BF3 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
The tables have turned. A day after we gladly reported that console gamers would be getting this great PC feature called “server browser”, we can now report that PC gamers won’t have an in-game server browser. DICE’s Alan Kertz has confirmed that in order to switch servers, you have to exit Battlefield 3, and use Battlelog to find another server and join.
Granted, Kertz points out that BF3 “starts up really fast”, but we can’t imagine it being more effective than having an in-game server browser, which has been the norm in PC games for decades — in fact, there’s no other game that requires you to exit in order to switch servers.
Considering that server switching is frequent among gamers, either because of rage quitting or trying to find a better game, or something third, this could cause some annoyance. We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out (no pun intended) when Battlefield 3 is released. So far, it’s kinda disappointing news, but we’ll see how it turns out in the end.
Console gamers now have in-game server browser, while PC gamers don’t. Oh the irony.
*Puts on flame suit*
So in order to play BF3, you have to open up Origin. Which opens up a web browser. Which opens up Battlefield 3.
Let’s see if they manage to add another step in the process before launch.
I imagine there will be a way to get to Battle Log without launching Origin.
There is. I’m pretty sure the Battle log is a website.
The order is a little different, if everything stays like it was in the alpha. You go to battle log, it starts up origin, which then launches BF3.
While this new piece of news certainly isn’t a good thing, It’s not exactly what you think when you hear the headline. When you run the BF3 executable, a web browser opens up with Battlelog. From there, you use the web-based server browser to pick a game. A magnet link will open BF3 and it will start loading the game.
So, in all it’s a lot like browser-based games such as Quake Live. Seems like a bad move in terms of UI design, though, as it would have been easy enough to have a browser displaying the Battlelog HTML built into BF3, so there is no window change/alt-tab needed to get playing.
I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if they go back on this decision, as while it seems reasonable when you read more about it it sure does make for a bad headline.
I’d agree with that, it is pretty fast because at the click of a browser button your connecting to the server, rather than going through advertising load screens, DICE, EA, NVidia/AMD, random folks etc etc.
I’d certainly rather have the option, browers connection is a nice feature, but not exclusively. In-Game should always be there. But as you say, lets not get too ‘SCREW THIS, IM CANCELLING’ on it, make enough noise and they’ll hopefully listen (maybe not in time for launch, but soon after) as they’ve brought back the Commo Rose having said it wouldnt feature, so lets make some noise, but hopefully folks wont get too hasty and throw out childish claims that they know they wont stick to come launch.
I do wonder if they **think** this will prevent piracy of the SP game, as that too launches from the browser, ultimately it wont, they’ll hack a mock server that validates it and off they go. Seen plenty of Subscription based games try this, and got nowhere. MP will still be unobtainable, but not SP.
If DICE thought the PWP Pre-Release DLC caused a storm (enough to start backtracking) the next 48hrs should be ‘interesting’ for them
From an I.T. perspective I’d say the reason that they’re doing this is laziness. HTML and SQL are easier to edit, code and dump on screen then a nice hard coded C menu ingame.
But that leaves me asking the question what vulnerabilities does that force on the users?
Does it mean port 80 or which ever port that they are using will will be in constant use/connection to their master server while the game is running?
Will this be in addition to origin as two seperate disjointed applications?
Can’t say I’m happy about a lot of their decisions regarding BF3 seeing as from a gamer and having technical know how, I just keep seeing them making bad decision after bad decision regarding this game.
Agreed.
My first and only BF game to date is BC2. I love it.
I also like BF more than MW since BF is PC-focused while MW is a console ported to PC. And it’s all frat boys play because they jerk off to their 360s.
This news however minor, has made me reconsider my choice between BF3 and MW3. This sounds EXTREMELY annoying to the point where I might pick the lesser game just for convenience sake.
You might not have to open origin, I got bf 2142 from origin, but if you go into the game folder and copy the .exe to desktop it runs fine.
No idea why my reply ended down here in this post that has nothing to do with what i just said..
inception!!
Lol every time i see that post i laugh
Okay. Where do we go to voice our disapproval to DICE? I do NOT like this. It IS ridiculous.
i love when developers fuck up a game before releasing them…. hope this will be changed
It’s EA too silly.
But yeah this game is starting to get worse and worse as I hear more about it.
“@fabinhofalcon The server browser is integrated with the Battlelog. ^WS
@BATTLEFIELD”
This really might not be so terrible. The game browser for bf2 was sort of terrible and unresponsive. BC2 wasn’t much of an improvement. The browser data doesn’t always show up etc. This way DICE can use much better infrastructure already built in to a browser like firefox or chrome and just focus on creating a website rather than a whole new GUI which will never be as powerful as firefox. In the end we might find a lot less “lost in game connection” type shit because of the more stable browser code already in place. Can’t say I’m totally pumped about having battlelog and origin running to accomplish this though…
Aaaaugh!!!! “EA is risking PC gamers’ ire” Absolutely! I’m irate! I hate it. I don’t want to start a browser to start a game, and then have to close the browser!! That’s a horrible idea!!!!
