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    SoBad

    @SoBad

    It's all in the sig…

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    Age 73
    Website www.radsoftware.org
    Location Florida, USA

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    Best posts made by SoBad

    • Creating and Running a Campaign: One User's Guide

      I keep notes on pretty much everything because I’m old and tend to forget things if they don’t come up after a while. For example, I have a text file of BMS notes that relate to creating a campaign, Mission Commander ins-and-outs, fragging/running missions, and so on. Whenever I start a new campaign, I refer to those notes, and realize how thankful I am to have them because I forgot at least half of the info since the last time I started a campaign!

      After a while, I realized that the text file contained a lot of semi-organized info that others might find helpful. So in Dec. 2023 I started putting together a more organized guide. I just finished it up this week.

      If anyone, particularly newer users, is interested in learning tips & tricks of how to create a campaign to suit your preferences, and then frag your own multi-flight packages to fly effective and successful missions, you can click the below Google Drive link to access a PDF document that walks you through the steps in a hopefully easy-to-follow guide. If anyone spots errors of fact or spelling/grammar, please send me a PM here.

      EDIT: 2024-05-08 - Below link updated

      https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XtIYTdQIzDmJ2gl6R_dt8O1wPFGfN3mV/view?usp=sharing

      EDIT: 2024-09-20 - This document has been updated to include any relevant changes that exist in
      Falcon BMS v4.37.4.2 that was recently released.

      Main changes include Link16 aspects as they relate to fragging a mission, more info on Force Ratio settings, and other issues/updates. The link to this PDF document is

      https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kjf1cy4zErmcJhxNhTDjffCSqPcqC19y/view?usp=sharing

      posted in Documentation
      SoBadS
      SoBad
    • Falcon & the New Meta Quest 3

      A few days ago, I got the 512Gb Meta Quest 3, along with the elite head strap with its included extra built-in battery (giving a total of 3 to 4 hours of play).

      For those of you thinking about getting a Quest 3, it is everything as hyped and more. It is smaller, far more powerful CPU, far better pancake-style lenses, wider FOV, higher resolution, etc. With the elite head strap, it is super easy to take on and off, and the rear-mounted extra battery balances the whole unit well.

      The interocular distance adjustment is now infinite instead of a trinary choice of ‘A, B, or C’. The eye/lens distance is now integrated and adjustable (choice of 4), so no more separate spacers, either.

      Meta’s emerging approach focuses on mixed reality instead of virtual reality. I think they should have done a better job at educating their potential customers about the huge advantages of this paradigm shift. While I intellectually understood the difference between Virtual/Mixed reality, I had no practical experience in application. Having now worked with both mediums, I have a far better appreciation of just how significant this shift actually is.

      With VR headsets, the real world disappears and the artificial world becomes your reality. This is problematic because the real world, although hidden, is still around, so you have funny YouTube videos of people running into walls and smashing their TV’s, etc.

      With the Quest 3, it’s a whole new approach. The headset has four high-resolution color cameras on its face that reconstruct a very realistic and accurate view of the real world in front of you. So no more running into walls, bumping into furniture, etc. However, there is a slightly reduced resolution that makes reading small print on your phone or desktop problematic. For me, I can almost make out the print on my phone when I look at it while wearing my Quest 3, but not quite.

      Bottom line? It’s important to understand that this feature isn’t just an ‘enhanced passthrough’ feature-- it’s a fundamental shift in how you use and integrate the potential of VR with the real world immersively and cooperatively.

      So last night, I used the Quest 3 for the first time with Falcon BMS. I flew an ‘Instant Action/Moving Mud’ scenario.

      The difference between my old Quest 2 and the Quest 3 is obvious and amazing. With the old Fresnel lenses, there were prismatic artifacts that are inherent to the lenses. With the pancake lenses, there are absolutely no artifacts.

      With the old Fresnel lenses, perfectly clear vision was only available in a very small centered area of the lens. Things immediately got increasingly blurry away from that small center. So with the old lenses, you got into the habit of making small head-motion adjustments to keep the area of interest exactly in the middle of the lenses so you can see them clearly.

      With the new pancake lenses, the entire (and wider) FOV is perfectly focused. So instead of having to make constant head-motion adjustments, all you have to do is move your eyes around just like you do in real life.

      In the cockpit, the obviously higher resolution is immediate and gratifying. The details of the pit are clear and focused. Even when I “lean back” in my cockpit seat, the MFDs are in focus and easily readable. The outside world is just gorgeous, and 4.38 isn’t even out yet!!!

