**OFFICIAL** AT Battlefield 3 FAQ and News Thread

[Exterous]

I don't like the Tanks.

They seem clunky, hard to steer. Cross hairs are way too thick, amateurish. And worst of all... I CAN'T SEE BEHIND ME!!!

Proximity sensors + thermal optics = win

My biggest grip was the ability to see but this now gives me hope that the unlcoks will resolve that

Oh - and the TOW or whatever AT weapon the LAV has is deadly! I'm loving it - Hit the tank with the TOW, switch to cannon, fire off a clip or two and then switch back to the TOW. By now it has re-loaded. Fire again. You only need to hit it with the cannon a couple of more times if you get it from the side/rear to destroy the tank. It's easier than using a tank to kill a tank!

 

[Exterous]

Anyone else not having their loadouts completely saved? It will forget that I picked AT mines instead of repair tool but remember the scope on my Engineer but the Assault keeps loosing the foregrip and the scope between rounds :\

 

[Bill Brasky]

How do you use smoke grenades? Or they're not in the game?

I desperately need smoke grenades. I'm assuming they will be an under-barrell launcher unlock similar to BC2.

edit: Is it possible to popup the entire map rather than zooming the mini-map?

 

[acx]

I've unlocked the grenade launcher but I can't for the life of me figure out if there are smoke grenades available.

 

[KaOTiK]

My biggest grip was the ability to see but this now gives me hope that the unlcoks will resolve that

Oh - and the TOW or whatever AT weapon the LAV has is deadly! I'm loving it - Hit the tank with the TOW, switch to cannon, fire off a clip or two and then switch back to the TOW. By now it has re-loaded. Fire again. You only need to hit it with the cannon a couple of more times if you get it from the side/rear to destroy the tank. It's easier than using a tank to kill a tank!

I've had a lot of problems being able to see enemies as well. I spot everything I can, and half the time I would lose the guy I was shooting if it wasn't for the spot marker on him still. It is my biggest grip with the game. I know camo is suppose to conceal you, but it is a freaking game and being able to even see anyone is pretty difficult a lot of times.

Proximity sensors are great cause you at least know where they are around you and can narrow it down pretty well, with the thermal optics they glow white so picking them out is simple. They can still be a bit of a pain at times to actually see if they are prone and there is crap in front of them, but at least you know they didn't run away and you just blanket the spot with fire till you get the kill I can't wait till I get a thermal optics scope for a gun (they have those I think?) cause I will never use any other weapon then lol.

 

[QuantumPion]

This game keeps freezing up on me after about 5 minutes in a game...

You need to raise your GPU voltage or reduce the clock speed. Use MSI Afterburner if you have an nvidia card.

 

[KayGee]

If you were a fan of "soloing" or "seat-switching" in BF2's attack choppers, it is possible in BF3 also. But choppers are harder to hit and the cross-hair disappears after the TV missile is fired.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Got all my unlocks for jets right now. Question is, what's the best to use.

 

[cjbee]

If you were a fan of "soloing" or "seat-switching" in BF2's attack choppers, it is possible in BF3 also. But choppers are harder to hit and the cross-hair disappears after the TV missile is fired.

Yup, solo-ing is definitely possible in the BF3 choppers. If I can't find a gunner, I'll go up and take on jets with my heat-seekers on Caspian, for example. It's fun seeing the pilots' reactions when they realize they've been taken out by a measly attack helo. Seat-switching and gunning down infantry is fun too--though it's a bigger challenge here than in BF2.

 

[Destiny]

I desperately need smoke grenades. I'm assuming they will be an under-barrell launcher unlock similar to BC2.

edit: Is it possible to popup the entire map rather than zooming the mini-map?

I got the gernade launcher using the Assualt class in beta - I think that thing can launch smoke nades too... I read one of those messages when it was loading for the next map...

 

[Termie]

Can someone tell me what the deal is with joysticks? I can't for the life of me figure out how to get BF3's options screen to even register any buttons on my Saitek Cyborg joystick, but it shows up in Windows and worked in BC2. I'm I forgetting some critical step that I took with BC2, or is joystick support actually missing from BF3?

