BF2S Forums EA/DICE Battlefield 2 Patch 1.03 Info COMPLETE (BF2 AKA 1.1)

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A Message from EA/DICE about Battlefield 2™

Hi everyone. Thanks to all of you, Battlefield 2 has seen great success around the world.

Since its launch, we've tried to give Battlefield 2 all the support it deserves by releasing patches with the fixes and improvements you've asked for. Unfortunately, we haven't lived up to the standards we've set for ourselves. So all of us at EA and DICE are working extra hard to make sure that your Battlefield 2 experience improves dramatically in the coming weeks.

Towards the end of August, we will be releasing a new patch called 1.03. This patch is currently underway and will undergo thorough testing to avoid the problems that have occurred in the past. To make sure you're up to date until then; make sure you have installed the latest upcoming 1.02 update, which you can download here.

Here are just a few of the fixes you can expect to see in the 1.03 patch:

# Server and Client performance improvements.
# Improved Server Browser – added Favorites and History Lists.
# Point-farming prevention - game will stop Support/Medic/Engineer point farming exploits.
# Squads - locked squad leader will get a message if someone wants to join.
# Many HUD improvements - see the names of others in your vehicle, zoom level changing depending on vehicle, map zoom depending on map setup (16, 32 or 64 player map) etc.
# Teamkilling changes – the logic of how teamkills are tracked will be changed.
# Gameplay tweaks - the way transport helicopters work will be tweaked.
# Additional scoring changes - players who destroy an enemy commander's assets will be given points.


There are over 140 fixes and improvements in the 1.03 patch and we're looking forward to everyone moving to 1.03 to get the best Battlefield 2 experience on a level, cheat-free playing field.

We also know that there is still an issue with availability of slots on Ranked Servers. We're all delighted that this new feature has been so popular, but we know that many of you are finding it hard to get onto a ranked server, especially at peak times. We are taking big steps and investing heavily to ensure that everyone can experience this side of Battlefield 2. New official servers have gone up in Europe and the U.S. this week and you will see many more going up in the coming weeks. Our vision is to make sure you never have to wait to get onto a ranked server.

Thanks for being such great fans of Battlefield 2. We've been listening to you and we're determined to make Battlefield 2 the best online shooter experience out there. We hope you like the changes that are coming.

- The Battlefield 2 Team

UPDATE: XFIRE INTERVIEW WITH PRODUCER BEN SMITH
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Highlights from the interview above.

Community Update on 8/19/05
Source Link
excerpt

1.03 Update Progress
In this space about a month ago, EA and DICE listed many of the feature tweaks and updates that are pending for the 1.03 Update. In order to address the key issues as quickly as possible, we set an aggressive release date for the end of August. Unfortunately, as we approach the end of this month, it has become apparent that we will not meet this goal, and we wanted to keep you abreast of our progress. We are committed to making the 1.03 Update as comprehensive as possible, so while it is important to us to keep the release date, it is more important that we take the time to do this right. We will avoid committing to another date, but know that our goal is to get 1.03 out as quickly as possible. Keep fighting soldiers, the 1.03 Update is coming!

1st One was translated from Dutch.
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"Beginning October brings out EA and DICE the new patch. These so-called 1.03 patch had been meant initially solve the bugs which sit in the current version. Halfway august have DICE decided extend the patch with new features and the name of the patch has thus changed of 1.03 to 1.1 to indicate this step. Some days after this notice EA have asked all Trusted partners they would want which features gladly see in the new release. Its dozens of ideas forward come and the most requested new features have been handled by DICE.

In the previous weeks much of these new features to outside have been leaked. DICE indicate that possibly not all called features come in the new patch sit because there is this time private no half provide work. All new fixes and features are firstly internally tested and over 2 weeks are released to closed beta group. This group a reflection will be of the average gamer. The patch must on all kinds of types hardware and software configurations is tested for a new debacle to occur. Of gone wrong at the release of the first patch EA and DICE much have learned fortunately.

