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Battlefield 3


MaydaX

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To be honest, are people susprised it's not optimised yet? It's Alpha builds. God know's how old this playable build is at Gamescom. The last Alpha build was dated 10-2-11 in one of the files I opened up. Beta will be a much more optimised build (I hope) and only then, will we really start to see what's what. Till then fanboi's will be fanbois haters will be haters.

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But with 2 months left you'd think they' at least have some kind of clue as to system requirements.

 

Its not like they haven't told us just about everything else to do with teh game...all the nice shiny stuff that makes you go "ooohhhh" and "aaahhhh" to gloss over the fact that you may not have a good enough system to make it work.

 

As fot testing it on older drivers...I actually like that as it looks like they are making an effort to make it playable for those that don't have the latest and greatest in gaming machines/hardware and are a few years behind ( fyi I have no idea how old those driver versions are but I'm guessing pretty old).

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Regarding that blog post, I'll just link to Repi's response.

 

 

Now. Some prioritization lists from the other side of the fence...

 

Game development and hardware --- if I get to choose:

 

1) make it playable on most machines out there

2) make it really awesome on machines with badass hardware

 

There is (or will be) a minspec for the game. The minspec is to be printed on the game's box. Manufacturing of boxes has long lead times (let's say ~1 month).

 

 

Game development and drivers -- if I get to choose:

 

1) make it work properly on the very-latest drivers

2) detect old drivers, and turn off stuff that doesn't work there

3) develop workarounds which makes all the newfangled stuff work on old drivers as well

 

Option 1 is easy for games that do tested-and-true stuff. BF3 pushes the envelope and therefore requires quite an effort, both from us and from the HW/driver people. You most likely will need the latest drivers (at launch day) if you want all the bells & whistles. One of the guiding principles is that a game should never crash. It may run with features disabled, or refuse to run (and explain why) but it should never crash. Crashes are bad because the user is then unable to play the game AND the user doesn't get any information as to why he/she is unable to play the game.

Edited by Kalms
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It's time to talk a bit about BF3 PC game servers.

 

RSPs

The game server machines themselves will be run by a number of Ranked Server Provider (RSP) companies. We do not allow other companies to run game servers, or for other people to run game servers from home.

We try to strike a balance where there are game servers available across the globe, while still keeping the number of RSPs at a level where we can offer reasonable support to each individual company. Since we prefer to work with larger hosting companies, and we focus on countries where we have a larger player base, there will not be game servers available in every country on the planet.

The list of RSPs which will run BF3 game servers at launch is not ready yet. Once it is, we will publilalalala widely.

 

Server administrators

While the RSPs run the physical machines, most if not all will be paid for and administered by the players themselves – individuals, groups of friends, or clans.

A server administrator control some aspects of the play experience – which maps are being played, which people are allowed onto the server, and can also affect the play style through various direct and indirect controls. Generally speaking, servers that are administered by reasonable admins attract players, while servers which have arbitrary rules imposed see less traffic.

 

Ranked vs Unranked

One of the biggest choices which a server administrator has to make is, whether to run the server in Ranked or Unranked mode.

In Ranked mode, player progression is tracked on EAs master servers. Weapons are unlocked by playing the game. Player progression is also visible on Battlelog. The server administrators will have to abide by the Battlefield Rules of Engagement.

In Unranked mode, player progression is not tracked on the master servers. Server administrators have free reign on such servers – no Battlefield Rules of Engagement to heed. They can control in detail which weapons are available to the players, etc. This mode is suited to playing clan matches, tournaments, or to those players who just like the fairness of everyone having the same range of weapons available to them.

 

PunkBuster

BF3 will use PunkBuster as its anti-cheat system. Game servers that run in ranked mode are required to have PunkBuster active.

There have been problems with the PunkBuster screenshot mechanism under DirectX 10/11 in the past. However, we have collaborated with EvenBalance to make screenshots function reliably with DX10/DX11 in BF3.

 

Third party anti-cheat organizations

There are several community initiatives against cheating. These initiatives are usually volunteer organizations that maintain their own databases with cheaters. They do both manual work - reviewing screenshots, game recordings, and other cheating evidence – and also implement automated systems.

It is up to each individual server administrator whether to join with one or more of these organizations.

 

While not officially partnering with these organizations, we try to ensure that BF3 works well with their systems in time for the launch.

The biggest three organizations that support Battlefield games are PBBans (PBBans | Always Quality over Quantity), GGC-Stream (GGC-Stream / News) and PunksBusted (PunksBusted.com Sponsored by Ventrilo). There are also several smaller organizations around.

 

Server administration interface

BF3 will support a Remote Administration interface similar to that of BFBC2. The basic protocol will be the same, but commands differing a bit.

There is a plethora of tools available that can talk to the remote admin interface. We are in contact with several of the developers who created tools for BFBC2, and will aid them in adding support for BF3. If you have developed a BFBC2 remote admin tool which is popular (used on >100 game servers), send me a PM.

