Official Battlefield 3 Thread

[GullyFoyle]

New Battlefield Blog Post: Your Quick Guide to the Battlefield 3 Server Browser

Wednesday, 02 November 2011 02:20

We know that some of you are having high-pings when connecting to Battlefield 3 servers and we want to help optimize your server settings! Having a server browser is not commonplace in console games, but it is a very useful feature on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 to get you in the right game with the right people. For example, if you're a US-based player located in California, then you'll want to make sure you're connecting to "West US" servers so that you get the best ping. The following server browser tutorial will help you connect with the best settings. Try it out and then join us in Battlelog if this improved your experience.

1) Start the server browser

Okay, first things first. Go to the MULTIPLAYER option, then move one step down from QUICK MATCH to highlight the SERVER BROWSER option and hit A or X (on Xbox 360/PS3, respectively).

2) Browse available servers

When you enter the server browser, you will se a list of all available servers based on your filter settings. If this is your first time in the server browser, most of your filter settings will be set to ANY, so you will se a wide range iof game modes and maps available to join at your leisure. The two most right hand side columns show whether the server is ranked or not (basically if the server is running default settings, allowing your match be taken up into the official Battlefield 3 stats for your soldier), and what type of server response time you can expect (the more full the ping meter, the better response time and better online performance).

3) Personalize your filter settings

The filter settings is where the server browser really shows its flexibility. Hit R3 (press the right analogue stick down) to enter the filter settings screen. Here, you can set your preferences by hitting A/X in the following criteria (from left to right):
Number of players on the server. Select a low number if you want to find servers with lots of available slots for you and your squad.

Mode. This is where you select Conquest, Rush, Team Death Match, Sqaud Death Match, Squad Rush, or a combination of them.

Map. Where do you want to play today?

Preset. Hit NORMAL to only see servers running the game in the normal, default mode. This is a good place to start. If you want an added challenge, check HARDCORE to see hardcore servers. On hardcore mode, bullets do more damage, and you have less HUD elements to guide you on the battlefield. It’s a cool twist to the battlefield experience, and you can read more about it here. Finally, check INFANTRY to see servers where all combat vehicles have been removed. This is a good way to start playing Battlefield without the added layer of vehicle combat.

Ranked. Pick YES or NO or leave unmarked to show both. A ranked server has not changed any of the official rules. A match on a ranked server will be officially registered with your Battlefield 3 soldier stats.

Region. If you don’t set a region here, the server browser will show you servers in all regions of the world. IMPORTANT: To minimize the risk of unnecessary lag and/or rubberbanding when playing online, please make sure to manually select the region closest to you. If you are based in the US, please make sure you have not set the region on this screen to Europe, Asia, or Australia.

Once you are happy with your choices, hit B/SQUARE to return to the main server browser screen, where your new filter selections will have taken effect immediately.

4) Go into detail on interesting servers

If you find a server that whets your appetite, just hit A/X to enter the SERVER INFORMATION screen. Here, you will see even more details about the current game on that server. Navigating this screen with the D-PAD or left stick lets you view information such as what maps will be in this server’s rotation, what players are on right now, what game settings the server is running, and more. From here, you can join the game by pressing A/X or back out to the main server browser screen by hitting B/SQUARE.

If you find a server you like, you can FAVORITE it by pressing X/SQUARE. That way, it will always be quickly available for you to rejoin at a later date via the FAVORITES tab. You will typically find that a server that gives you good ping and lagless play will keep doing so when you come back. Also, some players tend to stick to speciifc servers, so chances are you'll also start to recognize your fellow soldiers if you become a regular.

5) Go go go!

Once you are happy with all of your settings and the chosen server, just hit Y/TRIANGLE from the server browser main screen to join and start playing.

TIP: Don’t forget to squad up!
The easiest way to bring your friends in your squad to the game is to create a squad before you join a server. To do so, just follow this guide we created earlier.

Happy gaming!

