official Battlefield 3

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Well SLi is definitely not working with these new Beta drivers, I can confirm that for sure.

I also have a way to force SLi using Nvidia Inspector, and it worked, SLi was enabled, I put the visual indicator on through the drivers so I know it was working, but the game literally did not like it whatsoever, and it went no higher than 10 FPS. So it is pretty clear to me that right now the game is not optimized for SLi whatsoever, and will not be before the end of the Alpha.

So when running the game in Full Screen, no SLi on low, I get 35-35 FPS, which for me is just unplayable for a PC FPS. I am sure some are okay with that, for me, no DICE (pun intended). Running it in Windowed mode means a massive improvement for FPS, It then jumps up to 65-75 range, which is so, so much better. literally a night and day difference. Indoors in Windowed mode it went over 90 FPS, so yeah, for now unfortunately have to play it in Windowed mode.

I am hopeful that once SLi is enabled officially it will run decent enough Full Screen. Maybe, maybe not, so I may be picking up a new graphics card for X Mas after all, but was really hoping to get much more mileage out of my 2 460's, so I may just live with the fact full screen with low settings and SLI will result in 60 FPS hopefully. Call me spoiled but anything less then 60 FPS on the PC for an FPS does not feel right.

Other then that, while I like the whole Battlelog thing, I really hope the final retail build does not force one to use it. I am not a fan at all of having to run a game, then choose my servers through a web browser. I really, truly hope that is not in the final retail build. I much prefer doing all of my server browsing from in game.

As far as gameplay, only played 2 matches so not enough to form a true opinion just yet, but it seemed like it was definitely solid. I do feel it leans more towards Bad Company 2 then BF2, which is slightly disappointing, but I like BC2 a lot, I just like BF2 even more. i guess it feels more like a hybrid of the two, and again, only played 2 matches, so do not have a full opinion just yet. Definitely is pretty glitchy as well. Sound is superb already though.

I also am not a fan of Rush mode, Conquest is my mode, so honestly I may be done with this Alpha. I am sure I will give it another go here and there, but I am no longer concerned with having to play it a lot by August 1st, and part of me also does not want to taint my experience any further, and the fact it is only really playable in windowed mode is kind of doing that.

[Singh400]

Battleblog #4: Up Close And Personal

Very good idea!

Well SLi is definitely not working with these new Beta drivers, I can confirm that for sure.

I also have a way to force SLi using Nvidia Inspector, and it worked, SLi was enabled, I put the visual indicator on through the drivers so I know it was working, but the game literally did not like it whatsoever, and it went no higher than 10 FPS. So it is pretty clear to me that right now the game is not optimized for SLi whatsoever, and will not be before the end of the Alpha.

So when running the game in Full Screen, no SLi on low, I get 35-35 FPS, which for me is just unplayable for a PC FPS. I am sure some are okay with that, for me, no DICE (pun intended). Running it in Windowed mode means a massive improvement for FPS, It then jumps up to 65-75 range, which is so, so much better. literally a night and day difference. Indoors in Windowed mode it went over 90 FPS, so yeah, for now unfortunately have to play it in Windowed mode.

I am hopeful that once SLi is enabled officially it will run decent enough Full Screen. Maybe, maybe not, so I may be picking up a new graphics card for X Mas after all, but was really hoping to get much more mileage out of my 2 460's, so I may just live with the fact full screen with low settings and SLI will result in 60 FPS hopefully. Call me spoiled but anything less then 60 FPS on the PC for an FPS does not feel right.

Hmmmm, maybe it's just your cards? I got a friend running the game on SLi's 570GTXs. He hasn't complained about anything, I'll pick his brains tomorrow when I next game with him.

Other then that, while I like the whole Battlelog thing, I really hope the final retail build does not force one to use it. I am not a fan at all of having to run a game, then choose my servers through a web browser. I really, truly hope that is not in the final retail build. I much prefer doing all of my server browsing from in game.