*very* disappointing….
WHAT!!!!
What the fucking fuck
Seriously. Did we get stuck in the Twilight zone sometime between yesterday and today? Because this is just bizarre.
Now this…is something to be pissed at, your making the mistake mw2 made….why?
Just Wtf
Sad to say it point goes to mw3
why!!!
funny how people cry over the smallest things
dude .. stfu … again … people that dont know how this works stfu
What has this decision in any way to do with MW3??
You guys are not EXACTLY correct. This game has dedicated servers, but in order to change them, you will have to quit the game. In MW2, there were no dedicated servers. So in BF3, you won’t get shitty P2P matchmaking like console players used to, but it will be a lot harder and more complicated to change servers… Which is still pretty FUCKING annoying and SHOULD be changed… I love how they advertise that the PC is their main platform, and they keep on f*cking with us.
STOP crying
STOP trolling?
wtf this is complete bullshit
What the hell are you talking about? MW2 didn’t have a server browser, because it didn’t have dedicated servers. BF3′s server browser is incorporated through Battlelog, but there are still dedicated servers. It sounds to me like you have no clue what you’re talking about.
And don’t upvote the guy. You’re just rewarding stupidity.
I hope you are not talking to me… Because thats what i just explained…
FUUUUUUUUUUUU
This sucks
What in the Hell?
Lol Whatever. I had no serious issues when I was playing the alpha. It was odd at first but at the same time it wasnt a big deal.
Im not a whiny kid. Just give me the game, and patch it later if the babies cant deal with it
couldnt have said it better…..thanks!
That is very true (I’m a console gamer so I’m out of trouble’s way in this specific case).
However, DICE were riding this huge wave of great news stretching about 3-4 days and it abruptly topped in it’s tracks with this terrible UI decision. Let’s hope they come to their senses and patch or change this.
fuck that
companies shouldn’t give me a product with a broken feature and then just fix it later, do they seriously not have the time to get things right the first time
i mean if someone sold you a new car for full price w/o working airconditioning promising to fix it later would you buy it, i wouldn’t i’d get a new car
That was a stupid and pointless analogy; they arn’t selling the game with no way to connect to multiplayer… It’s just a different way than other games.
I’m not saying it’s a good nor bad feature, but your analogy was far from what Dice is doing.
oh boy…. This isn’t good news. lol, there is going to be lots and lots of whining now.
o 0
^
This is bullshit.
Whaadafuck? lol…DICE is gonna get alot of Rage for this
I’m thinking this is another EA move tbh.
- Origin Account Requirement.
- Origin Running in the Background.
- No In-Game Battlelog
- No Steam
EA is throwing sales out the window and ruining a good game. DICE has always made quality in the past. Even with the BC Series which was a bit “meh” they presented quality games. I don’t think they’d just turn around and start flicking everyone off. This is EA.
someone that is a battle field fan is still going to get the game even with everything you just said…..if your new to BF than you wont know the difference. stop crying your going to BUY the game and have a BLAST. your not going to be in a fire fight and be thinking “orign sucks”
Most Battlefield Fans will buy it yeah. But anyone who doesn’t want to dead with remembering another Username + Password (Origin) won’t be so keen on it.
There’s also a lot of die-hard Steam fanatics. Not on Steam? Won’t buy. Some new people will come. A lot of the old crowd will come. But not as many. Not with all this.
I am a HUGE BF fan…. 100s and 100s of hours on BF2, custom maps, 32v32 tourny play.
I will NOT be getting this game on release. Its looks sweet as hell, but some of these other things are turning me off. It will be a struggle, because I will be excited to get it, but want to vote and voice my opinion with my wallet.
I just don’t like the direction BF has been going… unlocking flares and defibs???? Really? BF4 will make you unlock a rifle, you still start with a pistol.
That said… this was to be expected. DICE has ALWAYS screwed up the server browser in EVERY version of BF. This time its just even more messed up then usual.
Exactly what part of this is the problem? It can be just as fast (or even faster) to get into a game from Battlelog than from a crappy in-game browser.
Actually..after really thinking about it…it really is better
Not if you have a modest or slow computer. I doubt BF3 will start up that fast.
If your computer is slow then what is it doing playing BF3?
I dont want firefox running in the background though… it takes up like 300mb of ram! Not to mention its doing “internet things” and slowing my connection. I dont see why they didnt incorporate battelog and this into the GAME!? I guess they want it to be like opening up a movie or something…
To the guys whining about having to have a browser open. Do you also complain about having steam open? It also eats a shitload of RAM.