A small overview of the new features which is confirmed by DICE:

*Than 160 server - and clientside bugfixes more
*New ingame server browser with support for "favourites", "history" the servers visited for an overview of last and improved zoekalgoritme
*Squad leaders get reported if someone wants join itself at its closed squad
*Special Ops gets points if they break the radar, artillery or the UAV of the antagonist
*The support, Medic and Engineer class get a limit on the number of aid points that they can use deserve by of their special kit on each other player separately. These classes can continue use, however, their kit, they get only no extra points. (anti point-farming)
*If you sit in a vehicle you can see who still more in the vehicle to sit there, moreover to see you which kit they has
*In - and zoom out on the card it is adapted to the mapgrootte
*Teamkills are registered in a new manner and are settled. Thus it becomes impossible teamkills for for example bringing down the Black Hawk get helicopter which then prompt on a group team degrees crash down
*The transport helicopter is adapted. The Black Hawk get something less powerful onboard miniguns. Also it will be no longer possible the helicopter in air continue repair.
*The ticketratio of ranked server are made dependent of the maximum number of players. At present the ticketratio are dependent on the mapgrootte
*Better teambalance: commanders and squadleaders are no longer moved to the other team.

At this moment DICE work for very important features still two which has not been confirmed:

*The serverside software are extended with "reserved slots". Clanmembers can play this way always on the server. These reserved spelerslots confiscate up to 20% of the total number of slots and have been always reserved. If there no clanmembers use of this function, and this function stands activated wél in the configuration of the gameserver, then the server reserves always some slots.

*A new assessment in the ranks and medals which must ensure that starting players will increase more rapidly in rank and unlocked weapon to get. All players probably minimum één rank will increase.
There a real chance exists that above two features will not sit in the new patch! They will come then in één of the continuation patches."

Original BF2S Post: http://forums.bf2s.com/viewtopic.php?id=1322
Source Link EA-UK

BF2 patch 1.03
Alpha - 2 Sept
· Beta - 19 Sept
· Final - 23 Sept
· CQC/ECG Sub - 28 Sept
· Release - 3 Oct

Wake Island· In a surprise move, forces of the People's Liberation Army have attacked and captured Wake Island in a bid to threaten US lines of supply. USMC forces have been short-stopped from their deployment in Manchuria to respond to this new threat. The airbase on Wake Island is the lynchpin of the Chinese air threat, however it is highly susceptible to ground attack from either the northern

Compare Feature· By clicking the COMPARE button in BFHQ, you can search for another players name and load their current stats into BFHQ. Using the arrow buttons next to the name in the top-left corner of the menu, you can toggle between your stats and their stats. You can also load a player's stats by double-clicking on their name in any leaderboard.

Favorites/History· There is a new tab in the MULTIPLAYER menu that holds a list of the last 20 internet servers you have connected to, plus a list of servers you have selected as favorites.

BF2 Account Tag · You can add a 6-character prefix to your account nickname which will be displayed in-game next to your nametag in the scoresheet, in game messages, and above your player. This prefix does not change your account name or statistic information (e.g. the prefix does not appear next to your name on the leaderboards). You can change this prefix at any time at the account login menu.

Server Reserved Slots· Server admins can define a list of player BF2 account names which will reserve VIP slots on the server.

Engineer/Helicopter· Modified the rate at which engineer can repair a helicopter while sitting in the helicopter. It now takes longer for the engineer to repair the helicopter.

Vehicle/Control Point Capture· Only one person in a vehicle counts towards a control point capture. If passengers want to increase the rate of the flag change, they must disembark from the vehicle.

Vehicle/Soldier interaction· Improved physics of vehicles against soldiers so that soldiers are not as easily killed by moving vehicles. Bring on the wing-walkers!

Auto Balance· Auto team balance no longer moves the commander or squad leaders to the other team.

