Patch 1.50 Notes

Is this enough to make you jump back into the game?

FEATURES
- Additional support for Windows Vista.
- Added Highway Tampa as a required map.
- Added a new map called Operation Blue Pearl.

GAMEPLAY TWEAKS
- Changes made to both the J10 and F35B to make them more balanced. Please note that the J10 is a superior dogfighter to the F35B and as such these two aircraft will never be equally matched.
- AA targeting tweaked to make it more effective.
- Added checks to prevent "runway grieving".
- Various changes made to prevent cheating.
- Tweaked the hit detection, hits will be more accurate to the model.

They also appear to be working on a way for you to play BF2 without having the DVD in the drive.

So, we've been waiting for what, almost a year, for this? wow.....

This patch looks awesome... for 2007

Bubbaspanky wrote:This patch looks awesome... for 2007

Bubba wins an Internet 🙂

Still, any real improvement, and a new map, is welcome. Tweaks to the hit detection may be 3 years overdue. It's a game I already have, so I'll take it. Clearly, the no-cd fix mean an end to their interest and support. No surprise there, but I hope they stick with it long enough to fix any issues they may introduce with the patch (always a danger).

You have a point Doc. Maybe it's best that they take their time because if this breaks anything, we know it will never get fixed.

Here is my prediction:

Blue Pearl will be a huge expansive map that has nearly 0 cover. It will be 100% overwhelmed by vehicles. It will take approx 8 days to run across the maps and it will have 3 control points. One side will have a huge advantage on the other via some sort of choke point that is off center.

the 1.5 patch will break nearly 40% of all BF2 installs because they forgot to add support for something as widespread as ATI GPUs. This will be remedied by a susequent patch 1.51. They will promise 1.51 within a day and it'll take over a week, possibly as long as a month

The fix of the hit box will mean that snipers and some sort of glich will make some percentage of the player 100% effective while making some other kit 100% ineffective, this will result in a mess with all players playing 1 class.

As for the community, you will have 10% people retrying the game and very rusty, then you will have the community that has stayed with the game for 4+ years, these guys (we'll call them the BF2 superstars) will know every nook,cranny,exploit, pressure point, choke point that there is. The superstars will also be very effective at bunny hopping/dolphin diving/proning and any other sort of cheat that one can master through either learned dexterity or macro keyboards (which are so stupid and aren't any better than just downloading the hacks).

Don't get too upset though, because the griefers will be out in rare form as will every asshat on the planet for the release of this. Also be prepared, becuase EA will release the patch at 8pm on a Friday, it will 1st go only on their largedownloads.ea.com ftp site until that chokes to 3kb/s then they will release an older version of the patch to several mirrors. People will download the older version for a few hours until EA finally catches on and sends the correct patch to the mirrors. All said we'll have 2 people playing at 9pm, 3 by 10, and 5 by 11 the rest will give up.

the "Various changes made to prevent cheating." will amount to nothing more than Punkbuster kicking more honest players more often. The hackers will have to release an update to their hacks which will take them nearly 9 minutes to do.

As for "AA targeting tweaked to make it more effective.", well we'll find that the helo and plane whores have learned 9 years ago how to take out the AA emplacements from 4 lightyears away, and thus it doesn't matter how effective they are the AA will just be permanently blown up, except the one time a player TKs a superstar on the runway to steal a plane, he will be too much of a n00b to fly the plane in an asshat manner and thus one person will get an AA kill.

All that said we will endure all of this just to see if there is any chance that we will get that rush that EA promised us on this wonderful piece of vaporware.

All this naysayer-ness... but I will still be there with my freaking bells on. 😛

Bubba wins another internets!


I swear, that's your longest post in a year!

Somethings rile me up... not to mention I procrasting at work today and Sarge isn't here to smack me around.

Bubbaspanky wrote:Somethings rile me up... not to mention I procrasting at work today and Sarge isn't here to smack me around.

Nice rant Bubba. I agree wholeheartedly! :thumbs up:

Ouch, Bubba drank too much caffeine at lunch again.....

I concur, bells and all.....