      All I can say is that I had high hopes for the Quest 3 ever since they announced it over a year ago, and it has easily exceeded my hopes. Honestly, devs, I am MORE THAN READY for 4.38 to be released, now more than ever.

      posted in Quest / Meta Headset
      SoBadS
      SoBad
    • RE: Creating and Running a Campaign: One User's Guide

      NOTICE-- This document has been updated to include any relevant changes that exist in
      Falcon BMS v4.37.4.2 that was recently released.

      Main changes include Link16 aspects as they relate to fragging a mission, more info on Force Ratio settings, and other issues/updates. The link to this PDF document is

      https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kjf1cy4zErmcJhxNhTDjffCSqPcqC19y/view?usp=sharing

      posted in Documentation
      SoBadS
      SoBad
    • RE: 4.37 Videos

      Let me be the first to say that my videos don’t have that professional polish-- dramatic music, impressive perspective changes, and so on. I’m learning as I go with just basic free video editing software. But I’ve had fun doing this-- this is my third video now.

      Stock KTO, Rolling Fire, Day 4, South Korea on the offensive. I run the 35th Fighter Squadron out of Gunsan, and we’re now pounding DPRK ground battalions in support of the coming offensive. I tasked an Air Interdiction, using Panther 4, 4-ship loaded with GBU-12s, and escorted by Cajun 5, a 2-ship flight. The weather started out poor, but cleared up shortly after we got to the target area, thankfully (see commentary in the video for insight).

      The mission was very successful with 31 ground units destroyed, only a handful survived.

      posted in Screenshots & Videos
      SoBadS
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    • RE: Creating and Running a Campaign: One User's Guide

      @Ironman53rd said in Creating and Running a Campaign: One User's Guide:

      @SoBad

      This is a good document …

      You mention how to do almost everything BUT why no mention of WDP so that you can put all that good info to use and for ref onto your kneeboards?

      I would not fly without setting up my kneeboards with WDP.

      Just my thoughts.

      Ironman

      Excellent point, Ironman. I didn’t think to include it because, although I rely on WDP for many things, I don’t use WDP for mission-to-mission planning. Long ago I built my own Excel workbook that I keep on a side monitor that has all the kneeboard info I need.

      ex1.jpg

      I also track my missions and chart the performance data with another worksheet I created:

      ex2.jpg

      Because I use these worksheets, I don’t use WDP. But I think you’re right-- SOMEBODY (hint) might want to put together a document about the advantages of WDP! 🤙

      posted in Documentation
      SoBadS
      SoBad
    • Balkans Theatre: Very Old Pilot, Very New User, First Impressions

      In all these years that the Balkans Theatre has been available for BMS flyers, I finally for the first time tonight downloaded and installed it (without issues).

      First of all, kudos to the outstanding job at designing a download/install process that is about as close to a one-click process as it gets. And extra kudos for providing a simple one-click process to UNinstall it as well. Very well designed.

      I started a new “Deny Flight Two” campaign, and customized it to my liking as follows:

      • 22nd Squadron of F-16CM50s out of Brnik
      • Player control
      • Start date of July 1 because it provides more daylight hours and I prefer the green hues of summer
      • Probalistic weather to reflect the uncertainties as in real life weather

      I fragged a DEAD mission w/ an ESCORT flight, and went to 3D in TAXI mode. The first thing I saw was how the airport markings were pleasingly different and seemed cleaner in design and placement. I next noticed that there were fewer “misc” objects around the airbase compared to KOREA, and I hope you add more stuff in the future. Those additional items add a lot to the ambience of the airbase.

      I also loved the view of the bigger mountains in the distance. If KOREA reminds me of the Smokies, the BALKANS reminds me of the Rockies. They also seemed less angular and more natural in shape.

      When I got into the air (with FAIR weather settings), I was immediately impressed with how much better the clouds looked, and particularly enjoyed the realism of white-to-gray varying hues within the clouds. As I gained altitude I was impressed by what I consider to be a better interpretation of the ground. I was not impressed by the quickly apparent repetitive patterns of urban areas, particularly at the edges of the urban areas, however. In looking at BALKANS’ interpretation of rivers and KOREA’s interpretations of same, I wish both theatres could find some kind of compromise that shows off the best of each. Same sentiment about the bigger roadways.

