Updates to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Client R7 changelist.

• MP – New Server browser
• MP – Added 15 second spawn timer for Conquest/Rush gamemodes at the start of round to prevent high end machines getting the upper hand before other machines load in.
• MP – Crash fixes relating to ALT+TAB at different times throughout the game
• MP – Hang fix when trying to connect to a full server multiple times
• MP – Deletion of soldiers now possible through the account pages in game
• MP – Removed screen flash during loading
• MP – Added support for colour blind players
• MP – Fixed crashes relating to faulty server banners
• MP – Servers closing during connection no longer cause the client to hang
• MP – Auto team swap reflects correctly in the scoreboard
• MP – Fixed scoreboards when switching teams before spawning
• MP – Rush scoreboards fixed
• MP – Veteran ranks no longer display as “12”
• MP – Isla Innocentes MCOM building fixed where knifing the fence would destroy the building
• MP – Logout/Login button correctly reflects the player status
• MP – Added minimum number of players needed to start a round (you can still start playing and take objectives but you won’t get any score until 4 or more players join the server)
• MP – Isla Inocentes welcome message on the loading screen now fits the text box area
• MP – Reduced the brightness in Russian vehicles
• MP – Medic gadgets now display correctly if the defib is not unlocked
• MP – Server filter options are remembered
• MP – Punkbuster filter now works as intended
• MP – Scroll bar no longer overlays the Join Server button in the friends list panel
• MP – CANCEL server refresh is implemented
• MP – Zooming in on a friendly using the SAIGA no longer causes the crosshair to disappear
• MP – The chat no longer displays the incorrect player name when appearing
• MP – FoV switches to the default value of 55 when entering vehicles to prevent graphical glitches caused by wider FoV settings. The custom FoV returns when exiting vehicles.
• MP – FoV no longer causes the UAV station to rotate
• MP – Fix to correctly display the unlock progression at the end of round
• MP – Chat functionality will no longer freeze after writing a partial message at the end of round
• MP – One account can no longer connect to the same server multiple times
• MP – Squad Death Match is correctly named during loading
• MP – Server browser no longer gets a bad FPS when filtering Conquest
• MP – Server info banners correctly clear between displays
• MP – Setting display settings which the system hardware can not handle no longer makes the game unusable
• MP – Correct camera collision for vehicles’ heavy machine gun
• MP – Game no longer crashes if the player sends a message in the loading screen
• MP – Trying to join a full server no longer causes the game to hang on Please Wait message
• MP – Most server filter options are remembered it doesn’t remember the setting in dropdowns
• MP – Kit/gadget loadout saved between sessions
• MP – Window on static guns is now transparent on DirectX 9 systems
• SP – Fixed crashes when patching and trying to resume a campaign (there is now a message that you need to re-play the latest mission from the beginning)
• SP – Fixed a crash after the “Upriver” mission end cinematic
• SP – Supply create at “Resupply at Flynns create” objective now supplies weapon ammo
• SP – Hang fix when reaching the objective “Destroy Enemy Zu23”
• SP – Fixed hang after “Storm Cockpit” objective
• SP – Changed melee attack raycast to be detailed
• SP – Game no longer crashes when transitioning between SP_03B to SP_04A when installed in Polish
• SP – Game no longer crashes when killed by the first two enemies in the trenches on SP_01 when installed in Italian
• SP – Updating to R7 will invalidate your single player save game. If you update you will need to play your last mission from the start. If you do not update you will not be able to play multiplayer.

Server R10 changelist

• Punkbuster is required ON for ranked servers
• Ranked servers cannot be started with a password
• Autobalance message goes to text-chat instead of in the middle of the screen
• Added weapon balance tweaks to a number of weapons – we are eagerly awaiting feedback!

We aren’t going to tell you what weapon balance tweaks we have done, we want your unbiased views on the changes before we detail what has changed.
Source Continue reading Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Update Released →

Today we’re shipping some significant changes to the item drop system.

• Previously, we rolled randomly at intervals to see if you got an item drop. Now we roll to determine when your next item drop will occur. So you’re guaranteed to find items at fairly regular intervals. The bulk of drop complaints we’ve received in the past have been from players having unlucky streaks, where they didn’t find any items for weeks. That won’t be possible now.
• We’ve significantly increased the rate at which item drops occur, compared to the previous average interval.
• There’s now a maximum amount of playtime per week in which you get item drops. Playing beyond that amount won’t find any more items. The amount varies, but if you play an hour or so a day you’re good. Some of your unused time will rollover to the following week, so if you’re an intermittent player you’ll also be fine.

What are the net effects of these changes? Here’s the quick summary:

• If you’re an idler, you’re going to find fewer items than you were prior to this change. Sorry. On the bright side, there’s less reason to idle, because it won’t earn more than players who are playing regularly.
• Everyone else will find items more frequently, and with greater regularity.

We’re still thinking about how to allow you to influence your drops. When we see discussions on the forums, people often ask why we don’t tie it to some in-game performance (like your scoreboard position, or number of kills, etc). Many players understand that if we did this, idle servers would simply change into servers running plugins that generate those in-game events frequently (as we saw in the Soldier & Demoman WAR!).

There’s another side of it that we care about just as much, which is the message it would send to all the players who don’t want to idle. Any in-game performance metric we chose would result in there being specific maps, classes, tactics, and so on that resulted in more drops. We really don’t want that to happen. When it’s simply playtime, you’re free to play the game however you like. If you love Payload, you can play Payload maps without worrying about whether you’re earning less drops than the guys playing Arena maps. Community mapmakers don’t have to worry about whether their maps earn item drops fast enough. Similarly, server operators can configure their servers however they like, without worrying about reducing the rate at which their players are earning drops. In short, while it’s far from perfect, not tying to in-game performance is a lot less poisonous to your minute-to-minute game experience.

Source Continue reading Thanks for standin still, wanker. →