The BETA 1.5 patch is out. Don't be a sucker - let someone else take one for the team. I thought you might be interested to hear that it's progressed to this point.

http://www.battlefield.ea.com/battlefield/...p;storyid=46483

DocJon wrote:The BETA 1.5 patch is out. Don't be a sucker - let someone else take one for the team. I thought you might be interested to hear that it's progressed to this point.

http://www.battlefield.ea.com/battlefield/...p;storyid=46483

Wonder what the odds are that it will kill AiX 2.0 ;p

lexx wrote:Wonder what the odds are that it will kill AiX 2.0 ;p

Good enough that I'm not going to try it until it gets out of Beta and I hear some reports.

Snapshots of the new map for BF2.

http://planetbattlefield.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=157816

It's a city/water map. How cool is that....

Atomm wrote:Snapshots of the new map for BF2.

http://planetbattlefield.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=157816

It's a city/water map. How cool is that....

Since Bubba pointed to this in another message, I thought I'd resurrect this zombie thread and give my opinion on the pics of the new map Adam linked to. They sucked ass. Big time. Freakin' misty-lookin' shit makes it look like everything's been washed in bleach. I think it's twice as misty as it should be, if they insist on using it. It's not mist, but a honkin' big cloud bank. Mist in BF2 is something I could really do without, even in mod maps. To see this in the last official EA map is disappointing, but yet, there is a symmetry, a satisfying sense of deja-vu in that disappointment.

Here's the thing Doc, you won't see that map for at least another year. MS brought Win 7 from an internal build to an alpha, beta, rc1, rc2, and into rtm and will release it before you see this piddly patch that EA/DICE have been working on for years. Note this patch was at open beta in april, and yet its still not released.

Speaking of Win7, I could never get the beta to install. I just get a blank screen. Hope it was just an AMD problem by the little goog'ing I did with it.

I preordered two copies anyways. I just hope I can upgrade one version of XP pro with it.

Also it makes one wonder by the time EA gets anything ready will it run right on Win7. I hate upgrading OS's, but I can see XP's days are dated.

I have BF2 running on RC1 just fine. I never had any issues with RC1 or Beta 1. Win 7 is a nice OS IMHO. There is more "pretty" than I care for, but it works well.

The BF2 hitboxes and server browser still suck on Win 7 though ;-)

Some sort of announcement on the "final" 1.5 patch is expected tomorrow sometime.


http://planetbattlefield.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=159805

Second paragraph is cool!!!!

I am going to need to play this game again!

DICE wrote:After nearly a year of development and three public beta tests Battlefield 2 v1.50 is ready for release. The update will be released on Tuesday 1st September at 5pm UK, 6pm Europe. Stay tuned for release announcement in the near future!

As part of Update 1.50 we are glad to announce that not only is Highway Tampa now a required install included in the update but Euro Forces (Great Wall, Taraba Quarry and Operation Smoke Screen) and Armored Fury (Midnight Sun, Operation Harvest and Operation Road Rage) is now FREE for all Battlefield 2 players. Including the brand new map, Operation Blue Pearl this brings EIGHT new maps that everyone can play and will be added to ranked Battlefield 2 servers world wide. The Booster Pack content is included in the update and has made the file just over 2Gb in size.

Server providers around the world will have access to the client file so find your closest host for best download speeds. To install Battlefield 2 Update v1.50 you must have Battlefield 2 updated to version 1.41 or Battlefield 2 Complete Collection from EA Store installed. Thank you to all of the EAUK Forums (http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-2/) members who have given feedback and requests during the development of this update. The full change log for Update 1.50 is as follows:

Features:
# Additional support for Windows Vista.
# Added Highway Tampa as a required map.
# Added a new map called Operation Blue Pearl.
# Added Euro Force and Armored Fury as free to play content for all Battlefield 2 players.
# Added Widescreen support
# Allowed BF2.exe to use more than 2Gb RAM
# Added support for the Novint Falcon controller (http://www.novint.com).

