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Childish? Then you like taking more deaths because your team mates let themselves get backed into a corner? it's hardly childish.

Yes, childish.

Throwing your toys out of the pram isn't going to make the game suddenly get better now is it?

Hey guys and girls, its been a while since i posted. Just thought id come here and rant a bit about BF3. I bought it yesterday for my gf's brother as a present being used, it didnt have the passcode slip from EA, yea, 800 microsoft points for it, needless to say, that game went back on the shelf. Love how EA is getting greedy with used game buyers.

That's just the way of the gaming world these days. If you buy it first hand you get the code, if you buy it second hand you need to spend some money on getting a new code. Battlefield 3 isn't the first game to do it, and it certainly won't be the last.

Yes, childish.

Throwing your toys out of the pram isn't going to make the game suddenly get better now is it?

Yes? If it saves you from experienceing frustration and tedium? Then hell yes. I think we can all agree that playing while frustrated you don't do nearly as well, which leads to more frustration which makes the game not fun. So yes, leaving when your team is doing bad and going to a new game (or maybe just stop playing for a while) can make the game "better".

Does the tank mounted LMG do damage to other tanks?

No. Neither does the HMG.

Unless your referring to tanks as in IFV as you were earlier with regards to Grand Bazar which has no tanks. Then I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure it still doesn't.

Well both types of tanks really, the APC (on Bazzar) and the main tanks. I'm certain the HMG does damage to the APC! So as a gunner, if there is no infantry around, all I should be doing is repair. Is it worth getting out and firing off an RPG, or is it too risky?

Might just have to get in a server with someone and play around in the tanks to see what does what.

Ok, the LAV - 25 (on Bazzar)

-Light machine gun does NO damage

- Heavy machine gun does 4% damage per shot (6 shots before reload)

- ATGM does 55% damage per shot.

All guns were used at all angles - front, back, sides and roof. The damage taken was exactly the same. I have just unlocked the other Guided Missile, I will try it out later.

Spawns are *still* a mess in TDM.

Still getting hung up on map objects.

Still somehow shooting through people/objects.

The flashlight still hasn't been fixed.

The list goes on...

Spawns are always going to be a mess in tdm. Dice does not care about that game mode and it's not how the game is meant to be played to get the most out of it. And getting hung up on world objects and shooting through objects are due to latency issues, not game bugs.

PunkBuster/Anti-Virus Conflicts resolved

Connectivity issues that some PC players may have experienced relating to conflicts between PunkBuster and some anti-virus software have been resolved.

An update to PunkBuster that will resolve this issue will be automatically downloaded when players login to play.

If this update is not automatically downloaded and installed, the "PBSetup" can be found, downloaded, and installed here: http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=dl-bf3.php

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Spawns are always going to be a mess in tdm. Dice does not care about that game mode and it's not how the game is meant to be played to get the most out of it.

Not really, on some maps spawns tend to be decent (Caspian Border, Noshar Canals, for example and for the most part). On others they are beyond horrible (Khard island). DICE really need to work on their spawning algorithm as it is catastrophic in CQ as well. Funnily, I never had a problem with this in BC2...

And getting hung up on world objects and shooting through objects are due to latency issues, not game bugs.

When getting killed behing objects, yes, that's latency but not when getting stuck on every little nook and cranny and then ending up vaulting over it (wtf). Hell, imo vaulting is one of the worst additions to this game simply because it's ****ing broken.

Referring to the recent rage quit discussions:

Some of my more memorable matches have been conquest wins where my team was down 100-200+ tickets at some point. Also, arming and advancing the bombs on rush with little to no tickets remaining is very excting, especially if your the one who armed and defended it.

I would agree that frustration henders your play but I would suggest focusing on controlling the frustration and locking sh** down, not quitting. Besides, I take pride in keeping my quit % in single digits.

364 SPM. 9% quits. 1.406 k/d. 413 skill. 1.16 w/l. hardcore only.

fear_my_ego

That doesn't sound nearly as nice if the quit % reads 20-30+ (which isn't uncommon.)