      These are just my immediate first impressions, but I wanted to share them with my compliments to work well done, and hopefully more to come. I plan to customize certain particulars to suit my taste: Custom F4SndTbl.textproto file that I use in KOREA, the addition of AGM-154Cs & JASSMs, triple tier outer racks for GBU12s, and brighter Taxi/Landing lights. I also have modified (far more realistic, in my opinion) damage values for certain munitions that I use in KOREA, and I don’t know yet if BALKANS uses the KOREA table or its own, but I’ll find out and figure out how to modify if need be.

      Thanks to all of you involved in the BALKANS Theatre for a really good job at providing challenging scenarios in a complex area of the world.

      posted in Balkans
      SoBadS
      SoBad
    • RE: 4.37 Videos

      This is my first attempt at making a video and posting it.

      I honestly don’t think it’s particularly exciting to watch. It’s a rather plain vanilla OCA mission targeting an Early Warning Radar installation. But it gave me the opportunity to learn a lot about a lot of different things, such as using AMD’s ReLive to record my desktop, and using OpenShot video editor to edit and mix.

      I was so anxious about doing this for the first time that I spoke in a strangely affected voice, forgot to activate my ECM consent switch during ingress, accidentally released my landing hook on the egress, and had a stuck front landing gear forcing me to airbrake as long as possible before my nose finally fell and hit the runway.

      Good learning experience for me. Hope it’s somewhat entertaining for others. I wish now that I had used more external views for cinematic value, but I’m learning.

      posted in Screenshots & Videos
      SoBadS
      SoBad
    • Version Upgrade Assistant Document

      For the past several days, I’ve been converting my ancient ASCII text file to a more organized MS-Word document. I thought maybe others would benefit from this document as a ‘data resource’. Probably the best way for me to explain it would be to just copy/paste the Introduction section of the document:

      PURPOSE AND SCOPE

      This document is designed as a ‘Version Upgrade Assistant’. It originally started out decades ago as my personal scratchpad ASCII text file that contained the various configurations and settings that I used for my Falcon 4 BMS simulator. My old text file data was very helpful when I had to upgrade to a newer release of Falcon 4 BMS.

      If Benchmark Sims’ next release will be 4.38.0, it will be completely new install. It will be very important to prepare in advance with a one-stop comprehensive document that contains all of your existing configs & settings. This ‘upgrade assistant’ is intended to help you transition from an older version to a newer version of Falcon 4 BMS as smoothly as possible, especially when that upgrade is a completely new install from scratch.

      INTRODUCTION

      With each version upgrade release of Falcon 4 BMS, a certain number of changes must be made in certain files and settings. Some upgrades are very minor with a minimum of adjustment; others are more substantial and complex, and involve updating and reconciling many *.cfg, *.ini, and other files and settings.

      More often than not, new keybindings are introduced and need to be adapted as needed.

      Sometimes entirely new airframe systems are introduced or substantially improved (such as exterior lighting panel, IFF, ECM panel, etc.). And then sometimes major new paradigms are introduced (VR capability, the ‘Launcher’ being integrated into the program startup, etc.). The Falcon BMS developers never cease to amaze everyone in their steady progress over the many years.

      Having an ‘upgrade assistant’ such as this document can be a tremendous help in moving to newer versions as they are released. I’ve been using my personal documentation for decades, and it certainly has saved me countless hours and eliminated guesswork.

      Much of the specific data/settings initially contained in this document pertain and apply to me only, sometimes with explanations regarding certain choices. However, there will be many instances where the information contained here does not apply to your particular installation, or you have different preferences.

      That’s why this document is designed to be easily edited and adapted to your particular installation upgrade needs and preferences. That is, this document is kept in an editable MS-Word compatible *.docx format with encouragement to ‘make it your own’. So, if you go through this comprehensive document and replace the existing settings with your settings before version 4.38 is released, you will have a powerful ready-to-use reference when you upgrade, re-install, etc.

      I am making this ‘public version’ of this document available to everyone who might benefit from the hand-holding guidance this ‘upgrade assistant’ offers. It can be downloaded anytime at

      www.metagaia.com/download/falcon-bms-upgrade-assistant-4.37.2.docx

      posted in Documentation
      SoBadS
      SoBad
    • RE: How do you discipline TARCAP (AI) pilots?

      @Rouge1512 - I’ve found that if you assign them to HAVCAP with your flight callsign as the ‘Target’, they do very well.

      posted in Community Support (BMS Q&A)
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      SoBad
    • Launcher.exe UI

      Being a UI programmer for ~35 years, I would strongly suggest the following for Launcher.exe:

      1. Have a visible ‘Quit’ option in the Main Window. The existing ‘X’ in the upper right corner is black/black, rendering it invisible.