Agreed, Battelog is a great little thing. But I hate having the server browser in a WebUI. It plain sucks. Hopefully it's just for the alpha/beta phase. But I guess if it makes it into the beta phase then it's around to stay... :(

As far as gameplay, only played 2 matches so not enough to form a true opinion just yet, but it seemed like it was definitely solid. I do feel it leans more towards Bad Company 2 then BF2, which is slightly disappointing, but I like BC2 a lot, I just like BF2 even more. i guess it feels more like a hybrid of the two, and again, only played 2 matches, so do not have a full opinion just yet. Definitely is pretty glitchy as well. Sound is superb already though.

Played a butt ton of matches today. Had some really good games, unlocking plenty of stuff now. The game only gets fun when you get the good unlocks. Up till then you are constantly getting owned unless you camp it out in the tank, which is just boring. Having never played BF2. I don't know how close it is to that. But the overall feel and look of the game definitely has BC2 flares. The movement has changed a lot it's a massive adjustment for me. I'm getting used to it but still not quite there yet.

I think they have some work to do in the shooting dept. Me and couple of friends all agreed that it isn't so much as skill based at the moment but rather who sees who first. If you get seen first nine out of ten times you are going to die. No two ways about it. They either need to decrease the damage (it feels HC damage) or tweak the health so that enemy has slightly more time to respond.

I also am not a fan of Rush mode, Conquest is my mode, so honestly I may be done with this Alpha. I am sure I will give it another go here and there, but I am no longer concerned with having to play it a lot by August 1st, and part of me also does not want to taint my experience any further, and the fact it is only really playable in windowed mode is kind of doing that.

Honestly I think it's down to your team. I slightly prefer Rush over Conquest. But I've had fun games on both modes. It's the team that makes the match not the mode IMO.

FYI :- Adding friends in Origin doesn't automatically add them in Battelog. And you can't join on friends through Origin, you have to add them in Battelog to be able to join on them. They need to fix that ASAP. Couple of friends were completely dumbstruck on how to join on me. If Origin wants to be a Steam competitor then it needs to get that join on friend feature.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

i cant even log into the BF veteran website, keeps telling me "Wrong username or password" Despite me able to log into BF:BC2 just fine, log into EA Origin just fine and the EA Profile website just fine :/

You may need to link your various accounts so it work with the veteran site: http://veteran.battlefield.com/

Well SLi is definitely not working with these new Beta drivers, I can confirm that for sure.

I also have a way to force SLi using Nvidia Inspector, and it worked, SLi was enabled, I put the visual indicator on through the drivers so I know it was working, but the game literally did not like it whatsoever, and it went no higher than 10 FPS. So it is pretty clear to me that right now the game is not optimized for SLi whatsoever, and will not be before the end of the Alpha.

So when running the game in Full Screen, no SLi on low, I get 35-35 FPS, which for me is just unplayable for a PC FPS. I am sure some are okay with that, for me, no DICE (pun intended). Running it in Windowed mode means a massive improvement for FPS, It then jumps up to 65-75 range, which is so, so much better. literally a night and day difference. Indoors in Windowed mode it went over 90 FPS, so yeah, for now unfortunately have to play it in Windowed mode.

I am hopeful that once SLi is enabled officially it will run decent enough Full Screen. Maybe, maybe not, so I may be picking up a new graphics card for X Mas after all, but was really hoping to get much more mileage out of my 2 460's, so I may just live with the fact full screen with low settings and SLI will result in 60 FPS hopefully. Call me spoiled but anything less then 60 FPS on the PC for an FPS does not feel right.

Other then that, while I like the whole Battlelog thing, I really hope the final retail build does not force one to use it. I am not a fan at all of having to run a game, then choose my servers through a web browser. I really, truly hope that is not in the final retail build. I much prefer doing all of my server browsing from in game.

As far as gameplay, only played 2 matches so not enough to form a true opinion just yet, but it seemed like it was definitely solid. I do feel it leans more towards Bad Company 2 then BF2, which is slightly disappointing, but I like BC2 a lot, I just like BF2 even more. i guess it feels more like a hybrid of the two, and again, only played 2 matches, so do not have a full opinion just yet. Definitely is pretty glitchy as well. Sound is superb already though.

