Falcon 4.0 Allied Force - for Mac OS X!

[Rufus]

Released, and available though the Apple App Store, though I recall
hearing that boxed retail versions may also be available soon. What
follows are some comprehensive observations from running the sim on my
systems so far - I'm running version 1.0.2, the current release.

System 1: Intel iMac 24" 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo with 4 Gig of RAM installed
and OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard). Began with FAF version 1.0.1 on this
system, running 1.0.2 presently.

System 2: an Mac Mini 2.7 GHz Dual Core i7 with 4 Gig of RAM installed,
250 G SSD and 750 G HD; OS X 10.7.2 (Lion) and using a Samsung 8000
series LED TV as a monitor connected via HDMI. Running FAF version
1.0.2 on this system.

Controllers: CH Products Pro Throttle (which I later discovered has a
bad pot), Fighter Stick USB, Pro Pedals USB, and Thrustmaster USB MFD
bezels, and a Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar stick/throttle. All all are
recognized by System Profiler and the sim.

ControllerMate Utility for Mac: A very powerful software implemented
hardware interfacing utility for Mac which has solved a few of the below
issues for me - allows direct programming/assignment of keystrokes (and
even scripts) to buttons/switch inputs of HID compliant controllers.
Highly recommended for Mac gamers/cockpit/sim building.

http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/

General comments for System 2 - using the big screen and SSD make huge
improvements in sim response and graphics presentation, as expected -
the presentation is near life size (maybe slightly larger, but not
problematically so) with this setup and the presentation is very
immersive, though black-barred (sides fill) vise actual full 16:9 as
indicated in the Graphics Setup selection - I suppose this is as
expected at present? Overall response of the sim is also greatly
improved over System 1 setup.

General Comments for use with HOTAS Cougar - the sim seems to work the
same for Mac as it does for the Windows version when using HOTAS Cougar.
Similar issues with using the mini joystick on both Win and Mac
systems, however, ControllerMate can be used by Mac users in lieu of the
PC only Thrustmaster T.A.R.G.E.T, Foxy, and/or the Cougar Control Panel
to make HOTAS Cougar functional for Mac users; Controller Mate works
similar to Thrustmaster T.A.R.G.E.T and Foxy combined. Mac users need
to use a PC and the Cougar Control Panel to return HOTAS Cougar to
default setting initially, and/or no-op the Cougar's rudder functions
unless they are being used. Still trying to figure out how to get the
mini joystick to work for cursor control.

Controller issues:

1) All of the Thrustmaster OBD buttons are assignable and function
correctly, but only rocker switch button 21 is assignable on the MFD;
other rocker switch positions are not assignable for either MFD. The
MFD actually have 28 buttons; 1-20 are OSB buttons and 21-28 are the
four two/twin button rockers which should also be available for key
assignments as left/right. Can be resolved by using ControllerMate.

2) CH Pro Pedals work as rudder pedals, but cannot assign Wheel Brakes
to the toe axes. Can be resolved by using ControllerMate.

3) The start up splash screen does not retain selection to show the full
screen or windowed presentation only if the user holds down the option
key at start up.

4) It takes three activations of the Mode button on my CH Fighter Stick
USB to toggle NWS from on to off and/or off to on. May need to allow
multiple assignment of functions for such a controller case, as this
button can register as button 17, 18, or 19 as it cycles through the
LEDs on the stick base. Can be resolved by using ControllerMate.

5) Sim Exit dialog randomly registers input device commands. Clicking
the End or Resume button in the graphical Exit dialog box randomly
does/does not register the selection using either of an Apple Magic
Trackpad or Kensington Orbit USB trackball input devices. Selecting E
or R on the keyboard always works.

Simulation/Interface issues:

1) Nozzle position and oil pressure indications are erratic and not
realistic.

2) Fuel flow indication does not stabilize once afterburner is selected.
Initial spike to far beyond realistic flow rate, then it slowly rolls
back down after an extended selection. Unclear what this means with
respect to actual flying time in the sim. Fuel flow does seem realistic
during part power selection.

3) Some keystroke references in the Keys Setup do not match the
references in the manual. The Keys Setup screen entries appear to be
correct.

4) ATC airfield traffic calls are inconsistent; sometimes tower will
call "left base" setup when all turns are to the runway are to the right
- notable in landing pattern at end of Takeoff mission. ICAO standard
is that "left hand traffic" means all left hand turns in the traffic
pattern, "right hand traffic" means all left hand turns in the traffic
pattern - in accord with both what I have been taught as a civilian
pilot, and USAF and international airfield operations standard procedure.

