Battlefield Bad Company 2 Updates

[The Janitor]

Fairly hefty (976mb) update for BC2 today:

Product Update - Valve

Updates to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

Changelog:

Server - Some potential sources for lag/rubberbanding have been eliminated
Server - The old reserved slots has been replaced by a kick-on-demand system like in BF2
Server - Log file for server admins: all remote admin interface commands/events are logged
Server - Log file for server admins: major server events + all chat messages are logged
Server - Idle kick is controllable
Server - Profanity filter can be disabled
Server - Teamkill-kick system is controllable
Server - Ticket counts and bleed rate are controllable per-level
Server - Infantry only mode available per-level
Server - Initial spawn delay and respawn delay are adjustable
Server - Server description can be up to 400 characters, and use "|" for line breaks
Server - Banlist can contain up to 10.000 entries
Server - reduced latency in packet handling

Admin Interface - fixed the player.onKill spam that occasionally happened
Admin Interface - ensured that player.onJoin events always report the player name
Admin Interface - events triggered when people spawn
Admin Interface - much more info on kills
Admin Interface - detailed stats are reported at end-of-round

Gameplay - Various minor level bugfixes
Gameplay - Helicopter handling has been tweaked
Gameplay - Weapon tweaks have been implemented based on PC public feedback
Gameplay - Tracer dart gun speed has been changed from 300 m/s to 200 m/s
Gameplay - Fixed technical hang when a crate was armed outside of the combat area
Gameplay - "Victory is near" message was shown for the wrong team on Valparaiso, this has been fixed
Gameplay - Countermeasures can be fired when driving a helicopter
Gameplay - The brightness of the pilot view in the Russian helicopter has been reduced
Gameplay - Advanced Spotting scope works better
Gameplay - Knifing people in the back works again (we backed out the change that we had done for Server R11)
Gameplay - Hit box for moving targets expands based on the speed of the targets movement
Gameplay - G36 now has crosshair when in Hardcore mode

Server Browser - Servers are sorted into 3 categories: Normal, Modified, Hardcore depending on their settings
Server Browser - Added support for retrieving update progress
Server Browser - Now refreshes information
Server Browser - Join queue system when attempting to join a full server
Server Browser - All settings are automatically saved between sessions
Server Browser - Pings are sent via an alternate mechanism, which should work for non-Administrator users as well

Client - Fixed DX9 issue, which likely caused graphics glitches and perhaps crashes
Client - Fixed some crashes
Client - Toggle/hold crouch is user controllable
Client - Toggle/hold zoom is user controllable
Client - Vsync bugfixed for DX10/DX11
Client - Rewritten how settings are written to disk; this should reduce/eliminate the spawn lag
Client - Fixed bug where a player could join a server before the stats has been downloaded causing faulty stats in "EOR- unlock progression"-screen
Client - New chat system allows chatting when dead (but not during end of round) and keeps a 100 lines log
Client - Improved Play Now functionality
Client - Removed K/D ratio and Skill Level filters in the leaderboards
Client - Any points you get while being dead will be added to your score
Client - Reduced negative mouse acceleration
Client - Increased health on the Cobra to match other vehicles
Client - More informative disconnection/kick reasons
Client - Support for Map Packs so PC gets future VIP maps at the same time as consoles

The Balance tweaks are as followed:
Slightly increased the damage of the UZI at long range.
The AKs74u now has more felt recoil when aiming.
The G3, VSS, and all SemiAutomatic rifles now settle slightly faster between shots when aiming.
The PKM, Type 88LMG, G3, An94, and 40mm shotgun have returned to their former glory.
Increased the damage of the MG3 to bring it in line with the rest of the LMGs.
Fixed a bug where the Saiga12 with slugs would do too much damage at long range.
Fixed a bug where the SVU would do too little damage at long range.
Fixed a bug where M95 rounds would not kill armored targets with headshots.

Hopefully they've now resolved the various dx9/10/11 issues...

Looks like you might actually be able to knife someone in the back first time now instead of occasionally having to take 5 attempts before they turn round and shoot you in the face

Not sure about some of the gameplay and balance tweaks, guess it will take a while to see how they affect things, but the weapons tweaks and hit box changes could be interesting. Also looks like tracer darting and taking down heli's could be a lot more difficult now...

