**OFFICIAL** AT Battlefield 3 FAQ and News Thread

[drizek]

Free physical warfare pack code courtesy of me:
BF8Y-E2UU-ZDNY-95XL

Thanks

Was it a one-time use or can anybody use it?

 

[skipsneeky2]

Yeah, it's really not clear if any of this testing was in the multiplayer game. Tom's at least mentions multiplayer testing in passing on the first page, but the other articles specify that they used the single-player game. TechSpot said the following:

"We used Fraps to measure frame rates during a minute of gameplay from the single-player mission Go Hunting."

All of the Tom's charts show the same scene name, so perhaps they benched the exact same single-player level.

Likewise, Guru said the following: "Before we begin with the graphics performance tests a little explanation. We use a run that is located in the Operation Swordbreaker level...."

Thus, I think the jury is still out on whether the multiplayer game can really be run successfully on a dual-core. Beta benchmarks showed a 10fps hit when running multiplayer, so obviously it's more demanding, but we'll need to see additional CPU scaling analysis to really know what's going on.

I installed the game on my friends x2 555 stock clocked and 8800gts 512mb.

The card allowed me to only use 1024x768 but with that resolution its all on the cpu with it hitting 100% .

I was able to get into a Caspian map,grab a tank go across a map disable and destroy another tank with explosions around me jump out kill a enemy prone behind a rock kill another one standing up then i get killed .

All while averaging around 50fps or so.

Was pretty smooth too besides server lag .

Edit: gpu usage was in the 55-65% range with highest spike hitting 79%

 

[maevinj]

Free physical warfare pack code courtesy of me:
BF8Y-E2UU-ZDNY-95XL

Yoink!
Thanks!

 

[maevinj]

Yoink!
Thanks!

Bummer somebody beat me to it.
If anybody else has an extra code, I'd be glad to take it.

 

[hans030390]

I think there's some chance that you may be system memory limited. I'm using between 4.5GB and 6.5GB during gameplay, and at least one of the articles published today mentioned that SSDs may help for texture streaming (which might be more necessary with 4GB of ram). Just a hunch, and given how cheap memory is right now, you might invest in another 4GB just for the heck of it.

Oh jeez. Could it be a memory leak of sorts? The game plays beautifully for a while. No issues at all. Then it just starts slowing down and freezing up periodically.

Unfortunately, my motherboard is DDR2, and I'm not about to invest in another 4GB of DDR2 memory...and I don't have the money to purchase a new motherboard as well.

 

[Termie]

Oh jeez. Could it be a memory leak of sorts? The game plays beautifully for a while. No issues at all. Then it just starts slowing down and freezing up periodically.

Unfortunately, my motherboard is DDR2, and I'm not about to invest in another 4GB of DDR2 memory...and I don't have the money to purchase a new motherboard as well.

Well, see if there are others who voice similar opinions on 4GB systems. All I can say is that I had never seen over 4GB of memory use on my system before playing BF3.

And a nice 2x2GB DDR2 set isn't that expensive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146692

Considering it will have benefits for other aspects of your computing, it's not a terrible investment. You could also check out the for sale board to see if anyone's dumping some for cheap.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Anyone know how the "Skill" value is calculated in the stats page?

No one outside of DICE knows for sure, but it is believed it is calculated by your performance vs high and low rank players.
It goes up by killing equal/higher ranked players and down if you get killed by lower ranked players.

You can see that the higher you go in rank, there are less people around higher ranked than you to kill, and more people of lower rank around to kill you. So a truly skilled player would see it rise as they start playing, then fall after they have played for a while.

 

[SexyK]

Oh jeez. Could it be a memory leak of sorts? The game plays beautifully for a while. No issues at all. Then it just starts slowing down and freezing up periodically.

Unfortunately, my motherboard is DDR2, and I'm not about to invest in another 4GB of DDR2 memory...and I don't have the money to purchase a new motherboard as well.

I was having almost identical problems on my system with 6GB DDR3. I resolved most of my issues by turning off HT, but seeing as you're on an AMD-based platform, that obviously isn't an option for you.

I still run into occasional major frame rate dips on 64 player servers, but it's no where near as frequent with HT disabled. According to Task Manager, BF3 alone chews up just over 2GB of system memory on Caspian on my system. Only other thing I can think is that it's something in AMDs graphics drivers. I've got 2x6870 in Crossfire and things are silky smooth other than the rare dips that remain after disabling HT.

 

[HendrixFan]

Just curious, anyone running Xfire? I'm looking into buying another 6870 card but I hear that the game's having a lot of issues with Xfire, but those who got it to run fine are experiencing 90% increase in performance.

