Latest patch news

[Xantaro]

Community Update #3 is waiting for you at the official site.

http://www.ea.com/eagames/official/battlefield1942/editorial/community_message_03.jsp

 

[lojik]

well from reading that they seem to be focusing on things I really am not too bothered about at the moment.

Linux server - no good to me really (though I hear this will help increase the number of available online servers)

Tkers - well once again something that hasn't really been much of a problem for me thus far, even on the peon infested freebie publics

Cheats - well I havn't actually seen a single one yet, but then again I don't include changes to fog and view distance as cheating.

What REALLY needs to be fixed in my opinion is the ridiculous map loading times. This is the number ONE issue that pisses me off most with the game right now (as well as the difficulty in getting a good game on BW).

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

gah fucking EA, locking the view distance, and not doing anything useful, bloody wasters.

 

[Embattle]

Typical.

 

[Starman]

If you can't be arsed to click on the link:

10/18/02

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen,
To paraphrase Eisenhower, "the hopes and future of BF1942 rests in your hands!" In other words, without the incredible support you've shown Battlefield 1942 it would never have been as successful as it's been. Online numbers are going up every week. The mod community is out in full force. Clans and competition ladders are appearing everywhere. And the DICE team is alternately congratulating themselves on a great game and cursing all the extra work the patches have spawned.

Here's an update on what the team's been working on to make Battlefield 1942 an even better experience:

1.2 Patch Update
This is proceeding well and we will be going into testing shortly. Some things to note about the 1.2 patch... so you MODDERS pay attention:

• MODs -- The game's file structure will be changed with the 1.2 patch to better support mods and expansion packs. (No, we won't be releasing any mod tools with the patch but pay attention to the BF1942 community sites and you'll see that the mod community is already hard at work.)
  
• Client Prediction -- This one's a toughie. We will not be able to address client prediction in the 1.2 patch. The fixes are more complicated than we initially thought. Rather than putting you all through change and counter-change, we want to get it right the first time. So, please be patient…we're aware of the problem and working to solve it.
  
• Server CPU usage -- it looks like we will be able to decrease the amount of CPU time used by the current server. Thanks to all the server admins who have been so very patient and polite in requesting this.
  
• Linux Server
  Still in debug mode. We're working as quickly as possible to get this out to you... so please bear with us.
  
• Tking
  I think we are all in agreement that TKers deserve to be stuck in traffic with a full bladder listening to Barry Manilow…FOREVER! Barring that, we'll just have to do the best we can. As it stands, the new Remote Console which will be in the 1.2 patch will help admins kick and ban TKers. We are also looking at a revamped voting system and other game mechanics, which will help curb team-killing…but these won't make it into the 1.2 patch.
  
• Cheats
  Wow…thanks to everyone who sent us information about the current crop of wanna-be cheats out there. These cheats all have one thing in common; they're not very effective. But we will be taking steps to minimize their effect. Some of the cheats that we're addressing in the 1.2 patch include:
  Turning Off Fog Cheat
  Wireframe Cheat
  View Distance Cheat
  As we discover other attempts at exploiting the game by the talent-deprived, we'll move in to curb those as well.
  
• g8 Rocks!
  Mad props to g8 for his server admin FAQ. We liked it so much that we used it as the basis for our admin FAQ… but g8 just keeps churning out the updates. You rock, señor. Here's a link to his latest.

Oh, and one more thing:

GO GIANTS!!!!!!

Cheers,
BF1942 Team

 

[ferral]

EA only publish the game and I would of thought fixing cheats is a worthy way to spend time.
The map loading times arn't that bad..unless you have less than 512 ram

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

The 'cheats' they are fixing, is stopping you pushing back the view distance, which is hardly a cheat.

 

[throdgrain]

I just wish they'd make it less laggy, I tried it a few times and it was bog aweful , and I'm on ISDN. I would guess its nigh on impossible on a modem .
If it was less laggy perhaps Scooba wouldn't have shot me with dat tank !