Gameplay Tweaks:
# Changes made to both the J10 and F35B to make them more balanced.
# AA targeting tweaked to make it more effective.
# Added checks to prevent "runway grieving".
# Various changes made to prevent cheating.
# Tweaked the hit detection, hits will be more accurate to the model.
# Occasional connection drops after being on a server a couple of minutes - Fixed
# Prevented use of mouse wheel to provide speed boost to vehicles
# Prevented use of mouse wheel to exploit parachutes
# Players can now pass claymores by going prone
# Update the HUD on TV Guided missiles to increase visibility on maps like Dragon Valley
# Added Battlefield 2142 style prone deviation (going prone will now cause reduced accuracy for a brief period)

Bug Fixes:
# Fixed the issue where picking up a players kit would cause CTD
# Updated BF2OpenAL.dll from version 1.1.1.0 to version 2.1.8.1
# Updated ch_gas_station collision mesh on Dragon Valley to be consistent with other gas station buildings
# Fixed the issue where MEC artillery piece on Operation Clean Sweep changes to the USMC's control when they capture the Airfield flag
# Updated the Challenger2 HUD to show the correct icon instead of the M1A2 HUD icon
# Changed a PLA FAV to MEC FAV on Road to Jalalabad
# Tweaked the artillery respawn time on Dragon Valley for to 360 seconds as other artillery uses
# Included a delay after weapon switch for the Bizon (PP-19) to 0.666
# Updated the F35B's lock delay to 1 second instead of 1.5 seconds to match other aircraft
# Changed the Humvee camo on Taraba Quarry to be the correct design
# Increased the splash damage of the UH-60 (Black Hawk) guns from 0.25 to 1.5
# Updated the G36E HUD to react the same as other weapons during sprint

I was just going to post this before leaving. I received a note it will be out Sept 1st.

Still I want to make sure it doesn't break AIX before I install it, IF it comes out on the 1st.

As part of Update 1.50 we are glad to announce that not only is Highway Tampa now a required install included in the update but Euro Forces (Great Wall, Taraba Quarry and Operation Smoke Screen) and Armored Fury (Midnight Sun, Operation Harvest and Operation Road Rage) is now FREE for all Battlefield 2 players. Including the brand new map, Operation Blue Pearl this brings EIGHT new maps that everyone can play and will be added to ranked Battlefield 2 servers world wide. The Booster Pack content is included in the update and has made the file just over 2Gb in size.

Now Paladin will finally get a chance to play his Euro Forces maps! Nice to see they're showing a modicum of class, here at the end of BF2's life.

Some nice changes-hit detection, AA, decreased accuracy for a short time when going prone(no more flopping to the ground ten feet from each other), j10/f35 balancing, runway grieving fixed, pass claymores by crawling. . . some bug fixes for things I wasn't aware of being buggy. WIDE-SCREEN MONITOR SUPPORT, for you flat-screen guys.

I wonder if they'll remove the CD check protection. It's traditional for end-of-life products, if they haven't done it already.

The only thing thing I see that looks like it might possibly be a problem is the change to the Black Hawk (transport) chopper guns.

Increased the splash damage of the UH-60 (Black Hawk) guns from 0.25 to 1.5

It needed changing, but that's a big change. I wonder if we won't see a couple engies turning wrenches while they hover-cap and destroy everything with the amped-up guns, like early in the games history. OK, I guess the hover-cap is out, but they could drop a couple folks after clearing the area, and cover them with the guns. Could change the game on the one or 2 Black Hawk only maps. Might be fun that way though. We still had fun way back when, unless one team got both airbases.

I liked the Blackhawk back then when you could use those guns to actually protect your guys on the ground.

Overall the changes look positive. I see that they also changed the effectiveness of the AA weapons too. Maybe that combined with better hitboxs, will make those useful (finally).

I hope that the hitbox changes that they've made help with the problem of being killed while crouching or laying behind a low wall problem because your hitbox was still standing.

Sarge wrote:I hope that the hitbox changes that they've made help with the problem of being killed while crouching or laying behind a low wall problem because your hitbox was still standing.

Hey, that's a long-standing feature of the Battlefield franchise! If they removed that, nobody would be able to recognize the brand anymore! 😉 Yeah, it surprised me when I discovered that the issue had been migrated from BF1942 to BF2. Ducking is kind of an important defense to take away from a grunt... at least I always felt that way.


