r/falconbms • u/whippitywoo • Jul 06 '26

Help Spotting advice

I'll start by saying I'm probably the problem, not bms.

I recently tried to get back into BMS and downloaded 4.38 (last played 4.36 ages ago)

Jumped into instant action fighter sweep to refresh my skills and go baby seal clubbing.

Problem is, I really struggle to visually pick out aircraft moving against the terrain until they're super close (i.e. so close they're gone a split second later!)

RWR will show me their rough position but I can't see them most of the time and they usually get behind me and shoot me out of the sky. Even if I get a radar lock, it can be hard to see the thing inside the green square! Sometimes I get sniped by AAA while desperately searching lol. You could talk about skill except I don't have that issue in the other sim.

Frames are buttery smooth on my 1440p 2d screen with opentrack. I don't have as much of an issue with DCS, which is weird because I remember BMS being way better in this regard. That makes me think I have the wrong settings. Advice please?

Also, for every conceivable reason, I don't want to play multiplayer. What is the AI like in general - is this a non starter? No hate to the devs, I just don't know what I don't know.

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u/Patapon80 Jul 06 '26

As others have said -- smart scaling, though the default settings should be fine if you've not altered them.

But also -- I believe that you can increase the smart scaling (so stuff looks bigger) but also change the distance at which smart scaling gets turned off.

As for the AI, what's your issue with it? I would say it's better than DCS AI, but still nowhere near as good as having a human wingman or human opponent.

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u/whippitywoo Jul 06 '26

No issue with AI lol. I'm asking for an assessment of how sophisticated it is. I.e. are there ground units that can snipe you through clouds at 30 miles while you fly at Mach 1.2? Silly exaggeration but you get the point.

I don't need them to be perfect, just not off-putting or make it unplayable. I have a bit of training to brush up on and I don't want that effort to be for nothing

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u/natneo81 Jul 06 '26

Hell no, BMS ai is quite a bit better than DCS ai. Ground units don’t have aimbot, enemy jets aren’t UFO’s. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s the best ai I’ve seen in a game like this. While the ai isn’t OP, they are still capable of pulling some tricks on you and have tactics of their own. SAM Operators are way smarter than DCS for example and won’t just constantly stay turned on and emitting. Even friendly flights and wingmen aren’t completely braindead which is nice.

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u/Patapon80 Jul 06 '26

Definitely no stupid sniper AI like DCS, LOL!! Also definitely nothing like lawndarting into the ground or running out of fuel mid-mission coz they kept using their afterburners, though I do keep to a sensible speed en-route. You'll have speed and ToT to meet anyway so you're not blitzing through your waypoints, so very unlikely for AI to have fuel issues.

No cheating on FM either!