BFBC2 Beta: New Client (R3) out

[zeroy]

Bazajaytee

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/avatars/378403-bazajaytee.gif?dateline=1223454371

Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Age: 30

So QA found out a debug setting we used for logging errors was causing the CTD's after DICE left last night. As such the patch is good to be released and is going live within the hour.

Steam users will have to wait until this evening to update as we need Valve to wake up to make it live their end. If you want to run the latest version you can uninstall the Steam version and grab the client from any host here: Battlefield Blog and use the same login details as before.

You can update automatically when loading BFBC2 or you can manually run the updater from your install directory (run as Administrator if you experience update issues or errors)

As promised here is the Changelog for R3 as provided by Kalms.


This update is about performance and stability again. We are not doing any changes to the game's datafiles.

Reduced input "lag"
On machines where the CPU would out-run the GPU, sometimes the GPU would queue up several frames' worth of rendering commands.
This could lead to the game having a high framerate, but input still feeling very sluggish.
Now there's a limiter on how many frames the CPU is allowed to be "ahead" of the GPU.
Control this setting via Settings.ini. Default setting: RenderAheadLimit=2


Performance optimizations with biggest improvements on dual-core machines
Fixed black "masks"

The soot on buildings with holes in them had a bugged renderpath. We switched that over to a more well-tested renderpath.

Improved hit-detection

We've gone through the hit detection logic, and client+server will now give more consistent results.

Fix for some "rubberbanding" issues

C4 should stay attached to vehicles and not rubberband around

Reduced spikes/dips in framerate
Various fixes for alt+tab related CTD on Dx9
More fixes for random CTD on Dx9
Fix for crash when you're in a vehicle that gets destroyed


There was a race condition in the code;
System 1 thought "oh hey, you're leaving vehicle X"
System 2 thought "the vehicle got destroyed, let's remove it"

If system 2 ran before system 1, chaos would ensue.
This was actually fixed in the retail version since a month, but it was only when we got detailed crash reports from the community that we understood *why* the Beta was crashing.

Likely bugs in this build
I wouldn't be surprised if it (still) has trouble remembering your settings between rounds. It would be nice to have that fixed too, but it's better to get a patch out now, and look at the settings issues afterward.

-Mikael Kalms

____________________
Associate Producer
Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Vietnam, Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
Follow Battlefield on Twitter at http://twitter.com/OfficialBF2 and http://twitter.com/OfficialBF2142 and http://twitter.com/OfficialBFBC2
Last edited by Bazajaytee; Today at 12:08 PM..


SOURCE (http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-bad-company-2-pc-beta/894136-new-client-r3-coming-now-before-10am-gmt-changelog.html)

[rudedog]

very nice, this is what a beta is for. Refreshing to see them working and testing before the game hits the streets.

Things are not perfect but they're rarely are.

[fable2]

i gained like 10 fps on my 2.3 dual core cpu :D

and hit registration is better . or maybe it's just because my fps increased

[zeroy]

i gained like 10 fps on my 2.3 dual core cpu :D

and hit registration is better . or maybe it's just because my fps increased

Thats is also reported by most users with Dual core - great news, hope they keep this level of updates/comms after retail ships :/

[YewNork]

Its refreshing playing a beta and it ACTUALLY being a beta. 90% of betas these days seem to be just demos.
:D

[MaydaX]

My fps increased but still the same lag. Both input and server. I can't go any lower on the settings.

I will give credit to IW, they knew how to make a game look good on DX9 that ran good.

[TRTL]

My fps increased but still the same lag. Both input and server. I can't go any lower on the settings.

I will give credit to IW, they knew how to make a game look good on DX9 that ran good.

You might need to upgrade or reinstall drivers, idk your setup. All of my guys have seen better results and they don't have any lag. Some of them still have dual cores too.

[MaydaX]

You might need to upgrade or reinstall drivers, idk your setup. All of my guys have seen better results and they don't have any lag. Some of them still have dual cores too.

I'm running a E8500 with a 8800GTS with everything on low and DX9 mode. FPS is > 50 but the input lag is still the same. Running the latest drivers ofc.

TBH it feels like BF2, the clunky movement that I've always hated which was the main reason I stopped playing.

[Pendragon]

Well I'm running a Q6700 and ATI-5770 and it runs as sweet as a nut on max settings. That's with a screen rez of 1920x1080. There is no mouse/input lag, the game play is crisp and so are the graphics. My hardware is far from cutting edge, I pride myself on gaming on a budget.

If your PC can not play this game the way you like may I suggest you fit faster components in your PC.

A dual core and an 8800 was OK a couple of years ago but as you can see with BC2 is not suitable for gaming today. It's not the games fault that your PC is slow, you can play but it look's a bit crap.

[David Champion]

very nice, this is what a beta is for. Refreshing to see them working and testing before the game hits the streets.

Things are not perfect but they're rarely are.

My Thoughts exactly... genius.

