Battlefield 3 PC patch tweaks squads, boosts performance

As promised, DICE has rolled out a heft patch for the PC edition of Battlefield 3, with squad improvements plus tweaks and fixes for everything from performance to an EOD bot exploit. Console players, you'll need to wait a little longer.

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As promised, DICE has rolled out a hefty patch for the PC edition of Battlefield 3, with squad improvements plus performance improvements, unranked server support, and heaps more. Console players, you'll need to wait a little longer for a patch to shake up squads.

DICE details the extent of the squad changes in a post on the Battlefield Blog. You can also see the full client-side patch changelog if you have a Battlelog account, but here are the highlights:

  • General performance and loading time improvements

  • "Black Screen" fix for an issue occurring on some PC configurations

  • Stereo and rendering support for Nvidia and AMD graphics cards

  • Fixed several crashes that occurred when joining multiplayer and co-op sessions

  • Fixed a problem with high speed mouse movement (aka "negative mouse acceleration")

  • You should no longer be able to damage a friendly vehicle when sitting in an open position

  • Grenades now drop to ground if you get killed while attempting to throw it (dangerous in Hardcore mode!)

  • You should no longer spawn too close to enemies in TDM, SQDM, or Conquest

  • A large number of damage and range tweaks on a number of weapons to fine-tune overall balance in the game

  • Added round duration and ticket summary at End of Round screen

  • Fixed a problem regarding key bindings while playing

  • Significant changes to the Join Squad interface

On the server-side front, Battlefield 3 now properly supports unranked servers on PC, letting server admins "freely control all settings" at the price of not having play tracked by Battlelog.

"We'll share release timing on the console patches as soon as we are clear on the timing," DICE said, explaining, "these take a bit longer due to console certification process."

From The Chatty
  • reply
    November 22, 2011 8:45 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Battlefield 3 PC patch tweaks squads, boosts performance.

    As promised, DICE has rolled out a heft patch for the PC edition of Battlefield 3, with squad improvements plus tweaks and fixes for everything from performance to an EOD bot exploit. Console players, you'll need to wait a little longer.

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 8:47 AM

      ■"You should no longer spawn too close to enemies in TDM, SQDM, or Conquest". Thank God

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 8:50 AM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 8:57 AM

      Can anyone confirm that they broke the spawn beacon for recon?

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 12:11 PM

        Confirmed!!!!!

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 2:31 PM

        And DICE's legacy of broken updates continues on... and on... and on...

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 2:38 PM

        You mean fixed the bug?

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 10:58 AM

      stupid question but how do I update?
      BF3 won't launch, says I need an update, I click it, it takes me to the purchasing page for BF3?
      I already own the game, wtf

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 10:59 AM

        n/m figured it out finally...

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 11:16 AM

      This patch also "fixed" my mouse sensitivity for the SOFLAM so I have to drag my mouse all the way across the mat to move my view an inch...........damnit.

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 12:20 PM

      The patched fixed nothing.

      TV missles still don't work
      Below radar doesn't work
      PC UI is still horrible (can't click on map to spawn)
      Black screen when spawning on teammate
      Black screen when being revived

      They did fix how easy it was to join a server. Now I get 30 problems (failed to connect, crash, cannot connect to EA online) before I get into a server instead of just crashing 3 times then being able to play.

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 1:32 PM

        You sure you've installed this on a PC and not a math book - because it sounds like it's full of problems.

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 2:24 PM

        Black screen stuff is caused by buying shady Russian keys for the game from what I read - hope you didn't do that...

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 2:39 PM

        The UI was surprisingly barely touched :( I could write a 1000 word post on all the little things it needs.

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 3:29 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          November 22, 2011 3:34 PM

          Since the patch I've never had the black screen when I respawn.

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 1:40 PM

      the squad improvement is no improvement at all. people wont join squads now, since they arent put into them automatically. so fucking annoying when you join your own swuad and no one else will join

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 2:58 PM

        Yeah, they actually managed to fuck this up even further.

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 3:13 PM

        Wait, you have to manually join a squad now? That's fucking stupid.

        • reply
          November 22, 2011 3:26 PM

          Wasn't that how it worked in BF2?

          • reply
            November 22, 2011 4:28 PM

            I don't know, I didn't play BF2 enough to remember, but it's a dumb idea in any case. The game should automatically assigned everyone to a squad AND allow us to leave and set up our own. Why DICE can't get it right, I don't know. It isn't hard.

            • reply
              November 22, 2011 6:11 PM

              I don't think I have the energy today to rage on their forums :(

          • reply
            November 22, 2011 8:37 PM

            it asked during level load, just click "put me in a squad"

            • reply
              November 22, 2011 8:39 PM

              same in bfbc2

            • reply
              November 22, 2011 8:49 PM

              and this patch just removed that button and the auto-squad feature

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 3:21 PM

        Why the hell would they take away the option to have it put you into a squad. Thats been around for a while and made total sense to have to leave it if you wanted to lone wolf, not sure why anyone would but I guess to each his own.

        • reply
          November 22, 2011 3:29 PM

          Yea, I hope this gets fixed quick, it's horrible on public servers. I think the issue is that DICE only playtests in the office with their own players :(

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 3:23 PM

        Holy fuck is that what it was last night? Are you fucking joking? Are you joking? Holy fuck I thought that was just the server I was on.............. That is the most stupid shit I've heard of in a long time, jesus christ fuck these people are dumb.

        Tell me you're wrong and I'm over reacting here. Surely that's not how they fixed it? Maybe I misread the patch notes.

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 3:28 PM

        It's pretty awful, I was on a public server and half the team wasn't on a squad.

        • reply
          November 22, 2011 9:51 PM

          everyone spawn at base and run forward, thats fun right? just shoot people. why would you want to do anything else?

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 3:23 PM

      How the fuck does one update? If I click on the update link in Gamecenter it opens Origin to the BF3 for sale page. If I go into My Library and try to right-click + update it just says it's up to date, and yet it won't launch in battlelog.

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 3:26 PM

        Go to Origin, and click the "Customize and Control Origin" button (the button to the left of the ? button) then click on "Refresh my games".

        • reply
          November 22, 2011 3:33 PM

          restarting Origin also worked for me if this doesn't for some reason

        • reply
          November 22, 2011 3:43 PM

          Thanks - get this - I accidentally hit ESC when the Win7 UAC came up and now Origin thinks the game is up to date but it failed to install.

          Compared to Steam, Origin is one giant piece of mammoth shit.

          • reply
            November 22, 2011 3:45 PM

            oh fuck that's terrible. how are you going to fix it?

          • reply
            November 22, 2011 5:00 PM

            Try deleting the "install" directory from the bf3 directory

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 3:31 PM

      Jesus, can someone confirm? http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/7749275.page What have I gotten myself into with this game? I like it but the people who make it are retarded.

      I guess little has changed, 10 years after and I'm having BF1942 memories (remember the shitty text which fucked up in different resolutions)

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 3:50 PM

      3-way SLI support gone, cant play, all setting on low, still cant play, sucks balls

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 8:59 PM

      Freeze at every map change. So annoying.

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 9:16 PM

      I think I've found another bug :( I thought it was my piloting skills - but one in maybe 10 spawns of the jets, my sensitivity is 1/50'th what it should be - it's impossible to turn the thing - anyoine else?

    • reply
      November 22, 2011 9:45 PM

      I'm getting the black screen after rounds in squad Rush metro. Any one else?

      • reply
        November 22, 2011 11:29 PM

        After almost every round, I get a black screen. Have to Alt+f4, rejoin server.

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