Battlefield 4

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

DICE games have always been shonky as fuck as launch (even right back in the BF2 days), but they've generally got them all patched up fairly sharpish and then worked on the expansions. (Back when they were still called 'expansions' and before DLC was a thing.)

However with BF3 and even more so BF4, they've put the original game out in a typically broken fashion, and then started rolling out the DLC before they've even got the basic game working properly. Plus of course they're supporting multiple platforms now which can't help, whereas back in the day it was just PC.

(I mean, BF2142 was almost comically broken at launch, I distinctly recall about three or four successive evenings where me and the chaps considered just being able to log in (into whatever the 'Origin Equivalent' was back then, I honestly can't remember), get on the same server, and play a couple of rounds to completion - was considered a successful evening in and of itself.)

Not sure how much of the worsening of this is the 'EA Effect' over the years (EA bought them out back in 2004 which was pre-BF2), but BF3 and BF4 have been pretty bad in terms of problems. The steamroller approach to DLC is the main culprit IMO.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Dr Zoidberg wrote:

Trooper wrote:

Dr Zoidberg wrote:

Over on RLLMUK there was a link to the creators saying something along the lines of "Aha! We've found the problem and fixed it" so the horrible stuttering should be gone soon.

Oooh, do you have a link?

http://www.reddit.com/r/battlefield_4/c ... t_servers/

Interesting, thanks

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Absolute motherfuckers!

The most awful thing of all is I'm sorely tempted to buy the bastard thing.

€40 really isn't much money in real terms, I spent nearly £40 on an entirely average lunch for me and Mrs AE at an Italian last week, TBH I could have made better myself for about a tenner - if that.

Attachment:

motherf.JPG

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Anyone getting any mileage out of the new carrier assault DLC? Me and the chaps are lapping it up.

DICE have openly said it's supposed to be evocative of 2142's Titan Mode and it really does feel very similar.

It also works surprisingly well as a small game (3vs3 on our own server), or on the bigger maps with much larger teams.

Loads of vehicles, lots of tactics with knowing when to cap the points, attack their carrier, or defend your carrier, and some seriously intense defending/attacking of the engine rooms when they get breached.

We've been playing it every Saturday night, all night, since it was released. It's the mark of a game mode we're enjoying when we go past our usual finish time of around 11pm, and find ourselves still kicking it around at past midnight....

We'd all still sell our grannies for a re-release of 2142 with the Frostbite engine though.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

It's unplayable due to the lag on the console versions, unfortunately.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Trooper wrote:

It's unplayable due to the lag on the console versions, unfortunately.

Oh, that's a shame.

You could always buy it for your computer I guess, depending on how averse you are to buying the same game twice.

Are DICE going to fix the console versions? If an entire mode is literally unplayable then surely they're obliged to fix it?

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

You'd think, but it seems that it isn't a problem that needs a "fix" as such, it's that the servers they are running for the console crowd are underpowered. The test servers they have running are beefier and play perfectly (that was their magic fix they said they had found...), but they are normal mode only. I'm a hardcore only player, can't get on with normal mode at all anymore.

It's generally fine if you play maps that only have 32 players on, but Conquest Large, or the new Naval Assault maps with the all water, cause major rubberbanding issues.

The people I play with are all on PS4, so changing versions isn't possible. We still have a laugh, but it's very annoying.

All EA/Dice need to do is ramp up the server power and all will be well, but that costs money, and this is EA we are talking about!

myp · **Posted:** Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:49

People moan about DayZ not being finished, but at least that's advertised as an alpha. That EA had the cheek to charge £40-45 for this is scandalous.

Pundabaya · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5016

The rubberbanding thing is weird.

I have problems with Lancang Dam (water, I'm guessing), Caspian Border (Big map?) but no problems with Flood Zone,Siege of Shangai or Gulf of Oman all with plenty of water (and Gulf is a huge map with a sandstorm). The new maps are pretty much all unplayable in 64 man version, though.

The test servers are silky as hell, and good (if you can get on one)as a) they're always full, b)they have a different rotation. (and no fucking Operation Locker or Metro, both terrible in 64 man conquest)

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

British Nervoso wrote:

People moan about DayZ not being finished, but at least that's advertised as an alpha. That EA had the cheek to charge £40-45 for this is scandalous.

In the main it works perfectly well. DICE games being shagged at launch and for some time after isn't an EA thing, it's very much a DICE thing. I blame the modern obsession with the DLC conveyor belt more than anything else for the ongoing problems, where there's a rush to get new content out before the previous batch is 100%.

And even then by all accounts we're only talking about problems in particular modes and/or on particular platforms.

