What Is BMS2TARGET?

With the recent release of the new Thrustmaster Viper Mission Pack and Viper Panel, many users have shared their dismay that the landing gear and other indicators are not working/integrated with BMS. This isn’t a fault of the product or Thrustmaster as there are far too many applications of which each has its unique style of exposing simulation data. It isn’t fair to expect Thrustmaster to support all of those applications and this is where the community fills the gap.

Along with BMS2TARGET, you will also need TMHotasLEDSync. Together, they enable the LEDs on the Viper Mission Pack and Viper Panel to relay the indicators in the cockpits of BMS. There is a caveat though as I will explain below.

For the Viper Mission Pack and Viper Panel, there are LEDs that can be used to relay the indicators of the F-16 landing gear, the landing gear handle and the threat warning auxiliary panel. It also has two columns of five user-programmable LEDs. However, the LEDs in the threat warning auxiliary switches do not fully mimic those of the real aircraft. Specifically, the “altitude” switch can either be illuminated red or green on the Viper Mission Pack / Panel as opposed to “LOW” in amber and “ALT” in green. Also, the ACT/PWR switch can only be illuminated fully as opposed to individually for “S” and “POWER”. Therefore we have to accept some compromises in the way in which the indicators of the F-16 can be shown on the Viper Mission Pack / Panel.

For now, BMS2Target only supports the F-16. In the future, I may expand it to the Warthog for the F-18 and F-15.

How it works:

BMS2Target.exe is a console application for 64-bit Windows. I have not built a 32-bit version and I would expect 99.99% of users will not be on Windows XP!

BMS2Target.exe reads data from the Falcon BMS shared memory and sends the relevant lamp data to the Thrustmaster TARGET software that is running the TMHotasLEDSync.tmc script. The data is sent via TCP and only if the data changes. The TARGET script handles each packet through an event. Thus it is fairly efficient and should introduce any significant load on your CPU.

BMS2Target.exe reads the Falcon shared memory every 100ms (that’s ten times a second). It’s not too taxing on the system yet fast enough so that we humans shouldn’t notice any lag.

The TARGET script does not configure your ViperTQS for use with BMS. It merely controls the LEDs of the ViperTQS. If you are using a TARGET script to map your device to BMS, I advise you to use the Alternative Launcher instead. However, if you wish to use a target script to map the ViperTQS to BMS, well, you’ll have to try to figure out how to combine this script with yours. Please don’t ask me to help with combining scripts, you’re going to have to figure that out on your own.

Installation:

Download the bms2target.exe file from the releases section of the BMS2Target GitHub repository put it anywhere on your PC.
Download and unzip the TMHotasLEDSync.zip file from the releases section of the TMHotasLEDSync GitHub repository to a folder of your choosing.

How to use:

1. Run the bms2target.exe by double clicking on it.
2. Start the Thrustmaster T.A.R.G.E.T. script editor.
3. Open the TMHotasLEDSync.tmc script from the folder where you extracted TMHotasLEDSync.zip.
4. Start the script.
5. Start BMS.

Tested aircraft:

F-16 CM Blk 40
F-16 CM Blk 50
F-16 CM Blk 52
F-16 DM Blk 52

Other variants of the F-16 may or may not function as expected. Let me know of any problems and I will endeavour to correct them.

LED Columns:

The left user LED column is used to indicate the speed brake position. The right user LED column is configured as follows from top to bottom:

1. JFS Run
2. Main Gen
3. Stby Gen
4. FLCS Rly
5. EPU Run

Suggestions and Feature Request:

Feel free to make any suggestions for improvements below.

Need Help?

In the first instance, ensure you have installed the v3.0.23.1003 or later of the Thrustmaster TARGET software. Most problems are due to people running old versions of the Thrustmaster TARGET software. If that does not solve your problem, raise an issue in this thread or here.

Be sure to include the output of the bms2target.exe console window and TARGET script editor console output in your message (you can select, copy and paste directly from the TARGET console output using your mouse).

If the bms2target.exe closes before you can copy the output, you can redirect the output to a log file using the following command. You will need to run it from a Windows PowerShell command prompt window where your bms2target.exe resides. You can do this by navigating to where your bms2target.exe is in Windows File Explorer, then right click in an empty area of the right hand pane and select “Open in Terminal”.

powershell ".\BMS2Target.exe | tee bms2target.log"

Hi fellow Viper pilots. I have created an app to convert WDP data cards to a format that can be imported into OpenKneeBoard. If you haven’t tried OpenKneeBoard already, you really should as it offers many more features than the inbuilt kneeboards of Falcon BMS, especially for VR users.

Download the tool from here: WDP Converter V1.0.2

The previous version is available here: WDP Converter V1.0.1

Copy the zip file to a place of your choosing and extract it. It’s best to place it in a folder of its own, e.g. c:\wdpconverter.