      2. Label the Virtual Reality slider ‘Enabled’ and Disabled’ for clarity (rather than ‘Enable’ and ‘Disable’, which implies the opposite of what you intended)

      posted in Technical Support (BMS Bugs Only)
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      SoBad

    Latest posts made by SoBad

    • RE: UI - Preplanned Threat-Steerpoints loosing Coordinates

      @the_tr00per said in UI - Preplanned Threat-Steerpoints loosing Coordinates:

      I’ve encountered a bug in 4.37 (.7 aswell as .8) regarding the Preplanned Threat Steerpoints.
      If you move them (drag & drop) while on the highest Zoom-Level possible, their Coordinates get jumbeled and as soon as you zoom out they disappear.
      The behaviour is best presented with the following video:

      If you zoom back in, max Zoom-Level, into the location, the Steerpoint shows up again.
      But it keeps the wrong coordinates none the less and if you load into 3D (or WDP for that matter) it wont show up on the HSD or the Map, since its Coordinates are out of bounds.

      *Sorry for digging up Bugs related to the beloved UI-Code… 😵

      I’ve run into this for many months, maybe a year or more. I always back down from max zoom before designating PPTs.

      posted in Technical Support (BMS Bugs Only)
      SoBadS
      SoBad
    • RE: How do people normally play VR?

      @kv said in How do people normally play VR?:

      Hi all, new to BMS. Just wondering how people normally have controls setup for VR. As I was thinking about using a full cockpit (thinking, not considering) and got to wondering how that works with VR. Do most people just use hotas and the mouse?

      I’ve been flying VR exclusively using my Quest 3 for many months now. I don’t even need a mouse. Just my HOTAS.

      posted in Quest / Meta Headset
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      SoBad
    • RE: Full-motion support???

      @airtex2019 - Thanks to all for the informative answers. Maybe one of these days…

      posted in Community Support (BMS Q&A)
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      SoBad
    • Full-motion support???

      When I come across these full-motion chairs used for simulators, I wonder if there’s any BMS source code that supports the use of such devices? In other words, would I be wasting my money if I buy such a full-motion platform to use with Falcon BMS?

      posted in Community Support (BMS Q&A)
      SoBadS
      SoBad
    • RE: 4.37 Screenshots

      @VIPER.-0 - Woah! How did you get the exterior lights to emit correctly!!!???

      posted in Screenshots & Videos
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      SoBad
    • RE: 4.37.7 Testers needed

      @oleuzop said in 4.37.7 Testers needed:

      OpenXR is not maintained anymore and its developer (mr mbucchia) highly discourages its usage.

      Clarification: OpenXR Toolkit is not maintained anymore. The OpenXR option is alive and well, and works great with 4.37.6.

      posted in Technical Support (BMS Bugs Only)
      SoBadS
      SoBad
    • RE: KAI KF-21 Boramae

      @Radium - Just curious… do you know what that big pimple is on its upper nose???

      posted in 3D Models
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      SoBad
    • RE: Optimized settings for my system in VR - Q3

      @Xeno said in Optimized settings for my system in VR - Q3:

      BTW Wasn’t OpenXR toolkit deprecated by its creator and should not b used with latest BMS?

      The toolkit, yes, but not the Quest Link OpenXR software interface.

      posted in Quest / Meta Headset
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    • RE: Optimized settings for my system in VR - Q3

      @EMTEC46 said in Optimized settings for my system in VR - Q3:

      Is there any benefit to using OpenXR instead of SteamVR for the Quest 3 (linkable)? What are the best settings in the OpenXR Toolkit? Any video around how to?

      My system: i9-12900F, RTX 3080-10GB, 64GB RAM, and 2TB SSD (M.2).
      Thanks,
      Ross

      My experience, given your particulars, has been that OpenXR provides much better performance.

      posted in Quest / Meta Headset
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    • RE: Custom KTO Campaign: Viper's Nest

      @Benjamin-Delmas said in Custom KTO Campaign: Viper's Nest:

      Any update for this campaign? You are doing kinda what I was thinking about.

      The scope was ambitious, but I eventually abandoned the campaign because I had pretty much destroyed every unit and that could be destroyed and couldn’t find good mission targets anymore. My ground units just would not get agressive and take over territory.

      I could have finished the campaign by taking manual control of the ground troops and manuveur them myself, but then I’m not flying, so…

      I ended up finally modifying the campaign to retaking Seoul and that worked out well.

      posted in Korea
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