5) Airspeed goes to zero (000) in HUD on landing rollout instead of
pegging to a minimum of 60 KCAS as it says in the manual.

6) Keyboard cntrl+e command for Eject does not command ejection. The
ejection "clack" sounds repeatedly as long as the key is held, but no
ejection occurs for the key combination. Eject does happen if I click
and hold the ejection handle in the cockpit graphic. Eject does not
happen as it should for a single cntrl+e key activation.

7) Chaff and Flare count do not decrement in accordance with actual
Chaff/Flare expenditure. On selecting "Drop Chaff" the Chaff count
decrements, but on selecting "Drop Flare" the Chaff count decrements and
the Flare count does nothing - Flare count never decrements.

8) Cockpit canopy frame/rail graphic does not move with canopy
open/close when canopy is actuated. Can see canopy movement in exterior
camera views, but in cockpit interior view the canopy frame does not
move and appears to remain in the closed position.

9) With HDMI/TV setup, exiting the sim leaves does not return the System
to default user selected screen resolution - sim is not returning
display to System starting state on exit. User has to reselect Display
resolution to restore user selected operation for Hot Corners, etc.

General - highly recommended for both fans of Falcon and fans of high
fidelity flight simulators. Using ControllerMate can also aid in using
various controllers with this and other games - also a highly
recommended utility. Hopefully this sim will be updated and improved
over time and not left to languish as it has been all this time.

FIGHT'S ON, Mac users!!!

--
- Rufus

[joe.pat...@googlemail.com]

Hi Rufus,

Have you ever had any problems with A-G radar? It essentially doesn't work for me, in that the display does not update. If I fly forward in SP mode, the returns move toward me (as expected). After a second(ish), on the next radar sweep, the returns move back to their original position. This is true even if I fly off on a completely different bearing. The display also does not update when switching between modes (STP, SP etc.) and 'zoom' levels. I find that to get an updated display I have have to change the MFD to something else (e.g. TEST) and then return to FCR. Any thoughts on this?

Overall I love this game, but the A-G radar problems make any kind of ground targeting mission very tricky. I've tried reinstalling but to no avail. I'm running on a very low end machine (2008 MacBook) with integrated graphics, so maybe this is the problem. Everything else works fine though.

Joe

[Rufus]

I've been flying mostly A/A missions, but I just tried the A/G Radar
Modes Training Mission and it seemed to be working as expected for me.
I can select targets and modes, and the scope and HUD seem to update and
reflect my selections. I did notice that if all I have is gun round the
radar will not allow me to select anything other than Straff mode in A/G.

You may want to consider moving off of the Macbook for better graphics
processing, as you suggest. I can highly recommend the Mac Mini/TV
setup - it looks and responds great! I'm in the process of collecting
parts to build a cockpit around this setup.

--
- Rufus

[Rufus]

After fooling around with it some more, I seem to be able to get all of
the modes to work, but I can't seem to actually designate a target.
Could be something with my HOTAS setup...I'll keep fooling around with it.

--
- Rufus

[joe.pat...@googlemail.com]

Thanks for taking a look :)
Seems we're having opposite problems... I can designate a target even if it isn't showing a radar return (by slewing over it in the HUD.

Out of interest, have you ever had any success playing multiplayer online? I've set up router and everything as per instructions but still no joy. Not sure if there are maybe different ports to forward for Mac.

Cheers for taking the time to help out. Despite the popularity of the game I can't find any forum where people are experienced with the OS X version.

Joe

[Rufus]

What I've discovered is that there are a lot of problems with HOTAS
mechanization in A/G mode - I have my controllers set up to work as
realistically as possible and am using generic key assignments like "TMS
Forward" etc. - for ex.; with TMS Forward in A/G I'm getting A/A radar
Boresight just like in A/A mode vice Lock Target. I may be able to
"correct" some of the problems using ControllerMate, but it will take
some thinking.

The only way I seem to be able to lock an A/G return is to hit keypad
zero, but I only can get the first lock and then no more after I
undesignate and try another one - and this may be the because of the
"returns replay" problem that you're seeing. I can use CCIP mode ok it
seems, but I doubt Auto will work well for me unless I'm bombing a
steerpoint.

I haven't tried any network play yet, but I have a colleague at work
whom has just gotten a Mac Mini and is setting it up for Falcon - once
he gets going we plan to give it a try - I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm not sure how many people really know that the OS X version is out
there. None of the people in the Falcon 4.0 Mac forums I used to haunt
seem to have returned along with this release. I'm really hoping that
they do, and that Graphsim keeps working to fine tune this king of sims
for the Mac - they've been pretty responsive to my e-mails, but they
seem to be able to address only one single issue at a time, and I
haven't seen or heard anything about future updates from them.