 

[Anubis]

As far as keeping your friends together, I think EA or Dice did a write-up on how to make sure that all 4 of you stay together. Are you creating a squad before trying to join a game? Plus they said that you want to make sure that the server you're searching for has 16 players or less, to make sure that it can support all 4 of you.

yes pretty sure we are squaded up before hand however we normally just do the find random game option. which should be smart enough to not split us up, COD games manage to do that just fine, ill look at some of the stuff linked above when i get home. cant see it from work

 

[fbrdphreak]

I still haven't gotten around to playing anything but TDM. I really enjoy TDM.

I had an interesting conundrum last night though. My team was doing pretty well, though not terribly spanking the other team, and after a while I noticed I was having trouble finding bad guys. Turns out most of the other team left.

In one instance, there was a single player left and no one could find him (mind you he was 1-13). I left that match. Another time, there were 2-3 players left (who did decently) and we were able to get the last few kills and finish the match.

Had we not done that, I don't think the game would've ended. I guess COD is the same way though - you can play against 1 player until they leave or you win. But with COD, there are a bajillion less camping spots...

Also, had an annoying last match that I just quit. Got into an in-progress game on the map set around a couple warehouses with shipping crates at a harbor. Everytime I spawned, it was in the shipping crates and I was inevitably surrounded by enemies. I was able to spawn kill some enemies too, but there were so many around that I kept getting killed. After 5-6 spawn kills, I just cut my Xbox off.

Who though "random spawns" were a good idea in TDM? Makes the recon class very powerful IMO.

 

[Anubis]

Yea spawning in the crates on the harbor map is annoying because of that. It also only seems to happen at that one place even on other game types. I've pretty much only played conquest so far. Tons of fun generally do pretty well even when just joining random games without anyone I know

 

[chedrz]

Read a little bit about the Karkand expansion yesterday. Apparently buildings will be more destructible on some maps (Wake Island and Gulf of Oman were mentioned), to the point of leaving nothing but the framework standing. And expansion weapons will be unlocked for the regular game (that might have been mentioned here, can't remember).

I'd never played Battlefield on a console before (played both BF2 and 2142 on PC), but I've gotta admit that it feels pretty good and it's a fun game. While there are definitely still some glitches that need to be worked out, I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. And the guns...sooo many guns...

 

[drbrock]

anybody want to play on ps3 tonight? All of my friends are playing MW3. My id is drbrock3

 

[Anubis]

im on pretty much every night, i generally only play Conquest

Melbufrahma

 

[Kevin1211]

just got the game from the blackfriday deal for $29.99.. anyone else find all the labels on screen gets a little too much? Like for instance, when I conquer a flag, why does the label still show up in the middle of the screen. It gets very annoying especially when youre in the middle of a fight

 

[basslover1]

just got the game from the blackfriday deal for $29.99.. anyone else find all the labels on screen gets a little too much? Like for instance, when I conquer a flag, why does the label still show up in the middle of the screen. It gets very annoying especially when youre in the middle of a fight

Yea, when you're within a certain range of an objective, it just hovers there. You kind of get used to it, but I wish they would have thought to put it anywhere but dead center of your screen. Actually it's slightly north of dead center which is worse for me because I tend to look slightly downward which means it puts the damn badge right on the horizon, now that's annoying.

 

[Rage187]

I bought this for the single player. Am I going to be disappointed?

 

[Anubis]

most likely, its pretty short and if you play it on hard be prepared to die a lot

i enjoyed it but its not amazing or anything

 

[BD2003]

I bought this for the single player. Am I going to be disappointed?

One of the worst campaigns I've ever played. Homefront was better. Medal of Honor WAY better.

 

[basslover1]

One of the worst campaigns I've ever played. Homefront was better. Medal of Honor WAY better.

I loved where it was going, I really hated how it ended.

 

[localgrown]

I play on the PS3 and have been having weird weapon and item switch glitch that seem to happen much to consistently.

