A C# WPF application that synchronises cockpit lighting, display data, and hardware state from Falcon BMS and DCS World directly to physical controllers — without relying on middleware like SimAppPro.
- Falcon BMS — reads cockpit state directly from
FalconSharedMemoryArea(LightBits, LightBits2, LightBits3) - DCS World (F-16C Viper) — reads cockpit state from the DCS-BIOS UDP export stream; requires DCS-BIOS installed in your DCS scripts folder
- Switch between simulators with a single toggle in the toolbar; the choice is remembered between sessions
- BMS and DCS each have their own independent set of mappings — the same physical output can be mapped to different signals per simulator
- Auto Sync works identically for both simulators: sync starts automatically when the simulator is detected as running, and stops when it closes
- Maps any cockpit lamp signal to a physical output on a WinWing controller or Arduino board
- 130 DCS-BIOS signals available for the F-16C Viper, covering all exported LED states across: eyebrow warnings, AOA indexer, caution panel, landing gear, EWS/RWR panel, ECM panel, electrical/EPU system
- Full BMS LightBits signal set available for Falcon BMS
- Each signal can be mapped to multiple outputs simultaneously
- Duplicate-output detection is scoped per simulator: a pin mapped in BMS does not conflict with the same pin in DCS
- Signals are grouped by category and searchable by name
- Test Signal — fires a single mapping without starting full sync
- Test All Mappings — turns all mapped lights on at once for a complete hardware check (scoped to the active simulator)
- Arduino Diagnostic — sends setup and on/off frames to one pin and logs the result
- Remove All — removes all mappings for the active simulator only; the other simulator's mappings are untouched
- Renders the Data Entry Display (DED) onto the WinWing ViperAce ICP dot-matrix LCD in real time
- Works for both Falcon BMS (raw shared memory) and DCS World (DCS-BIOS DED_L1–DED_L5 string export), with automatic inverse-video rendering
- No SimAppPro required; communicates directly via HID
- Can be toggled independently from the main sync
- COM port dropdown shows the device name next to the port number (e.g.
COM5 — F16 Misc G3) - Names resolved in order: DirectInput joystick name → Windows registry FriendlyName → WMI device descriptor
- Automatic COM port recovery — if a driver update or USB re-enumeration changes a board's COM port number, BmsLightBridge detects the board by its USB hardware identifier (VID, PID, serial number) and updates all affected mappings silently on startup
- Per-channel brightness sliders for every supported WinWing device
- Three binding modes per channel: Manual (fixed), Axis (joystick axis → 0–255), Buttons (step up/down with velocity-sensitive step size)
- Live brightness preview; settings survive disconnect/reconnect
- Maps a joystick axis to keyboard key presses using DIK scancodes via
keybd_event— compatible with BMS key bindings including F13–F22 - Configurable sensitivity, repeat delay, dead zone, invert, and modifier keys
- Automatically launches Helios Control Center with a selected profile when sync starts
- Separate profile paths for BMS and DCS — the correct profile is loaded automatically based on the active simulator
- Optionally closes Helios when sync stops
- Auto Sync — starts/stops sync automatically when the simulator connects/disconnects
- Auto Start on Launch — starts sync immediately when BmsLightBridge opens
- Start Minimised — launches to the system tray area
- Config import / export — save and load full configurations as JSON files
- Configurable BMS polling interval (default 50 ms)
- Per-Arduino board settings: baud rate, reset delay, DTR enable (supports Leonardo and ESP32)
- Configuration saved atomically to prevent corruption on crash
| Hardware | PID | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| WinWing ViperAce ICP | 0xBF06 |
DED LCD sync (BMS + DCS), brightness, light mapping |
| WinWing CarrierAce PTO 2 | 0xBF05 |
Light mapping, brightness |
| WinWing Orion Throttle Base II + F16 Grip | 0xBE68 |
Light mapping, brightness |
| WinWing CarrierAce UFC + HUD | 0xBEDE |
Brightness (UFC, LCD & HUD backlight) |
| WinWing CarrierAce MFD C | 0xBEE0 |
Brightness |
| WinWing CarrierAce MFD L | 0xBEE1 |
Brightness |
| WinWing CarrierAce MFD R | 0xBEE2 |
Brightness |
| Arduino / ESP32 (via F4TS) | — | Light mapping |
All devices above have been actively tested. Any WinWing device that exposes HID light channels can potentially be added.
- Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
- .NET 8.0 runtime (included when published as self-contained)
- For BMS: Falcon BMS 4.38.x or later
- For DCS: DCS World with DCS-BIOS installed
- WinWing ViperAce ICP (
0xBF06) for DED sync
- Download DCS-BIOS from github.com/DCS-Skunkworks/dcs-bios
- Extract the
DCS-BIOSfolder toSaved Games\DCS\Scripts\ - Ensure
Saved Games\DCS\Scripts\Export.lualoads DCS-BIOS (see the DCS-BIOS README for the exact line to add) - Start DCS — BmsLightBridge will detect it automatically and receive cockpit data once you enter a unit
-
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/RedMeKool/BmsLightBridge.git cd BmsLightBridge -
Open in Visual Studio 2022 or later, or build from the command line:
dotnet publish BmsLightBridge.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true \ -p:PublishSingleFile=true \ -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true -
The self-contained executable is placed in
bin/Release/net8.0-windows/win-x64/publish/.
- Launch BmsLightBridge.
