EA had a few announcements about the 1.2 patch. Guess they didnt do enough testing after all….

On a less pleasant note, there is an issue with 1.2 and some Special Forces maps. All variants of Leviathan and the 32 and 64 player variants of Night Flight have a crash bug. We have advised our ranked server providers to remove these maps from their map rotation until a resolution has been set in place. We will be able to provide more news in future updates. I stress, this is only an issue with the Special Forces expansion pack and nothing more.

There have been a few comments regarding AT rockets passing through targets. We have noted the issue and are working towards a solution.

The following was posted on Shacknews yesterday.

In the comments section of todays Battlefield 2: Modern Combat interview here on Shack, readers seem to have figured out what exactly producer Dan Blackstone was talking about when he hinted at the future of the Battlefield franchise with the following answer: “3213/3X2. Or said another way: S.R. 4588164.” In hindsight it seems obvious; the first set of numbers comprise mathematical operations equalling 2142. The second phrase indicates the square root of 4588164, which is 2142.

So, what do you think? Is Battlefield heading into the future? If so, would you buy it? With Quake Wars: Enemy Territory coming out this year, is this move aimed at competing with Id?

Source: ShackNews.com

I know it may seem crazy, but I have managed to get some of my best download speeds through International sites, especially when everyone else is hammering the usual places. If you are looking for the BF2 1.2 Patch, you might try these. Just keep in mind, these sites are some of the obscure places we dug up.

www.bf2smoker.de – BF2_Incremental_Patch_1.12_-_1.2.exe
loli.mine.nu – BF2_Incremental_Patch_1.12_-_1.2.exe
www.unionen.se – BF2_Incremental_Patch_1.12_-_1.2.exe
www.dannyburkland.com – BF2_Incremental_Patch_1.12_-_1.2.exe
www.aford.de – BF2_Incremental_Patch_1.12_-_1.2.exe
www.teamwbr.net – BF2_Incremental_Patch_1.12_-_1.2.exe
suyinchen.de – BF2_Incremental_Patch_1.12_-_1.2.exe
bf2.irishwan.com – BF2_Incremental_Patch_1.12_-_1.2.exe
wkw.kthxla.com – BF2_Incremental_Patch_1.12_-_1.2.exe

Looks like yesterdays prediction on the 1.2 Patch was accurate. Here is the list of bug fixes and tweaks (click read more to see it all).

BUG FIXES & GAMEPLAY TWEAKS
– Dolphin Diving is no longer possible
– Players can no longer jump and shoot at the same time
– “Prone Spamming” is now fixed
– “Sprint exploit” is now fixed
– Helicopters now carry 8 missiles rather than 14
– TV-Guided missile now have a shorter range
– Damage decreased from M134
– Hit points on all air vehicles has been reduced
– AA missile lock has been improved
– All support kit weapons have been adjusted
– All Sniper rifles have been adjusted
– Sa80 has been adjusted
– G3A3 has been adjusted
– Reload while sprinting has been enabled
– Medic defibrillator paddles have been adjusted. They now reload while not in use.
– SCAR-L reload sound has been fixed
– Server setting to allow friendly fire to be off on mines without affecting other weapons.
– Server search filters now work properly
– Mines can no longer be destroyed with other explosives
– Bug in MP7 fire rate fixed. Ammo count increased and mag count and damage decreased
– Flash bang effect radius decreased
– Added unlocks for Sniper and AT kits
– Fixed a bug in terrain rendering with night vision, whereby terrain was still dark in dark areas.
– Fixed a bug whereby mods that are not bf2 or not xpack permutate shaders every time a level is loaded.
– Fixed a bug whereby non-xpack mods cannot use xpack shaders.
– Fixed bug in TV guided missiles of Havoc helicopter
– The LAV25 no longer shoots through penetrable materials.
– Vehicles no longer disappear when viewed from some vehicles with a HUD (e.g. Tanks).
– Performance gain found in static mesh rendering.
– Detonation radius from grenade launcher explosions has been reduced.
– Grenade launcher projectiles now have a minimum distance.
– Decreased Flashbang count from 4 to 3
– Replaced the existing Czech Flag with the correct one in the front end

Continue reading Battlefield 2 1.2 Patch Readme →

In an EA Community Update for 2/13/06 it sounds like the latest patch for BF2 will be out soon. Planet Battlefield is predicting tomorrow. Here is the entire update:

Community Update – 2/13/06

Listen up soldiers:

We have some great news for you regarding the upcoming patch. 1.2 is in the final stages of its release cycle. This means you need to keep an eye on this web space for further info and a release date.

I want to extend a huge thanks to our community for helping us grasp the issues that have made your gameplay less than optimal at times. We are very happy with the improvements in this patch and sincerely hope you are all pleased with the work we’ve done.

AJ Marini

Im pretty sure that my wife wont appreciate that as a Valentines Day present, but I sure would!

This was posted to the Planet Battlefield Forums:

Swedish paper this morning anouncing that at least 200 people working for DICE will loose their jobs.

I tried to confirm it online, but can not. Either way, I imagine it is true given the recent cuts and acquisition of DICE by EA. This does not speak well of the future for the Battlefield Franchise.

Battlefield 2 Statistics program was released today. This promises to extend the BF2 ranking system to unranked servers, and LANS and customize it. The main features are:

* Your Own Private Ranked Server wich is capable to produce:
In-game awards, ranks and unlocks and Stats to appear in BFHQ.

* Your Own database hosted on your server, and fully in your control.

* Your Own WebStats System installed locally, to view and compare
your stats with other clan members or players.

* Centralized Database – to see and compare your stats against other
players.

* You control ranks, score and other in-game ranking parameters.

In other words we are giving you the opportunity to install a Ranking System
where ever you want it : clan server, lan parties and public Servers.

