BMS Installation
Before we begin you must know that I am in no way part of the Benchmark Sims team. I am just a fan of their work and with this contribution, I wish to communicate some of my limited knowledge and experience with guides and references that will be there for everyone to consult. I hope this will help in your quest to master this beast.
If you find yourself on this page, you must have already gotten your copy of Falcon 4 Original.
- A few requirements to enable you to take advantage of this advanced combat flight simulator.
- Windows 7 (Recommended) and Windows XP SP2 or 3.
- To get the best performance out of the many graphical enhancements a Quad Core computer is recommended.
- Lots of RAM (Windows 7 64: Minimum 4Gigs. Windows XP: A maximum of 3.2Gigs usable on those operating systems.
- A graphics card with a decent GPU. NVidia and ATI chipsets are supported
- As far as MAC computers, I believe some people manage it but a PC is recommended.
- A head movement sensing device such as TrackIR or FaceTrackNoIr or even the underground version FreeTrack is recommended.
- A good set of HOTAS sticks like the Thrusmater products or Saitek that have a wider range of afordability.
- The first thing to do is, make sure you have enough space on your hard disk. A minimum of 3 Gigabytes of disk space are required for installation. But more is always better.
- Make sure your Operating system and your video card drivers are up-to-date.
- Assuming you have already downloaded your copy of Falcon BMS from : Benchmark Sims. If not, a quick registration to the BMS site will allow you to download the sim installer.
- You are now ready to begin installation.
Place your Original Falcon cd in the drive, but do not start installation of this simulator. Just close the window that just opened after insertion of the cd. You don't need to install this software. BMS is a full blown simulator. F4 will only be needed for licensing purposes.- Now locate you BMS download and unzip the files in a location of your choice. You should have a folder that contains these:
Now, right mouse button click on the setup.exe file an click on Install as Administrator if available, if not, your system does not require an Administrator level to access protected files. In this instance, just run file. - The first window welcomes you to the install wizard that will guide you through the process:
Now, when you are ready to begin installation click on "Next" - The first step is the licensing agreement:
Once you have read it select "I accept the above License Agreement in its entirety." And click on "Accept". - Now, here is the part where you need the original Falcon 4 Install CD. Make sure your CD is in the drive, then select it from the list.
Then expand it with the small arrow to its left. Select the folder called program from the list. This is where the Falcon 4 installer is located.
Once you have selected the proper folder the "Next" button will become clickable. Click on it. - The next window is asking you where you want to install the simulator. The default is recommended for those of you who don't have multiple drives available.
After you have selected the install destination, you will see displayed under you selection the "Disk space available". If it is not sufficient select another drive. When you have selected a space that is sufficient, click "Next". - Now, the installer will check the integrity of the downloaded files.
When you get this next window, your files have passed the test. If a problem occurs here, you will have to download the files again.
On the other hand if everything checks out, click "Next". - As per this next window, it just shows you your one choice for installation.
Basically, just click "Next". - And the installation begins.
This step should take several minutes depending on the processing power of your computer. - Now, the next window is a little more difficult. The program wants to install the "ffdshow" codec. This is solely to allow you to screen the simulator's Intro movie. There have been some problems with some people with this. I recommend you uncheck the "install ffdshow" box and if you really want to be able to see the Intro movie. I suggest you install this one after you are done here. As you can see from my image, I already had mine installed before hand and you can see that my version was the latest version available at the time. Since I already had it installed, it unchecked itself. You can easely find a "ffdshow" codec installer on the net. I just recommend staying away from this one.
When you have made your choice, click "Next". - That's it your done. Now in this window there is a checkbox that you can select to start the simulator right away. I recommend you leave it unchecked for now.
Click "Finish" and Restart your computer. - This concludes the install process. You are now a proud user of Falcon BMS. Mine, and soon to be your favorite combat flight simulator.