What happens is I will be running or zoomed in and firing at an enemy and it will jsut switch to my medi-pak or another weapon real quick and stop the firing animation. I can sometimes recreate it by just moving my left joystick a certain way. Is there a setting I am missing or is this just a terrible glitch?

 

[Anubis]

I play on the PS3 and have been having weird weapon and item switch glitch that seem to happen much to consistently.

What happens is I will be running or zoomed in and firing at an enemy and it will jsut switch to my medi-pak or another weapon real quick and stop the firing animation. I can sometimes recreate it by just moving my left joystick a certain way. Is there a setting I am missing or is this just a terrible glitch?

could be your controller is shorting out as ive never see this happen

xpac comes out today. nort sure when but when i check at 630 EST this morning it was not available for DL yet

 

[TheWart]

I feel like this is a really stupid question, but how on earth do I equip my G36C with the silencer I unlocked? I thought it would be like the flashlight and optics that are automatically 'applied' to your gun, but I don't see any indication that it has done so (eg my gun doesnt sound like it has a silencer on it nor does it look like it does).

Thanks!

 

[Anubis]

I feel like this is a really stupid question, but how on earth do I equip my G36C with the silencer I unlocked? I thought it would be like the flashlight and optics that are automatically 'applied' to your gun, but I don't see any indication that it has done so (eg my gun doesnt sound like it has a silencer on it nor does it look like it does).

Thanks!

go into the "Kit" window either before a game starts by hitting square or go into "My Soldier" from the main menu and then to Kit

select engineer
scroll the gun till the G36 comes up
go into the gun menu
change to Silencer - i beleiver its in the 3rd slot

 

[TheWart]

go into the "Kit" window either before a game starts by hitting square or go into "My Soldier" from the main menu and then to Kit

select engineer
scroll the gun till the G36 comes up
go into the gun menu
change to Silencer - i beleiver its in the 3rd slot

Thanks!

Can't believe I have missed this screen/part of the game and I have played as many hours as I have, lol.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Playstation 3 Battlefield 3 Players Grab Your Copy of Battlefield 1943

Sunday, 11 December, 2011 at 18:26 PST | ^Scott^ | Print News

If you are a Playstation 3 Battlefield 3 player, be sure to sign up for your free copy of Battlefield 1943. Players in American and Europe can apply to receive a voucher to redeem in the Playstation Network Store. Vouchers will be available for up to 6 months.

After Sony promised Battlefield 1943 free with every new copy of Battlefield 3 for PS3, and EA subsequently failed to deliver, some gamers were understandably angered at the lack of a free game, with one gamer even trying to sue EA. The publisher then announced that they would give 1943 away, citing some vague “misunderstandings”, and setting a date for when the title would be available. That day has now come.

Europeans will be happy to know that the game has been available to them since late November, but 1943 is now also available in the US. Sadly, gamers in Asia will have to wait till December 17th.

To get the free game, you’ll have to complete a few annoying steps:

1. Activate your Battlefield 3 Online Pass for the PlayStation 3 using the voucher included in the game.
2. Visit 1943redemption.battlefield.com on or after the region specific dates outlined above and log in with your Origin ID and password, or sign up for Origin.
3. Select your territory – vouchers do not work across regions.
4. You will then receive a PlayStation 3 voucher for Battlefield 1943.
5. Input your voucher into the PlayStation Network store.
6. Download Battlefield 1943.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Playstation 3 Battlefield 3 Players Grab Your Copy of Battlefield 1943

Yet like 4 people will play it...

 

[Kntx]

Arrgg.. I'm completely addicted to the online conquest game. Bought this to play casually and I'm playing video games like a teenager again!! Stupid upgrades keep making me want to play longer. Keeping me up all night, tired at work... aggg.

tomato81 on xboxlive

 

[GullyFoyle]

New Battlefield Blog Post: Battlefield 3 Xbox 360 update today!