(Maybe.... )

 

[Jamanio2]

Stopping the extended view cheat is a good move, glad I never switched to use it now

- Play games "out of the box"
- Configure only what should be
- Level the playing field

 

[Louster]

Yes but just because it's the way they designed it doesn't mean they got it right. In this case the highest view distance you can set it to by using the slider ingame is way too short. If they doubled the 100% slider view distance then they could probably enforce "legal" distances without too much complaint.

 

[Xantaro]

Heartily agreed!

 

[Gumbo]

Originally posted by throdgrain
I just wish they'd make it less laggy, I tried it a few times and it was bog aweful , and I'm on ISDN. I would guess its nigh on impossible on a modem .
If it was less laggy perhaps Scooba wouldn't have shot me with dat tank !

(Maybe.... )

I'm also on ISDN Throd, as it's the best I can do at the mo (million fucking pounds a day them ads! How many exchanges could the bastards convert for that?)

Anyhoo, I get uber lag on a full 32 man server, but none at all on a 24 man server, I've just had to accept that I won't be participating in the bigger games ah well.... one day..

 

[Jamanio2]

All the units in the game were designed, balanced and tested around the 100% viewdistance. To allow viewdistance increase they'd have to reduce the effectiveness of lots of the weps - like artillery, snipers and planes which are considerably stronger when you can see further... a whole balance overhaul would be required if they were to allow a viewdistance increase for good, and that's a great deal of work and testing.

I think they got it just right at defaults.

 

[Davross]

Fraid I disagree on the distance thing - especially with the navy units. They can only see each other when they are right on top of each other - how rediculous for a battleship with a gun range of several miles to be only able to engage an enemy just a few hundred metres off it.

The human eye can see about 6km at sea level in flat calm conditions (due to curvature of the earth) - thats a bit more than 2 battleship lengths

 

[Embattle]

Too true Dav, its the same in desert conditions as well...it depends on the weather conditions up to a point.

 

[Gumbo]

Ah but if realism was a whole big thing in the game, why are the brits on Tobruk still using BAR's, etc...

The game in my opinion was designed with playability not realism in mind, the fact they fucked it up a bit is another discussion, which hopefully ea will go against reputation with, and fix with a few patches.

 

[Jamanio2]

you're supposed to use spotters for the ships artillery - send out scouts to swim ahead and spot the nme ships for you !! ehehe

Before a recent PC upgrade I used to run at 75% viewdistance, on wake that means that the artillery battaries cant see the ships at the start as they're fogged out. After PC upgrade I can run @ 100% viewdistance (and probably a lot further!) so can see the ships which makes things considerably easier. I was considerably disadvantaged due to not being able to see them before.

IF EA made it so that you could see further they would be further alienating and disadvantaging those with slower PCs, resulting in a smaller player base.

 

[|WarpiG|]

View distance sucks at 100 or less, yes it does give a slight advantage, but is it more of an advantage than having a low ping vs a high ping? I am at a disadvantaged as neither BT or telewest can be arsed to update anything in my area...

Fixing net code would have been better... but it looks like they gonna keep patching and patching some more until they make it as unplayable as cs.

Imagine if a game was tested propely before release... wouldnt that be a supprise

 

[Will]

Well, I'm going to wait and see what happens with the fog. But what is the point of sniping with a range limited to 100? And why does the default player ID distance with a scope pop up at 300?

All these questions. We shall have to wait and see.

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

Originally posted by Jamanio2
you're supposed to use spotters for the ships artillery - send out scouts to swim ahead and spot the nme ships for you !! ehehe

Before a recent PC upgrade I used to run at 75% viewdistance, on wake that means that the artillery battaries cant see the ships at the start as they're fogged out. After PC upgrade I can run @ 100% viewdistance (and probably a lot further!) so can see the ships which makes things considerably easier. I was considerably disadvantaged due to not being able to see them before.

IF EA made it so that you could see further they would be further alienating and disadvantaging those with slower PCs, resulting in a smaller player base.

Using this arguement you could demand that everyone plays in 640 * 480 and at 20 FPS max so as not to disadvantage people with slower computers. There's a big difference between a cheat, and using what the engine is capable of.

 

[Panda On Smack]

I'm beginning to put EA in the same category as BT.