I'm certainly happy to get discussion started, and keep it going. I'm
working on building a cockpit to drive my Mac Mini/TV setup.

--
- Rufus

[Rufus]

Ok...what I'm discovering is that some (if not all...) of my issues with
Falcon A/G mode are learning curve related.

To start with, F-16 HOTAS operates much differently from other aircraft
HOTAS that I am familiar with, and I've got some habit patterns to
overcome! The reason I could only make the first designation and then
not another was because I wasn't actually *undesignating* the previous
lock-on after completing my pass...once I got the HOTAS figured this
"problem" vanished.

Secondly, one needs to think about just what each radar presentation is
actually displaying - for ex; in SP mode the radar is staring fixedly at
the Steer Point, thus you *are* going to see the same display content
repeated at the end of each sweep, but notice that the range will
decrease as you approach the point.

What I'm still trying to figure though is how to get the A/G radar
display to actually look like a real-world image...I've played with the
Gain setting and seem to have not been able to get something that looks
like a "picture". But that's probably learning curve related too.

Lots of "real" means lots to learn, and lots more fun!

--
- Rufus

[Rufus]

...sorted. After reading a user post - from the A/G radar format select
TEST->FCR. This puts the radar into BIT. After that, I got something
that actually looked like an A/G radar display, and I could use it.

--
- Rufus

[ohwotag...@gmail.com]

Hi Joe,

A-G radar for me has been behaving strangely. It doesn't seem to indicate the radar returns. Changing the gain controls has no effect until you select A-A and then back to A-G again (but then what little returns it was showing stop showing up).

Anyone had an experience like this? Is this a bug, or am I just 'holding it wrong'?

Thanks
Dave

[Rufus]

Yes - I've noticed that too.

--
- Rufus

[ohwotag...@gmail.com]

So how do you successfully designate targets without being able to zero-in on returns on the radar? Or were you saying that you've noticed the same thing regarding the gain controls?

I've now resigned myself to using the TD in the HUD and hoping that it will lock on to something of interest, but I was hoping that it would be a little less random than that!

If anyone has any advice -- please let me know!!

Thanks
David

[Rufus]

I've noticed two ways to get the A/G radar working - one is to cycle
through A/A-A/G, and the other is to invoke TEST->FCR. Even then you
don't really get a picture that looks much like a real A/G radar map.

One thing that helps is to turn the "Gain" down using the switch on the
MFD - what this appears to do in reality is turn the symbology level
down, which makes the target return stand out a bit better. I haven't
been able to determine that using the radar Gain knob on my Cougar
actually helps anything at all.

Another thing that helps is to use the Pinky switch and toggle into one
of the radar Expand modes - things happen pretty fast when you do this.
Even so, you're still going to find that you can lock some returns and
not others - this is pretty real-world, and in such cases you'll need to
revert to CCIP or HUD cued AUTO and visual bomb like you've discovered.

Also remember you have to undesignate first before you try and make a
new designation if you're going to shift your target, and that if you're
Steer Point slaved that the radar picture is going to show you the same
thing every sweep centroided around the current Steer Point.

--
- Rufus

ohwotag...@gmail.com wrote:

[garw...@gmail.com]

Hi Rufus,

Thanks for your posts. There doesn't seem to be much Mac discussion about F4 so glad to find your group. I'm using the CH Prod. FighterStick, Throttle, and Pedals and have done some ControllerMate
stuff, but I'm not much of a programmer.
Would you tell me how you got the Pedals to activate the brakes via ControllerMate.
Any other ControllerMate tips and button setups on your controls would also be very helpful.
I'm running Mt. Lion on a new iMac and it is pretty good with some exceptions like the radar only scanning center to left. Haven't figured out what that is about.
Thanks for your reply,

Gary

[Rufus]

Glad to help. Wish we could post screenshots here...

I'm presently using a Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog stick, a Cougar
throttle that I converted to USB using this board form Leo Bodner -

<http://www.leobodnar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66&products_id=204>

and a set of CH rudder pedals. I use ControllerMate to configure all of
my gear - what an excellent product - all you really need know how to do
to use it s how to build a flow chart! What I've done mostly is to use
ControllerMate to assign FAF keys to buttons. This works with Cougar
MFDs too.

What I did to implement proportional toe brakes on my pedals was to
assign the keystroke for Brakes (k) to each toe axis, and then use the
Rate function of ControllerMate to control the rate of key repeat based
on the pedal throw; I also used the Calibration and Subtraction building
blocks to set an offset and get the range of throw I wanted.