I also am not a fan of Rush mode, Conquest is my mode, so honestly I may be done with this Alpha. I am sure I will give it another go here and there, but I am no longer concerned with having to play it a lot by August 1st, and part of me also does not want to taint my experience any further, and the fact it is only really playable in windowed mode is kind of doing that.

It sucks that you can't run it with SLI enabled. My Radeon HD 4870 struggles with the outdoor environments on low but I'm happy because it looks good and it's still playable. I agree that it's a hybrid between BC2 and BF2.

Anyway, did you buy Medal of Honor? I recently bought it for $10 to play the beta early. :)

[Y2Stu]

i use to be able to log into the Veteran site, registered all my BF games, down from BF1942 upto BF:BC2 and now i cant even log in :/

[Shad0w480]

Wah! i really wanted to play this game but the alpha ends 1st august rite? :( too bad... but if someone have a account that can borrow me just to play it a little bit i will be happy xD or a code please? :pinch:

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Hmmmm, maybe it's just your cards? I got a friend running the game on SLi's 570GTXs. He hasn't complained about anything, I'll pick his brains tomorrow when I next game with him.

Agreed, Battelog is a great little thing. But I hate having the server browser in a WebUI. It plain sucks. Hopefully it's just for the alpha/beta phase. But I guess if it makes it into the beta phase then it's around to stay... :(

Played a butt ton of matches today. Had some really good games, unlocking plenty of stuff now. The game only gets fun when you get the good unlocks. Up till then you are constantly getting owned unless you camp it out in the tank, which is just boring. Having never played BF2. I don't know how close it is to that. But the overall feel and look of the game definitely has BC2 flares. The movement has changed a lot it's a massive adjustment for me. I'm getting used to it but still not quite there yet.

I think they have some work to do in the shooting dept. Me and couple of friends all agreed that it isn't so much as skill based at the moment but rather who sees who first. If you get seen first nine out of ten times you are going to die. No two ways about it. They either need to decrease the damage (it feels HC damage) or tweak the health so that enemy has slightly more time to respond.

Honestly I think it's down to your team. I slightly prefer Rush over Conquest. But I've had fun games on both modes. It's the team that makes the match not the mode IMO.

FYI :- Adding friends in Origin doesn't automatically add them in Battelog. And you can't join on friends through Origin, you have to add them in Battelog to be able to join on them. They need to fix that ASAP. Couple of friends were completely dumbstruck on how to join on me. If Origin wants to be a Steam competitor then it needs to get that join on friend feature.

Good to know about Origin friends not carrying over. Now the million dollar question, how do you add friends from Battlelog? I could not figure it out.

And I would imagine your friend is not having any issues with the SLi 570's because he is really only running 1 570. ;) Since SLi is not working, only one of the two cards then work, so safe to say a 570 is going to run the game much, much better then a 460. Once SLi is enabled officially, it should run better for me, and if I can get away with low settings but 60 FPS, then I can and will live with that, cause even low looked good. obviously I would prefer High, but that is what it is.

And yeah, I can see how unlocking things would make a pretty big difference, I am not going to get enough time to play this Alpha before the 1st to make any real progress, so I am unfortunately stuck with the default kits and no unlocks. Will see what I can grab off fallen people.

It sucks that you can't run it with SLI enabled. My Radeon HD 4870 struggles with the outdoor environments on low but I'm happy because it looks good and it's still playable. I agree that it's a hybrid between BC2 and BF2.

Anyway, did you buy Medal of Honor? I recently bought it for $10 to play the beta early. :)

Yeah, I guess no SLi is expected with an Alpha honestly. The truth is some games do not even get SLi until a week or two after retail release, so no SLi in alpha is expected, it was just wishful thinking on my part.

And Yep. I purchased MoH, almost exclusively for this Beta. :laugh:

i use to be able to log into the Veteran site, registered all my BF games, down from BF1942 upto BF:BC2 and now i cant even log in :/

I would imagine it is getting slammed pretty hard. This is not your typical Alpha IMHO as they seem to be letting a whole lot of people in. I consider this more of Beta 0.5 and then next Beta 1.

Which leads me to my next comment...