And just to clarify, this column isn't called 'Companies that use 2 letters to abbreviate their name and stuff'.

A worthy post im sure you will agree.

 

[Jamanio2]

Originally posted by Scooba Da Bass


Using this arguement you could demand that everyone plays in 640 * 480 and at 20 FPS max so as not to disadvantage people with slower computers. There's a big difference between a cheat, and using what the engine is capable of.

The "engine is capable of" enforcing a set of rules and boundaries by which players should abide to ensure fair play.
As far as the viewdistance is concerned it does this by reseting any distance entered in a config file greater than 100% to equal 100%
UNLESS (now I may be wrong here, I am a newb!)
You write-protect the config file in Windows so that the game engine cannot overwrite it forcing the long view distance
which to me is a hack
which to me is a cheat
and most importantly EA consider it a cheat also.

If EA change their mind and agree with you all that you should be able to set greater viewdistance, I'll be more than happy to up my distance and join all you fly-boys Until then I'll play by the rules set by the game engine and designers who are obviously interested in selling the game to a wider audience (READ: range of PC's) as possible so we get the largest player base we could have.

Once console gaming takes off (x-box live etc) we will all play on a level playing field and the PC online gaming will slow to a stop. No more PC upgrades - nice one.

 

[Will]

If the fog is enforced to 100, why am I learning to snipe long range targets when they won't appear until I can hit them with an unscoped rifle?

 

[Jamanio2]

I dont know why you are? Trick question?

You cant break rules just because they dont suit how you want to play the game, you simply play another game with rules you do agree with.

It's like a person who uses an "aim bot" because he doesn't like the rule that says you cant.

 

[Will]

Well, fog has always been used in games as a trick to hide polygon pop-up. It isn't there to improve performance. Reducing the amount of fog on some Nvidia cards will actually increase your fps.

I am allowed to moan about them taking a game with lots of potential and killing it for skilled players. And if they are going to enforce fog like I think they are, then I might well start playing another game. The in-close combat is a lottery of bullet loss, and long-range isn't allowed because someone has an old PC. Nice...

 

[Louster]

You don't need to write protect it. The game doesn't enforce anything. Ugh I hate all this crap. Just because they're some big company that churns out games by the bazillion, doesn't mean they're Gods. It looks as if they're going to screw up this game even more, if they really DO enforce view distances. I mean, consider the way the map loads. Consider the way they've chosen to make map changes work and it should give you enough contempt for them for you to rethink this view distance thing. And the netcode. If it were truly designed "with minimum specifications in mind" and to level playing fields and all that crap, then why does it play so appallingly badly upon anything other than broadband? I'm pretty damned certain other games can handle 32 players on a server without getting massive warping on a single line ISDN. And I don't see where the size/scale of the maps come in, since that surely doesn't affect the netcode, since the maps are static. Blech whatever. Enforcing dumb rules is dumb.

And it's Goddamn funny that they say "I think we are all in agreement that TKers deserve to be stuck in traffic with a full bladder listening to Barry Manilow…FOREVER!" Hey, I have an idea for a solution!!! Disable the friendly fire option!!!!!!!!!!! That'd stop all those evil Team Killers forever and ever and ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate these guys.

 

[Louster]

The best solution I can think of is to just give the servers an option to limit the view distance of the clients. That would be intelligent. But I doubt they're gonna do that. Because they're not intelligent.

 

[Jamanio2]

That would be a shame Itcheh :-(
If you'd never up'd your viewdistance you wouldn't know any different. I still cant snipe even inside 100%, that has nothing to do with viewdistance and everything to do with llamaness.

On another note I wish they'd add some speach so you could say "Hi!" and "Thanks!"... Tribes had those. Online manners should be mandatory!

 

[Louster]

And of course by that I meant a variable option, so that the servers set an upper limit of what an acceptable view distance is. Rather than "enforce 100% or not".

 

[Jamanio2]

aye Louster - that would make sense for a server to decide.

If you dont have to write protect the file to keep the viewdistance then I personaly wouldn't consider it a hack/cheat. I would however have to come up with another excuse for dieing so much.