- Select your simulator using the BMS/DCS toggle in the toolbar. Start the simulator — the connection indicator turns green automatically.
- Mapping tab — select a signal, choose a device and output, click Add Mapping. Mappings are stored per simulator, so you can build a full BMS set and a full DCS set independently.
- Brightness tab — set brightness for each WinWing channel.
- Axis to Key tab — add axis-to-key bindings for cockpit rotaries.
- Displays tab — enable DED LCD synchronisation (works for both BMS and DCS).
- Helios tab — configure a separate profile path for BMS and DCS if you use Helios.
- Press Start Sync (or enable Auto Sync to do this automatically).
Close BmsLightBridge before uploading a new sketch to an Arduino, or the COM port will be held open.
BmsLightBridge uses the F4ToSerial (F4TS) wire protocol. Upload a compatible sketch to your Arduino, then configure the COM port and pin assignments in the Mapping tab.
Supported boards:
- Arduino Leonardo — Reset Delay
2000 ms, DTR Enableon - Arduino Uno — Reset Delay
500 ms, DTR Enableon - ESP32 — Reset Delay
0 ms, DTR Enableoff
Usable digital pins: D2–D13 and A0–A5 (referenced as 14–19). Avoid D0 and D1 (serial RX/TX).
If a driver update changes your Arduino's COM port number, BmsLightBridge will find it automatically on next startup using the board's USB serial number.
BmsLightBridge/
├── Services/
│ ├── Icp/
│ │ ├── IcpService.cs # DED LCD orchestrator (BMS + DCS)
│ │ ├── IcpHidDevice.cs # Direct HID communication
│ │ ├── DedCommand.cs # HID command types
│ │ └── DedFont.cs # Glyph rendering (8×13px bitmap font)
│ ├── ISimulatorReader.cs # Common interface for simulator data sources
│ ├── BmsReader.cs # Falcon BMS shared memory reader
│ ├── DcsBiosReader.cs # DCS-BIOS UDP export stream reader
│ ├── WinWingService.cs # WinWing HID light and brightness control
│ ├── ArduinoService.cs # Arduino F4TS serial protocol
│ ├── AxisBindingService.cs # Joystick axis/button polling and brightness binding
│ ├── AxisToKeyService.cs # Axis-to-key injection
│ ├── SyncService.cs # Main sync orchestrator
│ └── UsbSerialPortHelper.cs # USB device name resolution (registry, WMI, DirectInput)
├── Models/
│ ├── Configuration.cs # Full app configuration and persistence
│ ├── BmsSharedMemory.cs # BMS shared memory layout and signal definitions
│ ├── DcsBiosLights.cs # DCS-BIOS F-16C signal definitions (130 LED signals)
│ └── AxisToKeyBinding.cs # Axis-to-key binding model
├── ViewModels/
│ ├── MainViewModel.cs # Main application ViewModel
│ ├── AxisToKeyTabViewModel.cs # Axis to Key tab ViewModel
│ ├── AxisToKeyBindingViewModel.cs # Per-binding ViewModel
│ ├── WinWingLightEntry.cs # WinWing device light/brightness definitions
│ └── BaseViewModel.cs # INotifyPropertyChanged base + RelayCommand
├── Resources/
│ ├── DedFont.bmp # Embedded font bitmap (normal)
│ └── DedFontInverted.bmp # Embedded font bitmap (inverted)
└── Views/
├── MainWindow.xaml # Full application UI
└── MainWindow.xaml.cs # Code-behind (window state, import/export)
Falcon BMS
- Cockpit state is read from
FalconSharedMemoryArea(LightBits, LightBits2, LightBits3) at a configurable polling interval - The BMS process is verified before opening shared memory to prevent oscillation when BMS closes
- DED data is read from
FalconSharedMemoryArea2; ICP communicates via 64-byte HID packets
DCS World
- DCS-BIOS broadcasts cockpit state as a binary stream of 16-bit word writes over UDP multicast
239.255.50.10:5010 - BmsLightBridge maintains a full 64 KB mirror of the DCS-BIOS address space and evaluates the F-16C signal table against it on every update
- Connection status is based on
DCS.exeprocess presence (same approach as BMS), so AutoSync and Helios launch work consistently regardless of whether the pilot is in the cockpit, the menu, or the briefing screen - DED text is received as pre-formatted 24-character strings (
DED_L1–DED_L5) with corresponding format markers (i= inverse,b= big text) from the DCS-BIOS "DED Display (New)" category
General
- WinWing devices are controlled via 14-byte raw HID output reports; a 1-second heartbeat keeps LEDs lit
- Key injection uses
keybd_eventwithKEYEVENTF_SCANCODEand DIK scancodes — the only method that works reliably inside Falcon BMS; F13–F22 map to DIK scancodes0x64–0x6D - Font glyphs are 8×13 pixels rendered from embedded BMP bitmaps; protocol analysis based on DedSharp
- COM port device names are resolved via DirectInput
InstanceName, Windows registryFriendlyName, and WMIWin32_PnPEntity; USB VID/PID/serial number are persisted per board for automatic port recovery
- DCS World support for additional aircraft modules beyond the F-16C Viper
- UFD (Up-Front Display) support
- WinWing Combat Ready Panel support (pending PID identification)
- MPO/OVRD lamp (BMS does not export this bit; DirectInput button monitoring under consideration)
MIT — feel free to use, modify, and distribute.