[MaydaX]

A dual core and an 8800 was OK a couple of years ago but as you can see with BC2 is not suitable for gaming today. It's not the games fault that your PC is slow, you can play but it look's a bit crap.

That's the problem I can't play at the lowest settings. The game just runs like total crap with laggy movement etc. Why should I have to upgrade for one game when others run fine. MW2 may be a failure in many ways but it runs a hell of a lot better than BC2. Pretty graphics are meaningless when the engine is flawed.

If you look at the stats from steam hardware, the majority don't have quad cores and high end graphics. Only 24% of the steam users have a quad core or better and the most used video card is a 8800 series. http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

[Misnomer]

Make sure you also turn off HBAO at the moment because it is very poorly optimized and will cause you to feel input lag.

My rig is decent, AMD tri- core OCed to 3.2, 4gig ddr3, and a toxic 3870, but it is hardly a great gaming rig. My guess is that 8800s and dual cores will run the retail version just fine on low or even medium. Reports right now say that gpus are only running around 45%. More optimizations will come.

I always find it interesting how PC gamers complain about nothing being made for PC, but games that push the platform are almost always shunned out. Why should you have to upgrade for one game when others run fine? Because this is not an Xbox or PS3. I am sure you will be fine, but at a certain point PC gamers need to realize that it is time to move on from DX9 and Windows XP. Even though I dislike people saying to upgrade hardware even though there is a software problem, the Windows 7/Vista changeover should be bringing in a new era of hardware and PC games.

[Pendragon]

Games are different but complain that the game runs slowly on your old graphic card sort of points to the problem. If you played ArmA:2 you would also be lagging badly or have to run the settings very low... Shattered Horizon would look like a slide show so would BioHazard. Just saying that XYorZ game runs well so why don't this one? Doesn't change the fact that your PC is too slow to run BC2 on high settings.

The 8800 cards that were so popular a few years ago just don't cut it any more. The 8800 became the 9800 when they shrunk it, the 9800 changed name to the 240. The GT240 is a crap budget card, and that is your 8800! A card no self respecting gamer would use. Or if he did he would know better than to complain that his games are running slow!

[Misnomer]

That all being said:

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-bad-company-2-pc-beta/894406-r7-patch-performance-dual-gtx-295s-quad-sli.html

This thread proves that running out an buying new hardware isn't an answer either. There are problems and the beta is making DICE aware of them.

[Pendragon]

I'm was getting 60fps+ on W7, a couple of days back I was forced to swap back to Vista and the fps has dropped to 50 but still there must be something seriously a miss with his system! My middle of the road £140 quid ATI out performs his triple SLi fat ass 295!!! Yep I would be pissed off too LoL

[MaydaX]

Games are different but complain that the game runs slowly on your old graphic card sort of points to the problem.

I never complained about not being able to play on high settings. I get 50+ FPS on low to medium BUT the game itself is just not optimized for the PC end of story. Bottom line it's a console engine ported to the PC platform.

If you played ArmA:2 you would also be lagging badly or have to run the settings very low...

Actually I never had any issues with ARMA 2 on low to medium settings. It was very playable.

Just saying that XYorZ game runs well so why don't this one? Doesn't change the fact that your PC is too slow to run BC2 on high settings.

Again the issue isn't being able to play on high, the issue is being able to play it at all. I don't care for all the pretty lights etc. I want a game that responses quick and smooth movement. COD has done this for 6 games now without the need of monster rigs.

The 8800 cards that were so popular a few years ago just don't cut it any more.

It serves me well is most other games. If it didn't cut it anymore I don't think it would be on top of the steam hardware survey.

I'd rather spend $299 on an Xbox360 or PS3 and have it run a lot better then to sink cash into higher end hardware for a poorly optimized PC game. Throwing hardware at the problem is not the answer here.

[Neil]

I never complained about not being able to play on high settings. I get 50+ FPS on low to medium BUT the game itself is just not optimized for the PC end of story. Bottom line it's a console engine ported to the PC platform.



Actually I never had any issues with ARMA 2 on low to medium settings. It was very playable.



Again the issue isn't being able to play on high, the issue is being able to play it at all. I don't care for all the pretty lights etc. I want a game that responses quick and smooth movement. COD has done this for 6 games now without the need of monster rigs.



It serves me well is most other games. If it didn't cut it anymore I don't think it would be on top of the steam hardware survey.

I'd rather spend $299 on an Xbox360 or PS3 and have it run a lot better then to sink cash into higher end hardware for a poorly optimized PC game. Throwing hardware at the problem is not the answer here.

It is a Beta remember. Hopefully these issues will be ironed out either the retail version or a first day patch.

[Tobi54]

The engine isnt flawed, it's badly optimized, yes, and they're still working on it, this is new tech, a learning curve should be expected.

As for the COD series and IW, they used a relic of an engine that keeps getting recycled, any middle of the road developer should be able to get great performance out of that.

[4Mori_RaBBiT]

I think the R3 did a good job. Most players I know have notice a huge improvement.I guess that DICE is working hard on getting things smooth enoght.
Btw also the R7 server update did major changes and I think R8 is around the corner.(They are really working a lot on the server side).
Also most updates to the client won't be available in the beta but directly in the game build.

