Battlefield 2
From WikiTechia
Battlefield 2 with its continuation of its cross genre execution, DICE take online warfare into the modern era.
Contents |
Coop play
The official support for coop play was only introduced in version 1.30, it requires a dedicated server and only supports 16 players. For many of those out there just running small lans, the dedicated server may or may not be infeasable, however being confined to the 16 player maps is a real kick in the teeth.
Listen Server
Internet Connectivity
If the LAN is connected to the internet then establishing a listen coop server is relatively easy.
- Server starts single player game
- All clients connect to the game via Multiplayer->Online->Conntect to IP and manually enter the IP.
All clients need to use an Online multiplayer account.
LAN Only
Without internet connectivity, online profiles cannot be used and as such Connect to IP won't be an option. Here a trick is used to get the connection going.
- Server starts a normal multiplayer listen server.
- All clients that intend to join, go to the lobby and should see the games server on their list and waits.
- Server shuts down the multiplayer game and then starts up a single player game
- Once the server loads up, all other clients can now connect to the multiplayer server they still see.
Disabling auto-balance
When at a small lan with coop, it can be troublesome to deal with the team autobalance. To turn auto balance off, go to the console with the tilde key (~) and type
sv.autoBalanceTeams 0
32/64 Player Maps
The guys over at BF2 Singleplayer have a map pack that makes all the maps 32 or 64 player (coop) compatible.
- Then use the readme.
Then play the game coop as described in the above two sections.
Command line parameters
BF2 has a lot of extremely useful and sometimes necessary command line parameters that are not documented. BF2 should always be started with +menu 1 and +fullscreen 1
bf2.exe +menu 1 +fullscreen 1
Widescreen/Custom resolutions
To select a custom resolution ie widescreen, command line parameters can be modified to include the options +szx x resolution and +szy y resolution eg.
bf2.exe +menu 1 +fullscreen 1 +szx 1280 +szy 800
Disable intro movies
To disable the annoying intro movies, add in the parameter +restart 1 eg.
bf2.exe +menu 1 +fullscreen 1 +restart 1
Auto login
To auto login you need to specify your username in +playerName username and your password in +playerPassword password.
bf2.exe +menu 1 +fullscreen 1 +restart 1 +playerName username +playerPassword password
Console Commands
In TweakGuides BF2 Tweak Guide, the guys have supplied a reasonably complete list of console commands.
Specifically on page 8 we have the console commands. I have tested them and lot don't actually work, but there are still a few worth a look.
Non-working voice communication/voip
There are numerous issues related to sound input/VOIP in BF2. Here are the documented fixes to many of the problems experienced.
Game options mic sensitivity not responding
The BF2 mic sensitivity indicator to configure voip in options does not work after 1.0, this does not mean that voip does not work in game. The key to talk to squad mates is b and the key to talk to the commander, if the player is a squad leader, is v.
In the BF2 directory, a utility named BF2VoiceSetup.exe is located, use this instead of the in game options setup.
Realtek AC97 onboard audio
Some people have complained about voip not working on these cards, or it intially working eventually having it drop out. Various fixes include:
- Update audio drivers.
- Start->Run...->"dxdiag" and turn sound accelleration to nothing.
- Turning off mic boost in the voip section of BF2 options.
- Using software acceleration mode in BF2 sound options.
Creative break out boxes
The boxes on some creative sound cards that allow for front port microphone, have that particular input as a peripheral input. Battlefield 2 when starting a game will attempt to setup your sound system for its own settings, this includes switching the sound input to the first device on the card. This means it will be necessary to switch the sound input back to microphone after each level is loaded.
Red broken sound icon
When transmitting a VOIP message within BF2 and the sound icon turns red with a crack through it, it means that the microphone sensitivity is too high and needs to be reduced. The sound transmitted to other players is loud, shrill and very annoying, so fixing it is important.
Localisation
The in game messages can be altered to be more meaningful and concise. A common change for example is to show you exactly how many points you earn for different game events, and more descriptive death messages, specifically, showing the weapon that was used in a teamkill which can be very important when deciding wether or not to punish.
You only need to read the tutorial if you are intending to create your own localisation files, otherwise just download either of the two pre-made packs. The first of the two packs is both useful and hillariously funny if you don't mind a bit of profanity.
- Localisation files tutorial
- Well-made and profain localisation files
- Salad's boring localisation files
Special Forces Expansion Pack
Special Forces expansion pack adds new levels, weapons, vehicles and teams. The best part of SF is that SF gives you two unlocks per rank and makes available special forces weapons while in normal BF2.
Start Up Problems
lightning.fx
After installing SF onto BF2 you might come accross the following error message
Error! mods/bf2/shaders/ lightning.fx not found!!! DO check your working directory, AND sync your shaders folder before calling upon your local rendering programmer/GP, (really!)
All you need to do is repatch BF2 with the lastest full BF2 patch.
Other Tweaks
Long login time
To speed up the process of logging in with BF2. You should try removing all servers that are red in your favorites list. Red servers are servers you have a listing for and probably no longer exist and will take a long time to timeout when queried.
Adjust priority
Some players have reported decreased load times and in some cases increased in game performance by setting the process priority of bf2 to high. For others, it's introduced input lag on joysticks and bad FPS.