“steam also eats a shitload of RAM”
lol no
Why bother playing BF3 on a slow or modest computer in the first place? IMO this is a game to be played on top-notch computers…
Really? I played the alpha with a very modest i3 + 2GB of Ram, I’m definitely on the lower end of the system requirements, and every single game booted without even a stutter.
Yes, but is was ALPHA! Dice had taken away most destruction and lowerd the graphics bar.
What are you talking about? How in any way would destructibility increase load time? It already exists in the game regardless of whether it was “turned off.” I’d also really like to know what DICE turned off that really lowered the graphics bar, all the shaders were intact in the alpha and post processing effects were definitely all intact. It’s really a myth that graphics were anywhere near greatly tuned down for the alpha.
Really, I don’t how anyone would expect the Alpha to load faster than the final product, that’s a pretty silly notion.
It won’t be a problem, without an in-game server browser the first thing BF3 will do is start loading the map.
there are some not-so-rich players who dont have money for a new PC so they’ll have to play on their old, crappy PC. I wont cancel my preorder just because i will run this game on minimum, and i wont waste money on an xbox360 either…. so yep there will be players with crappy PCs…. not everyone’s rich, you know….
– - – - -
also now i read the comments and it doesnt sound THAT bad but i’d still prefer the simplicity of the ingame browser. also, what happens if we lose connection for some reason? sometimes it happened to me in BC2. wouldnt it be easier to use an ingame browser for re-joining, than restarting the game just to connect the same server?
For the many of us who have to go on only the word of Alpha players, I think a demonstration would make us all feel better (assuming, of course, that it is a quick and easy method of loading).
Past experiences with this type of thing have been universally negative – DICE just needs to show us that browser/BattleLog loading works easily and smoothly. If they do, I think this will calm down. If they don’t people worry that the aren’t showing it because, well, it sucks.
I played the alpha. It worked well, for the most part. I have 4 gigs of ram and a Phenom II x4 @ ~3.1 ghz, and I’d be ingame about 15 to 20 seconds after clicking connect in Battlelog.
That’s Wat pc Players get for being so cocky and mean
Consoles FTW
FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU aha were still better tho, more players and more intense MP battles combined with better graphics
Something you said i can finally agree on!!!
If it turns out to be an amazing system, doubtful, it will be one more thing us gods of gaming have over console peasants.
Look at those dislikes.
You guys need to get a sense of humour, I was referencing Zero Punctuation.
nothing has changed really… console noobs will be console noobs no matter what.
8 console noobs dislike
Chill buddy…not everyone on console is a noob…-_____-
Damn, now I wish I can be limited to 24 players online, worse graphics, and lower resolution so I can have the the ingame server browser. Consoles are so superior… /sarcasm
making a quick ‘account’ just so you can bitch about PCs. nice move, idiot. GTFO, we dont need shitty platform war. (just a new pc lol >.>)
so people like console vs PC flamewars…. okay. thats new to me.
this is a fuckin joke, and its not funny!
Bhahahaha i laugh at you pc’ers!
A wild troll appears!
i will laugh when u will sit down in front of your TV with pad in your hands.. wondering why the game looks so good on pc and why it looks so shitty on your TV. these word will come back to you after 1st launch! oo yeah! console noob!
LOGIQUE used FLAME ATTACK!
….its not very effective.
yes and i feel sorry now..
Wow man, really, is there something wrong with comfort. When i was a hardcore PC player, my hands would cramp up from the stupid positions they were in. and my office chair, looking at 3 30 inch screens, my eyes hurt, my hands hurt and i was not as comfortable as i am now. Kicking back on a couch with a pad looking at graphics that are actually pretty damn good is actually quite nice. It is funny to me that you guys get so butt hurt when some one that prefers console gameplay knocks on your system. What is it does your life revolve around your PC, are you really that insecure. Well what ever, i guess some people just need to grow up. Not that big of a problem though.
^ This.
This is one of the things that console has going for it. As I mentioned once already on some other article, console pros included accessibility (just plop down in front of a sofa with a comfortable controller) as opposed to the dominant PC pro of cutting-edge upgradeable tech (read graphics and Conquest 64) and better aiming with a mouse.
While this might seem like the worst thing ever, I have to say that it worked absolutely fantastic in the alpha. I greatly prefer it over the one in BC2.
its not a problem. let me explain. i played the alpha and when u go into a game u simply load the map, not the interface like menus and so on… so it goes as fast as normal to load the game and map.
The different is that the browser isnt ingame but in the browser. AND its not bad. When i joined a game i didnt have to have the game up when map was loading, i could do other things.. look on webpages, check out skype and so on. That is really awesome in my opinion.