Generate your data cards with WDP.

Run the WDP Converter app and you will be presented with a window with four folder boxes to fill out.

WDP Datacard Root Folder:

• Point this at your Weapon Delivery Planner\Datacards folder.

WDP Datacard Folder:

• When you select Browse, the app will open the WDP Datacard root folder that you selected above.

• Now navigate to your mission data card folder for your flight, e.g. TR_BMS_01_GroundOPS\2065\Goblin 2

BMS Charts Folder:

• Using the Browse button, navigate to the charts folder for your mission, e.g. D:\Falcon\Falcon BMS 4.37\Docs\03 KTO Charts\01 South Korea

Kneeboard Folder:

• This will be the folder in which wdpconverter will compile a set of kneeboard files and folders that you can point OpenKneeBoard tabs to, e.g. D:\Falcon\Kneeboard

WDP Converter will generate the following folders if they do not already exist:

• Alternate Charts
• Arrival Charts
• Briefing
• Coordination Card
• Datacard
• Departure Charts
• Friendly Station List
• Map

Alternatively, for v1.0.2 onwards, you can specify your own folder names or send the output to a combined folder by modifying the CUSTOM_OUTPUT_FOLDERS section of the wdpconverter.ini file. The custom folder names will be appended to the “Kneeboard Folder” that can be configured on the main window. An example ini file is provided with the zip file. The app will use the default folder names if none are provided in the ini file.

Note that it is best to close OpenKneeBoard whilst running the app as OpenKneeBoard may crash when the kneeboard files are updated.

Your WDP settings must have Knee Updater Format “enabled”, Helios File Naming “disabled” and picture size to “A4”.

If the app crashes, it should generate a log file in the same folder where the application is stored. Please send it to me and I will investigate the fault.

Let me know if there are any features that you think would be useful and I will do what I can to incorporate them.

**** Various virus checkers are getting upset with this tool. It’s a known problem when converting a python script to an executable. I can assure you that there isn’t a virus in this app. I will try to find a method to generate an executable that doesn’t trigger the alerts but until then, you will need to instruct your virus software to ignore this app.

Update:

The speedbrake position is now indicated on the left column of the programmable LEDs display.

The updated links to the files are in the first post. Both files are required.

I have started to make use of OpenKneeBoard in BMS for VR as it is far superior and more flexible than the native BMS kneeboards. The first task I set myself was to develop a simple app to convert WDP mission data cards into a format that OpenKneeBoard can import.

The second task I set myself was to create a set of checklists based on the brief BMS kneeboard checklists that were released in 4.37 U2 as dds files.

Now that I have ventured into using voice commands, as I find looking outside VR to the keyboard is an immersion killer, I have created a list of radio commands as a quick reference as I am yet to have them committed to memory.

The checklists, radio commands, etc are linked below:

Cockpit Interior Check BMS 4.37 U2 V1.0
Normal Procedures BMS 4.37 U2 V1.1
Air Refueling Procedures BMS 4.37 U2 V1.1
Radio Commands BMS 4.37 U2 V1.0
External Lighting Chart BMS 4.37 U2 V1.0

The WDP Converter app can be found here: https://forum.falcon-bms.com/topic/24993/wdp-converter-tool

@Tomcattwo wait no more. It is done.

The solution consists of Thrustmaster TARGET scripts and an executable called BMS2Target.exe.

BMS2Target.exe is a console application for 64bit Windows. I have not built a 32bit version and I would expect 99.99% of users will not be on Windows XP!

BMS2Target.exe reads the Falcon BMS shared memory and sends the relevant lamp data to the Thrustmaster TARGET software that is running the ViperTQSLEDSync.tmc script. The data is sent via TCP. Packets are only sent if the data changes and the script handles the packet through an event. Thus it is fairly efficient.

The BMS2Target.exe reads the Falcon shared memory every 100ms (0.1 seconds). Not too taxing on the system yet fast enough so that we humans won’t notice any lag.

Copy BMS2Target.exe to anywhere you like on your PC. Copy ViperTQSLEDSync.tmc wherever you keep your TARGET scripts.

If you are using a TARGET script to configure your ViperTQS, you’ll have to figure out how to merge ViperTQSLEDSync.tmc and your script yourself. Also don’t expect any support if you modify or merge ViperTQSLEDSync.tmc with your own. Ideally, you should be using the Alternative Launcher to map your ViperTQS to Falcon BMS.

You can run BMS2Target.exe before or after starting Thrustmaster Target and launching ViperTQSLEDSync.tmc script and also before or after starting BMS.

Give it a whizz. I’ve done basic testing. There is bound to be some fine-tuning to do. So let me know how you get on.