Me and the chaps rag the arse out of the game for hours every Saturday night and TBH it's stable and works well.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

http://blogs.battlefield.com/2014/04/ba ... -solution/

"Hi everyone,

As you know, we’ve been looking into resolving the “rubber banding” that some players on certain platforms have experienced with Battlefield 4 after the recent release of Naval Strike. We’ve found that the root cause of the issue was a configuration of certain hardware types dedicated to 64-player matches.

We have invested in new hardware to resolve this issue and deployed new higher-performance servers this week. In preparation, we conducted a significant amount of testing before installing the new servers to ensure they would correct the issue. We are already seeing performance improvement with 64-player matches and expect this to continue.

While the process took longer than we would’ve liked, we wanted to be 100% sure it was done right and that the long-term solution was properly in place.

Our objective is to deliver the best player experience possible. We feel this solution helps us deliver that to you. Stay tuned to our official channels for more information.

Thanks,

Karl Magnus Troedsson, DICE VP & GM"

So does this mean they have fixed it today? They are going to fix it? It has been fixed already?
Very vague, but hopefully good news.

Malc · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:56

Trooper wrote:

http://blogs.battlefield.com/2014/04/battlefield-4-high-performance-server-solution/

"Hi everyone,

As you know, we’ve been looking into resolving the “rubber banding” that some players on certain platforms have experienced with Battlefield 4 after the recent release of Naval Strike. We’ve found that the root cause of the issue was a configuration of certain hardware types dedicated to 64-player matches.

We have invested in new hardware to resolve this issue and deployed new higher-performance servers this week. In preparation, we conducted a significant amount of testing before installing the new servers to ensure they would correct the issue. We are already seeing performance improvement with 64-player matches and expect this to continue.

While the process took longer than we would’ve liked, we wanted to be 100% sure it was done right and that the long-term solution was properly in place.

Our objective is to deliver the best player experience possible. We feel this solution helps us deliver that to you. Stay tuned to our official channels for more information.

Thanks,

Karl Magnus Troedsson, DICE VP & GM"

So does this mean they have fixed it today? They are going to fix it? It has been fixed already?
Very vague, but hopefully good news.

I would suggest the use of the word deployed suggests it's been fixed.

Malc

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Ended up playing until well past midnight last night, finishing up with what was supposed to be a pistols and knives fight on our own server, which somehow escalated into a tank and then helicopter gunship battle.

'What kind of fucking knife is that then?', I enquired of my chum as a tank rolled into the square. Needless to say the only response to that was to helicopter up.

A glass of wine too many was consumed as well, as my slightly sore head this morning will bear testament to.

We were also getting some of the rubber-banding on a carrier assault map earlier in the evening, which we've not seen before. At one point I was able to witness my own death from a third person perspective, which was rather odd.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

http://www.reddit.com/r/battlefield_4/c ... _returned/

Well, that was short and sweet, I didn't even get a chance to go online when they were working correctly.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Rent-a-server is up and running. I suspect this is EA's fix to their shit infrastructure, make it someone else's problem and charge the users for the privilege.
A bargain a £48 for 90 days!

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

We pay £100 every three months for our server, but split between six of us it's perfectly reasonable price wise and it's completely configurable from the back end so we always get exactly what we want on there mode/players/rules/etc wise, plus we get a Mumble server thrown in with the deal.

There are cheaper server providers but we figured if we were going to get our own server we may as well get a good one.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

...and rent a server is broken

http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf4/ne ... gram-live/

"Due to a high demand for the Rent-a-Server Program on PlayStation 4, we’ve noticed an issue with 64-player servers and removed the RSP option on this platform until players can properly access what they’ve paid for. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we continue to improve the RSP program."

:facepalm:

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Wow, what a difference having a working server makes. Played for a hour tonight on a rented server and it played so much better.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

"Battlefield: Hardline" has been announced. No details as yet, apart from an autumn release date and it is Cops and Robbers based.

Hmmm....

Grim... · **Posted:** Thu May 29, 2014 10:49

I reckon it's a courtroom setting, with each side having to give evidence and shit.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Ok, so it does look like it could be good fun. It'll be buggy as shit though.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

New patch out which ups the tick rate of the client, if you change the setting to high.

Had a quick go this morning and it almost felt like a different game!

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-201 ... 0-6420088/

Ok, getting more interested, especially as it is a Battlefield game that isn't being made by DICE, so there is a little bit of hope it won't be a bugshitfest on release

You can sign up for the beta here if you fancy giving it a go.
http://www.battlefield.com/hardline/beta

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Trooper wrote:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2014-everything-you-need-to-know-about-battlefield-hardline/1100-6420088/

Ok, getting more interested, especially as it is a Battlefield game that isn't being made by DICE, so there is a little bit of hope it won't be a bugshitfest on release

You can sign up for the beta here if you fancy giving it a go.
http://www.battlefield.com/hardline/beta

It's not a Battlefield game though, it's just a random FPS game developed by a random studio that they've decided to slap the Battlefield name onto because of the 'franchise appeal'.