Give it a try guys, you may find it wired in the begining but u will like it and think its awesome. see yaa on the battlefield
Okay. I gotta admit this might actually sound clever!
I played the alpha too and I totally agree!
Same, it was pretty nice and clever, but I think they should at least include one so that battle log is optional. Also what happens when you want to play single player… If this happens to single player as well they that means people without a stable internet connection won’t be able to play.
I played the alpha and its actually MUCH BETTER.
I DIDNT PLAY THE ALPHA!
it seems that alot of ppl played the alpha, more than EA would allow. do u think that some ppl might just be talking out their ass…
Is it just me? or can you do without battle log? honestly it doesn’t seem that big of a feature. Or why can’t they just build it into the game it self?
Now THIS is a good point… How many times am I going to open Battlelog unless I’m about to play a game on it? Zero. Battlelog really should be the in-game main menu…
Dude used FLAME ATTACK!…….
Its not very effective…….
oops sorry wrong person. lol im such a comment placement noob >_<
HAHAHA!!
I was mystified, now I am not.
Thanks for clearing that up.
I actually like to check out my stats at home, work, or wherever occasionally. Not that I get competitive or anything . . .
For the moment I use BFBCS.com, but I find the official channels update faster.
Just heard from another website that Battle log IS the main menu
Notice how alot of people say that DICE will get alot of hate for this, but very few comments actually complain about it with valid reasons. I think that battlelog actually sounds like a brilliant way to join a server. In game server browsers are usually lacking basic information like how many people are on each team, and how many re-enforcement tickets each team has. As far as I know battlelog will tell you everything you need to know about a server before you join it, and probably won’t take that long to start-up, especially if your computer is powerful enough to run BF3 in the first place. DICE know what they are doing and this is probably going to be an upgrade from a traditional in game server browser, otherwise they wouldn’t do it.
You said it all. If Battlelog have all the information we need, and Battlefield 3 starts up fast, then there’s gonna be no problem. Also, with Battlelog, it’ll be easier to administrate your profile, without needing to get out of the game, open up your browser and then configurate it. We’re gonna have everything we need into the same screen, and that’s great. All we need is that DICE don’t screw it all up, specially now that BF3 has been elected the best Gamescom 2011 game.
Is there a valid reason why the exact same features can’t be done ingame as well?
Well i fucking hope to allah that dice knows what their doing .. first not supporting windows XP and now a server browser out of game!!!
windows XP? The legit reason why people hate on consoles is because it holds back the industry tech-wise. XP does the same thing. You cannot push DX10 and 11 graphics on XP.
I was in the alpha trial and I have to say that I prefer it over a traditional server browser for public play for these reasons:
It had a good filter setup, you can set it to find servers with 1-5 slots open in your ping range of say >100 ping, pick your gamemode and you are good to go.
BF3 Loaded up pretty quickly to be honest so it wasn’t a problem.
The only downside I see is you can’t change video settings until you are ingame ( no control settings in alpha ) perhaps they need a way to do that, but thats really the only problem would be loading an actual game just to change your controls and such and afking like that for 5-10 minutes ONE TIME….
It really isn’t that big of a problem since Battlelog really was a server browser in itself – and I bet it is way less buggy than *ahem* the horrible bugginess of the BC2 browser, Hell I still have 0 ping and no ping issues TO THIS DAY with that browser. They knew how to make a good browser in BF2, and I really don’t care how they do it now – Battlelog works – so you have to run a browser for it… maybe they will come out with a mini-browser app for the memory nuts.
Its no big deal people, doesn’t change anything one bit – its not like we don’t have dedicated servers … mw2 flashback… O.o
Since the settings are most probably stored in a config file in the game dir, i think it’s no big deal to just click the file open and do remapping in notepad either. I actually find this even easier than remapping in-game sometimes.
You get down woted because the majority of players don’t even know what a config file is.
Luckily it’ll be my first thing to do then to write a graphical program wich you could use as a settings manipulator while not in-game just like the one crysis 2 had.
In response to this disaster, I shall say…
“I <3 my PS3"
But, to all you PC players, I'm sure this sounds horrific right now, but once you all start playing it, I'm sure it will only seem like a minor thing. Plus, after all the other privileges the PC has been getting from DICE so far, I find it a little unfair to be cursing them for this one speed bump. The PC still far out weighs the console right now in features for this game…
well said
I respect you man … best thing a console gamer has said besides flaming everyone elses comments
And i just came to report after seeing an interview from gamespot that commorose will be PC exclusive, i guess each type of platform will have their own uniqueness
commo rose exclusive? .. it is a part of battlefield game.. commo rose, commander should be standards, not exclusives
This is gonna kill PC sales
A 9 word abrieviation works for this scenario… R.O.T.F.L.M.F.A.O