Oh, one more thing. The Threat Warning AUX lamps on the TQS have their limitations. The ACT/PWR switch has only one LED, not two as per the simulation. So I have programmed it to be off when there is no activity and on when there is. The ALTITUDE switch has two LEDs but they both illuminate the whole switch! One is red and one is green. So I have programmed it to be red when LOW is activated and green when LOW is not activated.

You can get the files from here:

https://forum.falcon-bms.com/topic/26193/bms-to-thrustmaster-vipertqs-led-controller

Dear developers, we need you to support hand-tracked cockpit clicking, i.e. HTCC by Fredemmott. This will allow us to use Quest headsets and other devices to point with our hands at cockpit controls and click on switches and dials rather than a keyboard or mouse. It’s possibly the last immersion killer of VR BMS. Please consider adding this as soon as possible.

https://htcc.fredemmott.com/

UPDATE:

BMS2Target.exe now detects when the user exits 3D and resets the LED states to off. It also recognises when the user leaves the game, cleans itself up and self-terminates.

The updated link to the file is in the first post.

New feature: custom output folders.

For v1.0.2 onwards, you can specify your own folder names or send the output to a combined folder by modifying the CUSTOM_OUTPUT_FOLDERS section of the wdpconverter.ini file. The custom folder names will be appended to the “Kneeboard Folder” that can be configured on the main window. An example ini file is provided with the zip file. The app will use the default folder names if none are provided in the ini file.

Not yet. However, with the next update, they’re moving to or adding OpenXR support, so you’ll be able to use HTCC for hand tracking and clicking, pointctrl, or this pointctrl alternative that I have designed and manufactured.

Here’s a video of it in action with DCS.

Feature Requests

ViperTQS Specific:

Two Columns of LEDs:

• Speed brake - show the amount brake is open/closed
• Radar/Missile alert:
  Radar lock - all LEDs lit.
  Missile launch detected - all LEDs flash.

Warthog Specific:

Column of Five LEDs:

• Speedbrake - show the amount brake is open/closed
• Gear:
  Gear Up - bottom four LEDs illuminated
  Gear down - bottom four LEDs off
  Gear warning - top LED flashing

I can’t think of a way to allow more than one of the above. I also do not feel it worthy to reproduce indications that are already visible in the cockpit and/or have audible alerts.

The speed brake is probably the most sensible one to implement in my opinion.

I would also like to link the brightness of the backlight to the actual aircraft control. This may be possible on the Warthog but I am not aware of a way to do this on the ViperTQS.

Please discuss/throw your ideas into the pot.

BMS2Target has now been updated to be compatible with the latest version of TMHotasLedSync.

@CyB That’s good news. I recently updated the TARGET script to provide additional features for DCS which has made it incompatible with BMS2Target. I should have mentioned this in the first post. I’ll get around to updating the BMS side to make it compatible again at some point.

@CyB Try the previous release of TMHotasLedSync, i.e. 1.0.7.

@Jetlag Did the hotfix work for you?

@Jetlag Try this hotfix.

https://github.com/iknowkungfutoo/BMS2Target/releases/tag/1.0.2

@Jetlag said in BMS2Target: BMS to Thrustmaster HOTAS LED Controller (Viper Mission Pack and Viper Panel):

Interestingly, after I had quit BMS completely and used the PS command to log the BMS2Target Console output from restarting BMS2Target (without quitting MFDE), it crashed and then I got the log output:
Waiting to connect…
Connected to T.A.R.G.E.T.
Connected to Falcon BMS

Even though BMS was not running!

My guess is that MFDE is holding onto the shared memory space and isn’t releasing it when BMS is closed. Then when you run bms2target, it is given access to that “shared memory”. But as the owner of the memory has released it, the system behaviour is going to be undefined and crashes are to be expected.

Where can I get MFDE and can it be run without specific hardware to reproduce the problem?

@Fubar2Niner said in AVA base & Morphines Profile:

When I run it Win 11 disables both the AVA base and the relative HID device.

That’s not Windows doing that. Thrustmaster creates a combined virtual device with these scripts. So you won’t see the AVA but a virtual or combined device instead.

Failing that, ensure you use the latest Thrustmaster TARGET software and firmware.

As others have said though, unless you need to do anything special such as generating macros executed by buttons on the stick, stay well away from Thrustmaster scripts and stick to assigning buttons natively in the game.

@Fubar2Niner In the script, replace every occurrence of &Joystick with &AVA_F16 or &AVA_F18 depending on which stick is attached. There is only a handful of places where &Joystick is used in that script.

Post the script here and I will cast my eye over it. Personally, I don’t use a script to map buttons. But I do use a script to export BMS (and DCS) lamp data to the TM Viper TQS / Panel to make the LEDs match the lights in the cockpit.

@Skorp I haven’t, sorry. What’s more, the WDP hasn’t been supported for a number of years. It appears to be abandoned.