***OFFICIAL*** BF2 DEMO Review Thread

[blurredvision]

I'm starting to think of killing something when I first hop into a game. Anytime I load up the game and hop into a server, it seems like I have to visit every part of the map to get everything loaded into memory. When I first hop in, I take a few circles to load everything around me, and then I get going. This thing stutters like a mother fvcker, and if an enemy is around, I have no chance to kill anything, let alone look at what I want to kill. Even once I can get to walking around without it stuttering and throwing me ever which direction, I have to do this everytime I visit a new part of the map. Even sometimes in the middle of a match, the game will decide to stutter, and this usually happens when I'm trying to aim at someone. The game starts to stutter, and I ALWAYS end up facing the other direction, hence, looking stupid as hell to the other guy and getting shot in the back.

This is my main problem with the game right now.

Also, does anyone know of a way, as a squadleader, to tell your squad to to attack a position that isn't in your line of sight? I'm loving being squadleader right now, and have gotten some compliments so far on leading. However, sometimes my squadmates ask for orders, but I'm not in a position to see the flag I want taken over at that point. Usually I'll zoom in, point to where I want to attack, and use the T menu to tell the squad to do this. So far, I'm finding the communication in this game outstanding, and although many have said they don't like the command/request menus, I love them. They are very Rainbow Six-esque. You can basically fully communicate with your whole team without typing a damn thing.

 

[blurredvision]

2 more questions:

1.) Where are screenshots located? The commands window shows Printscreen is the screenshot button. C:\Battlefield 2 Demo\pb\scrnshot seems to be the most likely candidate, but I have nothing in there.

2.) I just played in a server where they had figured out a way to disable the 12 minutes timelimit. It's much more fun playing longer until the tickets reach 0. Anyone else here know how to do this to get the word out for server admins?

 

[LocutusX]

For those who really hate EA, one thing to keep in mind is to separate the publisher from the developer.

The publisher I hate the most is Atari, but I've been satisfied with the RPG games they've released, primarily because they were written by good studios (Bioware, Troika (sorta), Piranha Bytes, etc.)

 

[Kevin1211]

Originally posted by: blurredvision


2.) I just played in a server where they had figured out a way to disable the 12 minutes timelimit. It's much more fun playing longer until the tickets reach 0. Anyone else here know how to do this to get the word out for server admins?

remove time limit
enable large size map in SP
unlock all weapons

 

[BigfootsMonk]

I have never really like EA either, mainly because of their lack of common sense. Limited options in games really bother me and that's one of the biggest reasons I quit BF1942 and BFV. However, I do have to give them the point for inspiration. They seem to have a lot of creativity.

But overall, I see BF2 pretty much the same as BF1942. I think I still like BF1942 more if only it had better graphics. The graphics in BF2 is pretty much on par with games like Guild Wars, and a bit better than UT2004 but I get much less fps with the huge environment. That's another reason I never fully enjoyed their BF series because my rig just doesn't have hte full capabilities to handle BF2 or BFV with graphics that have the quality of my other games such as UT.

Other things that bug me include long loading times compared to my MMORPG's and UT, control options just suck, hard to see when you're flying (no turning whatsoever compared to Flight Simulator 2004), slower gameplay compared to UT but that's realistic so I won't complain about that.

 

[Childs]

Its pretty fun. Took top place (70 points) as the medic last night on a 64 player map! I wish there was a plague you could use like in TFC. So far no complaints.

ERs:

Engineer should be able to use wrench as a melee weapon.
Medic should have to plague. Also, defibulator should be an offensive weapon as well.
weapons seem inaccurate. Someone alluded to drift/drop, but its hard to tell what the ranges are.
Heatseaking missles are too ineffective. Its too easy for a heli or plane to drop flares.
Not enough anti aircraft guns. I loved shooting down planes in 1942. Now they just have lame missles.
Put 1280x1024 in the damn resolution menu!

The only annoying bug is that when you are waiting to spawn and then sometimes nothing happens. I thought the game crashed because I couldn't right click to select spawn points/change class. I kept disconnecting from the game and reconnecting. Turns out you had to hit Enter. Exteremely fustrating. Not so much now that I know, but it should be fixed. I almost deleted the demo because of it.

 

[suklee]

I like the new squad command controls, seems easier to get things organized, ie not everyone is running around on their own like a headless chicken. It feels like they've borrowed elements from RTCW (ammo/health dispensing).

I'm using XP2500+/9800Pro/1GB Ram, kept it at default 800x600 Medium settings and seemed to run fine. Not sure if I can up it? Haven't tried yet.