Point Farming· Limits placed on ability to point farm.

Rank/Awards· Criteria for gaining ranks and awards has been changed.

Supply Drop· The commander's supply drop now has an icon on the minimap and a 3D-map icon in the world.

Translation:
Today EA confirmed that the new 1.1 patch, about which we informed you earlier, contains a new version of the old BF1942 map Wake Island.
This new 'Wake Island 2007'-map is a remake of one of the most popular Battlefield maps.
The map has been made a lot bigger to give the BF2 airplanes more space.
The planes from BF2 are a lot faster than the old planes from Battlefield 1942.

On Wake Island the USMC fights against the Chinese 'People's liberation army'.

The release date of the new patch is 3 October.

#1 When will the next patch (1.03) be finished for release?
We're working hard on finishing up the last few fixes of the 1.03 patch and getting it through testing for release. There are a lot of great fixes and we want to make sure its don'e right. That said, it will be released...when it's done.

#2 Will there be fixes to the collision system in the engine? What I mean are those annoying deaths when for example a supply crate slides downhill and you're right below it or you're behind a tank and it moves a thousandth of an inch backward at a speed of few inches per hour and you die. There have also been instances when a vehicle sort of clips inside a fence(or any other thin non-destructible obstacle) and is destroyed.
We've made some changes in the collision system to prevent these kind of problems. A lot of the problem objects that have caused vehicles to instantly explode have been worked on and you can now get pushed around by slow vehicles without dying so easily. This should prevent a lot of the unintentional TKing that we all hate also makes it a bit more stable to stand on top of slow-moving vehicles... but I'll stop there.

#4 Will there be something done to rid the game of the so called bunnyhopping.As people being able to go prone,jump,prone,jump hasn't the slightest bit of realism in it.Also the whole tk/punish system really needs a overhaul as too many times people get punished/kicked from servers because of other peoples stupidity ie walking out in front of armour/transport etc which no doubt results in a punish.
TK wise we have made some changes that should reduce the number of accidental TKs. Such as the vehicle collison system that was mentioned earlier. 'Dolphin Diving' does look pretty wierd, i agree, we are keeping an eye on this issue and may address it in an upcoming patch

#5 Are you actively looking on the internet to find bugreports or do bugreports only by incident reach the developers?
A lot us here at DICE actively read popular BF2 forums and we hear about everything
Also our QA department at EA keep track of all the issues they find throughout their testing of the game and the patches. We have a huge amount of this info we use to decide what fixes we need to make and which we should leave infavor of other issues

#9 Have you any thoughts of adding the abillity to auto-join a server when it gets a free slot?
I'd really like to see that feature added as well.

#10 When you touch a land vehicle and it's moving, usually people die. Will this be fixed?
Yes! This is greatly improved in the patch.

#11 when you get hit by a vehicles u die instantly. even if it is slow-moving(turning around ect.). this is very irritating. what are your thoughts about this?
This has been worked on and you will see a big improvment in the patch.

#12 Will the upcoming patch fix the game browser?
Actually yes we've made some improvements to the browser in the patch. We fixed some performance problems and made some changes that make server status display more accurate.

#13 Have any thought been given to remove the pointloss resulting when switching sides. I have a hard time figuring out why exactly you need punishment for doing that?
You loose points when you switch teams because you Suicide in order to join the other team.

#14 In the upcoming patch, is the bug where sometimes the red warning marker is not displayed above claymore mines fixed?
Those are enemy claymores!!!

#16 what are the main fixes in this patch?
I think one of the more popular ones will be that players have to get out of a Blackhawk to capture a flag. Now in a full Blackhawk only the pilot counts in the flag capture raduis.

#19 Will the patch fix the Black hawk overpower-issue?
We've made some changes here that should make this technique still possible, but more challenging for the folks in the helicopter.