Tuesday, 13 December 2011 00:00

Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand is out on all formats. At the same time, Xbox 360 users are getting a client update for Battlefield 3. Read on for the full change list. Note: this is very similar to the recent updates on PC and PlayStation 3.

Single Player Changes

• Added missing blood effect on kill shot
• Fixed a crash that could happen during level load in SP
• Fixed issue with game crashing during intro cut scene of Campaign mission "Thunder Run"
• Fixed a crash that could happen when shutting down levels
• Fixed crash on last mission that could occur after the player is killed by the first enemy in the train
• When a user got killed, after respawning, he heard sounds that remained as if bullets still were passing around him
• Fixed glitch in melee showing your equipped gun instead of the knife
• Fixed issues with texture streaming. Prioritizing of textures close to the user has become better, resulting in more detailed textures
• Improved mesh streaming conditions to avoid situations with risk of corruptions and crashes
• Fix blend into vehicle problem when entering a vehicle in the Campaign
• Fixed issue where disconnecting a controller during the Gamer Profile sign out animation would cause the game to soft lock
• Removed the hint "Shoot out the lights." during SP mission Nightshift
• Fixed issue with last mission not listed in REPLAY MISSIONS list
• Fixed issue on the SP mission Night Shift where three of the marines that repel down from the Osprey at the start of the level have PLR models instead of the right marine models
• Has been made harder to fail missions due to zero tolerance friendly fire
• Fixed MG nest objective on Operation Guillotine
• Fix for music climax on mission "Fear No Evil"
• Fixed issues that occurred if user were backtracking after fight at elevator on SP mission "Comrades"
• Adding a back button to SP campaign select difficulty screen
• Removed slomo from jump into train on SP mission "The Great Destroyer"
• Fixed glitches in subway Quick Time Events in mission "The Great Destroyer"
• Increased quality of the loading screen images
• Fixed glitch that made it possible to reach Solomon train QTE with the wrong weapon equipped in mission "Semper Fidelis"
• Fixed final sound fade out on SP mission "Thunder Run"
• Removed sound fade on convoy ride in mission "Operation Guillotine"
• Fixed squad mates coming through wall after intro on SP mission "Operation Guillotine"
• SP mission, "The Great Destroyer": moved Campaign Cleared achievement until after the Dima outro
• Fixed soldiers inside of terrain at start of level in "OPERATION GUILLOTINE"
• SP mission, "The Great Destroyer": Fixed streaming issue which could lead to out of memory when streaming in Subway ride
• Improved music and music fade on tank encounter in mission "Operation Guillotine"
• Sound on Operation Guillotine: Fixed trading floor crash camera shake and rumble
• Fade later when driving in to tunnel on "OPERATION GUILLOTINE"
• Hide cross hair during Solomon intro & climb out scene on "Operation Swordbreaker"
• Fixes on "OPERATION SWORDBREAKER": Skip VO urging the player to move forward if the player has already moved. Fixed VO playing from the wrong world position
• Fixed crosshair being back on staging area in "OPERATION SWORD BREAKER"
• Fixes on "THUNDER RUN": Less delay after MICLIC scene. Friendly tanks start driving up to you sooner and are more likely to teleport into position. Enemies now spawn in front of you & to the right, instead of behind the approaching friendly tanks
• Fixed Squad mates goes through the ground in front of the house before throwing in grenades in "OPERATION GUILLOTINE"
• Fixed issue with player not being able to cross the plank as soon as its down on ground on mission "Operation Swordbreaker"
• Fixed sliding into cut scene on roof top on mission "Operation Swordbreaker"
• Tweaked difficulty levels in Single Player
• Fixed a hang in terrain streaming, causing the user to get stuck on black screen under special circumstances in Singleplayer
• Fixes in Night Shift: New save point after wave 2 in mall. Fixed bug where wave 3 was considered done way before all enemies were killed, causing a possible difficulty spike
• Added tutorial for firing Stinger on "ROCK AND A HARD PLACE" copied from "OPERATION GUILLOTINE"
• Delayed "The Professional" achievement/trophy to not pop up in the middle of the scene
• Fixed issue on The Great Destroyer where you could equip a gun before entering the train

