After only two years since the 4.34 release, BMS 4.35 was released in December 2020.
This release is in my humble opinion an intermediate but necessary step towards more visible updates in the future. The main aspect of the release was the switch from DX9 to DX11 which is transparent for many users. But without that step there would be no future possible updates of the terrain engines, graphics and possible implementation of VR to name just a few.
So many of you may think that 4.35 does not bring a lot of changes but still the important changes have been done.
On the visible updates, you will get much more feature in the F-16 cockpit (canopy, brakes, alternate gear, anti-ice, arrestor systems, …) and many less generic airbases in KTO as quite a handful received realistic layout with multiple runways orientated realistically.
Weather, Weapons, SAM systems, Ai in general and many other aspect received more attention throughout development. For instance: one of the game changer changes of BMS 4.35 is the ability of modern SAMs to engage the weapons launched at them. Now SAMs (including the naval groups) will be able to engage and destroy Harms, Harpoon and Delilah sent their way. Tactically this is a major changes as destroying a battlegroup with 8 harpoons is not possible anymore…
The document suite has been completely overhauled for 4.35. The latest up to date versions are on this website.
- Documents (Dash-1, Dash-34, Training manual, BMS manual, Technical manual, Naval ops manual, Comms and Nav volume & KAIP (Korean Aeronautical Information Publication) have all been updated for 4.35. Black update bars are illustrating changes since the 4.34 released version.
- Keyfiles were completely redone and their documentation have been updated accordingly (in your Falcon4 BMS\Docs folder)
- Training missions have been updated to 4.35 standards and a new naval training mission has been created for the couple Harrier/ USS WASP newly implemented.
- Charts in KTO have all been updated to 4.35. This was a major work due to the new airbase design.
The BMS interactive map always has the latest version of the charts. - The checklists (Verify, Main, Weapon, Avionics & Emergency) have all been updated to 4.35 standards.
- The Ui map in BMS has been updated as well with lighter colours and more relevant information. It is the same as the interactive map.
Another big change for some of us is the way the displays are extracted. Previously this was done internally with the BMS display extractor but this one could not be ported to DX11 and had to be replaced with RTT. More information are available in the manuals (BMS Technical manual) but the use is quite intuitive.
I must admit the 4.35 release was not as stable as previous release. The public community reported CTDs, game freezes when using RTT, impossibility to refuel in multiplayer and less critical but nonetheless annoying issues. To some extend this is happening with every release but there is no doubt in my mind that better organisation, better beta testing, better quality control and a better time management would seriously increase the stability of a release.
Luckily Update 1 will be made available shortly to correct the critical issues. The fact that update 1 is so slow to be released is also quite a proof that a lot needed to be corrected.
Hopefully some lessons will be learned from this release episode.