get beside me for takeoff. After waiting for him, we took off as usual, now down to a 2-ship from 4-ship.

The next airbase is Yangyang. I touched down and went through the comms ladder, BEFORE #2 had a chance to talk to ground. He had landed at that moment and was slowing down. I requested taxi for departure from ground and got clearance while #2 was still on the runway. He then turned around and followed me to the opposite end of the runway. We lined up and took off again from Yangyang.

So it seems that for this mission with multiple landings to work, I need to be lead and talk to tower early after landing and request departure. Preferably before the others get a chance to request taxi back. Forget about flying as #2 it would seem.

As for how crucial it is to request taxi for departure, before the other flight members even talk to tower I am not sure of yet. I wanted to test at the next airbase (Muan), but BMS started stuttering at Muan and eventually crashed. Separate report on that to follow

Re: ATC problem

The previous issue where you could not get clearance to taxi for departure after having landed is solved with U1.

But: In the “Welcome to BMS 4.36” TE, the AI will not follow. Once they taxi back to ramp, they will not taxi out again. They park with chocks and some of them open the canopy. I do not know how to fly that mission because of that. A real shame since it involves some challenges (AAR as a 4-ship, short landings etc).

Any suggestions welcome,

-jayb

@jc1 minor issue but I thought about that as well. Switching would make it conform to a bullseye call format

@arabianjules How big is the .jpg file ? Seem to remember there is a limit…

Edit: Never mind, it is one of WDPs own pictures

One suggestion for future version(s):

With the steerpoints and being able to step through them, it would be nice if the current one was emphasized as you go through them. Like double circle/symbol size, different color while selected, solid circle (with some opacity) or something else.

Cheers,
JayB

@Micro_440th Fantastic stuff, thank you. The drag control is awesome

@Dukera Ok. Do you remeber if you reinstalled into same folder as before, or a different one?

Reason I ask is because you may have a registry key pointing to a wrong place. AFAIR, Mission Commander uses those keys to figure out where BMS is installed.

You could check the registry contents at “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Benchmark Sims”

@Dukera Did you change your BMS install - move it, rename the folder or something else ?