The protocol itself is still under constant revision. Expect the protocol to be published by the time that the retail game is released.

 

Now I know you have a gazillion other questions. Spectator mode? Battlerecorder? mixed mode rotations? I don't have solid answers for most questions yet. Hopefully we can cover those once the Open Beta is live.

 

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-3-pc/1419188-first-look-bf3-pc-game-servers.html

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PunkBuster

BF3 will use PunkBuster as its anti-cheat system. Game servers that run in ranked mode are required to have PunkBuster active.

There have been problems with the PunkBuster screenshot mechanism under DirectX 10/11 in the past. However, we have collaborated with EvenBalance to make screenshots function reliably with DX10/DX11 in BF3.

 

Very very nice if true.

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Best AC news in years!!!

 

And as a side bar bonus, no more nooblet "why are my pb_ss black" threads!!! Wahoo!

 

 

 

butt

 

PS, now Kalms, lets get the demo recorder issue ironed out, and I'll vote for you for President in '12 :)

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And as a side bar bonus, no more nooblet "why are my pb_ss black" threads!!! Wahoo!

 

Well I wouldn't assume they will all return until we get the game :)

 

Made the sigs that are now available in the account system to use.

 

mdx_game_bf3.png

 

pbb_dark_game_bf3.png

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Well I wouldn't assume they will all return until we get the game :)

 

Made the sigs that are now available in the account system to use.

 

mdx_game_bf3.png

 

pbb_dark_game_bf3.png

 

 

Funny thing about the pb_ss deal, is even w/ the probelms ppl had, mine would always come through on Bc2. Most all others would not, but even w/ my hardware and settings, I'd get mine.

 

Thx for the new sigs. Will swap mine out now :)

 

 

 

butt

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Got it figured out. Thx surfy

Edited by buttscratcher
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Funny thing about the pb_ss deal, is even w/ the probelms ppl had, mine would always come through on Bc2. Most all others would not, but even w/ my hardware and settings, I'd get mine.

 

Thx for the new sigs. Will swap mine out now :)

 

 

 

butt

 

 

 

 

EDIT: dont see it in the signature editor area. Am I looking in the worng spot?

 

http://account.pbbans.com/account-manage-signatures.html

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Well I wouldn't assume they will all return until we get the game :)

 

Made the sigs that are now available in the account system to use.

 

 

That's why I'm not extremely-excited... just really really excited. Just want to see it in action, before jumping for joy :rolleyes:

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Ranked vs unranked

 

On ranked servers, your rank controls which weapons/attachments you have available to you. As you play, you go up in rank and unlock new weapons/attachments.

 

On unranked servers, it is up to the server admin whether the players' rank should control which weapons each player has available (plus any preorder incentives), or whether all players should have the same, customized list of weapons available to them. In the latter case, players can have access to weapons which are above their current rank.

 

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/19746463-post69.html

 

Unranked for me if I can find populated servers with a low ping :)

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...we have collaborated with EvenBalance to make screenshots function reliably with DX10/DX11 in BF3...

 

OMG...finally,DICE & EB really "collaborated" to help us fight cheaters!

 

:clapsmiley:

 

Great news!

Edited by wraahhm
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Well I wouldn't assume they will all return until we get the game :)

 

Made the sigs that are now available in the account system to use.

 

mdx_game_bf3.png

 

pbb_dark_game_bf3.png

 

Nice MaydaX! Much appreciated!!

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I am quite alarmed to discover that EA will be charging server hosts for a BF3 hosting. This in turn will be passed onto the Clans and communities and will form part of the server fees. So as well as having server fees communities will have to pay for hosting BF3. And not only this.. BF3 will not run on Win 2003 but 2008 and this is another charge as Microsoft will charge monthly for leasing the software. Our charges for a years dedicated server lease will increase by
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Received this off out GSP just over a week ago so could well be what they are referencing.

Existing customers or potential new customers looking to purchase a dedicated server (physical machine) to run multiple Battlefield 3 game servers, should hold off at the present time. Although it will be possible, there is an extra consideration that cannot be divulged until our contracts are in place.
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If that is true that EA will be charging GSP's to host the game, then I would not be surprised if some GSP's don't host the game. That is very dumb on EA's part.

 

Doubt that. If it's true they will just pass the cost on to the customer in some shape or form. But it wouldn't surprise me if it's true.

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KillerCreation.co.uk has added special option to their dedicated server order form for ranked BF2, BF2142, BC2, MOH & BF3 games. If any of these ranked games will be hosted on the dedicated server, there's an extra fee of

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Doubt that. If it's true they will just pass the cost on to the customer in some shape or form. But it wouldn't surprise me if it's true.

So much for EA/DICE in finding a way to "throw us a bone" for hosting their buggy Bc2 for months on end... Instead they're finding new and creative ways to give us the bone for B3?

 

We paid good money for Bc2 servers, for a game that obviously was not properly tested proir to launch. I guess "sorry, and thank you" for staying brand loyal, means something different in Sweden.

 

 

 

butt

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