O.k. I'm playing with a friend for the first time (as opposed to playing solo online) and I've come across this weird issue. I've invited him, and in the menu we can chat to one another via VOIP without any problem. But then we went to join a game. He got booted the first couple of times (nothing special I imagine, just luck of the draw) but then when we entered a game that we were both able to play we were on opposite teams! That can't be right, can it? We each had the same idea, for a game that is squad-oriented it seems odd that it would take you and a mate and place you on opposing sides...

Is there a guaranteed way to be on the same team? Or is there a reason why we were on opposite sides?

This is on the PS3...

Not really, on some maps spawns tend to be decent (Caspian Border, Noshar Canals, for example and for the most part). On others they are beyond horrible (Khard island). DICE really need to work on their spawning algorithm as it is catastrophic in CQ as well. Funnily, I never had a problem with this in BC2...

When getting killed behing objects, yes, that's latency but not when getting stuck on every little nook and cranny and then ending up vaulting over it (wtf). Hell, imo vaulting is one of the worst additions to this game simply because it's ****ing broken.

The spawns on "Canals" is horrendous. I've spawn in the middle of an enemy group. How fair is that?

Still on Canals, when spawning on the barges, trying to get off them under fire is a super bitch. I can stand there forever trying to vault off of them. Vaulting itself is broken, because I can vault over smaller objects trying to get up on them. But what I hate the most is getting stuck on a curb or whatever and have to jump over it to move. WTF?

Spawning will always be the problem in TDM and SQDM. Patch 2 or 3 made it waaay better.

See, I thought they fixed them. For a while there, I had no issues with the spawning system, but then it seemed to go back to the way it was when the game was first released.

The spawns on "Canals" is horrendous. I've spawn in the middle of an enemy group. How fair is that?

Still on Canals, when spawning on the barges, trying to get off them under fire is a super bitch. I can stand there forever trying to vault off of them. Vaulting itself is broken, because I can vault over smaller objects trying to get up on them. But what I hate the most is getting stuck on a curb or whatever and have to jump over it to move. WTF?

I wouldn't call them horrendous. Personally nowadays I only have issues when spawning on the train tracks where it's quite common to spawn very near an enemy. Other than that it's no where near as bad as in the beginning.

And, yes, that place is very problematic to vault onto. Just like vaulting over the metal rails along the streets at the last stage of Op Metro rush. A guaranteed fail for the fist few times (this crap is so fun when being under fire!). Another fun thing with vaulting - enemies teleporting while they're mid-animation so it's pointless to shoot them. Which monkey coded and who greenlighted this garbage?!

Yeah TDM spawns are better, you get put near an enemy, as opposed to right in front of them but facing the other way. Anyone else find on Metro, when you spawn you are always facing your base?

Why are there no good engineers out there when I am driving a tank? Non engineers get in which is just annoying........ Or if they do jump in, they don't get out and repair! I think I'm a good gunner, I never look the same direction as the driver, I just take care of killing infantry, spotting enemies and repairing!! if its safe I even fire off an RPG at the enemy which works great! We kick ass if I'm with a good driver, get tonnes of kills, caps and the tank stays up and running. I die quite often repairing but I spawn back in and keep going.

When I am driving, we get blown up.

edit - This game would be SO much easier with using a mic to communicate. Need some friends that have it on PC to play with as most my friends have it on X-Box.

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    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
    • Or... just use Bitwarden. Free, and has on-prem option as well. Works both on desktop and mobile, wherever you are. The age of local password files is over.
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    • I actually got to use one of those so called "backup codes" once. It was for a customer, I choose the backup code option, and by the grace of god, they actually hade them printed out. Imagine my surprise, when after using the backup code, Google then told use we had to enter a code they just sent to the gmail address we currently did not have access to. I was not amused, Google backup codes should be the end all get out of jail free card, because you had to have access to the account to even get them.
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