BF2S Forums BF2 problems since SF and recent patch.

thinner44 wrote:

I spoke to EA (UK) this morning, seems they are not aware of any graphics problems with the recent expansion or patch... So I made them aware

There should have been no difference in 'gameplay' or gameplay settings in SF than BF2, in other words, your current configuration should still work with BF2, SF and the recent patch. Some of us know there is a big difference . Anyway, they are now aware that there is a problem, and they will look into it.... don't hold your breath

For those unsure about the game needs or their hardware, you can check the following (sorry to those that already know this, but I'm only trying to help).

Right click Bf2 icon (SF or the core game) >properties>find target>support>easyInfo. It takes a second or so for the information to come up but from here you should be able to get the information on your current hardware and if it's compatible with the game. There are links to 'update hardware drivers' but I follwed one and it didn't open

Hopefully, EA will find an answer to the graphics problem... and ... erm. . . patch it.

so whats the problem?

thinner44 wrote:

the_heart_attack wrote:

so whats the problem?

If you don't have one, then no problem . But from what I've read and have experienced, 'family and friends', they all say since the new patch and SF, we've all had to turn down our graphics demand to be able to play.
I used to be able to play Bf2 on 'high' with 4xAA with optimum resolution @75Hz. I'm now down to 'medium' AA off, low resolution @75Hz. I've double/treble checked all hardware drivers and made numerous changes to find a workable/playable game confuguration* all to no avail, save for the above

*includes up/down drivers.

The original post isn't intended for those that have no problems. If you're one of them, I'm happy for you

iv got planty of prob i just wanted to know you specific prob

i dont have your prob but i get game freezes and connection kicks alot!!!

Last edited by the_heart_attack (2005-11-29 03:30:14)

thinner44 wrote:

^ ^ Did you used to get them a lot before the patch. I know I did before I upgraded my ram to 2Gs and from then on, no connection problems or freezes... in fact, no problems at all... none, nil. But since the patch, I've had lots of lag, freezes and strange crashes... I don't even bother with the night maps on SF because they're just unplayable at the moment.

yeh iv had 2gig since i got the game and i didnt really have any probs before.

^ ^
Cheers for the input Lt.Zombie . Yep, as far as I'm concerned it's a glitch. Some of us have already got 'stupidly expensive' cards. I recently upgraded from 6600GT to a 6600GT OC, the OC bit cost an extra £80.00. So are they saying I wasted my cash, probably . A leaflet came with the game, it does explain it quite clearly: SF uses some of the most advanced rendering techniques available.. blah blah. The game was largely tested on Nvidia cards 6 series...blah. The intended experience can be fully realised on 7 series cards. On 6800 or better you will be able to turn on all the nvidia special effect features at higher resolutions in the game'... phew!

Ok, that said, we all know that from time to time we will have to upgrade, that's not a problem, we know it, we do it. But most of us used to play the core game at the highest spec, including resolution, however, since the update and SF.... some of us can't and have to run it on medium or indeed low.

Just for a laugh, the 7 series card is the 7800GTX 512 (for the helluvit) at a staggering £400.00... now that's what I call an upgrade.

Ps. on the back of the box (SF), there's a red box.... yep, got the first bit, not a problem . "Original system specification still applies" ..ok... but with mixed results unless you have a superb card... which obviously the 6600GT OC isn't one of them

I'm not knocking anyone here, honestly, I'm just waiting to see if there is a problem with the patch.... It's part and parcel of gaming and one I've been through many times.... hell, even XP isn't finished yet

You can see, that I fullfill the requirements with my system to play BF2 with high resolution and high detail settings, but since the addon/patch the game runs less smoothly. This sucks especially on maps like The Iron Gater, where I sometimes only have 10-15 FPS. I'm aware, that there are games that require even better hardware, but still, it's an MMO FPS, not a graphical novel of some kind.

Well, your comp probably runs circles around mine

Do you have any background processes running during the game?  The only other thing I can suggest is to turn down the individual settings one at a time until you get an FPS you're happy with.  You can probably get away with just reducing the dynamic lighting/shadowing to medium and leaving rest on high or something similar.

thinner44 wrote:

Jodah3 wrote:

It's not a graphics problem, the expansion just requires more graphical resources to run on the same settings.  I believe they have upgraded the engine or something.  I was never under the impression that the graphics would stay the same.  I read somewhere (maybe their website) that the new minimum requirements were going to be the 5900 series cards, and the 6800 would be the new medium, and the 7800's would be the new high settings.