The HardOCP review of BF3 pointed out that stuttering problems can be fixed by uninstalling crossfire profiles. Seems the last minute patch for BF3 broke something and the workaround is removing all profiles. I'm sure we will see a real fix soon though.

I run the settings they had in their review:

http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/13195237031TucoX3qBp_1_1_l.jpg

I'm able to get around 65-70fps most of the time. You can enter "render.drawfps 1" in the console to get your framerate to display in game.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Does anyone know where I can find a page with weapon stats, like how much damage a weapon does?

How do you calculate bullet drop? Just fire off a round and see where it lands? I lot of times with the SV98 from a long distance away I have to fire at someone, see that it missed due to drop, then cycle the whole thing, and by that time they're gone.

Does the entry level sniper deal the same damage as the SV98 since they use the same cartridge size?

 

[redrider4life4]

I'm not sure why you would need more than 4gb of ram for this game, I run perfect on all high settings with an i7 920, hd5850, 1900x1200 24 inch monitor, and 4gb of ram. Also running a WD caviar black 750gb hd

 

[hans030390]

Well, see if there are others who voice similar opinions on 4GB systems. All I can say is that I had never seen over 4GB of memory use on my system before playing BF3.

And a nice 2x2GB DDR2 set isn't that expensive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146692

Considering it will have benefits for other aspects of your computing, it's not a terrible investment. You could also check out the for sale board to see if anyone's dumping some for cheap.

I meant to say that I plan on upgrading my motherboard/CPU/RAM when I have the money, so investing in more DDR2 RAM right now makes no sense.

I played more today and had no issues. I did a really thorough defrag on my HDD along with installing the latest AMD GPU drivers as mentioned before. Not sure what the issue was exactly, then, but it seems better now.

 

[mc866]

Not saying you NEED more memory but my system was sitting at around 6GB physical and 7GB commit according to processexplorer x64

System specs
2600K stock, 12GB ram, ASRock Z68 Pro3-M, ATI 6850

 

[HybridSquirrel]

take that bieber


how can i get my veteran status?

 

[zerocool84]

Playing multiplayer on high settings, no MSAA or motion blur. I'm running a single 6870 with a 3.2GHz Phenom II X3, 4GB RAM, Auzentech Bravura sound card, etc. Aside from the strange, periodic freezing and stuttering, it runs extremely smoothly. It doesn't seem to occur at any particular moment either.

I'm getting the same issue with the system in my sig. It's random and me turning off AA and lowering settings didn't cure it.

 

[crisium]

Testing BF3 stats.

 

[gorcorps]

take that bieber


how can i get my veteran status?

You need more than 1 BF game linked to the account you're using.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Not saying you NEED more memory but my system was sitting at around 6GB physical and 7GB commit according to processexplorer x64

System specs
2600K stock, 12GB ram, ASRock Z68 Pro3-M, ATI 6850

According to task manager, I never go over 75% memory used while playing. This is with Mohawk and FF with multiple tabs.

 

[Ichigo]

How do I pick up deployed gadgets? In the beta I'm pretty sure it was the interact button (e by default) but now it doesn't work.

 

[GullyFoyle]

btw, how do i uninstall/trash the beta?

After you uninstall it, the icon remains in Origin. Here is how to remove it.

Head over to: "C:\ProgramData\Origin\InstalledGames.xml"
Search for Game GameID="71171" and change "hidden="0"" to "hidden="1""
No more BF3 beta in origin (you need to restart origin)

GameID for the Alpha..."71170"

I'm sure someone will compile these tips and tricks into some sort of FAQ, when they have time...

 

[KaOTiK]

The AA tank is freaking awesome to use on tanks and infantry. I spent the entire time in one on Caspian and was just mowing down everything in it lol.

 

[Ichigo]

How do I pick up deployed gadgets? In the beta I'm pretty sure it was the interact button (e by default) but now it doesn't work.

Found out it's whatever your reload key is, for anyone else who had the same issue.

 

[minmaster]

After you uninstall it, the icon remains in Origin. Here is how to remove it.

Head over to: "C:\ProgramData\Origin\InstalledGames.xml"
Search for Game GameID="71171" and change "hidden="0"" to "hidden="1""
No more BF3 beta in origin (you need to restart origin)

GameID for the Alpha..."71170"

I'm sure someone will compile these tips and tricks into some sort of FAQ, when they have time...

cool beans. its nice to finally not see beta on the list of games... thnx.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

You need more than 1 BF game linked to the account you're using.

i own 4 battlefield games...but none are showing up.

 

[zerocool84]

i own 4 battlefield games...but none are showing up.

You need to add the cd-keys to your ea account.