Will definitely be picking this game up when it's released.... along with a computer upgrade sometime before the end of the year

 

[Tab]

This is going to be long.

I've been playing the game for the past few days, a bit much. The game is definatly a step in the right direction. I don't think there pushing it far enough. I've been fighting and you say to yourself "are those bots?". Not because they're being dumb it's because they're working together as a actual team. People are using the buggy with the last two gunner positions taken. You seem people actually using the landing craft going on the beach, going prone and then you and the other guys duke it out. That's cool and it's fun.

As for the memory suggestion, that's insane. You're already requiring people have the lastest hardware, now you want them to have bleeding edge? 1GB should be enough for any game, there must be some code opitimization somewhere. I am using 2x512MB Sticks and I have 10K Raptor Drive. Load times aren't that big of a problem for me at all, and I've played on a 64 Player server more that once. It wasn't that bad at all IMHO.

The only map I've play Golf of Omen, seems really good. The only thing I would change is less veichles. It's not a good thing when people can think "Yea, I'll take this tank and suicide it into their spawn." That's not placing value in veichles. The maps should be a bit smaller. For example, the 32 player version should only have 2 beach spawns and a little off the sides.

Ironsights, those where done pretty well. Expect they don't seem done properly nor do they seem accurrate. This needs to be fix. Not to mention ALL of the weapons seems vastly underpowered, everything if not almost everything should see a noticable power increase. The other things I would change about the weapons would be increase the accurracy of both machines guns, espically while prone. The sniper rifles crosshair don't seem to be perfect, espically for the SVD. All of the rifles should be more accurrate while the M-16 and Ak-101 being the most accurrate and the M-4 and AKS the least accurrate... after that the two Sub-Machine Guns.

The sniper rifles need a stronger magnification or some zoom opitions. 4x 6x 8x

Apparently there is location damage on veichles, the back of the veichles are weaker, I am not experiening that at all.

The hud of veichles seem blury to me, espically the red dot sight. Those also should be fixed.

Anyone know the most popular Battlefield 2 forum?

 

[Spacecomber]

Originally posted by: djmihow
Anyone try this with a Geforce 4 4200?

I went ahead and tried it on a system with a Ti4200, and I couldn't get the game to start. I briefly get a black screen, like it is trying to start, but I'm quickly back to the desktop.

As noted on the previous page of this thread, only FX and 6000 series Nvidia cards are listed as supported by the demo.

Space

 

[fsstrike]

Everything seemed to be playing fine, then I got into a jet and started doing flips and fast turns... Within a few seconds I was in the blue screen on death. So, I restarted and tried it again. I was flying the jet again, doing flips and what not, after a few seconds i was back in the blue screen of death. Anyone else have similar problems?

 

[suklee]

Originally posted by: fsstrike
Everything seemed to be playing fine, then I got into a jet and started doing flips and fast turns... Within a few seconds I was in the blue screen on death. So, I restarted and tried it again. I was flying the jet again, doing flips and what not, after a few seconds i was back in the blue screen of death. Anyone else have similar problems?

Does it BSOD if you're *not* flying like a stuntman?

 

[fsstrike]

Originally posted by: Kai920

Originally posted by: fsstrike
Everything seemed to be playing fine, then I got into a jet and started doing flips and fast turns... Within a few seconds I was in the blue screen on death. So, I restarted and tried it again. I was flying the jet again, doing flips and what not, after a few seconds i was back in the blue screen of death. Anyone else have similar problems?

Does it BSOD if you're *not* flying like a stuntman?

Nope, never. So i am assuming it is just a problem with jets. BTW, this NEVER happens in any other games.

 

[Dkcode]

I Like it, I love the weapon models. Shame the map is pretty weak.

 

[everman]

My review after a few hours:

Overall it has potential. It runs fine for me which is surprising, 768ram, athlonXP@2.2ghz, radeon 9800pro, at 1600x1200.
It looks good, and I'm sure it would look great with everything turned up.
The squad command tools are nice.
I like the vehicles. But I don't understand why they put these big fast jets on such a small map. All you can do is fly circles or else you'll be killed when you enter the no-fly zone for too long.

Bugs: Someone managed to get a tank into boat dock on the aircraft carrier...

Overall I do not feel compelled to buy this. It's decent, but nothing great. I can see it being fun for formal teams and matches, but I don't have time for that.