I have no problems once I get the HBAO off.Both on the 5870ATi pc and on the old 8800ultra one.

I'm thankfull to DICE for showing the PC gaming some respect, latelly only valve was doing that. :salute:

PS: Servers with PB are perfomance killers (PB also needs to work a lot to improve that). I usually have 15% less fps on a pb enable server (well at least on R6 release of server files.)

:D

[spO.on]

I have noticed no difference in the average fps (i7 920/GTX285) although they mention in the changelog that the biggest improvements would be seen on duels.

Only "rubber banding" i have seen happens when i am repairing the rear of a tank and the driver decides to reverse over me forcing my player inside the tank model, to then appear at the rear of the tank. This is still happening.

"Destroyed vehicle crash to desktop" happened 3 times tonight.

Hit detection does seem to be more consistant on "softcore" but would be even more apparent on Hardcore servers if i could just find one with a free slot!

Buddy list now shows what servers they are playing in but has failed to connect me several times tonight reporting server full when i know that it's not.

Still no latency value on either the main/buddy/history or favourites server lists. Of all the guys i play BC2 with i seem to be the only one with this problem, anyone else here experiencing this?

Game still chuggs along as though it's running slowly yet Fraps reports an average of 60fps.



Having read a few of the replies here i'd just like to point out the reccomended specifications from the Frostbite Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frostbite_Engine)


Processor: Quadcore
RAM: 2GB
Graphics card: GeForce GTX 260 / Ati radeon 5xxx
Graphics memory: 512MB
OS: Windows Vista or Windows 7
DirectX: 10, 11

[rudedog]

before and after this patch game runs very smooth, with my QX6850 + 285, 4Gigs Win 7 Ultimate

I noticed when I first stared after the upgrade, that the latency was listed but now are gone. I have a feeling it's putting too much of a strain on their master server, they need to fix that.

However I have a Sydney server that I'm getting incredible low latency from, just over 115ms and I'm in Florida - still can't figure that one out LOL. Oh, the only way I can figure out my ping is by using a G15 keyboard via their built in support. So now that I mention it, I wonder if it's the local browser that can't handle the pings.

I do know my biggest complaint right now is the all in the game browser and not having a crouch toggle.

In game browser: - Very slow
- in game settings (load out) does not stick = very frustrating
- missing latency in browser
- friends not working
- filter check marks not sticking
- can't figure out their member (clients connected) listings or because the browser is so damn slow, you're not seeing the real value in real time. = I hate trying to connect to a server only to find out it's full now
- missing auto log in (they could have a check box if I was worried about anyone else in my house using my computer)
Gameplay I've only had one CTD which is still way too many for me.

[zeroy]

I never complained about not being able to play on high settings. I get 50+ FPS on low to medium BUT the game itself is just not optimized for the PC end of story. Bottom line it's a console engine ported to the PC platform.

Maydax you must have something seriously wrong on your rig, i can play this game beta perfectly since R3 on a DELL Vostro Laptop DX9 (Core 2 Duo / 2gb Ram / 8600M GT) - medium settings no HBAO getting 50-60fps.

You may want to read more on the Frostbite Engine technology. Although it sounds like its a console orientated engine its not, its a Multi-core and high GPU dependent engine so it scales very nicely on Quad Core or latest DX11 Graphics Card - add to this support for latest Gfx innovation for PC: HBAO, 3d vision and multi GPU support, check out Rudedog's latest news (http://www.fpsadmin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19649)

[MaydaX]

Maydax you must have something seriously wrong on your rig, i can play this game beta perfectly since R3 on a DELL Vostro Laptop DX9 (Core 2 Duo / 2gb Ram / 8600M GT) - medium settings no HBAO getting 50-60fps

Which C2D? I have the E8500 and from what I've read a number of people are having lag issues with the E8000 series. I get 50-60fps but the game shudders a lot. I'll have to try my laptop later which has a P9700 with a GTX 280M.

The other part of the frustration for me is the clunky and sometimes delayed movement which was also in BF2. I find myself fighting with my mouse trying to get the cursor to go where I want it at times. I never had that with other games like cod, sof2, cs:s, tf2, etc.

[zeroy]

Which C2D? I have the E8500 and from what I've read a number of people are having lag issues with the E8000 series.

Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz

Comparing to CODWAW its almost the same performance. You are correct however i did come across some issue threads on E8000 series CPU.

[woowoo]

Make sure you use the server browser. For whatever reason, if I hit "play now" it finds the worst ping server available. Russia and Australia were two I hit from my location in the Southern US.

[zeroy]

Make sure you use the server browser. For whatever reason, if I hit "play now" it finds the worst ping server available. Russia and Australia were two I hit from my location in the Southern US.

I personally only use the server tab on right bottom of menu, i have a selection of >20 UK servers in there with good latency from Ireland and always almost full. This is way faster than the very slow server browser.