#20 You have talked about that the "hit-system" has been imrpoved in the next patch, will therefor "wing sufring" (hitchride with a airplane ) be possible?
'Wingwalking', as we call it in the office, is now much easier. It was one of the BF1942 things we really wanted to get into BF2. Its good fun to be stood on an the back of an F35.

#21 does the spec ops could gain xp when he destroy bridges ?
We've added support points to destroying the enemy commander toys, but not bridges.

#24 Does the 1.03 patch finally let user add their server favorites in the BF2 serversearch, and/or will there be better ASE support (like password protected servers)
We've added a panel to the server browser where you can add favorite servers and see the history of servers you have played on.

#25 Will there be improvements to armored vehicels having trouble driving up a hill road?
yes

#26 Will you be able to see the names of players in the same vehicle in the new patch?
yes

#28 Will the new patch fix the problem concerning AA-missiles skipping enemy targets and instead head for a random target, even though allready locked on to a heatsource?
The AA-missiles have been improved to better hit their target

#29 In reply to 'Wingwalking'. I thought it was the meaning of BF2 the be realistic as possible... Wing walking on a F35 (while in the air I think), isnt really realistic ;x
It's not possible to go really fast and have the player stick in place. It's simply possible to stand on the moving vehicle now. This goes for tanks also, where you would previously have some trouble standing on a moving one, now its much easier to stay on it.

#31 hi there, are the problems with dedicated mod-servers fixed in the patch?
Yes we've done a lot of work regarding mod support in the patch, including hosting servers

#32 will there be any additional information displayed on the 3d map?
Yes, supply drops will be on the 3d-map in the patch

#33 How have you prevented the point-farming?
We've added a limit to the amount of supply points you can get from the same person in a given amount of time. It won't eliminate this from happening, but it will be less effective.

#34 3d-map ? what is 3d about it ?
It appears in the 3D game world, rather than on a 2D map plane. We decided to go with the name used for Battlefield Vietnam. I'm open to suggestions for new names!

#35 In the new patch, can a person chance nickname, or maybe just clan tag! ?
You will ba able to add a 6 character prefix

#36 Are the anti-tank bazookas gonna be improved, it's quite hard to shoot tank 4times so that he can exit the tank and kill you with m4
If you make direct hits to the rear or top of the tank, it will be just about toast in 2 hits.

#41 Will there still be an issue with lots of engineers being able to repair blackhawk (and other helos) in flight ? At the moment a fully loaded blackhawk is like a flying tank
The effectiveness of the wrench on helicopters has been reduced a little

#42 You mentioned earlier players will have to leave the blackhawk to get flag capture, will this apply to other helicopters as well ?
This will apply to all vehicles

#44 Is there going to be a fix the "|c" bug that turns peoples names orange if they have it as part of their name/account name?
as a matter of fact we've fixed that

#45 Can you add special characters (like (, ), [, ], |, etc) to that new prefix? And isn't 6 characters quite a few? I mean I know lots of clans that use a longer tag..
yes we allow some special characters in the prefix

#46 I've heard that the ranking system may be adjusted in the patch. Can you comment on this?
There have been adjustments.

#48 UGH?! get out of all vehicles to capture flag, sounds like an awful idea to me. Drive tank to flag, get out to get flag and watch enemy jump in and blow you away!
No it's just the passengers that have to get out. One person can stay in the vehicle and still capture the flag.

#56 Have u had any thoughts about releasing the things u have fixed, and make one more patch for the things that arent done?
Sadly it doesnt work that way. Once we finish adding in the new things and fixes of current issues for the patch, we then move on to fixing the new bugs that have crept into the game. It's usually this beta period that takes quite a lot of time. So releasing lots of small patches doesnt really make much difference, as we still have the beta time and QA testing to go through.

#58 why cant you copy and paste an ip into the game? It would make joining friends ALOT easier!
it's a good idea and we'll add it to the next patch wishlist

#61 do you think it is real to expect players to play 20000 hours for a war
The original targets for the unlocks / awards were based on actual BF1942 data. Crazy though it might sound, there are people out there with those kinds of numbers. However we have tweaked the values a little, so you should be able to see a difference in the new patch.

