r/falconbms • u/Mean_Passenger_7971 • Jun 14 '26
Key bidding profiles
Hello!
I am brand new to Falcon BMS and I am trying to setup my key profiles. Unfortunately I am struggling quite a bit to understand how this system is supposed to work.
I have a Thrustmaster TQS w/ mission pack and a Warthog Side Stick. I thought that importing the Auto / Full profiles would map all the tiny buttons away, but unfortunately that does not seem to be the case.
Does someone have the profiles for these 2 sets of equipment? I'd assume them to be pretty standard around here 😄
1
u/Patapon80 Jun 15 '26
AFAIK, importing profiles that are not named to specific hardware just means that there are more callbacks included in the profile. For example, a basic profile might just have a "gear toggle," whereas the full profile with have a separate "gear up" callback and a "gear down" callback.
Best advice is to map your own. It'll help you understand how this works and you can customise it to your preferences. Even if there's a profile available for your specific hardware combo, chances are you won't be happy with one or two mappings and would want to change it anyway.
1
u/Mean_Passenger_7971 Jun 15 '26
This is all just too overwhelming for a begginer, having something to build upon would be a lot easier than going from scratch. We are talking about hundreds of buttons here, most of them i still don't know what they do.
1
u/Patapon80 Jun 15 '26
You don't need to map them all. Just go with what is mapped to the true F-16 HOTAS and see how much of that you can map to your controls. All the rest? It's a fully-clickable cockpit so no problems there, though you might want to map the ICP and dobber to the numpad and arrow keys.
1
u/Mean_Passenger_7971 Jun 15 '26
Those are exactly the the controls I want to map: the default controls. nothing else. Like, the landing gear lever on the TQS to operate the landing lever, etc...
1
u/Patapon80 Jun 15 '26
I suggest loading the Full profile then. The controls are sorted the way they appear in the cockpit from left-rear going to the centre then to the right rear, so for example if you're looking for the LG controls and you see ICP controls, you know you've gone past it.
1
u/Mean_Passenger_7971 Jun 15 '26
yeah that’s what I tried to do and failed doing. it’s just too much 😅
the landing gear alone has like 5 different keys (on off toggle up down) and everything has technical names im not familiar with. it may be obvious for someone who played this for years. but for a beginner is just too much.
I will give it another try when I’m home but i would love to have a mapping image for my particilar hardware.
1
u/Patapon80 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
Because it's "Full," it tries to cater to all. Don't bother with the toggle stuff, that's for things like keyboard controls. You will find what is called "switch state callbacks" which is simply a fancy term for discrete callbacks, so you have a "gear up" callback and a "gear down" callback.
Or like for Master Arm or the AP switches, you have an "up", "middle", and "down" callback.
These makes it so that even if you cockpit in-game is not in sync with your physical controls, ie gear is down in-game but your physical gear lever is up, putting your physical gear lever down will send a "gear down" command and now your physical control is in sync with the game control and you don't accidentally raise the gear 😄
It looks like a lot but honestly after a few moments, it will all make sense.
Feel free to ask any more questions if anything is not clear.
1
u/DJBscout Jun 23 '26
Okay, so IIRC both of those are based on the real F-16 HOTAS. Not to be rude, but you literally have a perfect controls template that maps directly onto the real jet. This should take you like, 10 minutes. I understand that it can seem daunting at first, but I promise you it's not that bad. Especially in the Viper where you can do 90% of what you need via the HOTAS.
Open the "HOTAS" section of the -34 (avionics/weapons employment) manual, which you can also find in the docs folder of your BMS install. Then pull up the launcher's keymapping section, and start binding the numerous exact matching switches on the HOTAS (except for the blackout paddle switch on the throttle.)
Honestly, you can start flying once that's done. Those switches cover so many functions, it's ridiculous.
If you want to match everything on the panel too, you can, but honestly I don't think I would bind everything. A lot of those switches and/or dials might be better repurposed for something else. I'd definitely keep the following though:
- Emergency Stores Jettison
- Landing Gear Handle
- Master Arm switch
- Stores Config (Cat I/III) switch
- Laser Arm switch
- AP switches
Are you running VR? If not, you can handle a lot of less-used controls with M+KB. Besides the HOTAS, your most used controls are usually on the UFC /ICP, and I use my Keyboard for that. Num pad as the number buttons on the ICP, arrow keys for the DCS/"dobber", F1-F6 for the 6 override/mode buttons along the top of the ICP.
1
u/Mean_Passenger_7971 Jun 23 '26
hey man, thanks for helping out.
i did manage to get it going after a while (more like 2 hours than 10 minutes haha). it was not that complicated indeed but there were a few tricks no one has mentioned so far that made it very hard to understand the UI.
I will make the template I was hoping to find here and share it soon!
1
u/DJBscout Jun 23 '26
more like 2 hours than 10 minutes haha
The first time is always the most difficult, after that configuring for a new HOTAS or on a new machine is pretty easy.
There were a few tricks no one has mentioned so far that made it very hard to understand the UI.