Another change is that they upgraded to the latest OpenAL audio library for the BF2 engine. This should help improve both the quality and reliability of the audio. Also, BF2 will now use more than 2GB if you have it available - this should help with performance on rigs with generous memory.


I hope it doesn't take long for the mod developers to upgrade our favorite mods in time for the upcoming 3-day holiday weekend. 🔫

I have to say I am completely shocked. Seriously, I never saw this coming....

I'd be happy to play on a EuroForces only server for a while. It would feel like I was playing a brand new game....

Widescreen support is another bonus.......

Damn, and I was going to be out of town next friday..... I may have to ditch my plans just to play this....

Just an FYI, we've got some friends over at the Battlefield 2 Alliance that still have a ranked 32-slot BF2 server. We'd be more than welcome to meet up there to give 1.5 a try.

As a little background to these guys, they formed an alliance, kind of like we did with the cartel. Obviously they are big into BF, but they are also big into the same BF mods we like such as AIX, DCON, DCF and BG42. They also play some Far Cry 2 and COD4.

Between both groups of teams we should be able to enjoy a well admined, well populated server, full of cool players and free of smacktards. I'd like to coordinate some events with these guys, especially since things have been slow for everybody lately. The more the merrier. 🍻

-=NC=-Larva wrote:Just an FYI, we've got some friends over at the Battlefield 2 Alliance that still have a ranked 32-slot BF2 server. We'd be more than welcome to meet up there to give 1.5 a try.

As a little background to these guys, they formed an alliance, kind of like we did with the cartel. Obviously they are big into BF, but they are also big into the same BF mods we like such as AIX, DCON, DCF and BG42. They also play some Far Cry 2 and COD4.

Between both groups of teams we should be able to enjoy a well admined, well populated server, full of cool players and free of smacktards. I'd like to coordinate some events with these guys, especially since things have been slow for everybody lately. The more the merrier. 🍻

If my rig works after the patch, I'm in for the following weekend!

I won't be around Labor Day weekend, but still would like to give the game a shot during the week.

DocJon wrote:I wonder if they'll remove the CD check protection. It's traditional for end-of-life products, if they haven't done it already.

DICE wrote:Will the no DVD patch be delivered as an extra addon or will we never see this?

It is part of Update 1.50. There is no extra patch or file needed.

Will the hitreg will be really improved or for that year not many time was spent regarding this issue ?

All I will say is that Hit reg has been improved. We have a lot more happening than Counter Strike (64 players and vehicles for a start ) so it might not be pin point but its it better than it was.

Have you removed the notorious registration of the boosters to one account? Is it now just installing patch 1.5 and then play them?

Install the patch and any account that can play Battlefield 2 can play the Booster Pack maps. No need to link your BF2 soldier to EA.

I also saw that the Project Reality Mod has said that they are not compatible with the 1.5 patch. I don't know if this means that other mods will have trouble as well, but it is something to keep in mind.

All of this is posted on the PBF frontpage: http://planetbattlefield.gamespy.com/

I suppose I will kill shit until something EA pisses me off too much. That is of course based on the idea that

1.) this patch is actually released
2.) This patch doesn't break something critical
3.) You can actually download it from somewhere

Not that EA would ever be guilty of any of those issues.

I can see it now. 12 people from the US can DL from EA, the rest of us have a 16 hour dl. Then it slowly propgates to mirrors, half of which will post a non functioning patch. Of course it'll be released late on a friday night, so most people won't even state to Dl until 10pm. Then we will all finally get the patch and notice that it breaks the server browser, and instead you have to join based on the MAC address of the BFservers NIC card. (IPs, we don't need no stinking IPs). Finally once we get 40% of us to join via MAC address, we notice EA f'd up on the Blackhawk's gun splash damage, and instead of 1.5 they set it to 15, now you can kill a guy from 9 light years away in the helo. Dont' worry though EA may have mistakenly fixed that issues, when they fixed the hit box to go prone when you do, they neglected to notice all they really did was adjust the hit box to always be as if you were prone, now the only way you can get a kill is to aim at peoples feet. Now maybe I am a pessimist... but well, I may not be wrong.

Damn Bubba, Pissed Much?

It's my 'speciality