I have a 6600GT and played the original on medium and now play the expansion on low and it doesn't bother me.  To be honest I don't notice a different at all.  Maybe I'm just not picky, but to me FPS is much more important that any kind of texturing details.

Interesting post, but I think you've skipped past the "Original system specification still applies" . Ok, so you've turned down your graphics demand and now play on low.... so what part of the above didn't you get. It didn't say, "Original system specification still applies but you'll have to turn your graphics demand to medium or low unless you have the top range card".

I agree with what you're saying about the engine, but I can't agree with... there's a new minimum when on the box it says "Original system specification still applies" .

All I'm saying is.... if they have 'upped' the engine, overall, why not be open about it. It's lead to some confusion.... it's the same, it's not the same... you can't have it both ways

You made me go search for it

This is directly from the patch 1.12 notes.  It seems that the patch is where they officially stated the change in video settings, NOT the expansion.  I'll agree 100% that this should have been realized by EA before production/shipping of the expansion boxes, but the engine was changed.  It seems they caught it after the fact and included it in the patch notes.

CHANGE of VIDEO SPECS

    * GeForce FX 5900 family:
          o GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
          o GeForce FX 5900
          o GeForce FX 5900XT
          o GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
          o GeForce FX 5900ZT
          o GeForce PCX 5900
    * For these cards, the default video settings have been changed to LOW.

They only mention that the 5900's have been changed, but it's easy to surmise that it works it's way up the tree.  My 6600 still defaults to medium, but I prefer FPS over pretty scenery, so I dropped mine to low anyways.

Also, the minimum requirements are still the same, but if you're running a 5700, you're probably down about 10 FPS, but it's still officially "playable".

No worries bud.  A bit more advice, try manually reducing individual settings rather than a complete jump from high to medium across the board.  I'll bet you can get your previous performance back by just reducing shadows/lighting etc.

I will just continue with my FX5500 for now.     See you online - I will be the guy that you kill 3 secs before I even see you! haha.

I#m only running a 9600XT, with that i already had set most settings to low/off. since the patch it's hardly playable. fps 15-20 and it seems as i can't turn off lightmaps evan if i set them to 'off' ?! I uninastalled SF/BF2 installed new cathalyst. but evean if i only install BF2 1.0 it still comes up with lightmaps. I have 3 profiles, but only in one DIR had been an 'video.con' i copyied the one into every DIR and set the settings all to low/off (in the configfile) evean set the default 'video.con' to this settings..lightmaps all over  the place. don't know what to do else. Setting the performance in cathalyst from 'quality' to 'performance' didn't make a difference ether...
Still dk if its the card or sofware or the patch/game. any idea what to do? thx 4 help
cheers

God I hope they fix this quick!!!! Ever since installing SF and the patch I have had nothing but headaches from this game. It *USED* to run fairly smoothly. Now, it's choppy as hell and I get these random 10second hangs and then a "you have lost connection to the server" message. It's so god damned annoying. I
was thinking I had some problems with my comp and ran some test to figure out if it was a problem with the computer or not. I had MemTest run over night, and I didn't get one single error. Passed with flying colors. I have the reinstalled the latest Nvidinut drivers, motherboard drivers....the works. None of it helped.

ONE thing that actually did help a little was deleting the graphics settings cache. Make sure you have everything the way you like it, graphically wise. Exit the game and go to this directory, \Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\Battlefield 2\mods\bf2\cache\, and delete EVERYTHING in the cache folder. DO NOT delete the cache folder itself, just everything in the folder. Restart the game and load a map. I noticed that the load time was diminished on the next map load after the optimizations were complete. Some of the inital startup lag was fixed as well.
A lot is still there. Much more than there was prior to the SF patch.

AGAIN: only delete the cache settings following this path:
\Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\Battlefield 2\mods\bf2\cache\

Hopefully this will help cure some headaches. It made some of the gameplay better, but it doesn't help with the random freezes and the greatly increased HDD caching.

Last edited by Badcomp (2005-12-06 13:14:40)

I had these same problems when I got SF a few days ago. I called EA support and here is what they told me to do.

(i) repatch the game after you install SF
(ii) Download new video and audio drivers. Don't rely on the update drivers button in your control panel, I tryed this and it doesn't always update properly. Download the drivers directly from the manufactuer website and install them.
(iii) Go into the My Documents folder. You will see a folder for BF2, change it's name from battlefield 2 to battlefield 2a
(iv) Reboot the computer and start BF2

Since the tech support guy talked me through this procedure BF2 has been working fine.