Multiplayer changes

• Significant squad user interface changes detailed here
• Added round duration and ticket summary at EOR
• Advanced squad polish – should be more intuitive
• Added back EOR sound for SQDM and TDM
• Fixed sound for when climbing ladders
• Fixed and issue with some first person weapon sounds
• Fixed a swim sound loop error
• You should no longer be able to damage a friendly vehicle when sitting in an open position
• Grenades now drop to ground if you get killed while attempting to throw it
• Spawn protection now should work in Conquest. You should no longer spawn on points too close to enemies
• You should no longer spawn too close to enemies in TDM and SQDM
• Fix for missing input restriction during intro movie, causing players to potentially fall and die while watching movie if moving controller (or having a controller with a bad stick zone).
• Combat areas on Kharg Rush tweaked in order to disallow defenders to access the carrier ship after 1st base is taken and being able to enter the AA gun
• Fixed a problem with revived players not being able to get suppressed
• Fixed a problem with the camera when being revived in COOP
• Spotting VO now plays when spotting from MAV/EOD
• End of round now has round statistics like Team tickets and Round time display
• Fixed several issues regarding the kill card. It was showing wrong weapons used for the kill
• Fixed that sometimes you would be stuck on a black screen when kicked from server
• Fixed so when a team captures two flags at the same time, the UI could show wrong owner of the flag
• Fixed a problem where the capture progress bar was showed as friendly when the enemy was capturing
• Fixed a problem with the bipod deploy sound
• Fixed a problem that you could be spawned in with no weapons after being killed while using the EOD bot
• Fixed problems with health bars not displaying health properly when using EOD bots
• Fixed a problem with flickering name tags
• Fixed a problem where friendlies could damage friendly helicopters
• Fixed a problem where you could get stuck in the co-op menu when attempting to join the session twice
• You should now be able to spot explosives
• You should no longer spawn in home base if your selected spawn point is disabled while waiting to spawn. For instance your teammate dies right before you are about to spawn
• Damage from bullets will now continue to cause damage even after the firing user is dead
• Fixed several client crashes
• Fixed a problem where players could get stuck in the join queue
• Fixed the repair icon on the minimap
• Deploy parachute now displays the tooltip to deploy parachute when free falling
• Fixed some artifacts when using flashlights
• Fixed several Xbox 360 specific crashes and freezes
• Fixed a problem where a user sometimes could not go into iron sights
• Improved shadow rendering
• Fixed several issues with friend invites and joins
• Vehicle boosts is now a toggle instead of momentary
• Fixed several issues with the Hardcore mode
• Fixed a few layout problems where the in-game controls and tooltips didn’t match those in the options menu
• Removed the possibility to pick up weapons in a EOD bot
• Fixed several interpolation issues
• Fixed a problem where claymore is flashing in the wrong team color
• Subway minimap updated to give better clarity
• Fixed an issue where the UI would not show the way to your new unlocks
• Increased quality of loading screen images
• Tweaked MP rank up parameters
• Fixed a problem with Metro Squad rush minimap where it looked like you were out of bounds
• Fixed a problem where a user can become invulnerable after being resurrected
• Fixed a problem where tank turrets would turn too slow
• Fixed a bug on Exfiltration where you could end up outside the vehicle and not being able to enter it again, thus blocking the mission
• Fixed a problem with the M60 reload sound
• Fixed a problem with the falling antenna on Caspian Border. It should now more instantly kill anyone in its falling path
• Fixed a hang in terrain streaming, causing the user to get stuck on black screen under special circumstances in Singleplayer
• Fixed a problem where the enemy would not be able to get a roadkill on a user that was using the SOFLAM
• Fix for soldiers disappearing in the mortar killcam
• Fixed Laser Guided Missiles missing their targets if the target is moving too fast
• Fixed a bug with terrain destruction not being reset on Operation Metro. Caused players to be able to below ground in some situations
• Fix for Type88 and the MG36 zoom in animation that was offset when in supported shooting
• Fixed a bad logic destruction connection causing clients to crash
• Fixed several dog tags that had wrong stats referenced, meaning they would show wrong kill numbers on them
• Tweaked the TV guided missile, so it can no longer bounce off objects