#62 Hi! Just wanna tell you that i love how the maps are designed. Are you gonna add a new map in the next patch or soon?
I bet a lot of you know already, but you should prepare to return to a certain South Pacific island in the future...

#63 Any plans for a linux client? And what would need to happen before you consider one?
A lot more potential custumers would need to start using linux.

(9/20/05) 
As many of you know already there is a new patch currently in development for Battlefield 2 which will address a large number of gameplay issues, balancing and bugs which have been reported through this forum and other sources.

Naturally there is a great deal of speculation about what the patch will contain and there have been several posts from users claiming to have insider knowledge into the final makeup of the patch.

While we understand the need and demand for further information, at this time there is nothing further to add except to say that patch development is progressing and so far is on schedule.

When we have definite, finalised fix lists or a release date for the patch we will update this thread immediately, however until that time there is nothing further to be added.

I would also reiterate the point that until you see information regarding the patch on an official EA site, such as this forum or the US site, posted by an EA employee take any information you receive with a pinch of salt.

Apologies for the frustration at the wait, however it is vital that the patch be delivered in the best possible condition, improving the game from where it is now and solving many of the issues and complaints which have been received so far. Similarly, speculative information from us at this point will undoubtedly lead to disappointment as the makeup of the final, release, patch will not be set in stone until it enters the final testing phase.
_________________
Protagonist
Community Manager
EA Games

(9/30/05)
Battlefield 2 1.03 Update Enters Final QA Pass

That's right, troops. Barring any last minute issues, the 1.03 Update is only a few days from release now. We thought this occasion warranted a post covering the major features and fixes coming in 1.03, so settle back and enjoy.

Wake Island 2007

That's right, the 1.03 update bundles the first Official map release from EA and DICE. In this case the map is a modern-era update of one of the most popular maps from Battlefield 1942 -- Wake Island. The People's Liberation Army has invaded Wake to threaten American supply lines. In response the US Marine Corps has been dispatched to reclaim the island.

The new Wake Island map comes to you free of charge thanks to Fileplanet’s new Battlefield 2 Channel. Visit it at http://www.fileplanet.com/battlefield2.shtml

New Features

Stats compare - view the extended stats details for any other player in your BFHQ simply by double-clicking on their name on the leader board or using the new search feature
Server Favorites and History - find your favorite servers that much easier. No more searching for them through the main server list
Nickname Prefix - Add and change your clan tag to your account name at will. No more creating alternate account names to cover the changes in your competitive lifestyle
Supply Drop Icons - Supply drops now appear on the main map and within the 3D Map. Find that elusive supply drop much, much quicker
Points for Destroying Command Objects - players now receive points for destroying the commander's toys. Special Forces players rejoice
Server Reserved Slots - Server Operators can now set aside slots for their admins to join a full server at any time
Vehicle Passengers - the names of players in a vehicle with you are now displayed when you enter or change seats
Countermeasures - a reload bar has been added for vehicle countermeasures. You'll always know now when you can set off that next flare

Tweaks

Point Farming changes - DICE has implemented functionality that makes it significantly harder to point farm on Ranked Servers
Mod Support - Mods now work properly with the Dedicated Server! Additionally, the game will automatically switch mods when joining a server that is running a mod you have installed but do not have activated
Map tweaks - Spawn menu map and Commander maps now scale based on the size of the level being played (16, 32 or 64 players). Mini-map also scales automatically based on the vehicle type you are using (manual changes to zoom levels are remembered as well)
Commander scoring - No more TKs from Artillery
Vehicle tweaks - No more accidental kills from bumping a friend with your tank (try to avoid hitting him at speed though) and no more struggling uphill in an APC. Also no more improper TK allocation from vehicle explosions
Auto Team Balance tweaks - Commanders and Squad Leaders now immune to team switch
Anti-Air Missiles - These are now much more effective against fast-movers

…and, of course, more. Look for the patch soon.