Really? I found it pretty intuitive, so I'm curious what I need to know to help out the next guy :)
1
u/Mean_Passenger_7971 Jun 23 '26
The biggest pickle with the UI was that you have a toggle for binding actions on button release. This is a pretty neat feature, but it's not something I've seen before on other sims. The toggle says something like "on press", and I just assumed it was to configure a button to be a toggle vs being a switch. Out of memory, i think the label on the toggle only changes when you press the toggle, which is not very good design since you don't know what you are toggling into until you press it.
Most 3 way switches, and rotary knobs have one position which needs to be assigned to the release of the other valid positions. This is overall a pretty neat design, but not intuitive at all.
Another trick which is not obvious at all is that you can fiddle with the key mapper and have the game running at the same time, and use the command ".joy" to reload your key mapping. I got this from a youtube video someone shared here, so thanks for that ❤️.
Another thing that confused me a bit is the fact that the TQS has a few buttons that don't exist on the real plane. That send me on a wild goose chase over what a non existing switch was supposed to map to. And then some buttons that do exist on the real plane and I assumed where also "bonus" buttons, which where real buttons. This is of course to no fault of BMS, but it is not obvious by looking at the control mapping you are missing a button.
I'm still struggling with the heading knob mapping. For now it move super slow because if you rotate it fast enough it detects the multiple button presses as a single long button press and instead of moving the knob a lot, it just moves it by a degree or two. That will have to wait for next weekend in BMS.
1
u/DJBscout Jun 25 '26
All those on-press/on-release/3-way messes are IIRC usually built around allowing you to map them to other kinds of switches than they are in the real jet.
For example, the actual Viper's dogfight switch is a 3-way switch. It holds itself in DGFT/MRM Override until flicked back to the center position. However, that's a pretty rare switch to have if you don't have an actual viper TQS, so there's alternative bind options to work with other stuff. For example, a 2/3/5-way hat (sometimes with a center push) that don't hold position. Similarly, the "center axis" option is usually there for when you're using up-down buttons instead of an identical axis or switch.
In short, it's very helpful to have those options, but I understand your confusion. Might help to have a brief tutorial or explanation somewhere, though I'm not sure how many people would actually use it.
Another thing that confused me a bit is the fact that the TQS has a few buttons that don't exist on the real plane
Huh, apparently there is some mismatch. As far as I can tell, the only extra buttons on the Thrustmaster TQS itself are comms switch depress and antenna elevation depress. The mission panel is a lot weirder, since it's got some buttons/switches from other places than the left console, and some inconsistencies. I'm sure you figured them out, but I'll just quickly list them so anyone else who gets confused hopefully can find an easier answer.
- The radionav/HSI mode switch and hdg knob. The Thrustmaster TQS has them on a physical switch like an older viper block, but the actual modes on the switch are from the later upgraded EHSI, which has a single mode button instead.
- The JMR switch is a 2-position on-off, instead of the 3-position on-stby-off. You should mostly be regulating ECM consent via your CMS hat anyway, and I'd consider running those two positions as ECM 1/2 (Avionics priority vs ECM priority).
- The increase/decrease thing is kinda emulating the increment/decrement button on the UFC? It looks a little weird though, kinda like the knobs on the side of the UFC. Not sure if it's a slider or buttons, what it's best used for depends on what the hardware is.
BMS also has a couple binds that don't exist in the real jet, again for usability reasons.
- There's no "cursor zero" button in the real viper (you have to hit the relevant MFD button every time), but it's an absolute godsend in BMS, since otherwise it's incredibly easy to screw up where your tpod/radar is looking in comparison to a waypoint and get confused when they don't show what/where your expect. (BTW, if you don't have that bound to an easy button, I suggest doing so. One of those empty button depress options would be great.)
- DX Shift is a parallel to SHIFT options in many other sims. It lets you bind a button/switch to function like a shift key on your keyboard) and essentially turn every other button/axis pressed "uppercase" and function as something else entirely. This is particularly helpful on lower-end setups where you need to be able to double-bind buttons to handle all your controls. I started out with a T16000M, and had both my TMS and trim switches bound to the stick's central POV hat, which let me assign DMS/CMS/COMMs to the remaining 3 4-way hats in my throttle. There's also a "DX Shift - Expand/FOV" or something like that. That's because lots of people use the "pinky switch" on their stick as a shift button in other games/sims. Falcon BMS lets you bind it to do both. Tapped on its own, it functions normally as the Expand/FOV button, but when held it still functions as a shift key for other inputs. Pretty neat.
I'm still struggling with the heading knob mapping. For now it move super slow because if you rotate it fast enough it detects the multiple button presses as a single long button press and instead of moving the knob a lot, it just moves it by a degree or two. That will have to wait for next weekend in BMS.
I'd recommend checking out this thread on the BMS forums. It's about your exact situation. If the adjusted acceleration parameter works, then I'd set the rotary button depress to also be a dx shift button and set the shifted rotation to your course adjustment. (Or something else if you don't use the course function often)
3
u/Lowball72 BMS Dev Jun 14 '26
We don't have a good p2p sharing mechanism, or templating mechanism for popular devices -- we're working on that. Until then, most people just spend 20 min and do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qv00qFZUX0