I thought about the fact that I may have been to critical on my first overall impressions of the performance side of things considering this is indeed being labeled an Alpha, but the truth is we are only 3 months out from release, so while there are obviously a whole, whole lot of things that can and will be done on the server side of things, that is not really going to make that dramatic of a difference on the graphic side of things. No doubt some optimization will be done here and there, and the retail game will have proper graphics settings, etc. but I do believe we are getting a pretty good idea here of how the game will run as far as FPS. So I really am hoping that once SLi is officially supported, it makes it playable by my admitted high standards. And I am sure plenty of people are reading this saying I am being a diva, but the truth is this is why I choose to play First Person Shooters on the PC, as I personally prefer 60+ FPS. It is why I have a real hard time now going back to the console now for shooters, as although 30 FPS i much easier to put up with on a TV with a controller, I can still see a noticeable difference. And it really is just shooters that I feel this passionate about with high FPS. Do not get me wrong, the higher the FPS the better no matter what the genre, but it is imperative to me for shooters. It is why back when BF2 first came out, and I had not upgraded my GPU yet, I ran everything on low with shadows completely disabled, just so I could get over 60 FPS. I am without a doubt willing to sacrifice graphical fidelity for smoothness. It is just nice when it can look as good as it can look and it still runs great, which is why BC2 is a great game IMO, I run it practically maxed out, and average 75 FPS.

[Emn1ty]

Constant crashes for Nvidia cards. Get about 2 minutes of play then the game just freezes.

[SkyyPunk Veteran]

Yeah, definitely not running as good as I had hoped...I also have 2x 460s in SLI, hopefully that will help enough once we get SLI. Not planning on building a new desktop until the end of next year most likely :p

i7 920, 12gb ddr3, 2x gtx 460s in SLI (also gt 430, just for extra monitors :p) - only getting fps in mid 20's full screen (1680x1050), mid 40s windowed :(

[DrJohnSmitherson]

I'm playin with High Settings, q6600 3ghz, 4gb ddr2 1066, 7200rpm hdd, 460 1gb, Win7, and the game is running VERY smoothly for me, I do get some freezes, but it's alpha. :/

[SkyyPunk Veteran]

I've noticed a few people mention what settings they are on...where are the graphics options? I didn't see any... might be blind :p

[Knightwolf20024]

I've noticed a few people mention what settings they are on...where are the graphics options? I didn't see any... might be blind :p

after you spawn into the map press esc and go into the options menu

[SkyyPunk Veteran]

after you spawn into the map press esc and go into the options menu

Ahhh! thanks...i think I was trying too early

[AimLXJ]

I like how you can get points for suppressive fire because now I have a reason to spam more bullets :p

[S00N3R FR3AK]

Ahh damnit i wanna play this so bad even if it is just for 2 days. Freaking newsletter, didn't think I would need to sign up being a freaking vet status of 4 and all my other **** I have from EA.

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

was most pleased when I got my invite :) I reckon the beta will be even better.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Yeah, definitely not running as good as I had hoped...I also have 2x 460s in SLI, hopefully that will help enough once we get SLI. Not planning on building a new desktop until the end of next year most likely :p

i7 920, 12gb ddr3, 2x gtx 460s in SLI (also gt 430, just for extra monitors :p) - only getting fps in mid 20's full screen (1680x1050), mid 40s windowed :(

Now that you know where the graphics settings are (which I had to ask a friend too, so do not feel bad, I was also trying to early), when you put it to low and windowed, you still getting 40 FPS? We have the same cards, and I was getting 65-70 FPS. So maybe try Low settings, as I did not notice that much of a difference visually between low and medium, especially when in Windowed mode.

I'm playin with High Settings, q6600 3ghz, 4gb ddr2 1066, 7200rpm hdd, 460 1gb, Win7, and the game is running VERY smoothly for me, I do get some freezes, but it's alpha. :/

You left out the most important aspect, what kind of GPU you running?

[sopharine]

Is it reasonable that the game is unplayable with my hd4850 even in lowest setting running at 800x640?

[AbandonedTrolley]

Tried playing this morning and it just sat at 'Joining Server' will give some FPS rates tonight though if I get it working.