[wuyanxu]

hazzah! for returning An94 to its non overpowered state and more power to 40mm shotgun.

i've had a go a few hours ago, hitbox seems to make it easier to shoot people while they are running, but didn't make sniper's headshot easier, so it's all good.

anyone know what gun is G36?


edit: had a play with heli and choppers.
the blackhawk will be easier to fly and dodge tracer/missiles with new controls, i shall be a better pilot than ever :P (except i still can't land)
the choppers are a pain to fly at the moment. it's way too sensitive for my liking, basically turns into a struggle to keep it from crashing after first pass. having said that, im sure other BF2 vets will be able to pull off some amazing moves.

[Rogan]

G36 is the MG with the inbuilt sight AFAIK.


The helis are more responsive? This should be amusing. To be fair they needed it after they changed the tracer dart speed, I was shooting down almost every blackhawk that took off at one point.

[smc8788]

Wow, finally. I remember reading that exact same change list over a month ago on the EA forums and it's only just been released now. I wonder what took them so long....maybe they were too busy trying to push out Onslaught mode on the consoles

[The Janitor]

Originally Posted by wuyanxu

had a play with heli and choppers...

Did you try out the new heli countermeasures?

I'm guessing they've now got chaff and/or flares which will be pretty cool.

Whilst BC2 is all about the MP, it's suprising they haven't resolved the fov issue with the SP campaign where it reverts back to 55 regardless of what's in your config.

[Rogan]

Is there a button for that or is it automatic?

[Combatus]

Didn't take too long to download thank goodness. Took me ages to hit anything long range - seemed to be tweaked a lot but one feature I DO like is the queue function for entering a server. If it's full then it puts you in a queue with updates on what your position is so if a friend is in there, you can at least wait in line to join instead of constantly clicking!

[The Janitor]

Looks like the countermeasures are deployed manually by the pilot and remove tracer darts once you've been tagged instead of protecting you against RPGs and missile locks which is disappointing.

[Cerberus90]

Will this auto update when I start the game.

I've got a non-steam version, but can't seem to find any download link on the net for it.

[wuyanxu]

i haven't tryed counter measures, since my vehicle spec of choice is either armour or alt weapon.

more responsive heli together with 2/3 tracer dart speed should make flares unnecessary, if you are a good pilot that is.

Rogan, were you playing last reader's night? at around 9pm on Valparaiso, i was pwning the defending team as blackhawk pilot :P until my game crashed and can't get back. hopefully the queue system will allow me to get back on next reader's night.

[Cerberus90]

I don't know what patch you guys are using, as I can't find anything about downloading the new patch. Only that it'll auto update on steam.

I don't have the steam version, so how the hell do I get it. In all the articles about the patch, not one provides a download location, not even the official EA/BC2 blog post.

[smc8788]

Originally Posted by Cerberus90

I don't know what patch you guys are using, as I can't find anything about downloading the new patch. Only that it'll auto update on steam.

I don't have the steam version, so how the hell do I get it. In all the articles about the patch, not one provides a download location, not even the official EA/BC2 blog post.

I have the Steam version and not the retail version, but I'm pretty sure it has its own auto-updater program so you don't have do download patches manually.

[Cerberus90]

Its not got a check for updates thing on the auto play on the disc.
And it doesn't update when the game opens.

I'll have to take a look through the program files. Its definitely not doing it automatically though.


*edit*

Found it. And now I remember seeing it from before. For some reason, because I've added it to steam, (as an external game), and am using the steam shortcut, it wasn't running the updater.

[Ficky Pucker]

*updating*

*updated*

[Cerberus90]

Well, probably had 2'ish hours downloading, and I never manged to get it finished.

After the first hour, got to about 40% and it crashed, so I had to start again.

Another hour, and it had probably only got to 25%.

Doesn't help that my sister was on stupid MSN with her webcam hogging all the bandwidth. And for some reason, my internet has now started playing silly buggers in the evening dropping from 3mb to anywhere from 0.5 to 1.5mb, and the ping doubles.
So looks like I'll have to try again tommorow.

Why they can't just provide a downloadable exe like they did for BF2 patches I don't know. Never had problems with those as I could use a download manager and monitor the download and it'd download at full speed, whereas I'm sure this BC2 downloader doesn't.

[antonyand]

with this new uptade, i'm getting allot of crashes to desktop ah well back to the almost trusty BF2

Edit:

Never mind, oc'd my gpu a bit and seemed to stop crashes.