Like Ridge Racer Unbounded clearly wasn't a Ridge Racer game and Need For Speed Most Wanted which was clearly a Burnout game and not a Need For Speed game.

Not saying Hardline won't be a good game, but it's not a Battlefield game IMO.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Well, it looks to play exactly the same as a BF game, just in a different setting, and has been built using the BF toolkit.

I can see your point, but I think it is definitely a BF game. It may not be deserving of the BF name though, but then you could say that about BF3 and 4...

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Must be nice to play it on a LAN though, no way it will perform like that over the internet!

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Trooper wrote:

Must be nice to play it on a LAN though, no way it will perform like that over the internet!

Not sure I can see anything there that won't work over the internet? :shrug:

Latency on a good server these days is routinely down in the region of 25-50ms, or were you referring to something else?

As for the 'is it a Battlefield game or not' even the article you linked to didn't seem overly convinced about its BF credentials, although they've certainly retained a BF feel for the UI and suchlike.

Don't get me wrong it looks like it could be an interesting game in its own right, but I can't help feel they're being a bit cynical with the Battlefield tag. (For me a BF game has to be a DICE game and also be comically broken at launch, anything else would just be wrong

)

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Hearthly wrote:

Trooper wrote:

Must be nice to play it on a LAN though, no way it will perform like that over the internet!

Not sure I can see anything there that won't work over the internet? :shrug:

Latency on a good server these days is routinely down in the region of 25-50ms, or were you referring to something else?

Mainly that he was shooting people and they were falling over, rather than warping to another part of the map while he rubberbanded back 2 steps

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Trooper wrote:

Mainly that he was shooting people and they were falling over, rather than warping to another part of the map while he rubberbanded back 2 steps

Dedicated servers

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Well, that happened faster than I expected. Downloading the beta now...

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Ok... yeah.... it's actually really good fun and plays really well!

myp · **Posted:** Wed Jun 11, 2014 12:19

Trooper wrote:

Ok... yeah.... it's actually really good fun and plays really well!

Battlefield: Trooper's Mum Edition

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

A few more games and problems are starting to show. There is quite a bit of slowdown when the action gets going, and the servers are 16 a side, but the squads are 5 man squads. Anybody see the problem with that

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Interestingly, or not depending on your point of view, but if you aren't interested, why are you reading this thread? I think Hardline suffers from being too much of a Battlefield game. Would I pay full price for it on release? As it currently stands, no. It really feels like BF DLC rather than a game of its own.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Trooper wrote:

Interestingly, or not depending on your point of view, but if you aren't interested, why are you reading this thread? I think Hardline suffers from being too much of a Battlefield game. Would I pay full price for it on release? As it currently stands, no. It really feels like BF DLC rather than a game of its own.

'Mods', I believe we used to call them

From the beta reviews I've read and the videos I've watched, there's not enough going on here to justify a purchase as a BF4 DLC, let alone a standalone game - however there's still time for them to add in more game modes and content, and let's face it, it needs them.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

€70 for a glorified mod, where do I sign?

Performance not stellar on PS4 either, sub BF-4 at the moment, http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... e-analysis

TBH I think I'll be off the BF treadmill for the next 'proper' BF game anyway, BF4 really didn't do anything that BF3 didn't do the same or better IMO, and I'm fed up with the avalanche of DLC too.

I think it'd take BF2143 to tweak my interest in this franchise again.

Attachment:

bastadoo.JPG

Bamba · **Joined:** 25th Jul, 2010 **Posts:** 11128

Hearthly wrote:

TBH I think I'll be off the BF treadmill for the next 'proper' BF game anyway

Aye, we'll see...

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Bamba wrote:

Hearthly wrote:

TBH I think I'll be off the BF treadmill for the next 'proper' BF game anyway

Aye, we'll see...

Oh I'll definitely get it, but equally definitely it won't be a pre-order or launch day purchase.

I'll grab it a few months down the line in a sale, like I did Titanfall.

Bamba · **Joined:** 25th Jul, 2010 **Posts:** 11128

Hearthly wrote:

Bamba wrote:

Hearthly wrote:

TBH I think I'll be off the BF treadmill for the next 'proper' BF game anyway

Aye, we'll see...

Oh I'll definitely get it

Wow, a u-turn in the space of two posts; that must be a new personal best!

:kiss:

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Bamba wrote:

Hearthly wrote:

Bamba wrote:

Hearthly wrote:

TBH I think I'll be off the BF treadmill for the next 'proper' BF game anyway

Aye, we'll see...

Oh I'll definitely get it

Wow, a u-turn in the space of two posts; that must be a new personal best!