This is a truly cool idea. One of the things that I miss from Battlefield 1942 was having server specific stats and rankings. I loved checking in to this site every day after pwning Atomm, ephil, Racer and Tuna and having the numbers there for all to see (evil laugh).

The Desert Conflict Mod Team has released the .2 version of their CTF mini-mod. The first release was excellent, and while I havent played the new version yet, I am looking forward to finding some populated servers.

Head on over to the Desert Conflict site and grab the download off of one of the mirrors listed.

If you have the .1 version of the mod installed you should delete that one prior to installing the new version.

I just received the EA newsletter in my email. It included the following statement:

Take the powerful Euro Force into action with a full arsenal of the
latest technical weaponry. 7 new weapons, 4 new vehicles, and 3 new
Asian maps, including the Great Wall of China. Download Euro Force
direct from EA to your PC and begin playing immediately.

Ummmmm…. Did somebody in marketing not get the memo that said this was delayed? Oops…. Of course, we would expect nothing less than this from our buddies at Electronic Arts Marketing Department….

An update regarding the forthcoming 1.2 Patch for Battlefield 2 was provided in the EAUK Forums today. Sentience(who is AJ Marini the EA Community Coordinator for Battlefield 2) posted a topic that contains both good and bad news. From that post:

First, I’ll start with the bad news to get it out of the way. We have held onto the 1.2 patch a little longer than we had initially planned. We really felt that it was important to delay the patch and take care of some of the issues that have had the community concerned. This means that it will be released sometime in the next two or three weeks. This, unfortunately, means that the Euro Force Booster Pack will be delayed as well since it relies on the patch. Look for Euro Force to be released in the latter half of February now.

Also, another bit of bad news is that the new feature that allows player to pick up deployed mines with the G key is being held back. In the end, we felt it just wasn’t complete enough for public consumption. We at DICE apologize to all of you who were eagerly awaiting this feature.

I hope that the reasons for the delays are seen as positive by you, the community, and therefore I list these reasons as the good news portion of this update.

The following issues were addressed:

– Being able to pass through walls using a spinning tank turret has been fixed. It has also been addressed on all rotating vehicle positions just to be safe.
– The disappearance of tank projectiles and grenade launcher projectiles during online play has been improved and should occur less frequently
– The distance for throwing hand grenades, ammo packs, and health packs has been increased.

And finally…

– The Red/Blue nametag bug has been addressed

Regarding the last point, what we have done is make the code more secure to try and prevent any cases where this bug may occur. Since the fix has been in place, we have had no reproduction of the bug in testing.

As for me, Ill trade a couple of weeks in patch development for a smooth transition into a better game. Getting rid of the Red/Blue tag will go a long way towards making this game more enjoyable. Add this to getting rid of the bunnies, dolphins and noobtubers, and the other tweaks to game play and I am getting downright excited!

Feeling lazy tonight so A quick cut n paste job on this one. EA updated the community on the upcoming patch today and alleviated some confusion about how the booster packs fit into the Battlefield 2 series of games. Here is the community update in all its glory:

Community Update – 1/18/06

Listen up Soldiers!

By now, you have all seen the list of fixes in the next update (1.2). We are still trying to nail down a few final items and put the final touches in place.

Heres a list of additional items to look for in version 1.2:

* UAVs are now visible in the world so if you are being scanned, you can know about it and take action against it.
* Rank progression is no longer limited to the enlisted ranks. All officer ranks are now available.
* Bug that allowed players in vehicles to contest a flag from outside the flag radius is now fixed.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to clarify some confusion stemming from our updates.

The first item is on the topic of grenades. Players will still be able to toss grenades while jumping. Although the ability to fire while jumping has been removed, players will still be able to initiate a grenade toss prior to jumping and follow through with the toss, thereby gaining themselves some extra distance. We understand that there will be some adjustment in tactics required when the patch comes out but we are confident that the community will quickly come to grips with the new tactics.

The second item is on the topic of the booster packs. We have not created the maps as a separate expansion pack requiring a separate server. The booster packs will increase the content of the base game and thereby may be run on a server in regular rotation with the original maps.

Hope that clears up some of questions you’ve all been asking.

[EA]Mike and the rest of the Battlefield Team

EA Community Update for 1/18/06

Point of Existance was (and is) a very good modern warfare mod for the Battlefield Vietnam game. They are currently developing the mod for the Battlefield 2 engine and are making significant progress. While no release date is mentioned, the fact that they have entered “level design testing” is very encouraging. From the PoE website:

These are exciting times as we are happy to announce that we released our first internal build to our test team to begin “level design testing” on Saturday. Currently there are seven maps on the test server and as we continue our development process some more might be added for our fist release.

The team has gone through our list of items to develop and have decided that it’s time for “content cutoff” and nothing else will be added to .1 except for the previously approved items. The graphics department is still working hard on providing additional weapons/vehicles for everyone’s enjoyment so stay tuned to our weekly updates to view more things that will be added.

Read more and check out some screenshots at the Point of Existence site.

Thanks to Duck for spotting this one 😉

In a community update, EA/DICE provided some details on the upcoming 1.2 patch for Battlefield 2 as well as info on the two “Booster Packs” that they are releasing this spring. The patch is currently in beta testing and seems to be addressing many of the complaints that have been heard from the community. The first of the “Booster Packs”, called “Euro Force” will be released on February 8th and sees the introduction of the all-new European Army (with new weapons and vehicles) in 3 new maps. March 28th sees the release of “Armored Fury” which will focus on large armored battles.

Click on read more to see the full list of changes confirmed in the patch

The entirety of the community update can be read here: January 11th, 2006 BF2 Community Update

Complain about stuff in this thread with us. Continue reading EA BF2 Update – Patches and Booster Packs, Oh My! →