 

[imported_Pipes]

So far the game seems incredible. For all you naysayers try playing the game at 1600*1200@75 with everything on high. That being said Fraps shows my frame rate never below 30, yet online I get huge stutter and slow down problems when I turn quickly. My guess is 1 gig of memory is not enough to play at that resolution. Getting more RAM would be a bitch as my Corsair XMS 3200 in dual channel is nicely overclocked. What are all you graphics whores gonna do?

Pipes

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Dkcode
I Like it, I love the weapon models. Shame the map is pretty weak.

I thought the map was one of the better parts... being able to get on top of roofs... climb that crane... etc. etc.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Spacecomber

Originally posted by: djmihow
Anyone try this with a Geforce 4 4200?

I went ahead and tried it on a system with a Ti4200, and I couldn't get the game to start. I briefly get a black screen, like it is trying to start, but I'm quickly back to the desktop.

As noted on the previous page of this thread, only FX and 6000 series Nvidia cards are listed as supported by the demo.

Space

Check the refresh rate... set it to 60 and see if that helps.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Childs
Also, defibulator should be an offensive weapon as well.

I'm pretty sure the defibulator can be used as an offensive weapon in close. I haven't tried it, but I know I've seen/read it many places in the past in previews and such that always state it can be used to hurt enemies as well as revive comrads.

 

[Yossarian]

I just played for a couple hours as commander, OMG it's awesome. it's hard to get guys to join squads on random servers but now and then you get a couple good ones. it really affects the outcome of the game. plus it's awesome to drop arty on the enemy's head. scan an area, soften the target with arty, order troops in, send a UAV for detailed recon, then drop supplies to the victors. so sweet. it's an RTS game where the units are real people.

 

[feelingshorter]

buggy with latest nvidia drivers but NOT buggy with the older drivers that came with the game, and thats the point of them adding the extra megabytes to the install file.

 

[icarus4586]

My machine:
Athlon64 3000+
1GB RAM
Radeon 9600

And constant disk swapping! I'm getting maybe 5fps, constant disk activity. Only 35 processes running, 75% of that gigabyte of RAM was unused.
This game better perform much better in its final release.

EDIT: I changed the texture detail to medium instead of high, and it's quite playable now. My guess is that high uses really huge textures that overflowed the video RAM and the AGP system memory, and started using hard drive as video memory. There are still a few little graphics bugs, but overall it looks quite a bit better than the previous Battlefield games.

 

[eBauer]

I will say this much - about time you can see the grenades leave your hand.

 

[XNice]

Originally posted by: feelingshorter
buggy with latest nvidia drivers but NOT buggy with the older drivers that came with the game, and thats the point of them adding the extra megabytes to the install file.

ummm how are the 77.30 drivers older than the 71.89 drivers on nvidias website?

this game runs like a** for me. and when it does run smooth it restarts my pc after 5 mins. and yes i did everything that was stated in these forums, isonews forums, bf2 forums... this demo was rushed....

fvck DICE, and fvck EA's hype machine.... im going back to CS:S, btw is it just me, or does CS:S run better with the BF2 NV drivers(77.30)?

 

[Spacecomber]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: Spacecomber

Originally posted by: djmihow
Anyone try this with a Geforce 4 4200?

I went ahead and tried it on a system with a Ti4200, and I couldn't get the game to start. I briefly get a black screen, like it is trying to start, but I'm quickly back to the desktop.

As noted on the previous page of this thread, only FX and 6000 series Nvidia cards are listed as supported by the demo.

Space

Check the refresh rate... set it to 60 and see if that helps.

I tried setting my desktop to 60 Mhz and forced games to 60 Mhz, through the video control panel. My monitor shows that it is trying to switch to a another mode at 60 Mhz, when the screen goes black for a few moments, but then it falls back to the desktop.

I'm using the Nvidia drivers that came with the demo, too.

I'm pretty sure there is no way to run the demo on a Ti4200 without some serious trickery.

Space

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: icarus4586
My machine:
Athlon64 3000+
1GB RAM
Radeon 9600

And constant disk swapping! I'm getting maybe 5fps, constant disk activity. Only 35 processes running, 75% of that gigabyte of RAM was unused.
This game better perform much better in its final release.

EDIT: I changed the texture detail to medium instead of high, and it's quite playable now. My guess is that high uses really huge textures that overflowed the video RAM and the AGP system memory, and started using hard drive as video memory. There are still a few little graphics bugs, but overall it looks quite a bit better than the previous Battlefield games.

35 processes is a ton. I have 13 processes that run outside of whatever game I'm playing - the Windows XP Pro criticals, and DHCP client for internet access. Other than that, everything is shut the hell down.