:kiss:

I said I'd be off the BF treadmill, which means I won't be paying top dollar at launch and wading through the launch issues, adjusting to the balancing and the patching in the early days, trying to keep up with the DLC as it's shovelled out, and so on.

You can read that as 'I won't be buying it ever' if you want to, but that's not what the words actually say. Considering that I've owned just about every BF game ever, the idea that I'd miss one completely is pretty unlikely.

Bamba · **Joined:** 25th Jul, 2010 **Posts:** 11128

Hearthly wrote:

You can read that as 'I won't be buying it ever' if you want to, but that's not what the words actually say.

The best way to get off the treadmill of something would be not get involved at all in the first place; and with the context of the rest of that post it's easy to read it as you saying you weren't going to buy it at all, no matter what you thought you were saying.

Anyway, it was supposed to just be a light-hearted comment so let's forget it shall we?

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Sorry old chap didn't mean to come over arsey about it, slightly crossed wires there

I take your point about how it could be read too, but the intended meaning was 'not going to jump in at launch for the next one' (unless it's BF2143

).

Satsuma · **Joined:** 20th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14356

I got my first ever 'squad wipe' today. With an LMG an' all, not some stinking cheating tank or some shit.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

We have now officially fucked this game off and returned 100% to Battlefield 3. It was a bit 50/50 for a while but now everyone is in agreement that BF3 is the better game, and our server is permanently on BF3 map rotations.

Better maps.
Better modes.
Better netcode.
Less glitchy.
Rather unscientifically it 'feels' better. (We've all agreed that there's almost like a random element in BF4 as to whether you'll get a kill even when you feel like you've properly got an enemy bang to rights, whereas in BF3 you can just 'feel' when you've got the shot right before the game confirms the kill.)

Plus, Team Deathmatch on Noshahr Canals with the DAO-12, it doesn't get better than that for an end-of-evening blast.

Bye bye BF4, and I doubt any of us will be jumping straight in with the next Battlefield game.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

BF4 is fixed!

Basically DICE have gone back to a lot of the BF3 netcode and suchlike, and put a load of options into the menus so you can make it 'feel' like BF3 did.

We put a couple of hours in last night and all agreed it's a much better game. DICE made the changes a fair few weeks ago (there was a reasonably sizeable write-up at Eurogamer), but we got so fucked off with BF4 it's taken us this long to get round to having a session on it again.

Recommended if you've not played for a while!

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

The last DLC has dropped... and it's pretty good fun. Played a few hours last night and got my ass kicked as usual in terms of K/D, but still finished top 3 a couple of times due to doing the novel thing of playing the objective

No lag, no glitches, it seems to be running ok. Only took them a year to get it right.

myp · **Posted:** Tue Nov 25, 2014 13:45

Trooper wrote:

The last DLC has dropped... and it's pretty good fun. Played a few hours last night and got my ass kicked as usual in terms of K/D, but still finished top 3 a couple of times due to doing the novel thing of playing the objective

No lag, no glitches, it seems to be running ok. Only took them a year to get it right.

Just in time for Battlefield: Ferguson Edition to drop.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22266

Battlefield Hardline Beta is up again till the end of the week, and annoyingly it's actually pretty good fun.

It has 3 modes. Heist which was the beta mode last time and is the same as it was. Conquest, which is standard battlefield conquest, but hardline has smaller maps and more people, 20v20 on a small map, so it's a bit more frantic. The other mode in the beta is Hotwire, which is a lot of fun. Same as conquest, but the flags are vehicles and you capture them by getting them above a certain speed.

It helps that small arms do damage to vehicles now, so even if your on foot with only a handgun, you can still play a part.

It'[s not a BF4 replacement, it's a lot smaller scale than that, it feels more like a Battlefield version of COD, which is no bad thing.

myp · **Posted:** Thu Feb 05, 2015 11:02

Battlefield: Ferguson edition? No thanks.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13382

Trooper wrote:

Battlefield Hardline Beta is up again till the end of the week, and annoyingly it's actually pretty good fun.

It has 3 modes. Heist which was the beta mode last time and is the same as it was. Conquest, which is standard battlefield conquest, but hardline has smaller maps and more people, 20v20 on a small map, so it's a bit more frantic. The other mode in the beta is Hotwire, which is a lot of fun. Same as conquest, but the flags are vehicles and you capture them by getting them above a certain speed.

It helps that small arms do damage to vehicles now, so even if your on foot with only a handgun, you can still play a part.

It'[s not a BF4 replacement, it's a lot smaller scale than that, it feels more like a Battlefield version of COD, which is no bad thing.

The primary issue I've got with it is the €70 they're asking, one to grab in an inevitable future sale I think.

A mate is kicking the beta around and I expect reportage from him tomorrow.

Be Excellent To Each Other

Battlefield 4

Who is online