[SkyyPunk Veteran]

Now that you know where the graphics settings are (which I had to ask a friend too, so do not feel bad, I was also trying to early), when you put it to low and windowed, you still getting 40 FPS? We have the same cards, and I was getting 65-70 FPS. So maybe try Low settings, as I did not notice that much of a difference visually between low and medium, especially when in Windowed mode.

Haven't played again since finding that out, will try again tonight and see what happens

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Is it reasonable that the game is unplayable with my hd4850 even in lowest setting running at 800x640?

Possibly, but I think it should run for you at that resolution, I found this graphic comparing your card vs the card I currently own.

Now granted it is a completely different game, it is pretty much the same for all the games I saw this graphic for, around 50% less performance. So considering I get 65-70 FPS in Windowed mode at Low Settings, I would think you could pull over around 30 FPS. So it should be playable, just not ideal.

With that said, it could be any number of other issues. Drivers you have installed are not compatible with the game, sound card or onboard sound, AV running in the background, how much ram you have, which CPU, could be a lot of other factors contributing to it.

[Lexcyn]

You left out the most important aspect, what kind of GPU you running?

Pretty sure he said a 1GB Nvidia 460. :p

[Pupik]

Running really smooth for on me high @ 1080p, with Q9550 and HD 5770. But I'm sure it won't run as smooth on final release, as more stuff going to be added to the graphics.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Pretty sure he said a 1GB Nvidia 460. :p

So he did. :laugh: Still the morning for me, and very tired obviously. :wacko:

That really is bewildering to me then. I have a 460 as well and it without any doubt it is not running Very Smooth, and I had EVGA precision and FRAPS to both confirm it. And that was on Medium settings. Putting it on High made it run low 20's.

Unless he is talking Windowed Mode and not Fullscreen. That makes all the difference in the world. Like 50% increase when in Windowed mode, which in itself is weird, as I never have seen that much of an increase from Windowed to Fullscreen.

[Lexcyn]

So he did. :laugh: Still the morning for me, and very tired obviously. :wacko:

That really is bewildering to me then. I have a 460 as well and it without any doubt it is not running Very Smooth, and I had EVGA precision and FRAPS to both confirm it. And that was on Medium settings. Putting it on High made it run low 20's.

Unless he is talking Windowed Mode and not Fullscreen. That makes all the difference in the world. Like 50% increase when in Windowed mode, which in itself is weird, as I never have seen that much of an increase from Windowed to Fullscreen.

Yeah I don't know either ... a friend of mine is in the alpha and has a 570 and said on auto it runs fairly smooth but obviously can be improved.

I hope they have a slew of optimizations for the open beta.

[Singh400]

Using the specs in my sig. Running @ 1920x1200. I'm getting a solild 80+ fps. This is on Auto, I haven't it customized it yet. I suspect I can squeeze a few more out with Retail and a proper config. Is it bad that I'm thinking about grabbing another HD6950 and dropping Crossfire on this rig just for BF3? :D

Good to know about Origin friends not carrying over. Now the million dollar question, how do you add friends from Battlelog? I could not figure it out.

Top right hand side of Battelog there is a white search box. Input the name into there and hit search. Then click "Send Friend Request" next to name in the profile.

And I would imagine your friend is not having any issues with the SLi 570's because he is really only running 1 570. ;) Since SLi is not working, only one of the two cards then work, so safe to say a 570 is going to run the game much, much better then a 460. Once SLi is enabled officially, it should run better for me, and if I can get away with low settings but 60 FPS, then I can and will live with that, cause even low looked good. obviously I would prefer High, but that is what it is.

Just spoke to him and he said SLi is definitely working for him. "Scales perfectly" his words.

And yeah, I can see how unlocking things would make a pretty big difference, I am not going to get enough time to play this Alpha before the 1st to make any real progress, so I am unfortunately stuck with the default kits and no unlocks. Will see what I can grab off fallen people.

Once you unlock a quality scope you steam through the unlocks. I've unlocked a crap load of stuff once I got my scope.

And Yep. I purchased MoH, almost exclusively for this Beta :laugh:

Tut tut. I would never fall for that kind of offer. Thank god for the open beta! :D