It seems at least some of you are using joysticks, right?

 

[GullyFoyle]

Can someone tell me what the deal is with joysticks? I can't for the life of me figure out how to get BF3's options screen to even register any buttons on my Saitek Cyborg joystick, but it shows up in Windows and worked in BC2. I'm I forgetting some critical step that I took with BC2, or is joystick support actually missing from BF3?

It seems at least some of you are using joysticks, right?

I still haven't spent much time trying to properly set up my joystick, but I spawned in a chopper the other day so I took it for a short ride. My forward/backward control was reversed but at least I can confirm that the game recognized the joystick.

 

[Zargon]

I desperately need smoke grenades. I'm assuming they will be an under-barrell launcher unlock similar to BC2.

edit: Is it possible to popup the entire map rather than zooming the mini-map?

M i think is the key

 

[imaheadcase]

Anyone else not having their loadouts completely saved? It will forget that I picked AT mines instead of repair tool but remember the scope on my Engineer but the Assault keeps loosing the foregrip and the scope between rounds :\

Yah, but its weird its only certain unlocks for me. The camo unlocks you get with rank don't save between sessions with loadouts. I have to enable them each time i play a class.

 

[GullyFoyle]

PWNED : 13 | Battlefield 3, Need for Speed The Run, Ultimate Team and Mass Effect 3

twitter.com/Demize99: "Just checked in some small balance changes for #BF3. Pistols will be getting a bit of love in the near future."

Beep Beep Motherf*cker... twitter.com/TomasDanko: "Honk Honk! You wanted car horns, we listened. Look out for upcoming patches. "

Known unaddressed issues with Server R5

Here is a short list of the most critical bugs in Server R5, which are currently not covered in the manual:

* The game server is not able to run any gamemodes in up-to-64 players mode. Here is the current number of max players:
Conquest - 32 players
Conquest64 - 64 players
Rush - 32 players
Squad Rush - 8 players
Squad Deathmatch - 16 players
Team Deathmatch - 24 players
This will be changed in future server releases.


* There have been a lot of questions regarding join queues and reserved slots. The join queue, and reserved slots with them, are currently disabled while we are weeding out other problems with game servers.
Both will be enabled in the future.

* There are problems with the game server kicking players willfully. The message "You were kicked by an administrator" is a catch-all phrase - it means that the game server disconnected you, for whatever reason (idle timeout, PB kick, real admin kick, ...). We are working to improve in each of the areas, and to get more descriptive error messaging in place.

Now there are many smaller problems present as well. The above is the list of the most frequently encountered ones.

 

[J-Money]

How the f do you add text / stats to dog tags (the advanced ones on the right)?

I assume the stats ones unlock after x number of kills with a weapon type?

I saw a few today with text though and can't figure out how.

Like one had a skull in crosshairs and it said "Peekabo F*ck you" (editted to remove swearing by me).

How is that added?

 

[Demo24]

I desperately need smoke grenades. I'm assuming they will be an under-barrell launcher unlock similar to BC2.

edit: Is it possible to popup the entire map rather than zooming the mini-map?

I haven't seen anyone use them, so either a high level unlock or they may not exist. What is kind of dumb is that you have to choose between medic kit, or under barrel grenade launcher.


edit: oh and thank god pistols will be buffed! I like using pistols, but kind of pointless when you empty a whole clip into someone and they may or may not go down. Meanwhile if you get spotted, feels like 3 shots from an AR and boom, down you go.

 

[jackstar7]

Just wanted to report that I was getting BSODs regularly using the 11.10-v3 driver. Yesterday I uninstalled (again) everything and started this time with 11.9 and Cap4 and since then no crashes.

Not sure if things are actually "fixed" for me, but so far so good.

I don't play at my full eyefinity res, but just down to a single 19x12 for now just to keep things smooth for myself.

If you've got a problem like this, hopefully this helps.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Got all my unlocks for jets right now. Question is, what's the best to use.

Depends on the situation. I almost always keep stealth and flares due to everyone and their mom carrying a stinger these days.

