Virtual Crew Chief for BMS v1.1
By Ricky and @Tomcattwo
Virtual Crew Chief for BMS (VCC4BMS) provides a fully interactive crew chief to assist with your startup. Based on the original DCS Virtual Crew Chief by Bogey Dope (a real-life F-16 crew chief), VCC4BMS reacts to the actual movements, switch settings and data Falcon BMS produces for your aircraft. VCC4BMS can be included in, and works with, other Falcon BMS Voice Control software (such as Foxster’s FoxVox or SemlerPDX’s AVCS) using VoiceAttack (full version). VCC4BMS can be used with any combination of stick, throttle, rudder pedals and/or keyboard.
Tremendous thanks to Bogey Dope for the original profile and Lightning for making his shared memory tools available.
Changelog
1.1
- Added responses in which the pilot is addressed as “ma’am” instead of “sir”. This can be configured by saying the command “Configure pilot gender” at any time.
- After waving off, the crew chief now removes the chocks. This takes a while!
- Improved the storage and retrieval of settings, such as the joystick axes.
Updating instructions
- If you have a previous version of VCC4BMS installed, delete it from VoiceAttack (click the profile actions menu with the + and arrows, “Delete Profile”).
- Copy the folders “Apps” and “Sounds” to your VoiceAttack folder, overwriting any existing files.
- If you had VCC4BMS included in another profile, such as SemlerPDX’s AVCS, you must redo this.
Installation instructions
- It is recommended to uninstall the original DCS Virtual Crew Chief profile to avoid interference.
- Install the new profile the usual way from VoiceAttack (profile actions menu, “Import Profile”, select the “Virtual Crew Chief for BMS.vap” file).
- Copy the folders “Apps”, “Shared” and “Sounds” to your VoiceAttack folder. If you have installed VoiceAttack through Steam, this is usually “C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\VoiceAttack”. This should result in new folders “Virtual Crew Chief for BMS” in your “Apps” and “Sounds” folders and a new file “F4SharedMem.dll” in your “Shared\Assemblies” folder. Right click the “F4SharedMem.dll” file, choose “Properties”, then under “Attributes” make sure “Blocked” is not checked. If so, uncheck it and click “OK”.
- If you have not already done so, assign your controllers (stick, throttle, rudder pedals) in VoiceAttack. Click the “Options” wrench icon, then click the button “Joystick Options”. Use the “Assign” buttons to assign your controllers to Joysticks 1/2/3/4, however many you need. Make sure the corresponding “Enable Joystick 1/2/3/4” checkboxes are checked.
- The first time you run the profile, it will attempt to detect your joysticks and their axes. Just follow the instructions in VoiceAttack. If you do not have a certain controller (such as rudder pedals or toe brakes), hold S to skip configuring it. You can always rerun the configuration by saying the command “Configure joysticks”.
- It is recommended to have the profile only send its commands to Falcon BMS. To do this, click the “Edit Profile” pencil icon, then the Options button (top center). Under Profile General tab, click the radio button next to the empty field under “Send Commands to this target:”. Select or type “Falcon BMS.exe”. Confirm by clicking “OK” and then the “Done” button.
- You might want to include this profile into another profile, such as SemlerPDX’s AVCS. This can be done by making AVCS CORE the active profile and then following the diagram below.
Differences with the original DCS Virtual Crew Chief
In general:
- The commands do not start and stop VoiceAttack from listening for commands anymore. All commands block each other automatically now. This has removed the need for the “Hey chief” phrase to start a command.
- Similarly, the “Disregard / Standby” phrase has also gotten a new function. This now stops any currently running command. This could be useful for when you want to break out of a situation where the crew chief is waiting for something to happen.
- Many of the commands have been made more reliable by adding more variations on words and phrases.
- A few commands have gotten an extra “Copy” or “Yes” as a response, just so you know the phrase was recognized.
Specific notes per command:
- Comms Check
Now waits for your response “Loud and clear / Lima charlie / Good / etc.” before continuing. Confirms with an extra “Yes”. - JFS Start 2
Now waits for RPM to run up before confirming a good start. - EPU Check
Now presses the keys T 1 to actually remove the EPU pin. - EPU Check Complete
No functional changes. - SEC Check
Now waits for the nozzle to close before continuing. - Run Up
Unchanged. Not really necessary, because the crew chief confirms you are clear to run up in the previous step. - SEC Check Good
Now confirms command with “Copy”. Waits for the nozzle to open before continuing. Then continues to the speed brakes check, waiting in turn for the speed brakes to open and close. This might need to be moved to the next step, but this is how it was in the original profile. - Flight Controls Clear
No functional changes. - BIT Check
No functional changes. - Trim Check
No functional changes. - FLCS Disconnected
Now only confirms no movement if the trims actually do not move during check. - FLCS Connected
Now waits for each trim to move before confirming. Trims can be checked in any order. - Big Movements / 14. DBU Movements
Now waits for each flight control input before confirming. Flight controls can be checked in any order.
Because the shared memory does not contain any information on the position of the control surfaces, VoiceAttack reads the positions of your stick and rudder pedals instead. This is why they need to be configured when running the profile the first time.
Keyboard input works too, using the default keys for flight control: ctrl + shift + arrow up/down/left/right for the stick and comma (,) and dot (.) for the rudder pedals.
The shared memory also does not indicate whether manual pitch override (MPO) is enabled or not. This means the kick can only be checked by using the keyboard input for the MPO switch. The default key is O and it needs to be held down for a second. Do not forget to reset the switch to NORM afterwards. - Ready Left Brake / 17. Ready Right Brake
No functional changes. - / 18. Brake Channels
Now waits for brake movement before confirming. Then waits for movement to stop before continuing. If there is no movement within a few seconds after starting the command, the crew chief reports no movement.
Again, the shared memory does not offer information on the position of the brakes, so VoiceAttack is reading the position of your toe brakes.
Keyboard is also supported, using the default key for wheel brakes: K. - Refuel Door Check
Now waits for refuel door to open and close before confirming. - Cleared Off
Now presses the keys T 2 to remove the chocks. It takes the crew chief 90 seconds to do this! He/She needs to unplug his/her headset at the Ground Comm panel, pull the starboard wheel chocks, duck under the nozzle, and finally pull the port side wheel chocks.
The Conversational commands have remained unchanged.