Balance Changes

• Increased the damage of Helicopter Miniguns, AA guns, and Jet Cannons against infantry
• Increased the damage of Helicopter Miniguns against jeeps
• Reduced the physics impact of AA guns and Jet Cannons, players under attack from these weapons should no longer lose control
• Increased the damage of the 44 Magnum slightly
• Increased the range and minimum damage of the .357 Round from the MP412 Rex
• Increased the range of all .45cal and 9mm weapons
• Slightly increased the range of the P90 and MP7 and PDW-R
• Slightly increased the range of the 5.56mm PDW-R and decreased the minimum damage at long range
• Slightly increased the minimum range of the Mk11, SVD, and M39 EMR 7.62mm rifles
• Decreased the maximum damage and maximum range of the G3 and SCAR-H 7.62mm weapons
• Reduced the damage from FIM-92 and SA-18 IGLA missiles against aircraft
• Increased the damage and range of the 40mm BUCK rounds
• Reduced the damage .50cal weapons do against Helicopters
• Updated T90 canister shell tweaks to match Abrams canister shells

New Battlefield Blog Post: How to go back to Karkand on Xbox 360

Tuesday, 13 December 2011 01:00

Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand is out on Xbox 360! Here’s how to buy, download and get started.

1. Download the multiplayer update from the in-game store

Battlefield 3 is getting a new Xbox 360 update with the release of Back to Karkand. If you get a popup saying there's a new update available, you can simply accept the update to start downloading and installing it, Otherwise, select STORE from the main meny and locate the "Battlefield 3 multiplayer update".

2. Download the update

Select the update, then select "Buy item" followed by "Confirm purchase" (it will be totally free). The update is 2.07 GB in size. You will not be able to play Back to Karkand if you have not downloaded this update. If you own Battlefield 3: Limited Edition, you are automatically entitled to Back to Karkand at no extra charge and can skip to step 4 below. If you have the Standard Edition, go to step 3.

3. Buy Back to Karkand at the in-game store

You can buy Back to Karkand for 1200 Microsoft Points, either in the in-game store (pictured above), or on Xbox Live Marketplace.

4. Find your new maps

Back to Karkand includes four new maps: Strike at Karkand, Wake Island, Sharqi Peninsula, and Gulf of Oman. These get added to the base game and are selectable in the same way. To join any of the new maps, either select one of them in your Quick Match filter settings, or use the server browser and make sure to join a server that has one or all of these maps in its map rotation.

5. Go back to Karkand!

You are now ready to go back to Karkand! Have fun and let us know what you think in the Battlelog forums.


Q: Why do I get returned to the main screen?
A: If you do not have Back to Karkand and join a server running a Back to Karkand map in its rotation, you will eventually be returned to the main menu and a message will appear telling you that you did not have the appropriate content installed. You will never risk joining a Back to Karkand server via the Quick Match functionality if you don't have this expansion pack.


A full guide to the server browser is available here.

 

[OptimumSlinky]

So, is the party system just totally broken in this game or am I doing something wrong? Every time my party enters a match, we end up split up on opposite teams and in random squads. I don't remember Bad Company 2 doing that.

 

[American Gunner]

So, is the party system just totally broken in this game or am I doing something wrong? Every time my party enters a match, we end up split up on opposite teams and in random squads. I don't remember Bad Company 2 doing that.

That is one of the many broken things on this game.

 

[Kntx]

Hey,

Been playing BF3 a few weeks. Gamer tag is tomato81. Anyone who wants to play add me!

edit: oh, it seems i already posted in this thread