[link fixed by Protagonist]
_________________
Sentience
Community Co-ordinator
EA GAMES

Some more new information from 1.03 beta testers at BF2.se

BF2.se has together with BF2combat & BF2rankedserver been able to beta-test the new Battlefield 2 patch, version 1.03. What can we expect of the patch then? Is it worth the long time we waited for it and how do you type in your prefix? This and many other things is what I am going to try to give you answers to in my article that I wrote after playing Battlefield 2, v. 1.03.

Wake 2007
As soon as I jumped into the map the nostalgia smacked me right in the face. I can feel the warm feeling of all wars I played on it in 1942. This is the map that changed my way of thinking about 1942 and was one of my favourite map both in clan wars and that short public game between lessons in school, this is the map that made me the player I am today.

Wake have been resting for 64 years to once again be brought to life, this time with the power of today’s new weapons. But Wake 2007 is the same as it was 1942 with the small difference that instead of the destroyer we got a small island as a spawn point for USA mounted with artillery. The ship is resting where it should with a lot of planes and helicopters just waiting to attack to shores of Wake.

New in 1.03
1.03 contains a lot of new fixes and adjustments. We are given new sounds ( T98, MEC & China Jeep and new canon sound for the tanks. ), point-farming have been eliminated ( you can’t stand and heal your friend forever etc.. ) and you can’t repair an helicopter as fast as you could before.

The physics have been changed on the vehicles to make it harder to kill soldiers by running them over in 1km/h. Other bugs have been fixed as the Blackhawk-bug, no more weak spots there. Or as DICE calls it: “Set some wheels on jets and helicopters to stronger armour to prevent them from being destroyed instantly by AT missiles.”

The patch is big, 175 mb, and it contains a lot of fixes. You now must jump out of the APC to help you comrades to take a flag, this has been the centre of a lot of discussion on the BF2-forums around if it is a good thing or not.

The fix I love the most is that the TV-guided missiles finally response to my clicks and has a 2-click function. The first clicks mark the victim and the second click fires the missile. If you want to change the target just click on another space and the cross moves there. Your fire with a double-click and after it been deployed you can navigate it easy by clicking and you get the feeling of being in control of the missile.

The earlier messy BFHQ also had a remake and the compare-stats-function seem to be a fun addition.
You gain ranks much easier now then before so quite a lot of people are going to go up in rank the first time they play 1.03.

There is also an Account Login Welcome Screen that will contain messages from EA from time to time.
Auto-team balance have also gotten a big remake and seemed to work fine to me. But this will always be a function that always can be tweaked a little more.

The commander will now get it a little easier when TK-punish for artillery are removed and the soldiers can now see where the commander drops his crates on our mini-map.

Prefix, the long waited prefix is finally here! And it works very easy. Every time you login to BF2 you have the chance to add a new prefix to your nick and it won’t affect your stats in anyway. Your prefix will not be stored and you can change it every time you login.

Mods
Modsupport have finally been added to the menu. BF2 will automatically activate the mod witch server you join and you can now filter after different mods in the in game-browser. Modders are probably be glad about that you now can share BF2 libraries easier also.

Serverfixes
Admins can now reserve slots on it’s server with an easy command. You then add the serveradmins in the serverconfig by typing their accountnames. There have also been some small fixes as Linux serves crashing when trying to contact stat servers.

Conclusion
BF2 v.1.03 has been long waited for, and I think you will love it, because soon it is here and you can notice all the changes yourself! There have been a lot of small fixes to improve the game play beside the ones I have mentioned.

To finish of this I want to thank EA and their trusted-partner-program that made it possible to try the new patch and of course Planet combat & BF2rankedservers!

Last edited by kilroy0097 (2005-10-08 19:37:49)