I've found quite a few people seem to like air radar, but I feel you can do the same if your team knows how to press Q and you use your Mark IIs

Lots of people like to carry AA for the weapon, but I find it's situational and generally prefer to carry rocket pods as flying against competent pilots will result in easier gun kills rather than AA kills. If you have an advanced team with SOFLAM and 3P tank crews, then guided missiles are fun

FYI, you can disable tanks in a single rocket pod strafe, and the reload on rockets is quite fast.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Toms Hardware - Battlefield 3 Performance: 30+ Graphics Cards, Benchmarked

Table of contents

1. Battlefield 3 Reinvigorates PC Gaming
2. Test Setup And Sequence
3. Benchmark Results: Nvidia Graphics Cards, High Quality
4. Benchmark Results: Nvidia Graphics Cards, Low Quality
5. Benchmark Results: Nvidia Graphics Cards, Post-Process And MSAA
6. Benchmark Results: Nvidia Graphics Cards, SLI
7. Benchmark Results: Nvidia Graphics Cards, What Do I Need For Ultra Quality?

8. Benchmark Results: AMD Graphics Cards, High Quality
9. Benchmark Results: AMD Graphics Cards, Low Quality
10. Benchmark Results: AMD Graphics Cards, Post-Process And MSAA
11. Benchmark Results: AMD Graphics Cards, CrossFire
12. Benchmark Results: AMD Graphics Cards, What Do I Need For Ultra Quality?
13. Benchmark Results: CPU Scaling
14. Battlefield 3 Is Good For PC Gaming….

 

[IAteYourMother]

And along that note, I think that stingers are a bit too strong. You can have infinite engineers with them and they take out jets in 1 hit. All you have to do is aim and wait for the flares and shoot. The missiles will go across the map and hit the jet.

And what is up with the heat seeking missiles from jets vs helicopters. Two direct hits will not disable them and I would have to make sure I gun them down in addition. Jets are disabled after 2 hits.

I mean, if it requires multiple engineers to take down 1 helicopter, I'd say that's pretty balanced. That means there are less engineers with anti-tank missiles on the ground.

 

[TheAdvocate]

Toms Hardware - Battlefield 3 Performance: 30+ Graphics Cards, Benchmarked

Wow. Been waiting for this.

My takeaway - the game runs acceptably at the most common resolutions on current harwdare (keep in mind, many people are playing with CPUs clocked significantly faster than the test bed)

And the big conclusion - unless you are pushing very high resolution on purpose, or just "have to" play @ultra instead of @high, the higher end GPUs are a total waste of money. Look at the scores for a 560Ti and 580 at 1050p and 1080p and tell me those 10-15 extra frames are worth the 2x+ price? especially when the lower card is so playable?

 

[CVSiN]

How the f do you add text / stats to dog tags (the advanced ones on the right)?

I assume the stats ones unlock after x number of kills with a weapon type?

I saw a few today with text though and can't figure out how.

Like one had a skull in crosshairs and it said "Peekabo F*ck you" (editted to remove swearing by me).

How is that added?

you dont...

you have to knife kill people to unlock those..

they are much harder to get.

 

[CVSiN]

Wow. Been waiting for this.

My takeaway - the game runs acceptably at the most common resolutions on current harwdare (keep in mind, many people are playing with CPUs clocked significantly faster than the test bed)

And the big conclusion - unless you are pushing very high resolution on purpose, or just "have to" play @ultra instead of @high, the higher end GPUs are a total waste of money. Look at the scores for a 560Ti and 580 at 1050p and 1080p and tell me those 10-15 extra frames are worth the 2x+ price? especially when the lower card is so playable?

once you play Ultra you wont want to go back
to me it was absolutly worth an extra 250 bucks for a second 6950 not only for Ultra but for Ultra Eyefinity

 

[realjetavenger]

For those wondering about smoke grenades, you have two unlocks to get. First as assault score 11,000 points to unlock the M320. Then get 20 kills with the M320 to unlock smoke grenades. (10 kills with the M320 unlocks shotgun ammo.)