Then I combined the two pedals with an OR gate to the key output - what
this does is let either pedal trigger the Brakes and give the feel of
having differential brakes - you end up using left and right pedal in a
turn on deck like you would with a real aircraft, but you really get
both brakes with either pedal...the feel is convincing though.

--
- Rufus

[flbe...@mac.com]

Hi just wanted to let you all know, that I am in Falcon 4 after many years of long wait. Add one up!

[Rufus]

flbe...@mac.com wrote:
> Hi just wanted to let you all know, that I am in Falcon 4 after many years of long wait. Add one up!
>

Welcome, and spread the word!

Also - I highly recommend grabbing this utility:

http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/

With ControllerMate you can use Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar and/or Warthog
controllers and really make the sim give you the whole experience.

--
- Rufus

[l.ru...@me.com]

Hi eveyone,

Im having the same problem with the A-G radar, i notice that using the 3d cockpit let u see the retorns better but on a black background, you can only see the returns, the bad thing is that when using the mavericks or laser guided bombs you can't see the camera that shows up on the mfd. you'll have to switch bach to the 2d camera view.

Also i've been wnated to try the multiplayer, i'm not and expert on the sim, but i want to give it a try in multiplayer. so if any of you guys are playing let me know.


- Luis

[l.ru...@me.com]

By the way, if you guys have iPad check out this app called xReva gamepad. As the name says, you can use the iPad as a gamepad, it's really cool, i have programed the ICP and a couple others function on that and worked awesome. You can get the app at the app store and the remote aplication for the mac here.

http://www.xreva.com/en/gamepad/index.php

i have the thrustmasters MFD's and now this app, it make the experience way better.


- Luis

[Rufus]

...now that's as cool as ControllerMate!

RC Trackpad is also another great app that will let you use the soft
keyboard and touchscreen to control your Mac, if you'd like to use an
actual keyboard -

http://www.m3me.com/m3me/RCTrackpad.html

BTW - you can also use your iPad as an electronic kneeboard by taking
screen shots of the airport diagrams, trimming them, and storing them as
pictures in the Photo Album on the iPad. Then all you need do is flick
through them with a finger. I've done this and it's very handy.

--
- Rufus

[l.ru...@me.com]

https://twitter.com/Wicho_82/status/356102035319451648 ICP

https://twitter.com/Wicho_82/status/356102424982855683 Lights

https://twitter.com/Wicho_82/status/356102666390233088 Gestures

Don't know if my first post when through so i'll put these link for the pictures.




- Luis

[floris...@gmail.com]

Dear People,

Has anybody yet figured out how the rdr cursor/enable button on the hotas cougar throttle can be used in game for radar slew ? I can't get it recognised by the game, yet it is one of the most used buttons/cursors on the throttle.

Thanks in advance

Floris

That is

[Rufus]

Yes - I have.

The very first thing you need is a Win machine and the Cougar Control
Panel to set the Cougar to defaults (emulation off) and assign the
cursor axes to two of the Direct X axes - i.e.; turn off the rudder and
toe brake axes. This will reduce the number of available axes to 8
which is the limitation for number of input axes which a single device
may have.

As long as you have separate USB pedals like CH Products or Saitek (my
preferred) you can still use both rudder and toe brakes. If you are
using the Thrustmaster pedals you have to give up the toe brake axes.

--
- Rufus

[hermen de groot]

I've installed FalconAF on my Imac and connected the thrust master HOTAS cougar. Unfortunately not all the buttons etc are preinstalled. Does anyone know if there is an driver or setting available for me to download and install so I don't need to setup myself?

Thanks a million

Hermen

[Rufus]

One of the first things you do need to do is find a Windows machine and
use the Cougar Control Panel to make sure the Cougar is returned to
defaults. You can get the Cougar software from the Thrustmaster site if
you don't have it with your Cougar.

Then be sure and get ControllerMate -

http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/

ControllerMate is *invaluable* for setting up functions for any HID USB
controller and making it plug and play.

Something else you may want to try is this device -

http://www.realsimulator.com/html/tusba.html

The TSUBA will turn your Cougar Throttle into a standalone USB
controller - I haven't tried it myself, but I do intend to get one.

Using the TSUBA you should be able to use the far superior Warthog stick
along with your Cougar throttle - I converted a Cougar TQS I got off
E-Bay to USB using a Leo Bodner USB board for this purpose, but the
TSUBA now makes it far easier.

--
- Rufus