BF2 Roll Call

[NiX]

Just wondering who all is getting it. Maybe this time we can actually get some half decent online games going on. I know BF1942 wasn't as big a success as the UT2K4 server that was up. This game isn't robot jesus, but it sure as hell isn't mediocre (Shut up Schild, you hate everything in some way or another.) Maybe we can even form a clan/guild that doesn't have the tag HATE. Y'know, cause that sucks.

[Trippy]

Well I was planning on getting it but EA's asinine behavior towards the demo server operators is pissing me off so I don't know now.

[schild]

The Tag is Evil. Or Bat Country. I still have it preordered. I still might get it.

I still think you fuckers are just weak for the shiny.

[AcidCat]

Bah, BF has the best kind of shiny, the gameplay. I guess I'm just a BF fanboi, but the gameplay itself has just really clicked with me since the first game. Much preferable to the jumping, spastic space monkies of UT, but that's just my taste.

[WayAbvPar]

I played for a little bit on another server after getting dumped from my tense 1v1 match with Trippy on the f13 server. When the stability and lag issues get solved, it looks like it will be fun.

Anyone have problems registering/retrieving accounts? Fucking Gamespy shit. It says my nick was in use, so I had it send me the password (in case I was using the wrong one). Password came- it was the same one I was trying to log in with previously. Tried again; no love. Had to make an alt account. Yet another reason to loathe and despise Gamespy.

[AcidCat]

I peeked into the server last night and saw you having an intimate little encounter with one other player, I didn't want to disrupt your little private time.

Is there a certain time many of you play?  is the server usually that dead?

[Shockeye]

The server just went up yesterday.

Since EA/DICE is claiming to de-list servers that modify the python scripts, I have chosen not to alter the time limit or weapon limits.

[Hanzii]

Why not?
They just delist it - if you expect on f13 people and not the asstards that inhabit every other BF2 server a de-list is better than a password.
Just let peole here know the IP.

When that is said, I don't get the uproar over EAs behavior. They don't want people adding stuff to the demo, that they only want people who buy the game to experience... uh eviiil!!
And they punish people by... delisting their server for a whole week. Nasty.

[Shockeye]

BF2's Linux demo server is very unstable and crashes very often. I am not impressed in the least. I'm about to cancel my preorder and shove the shitty headphones up DICE's ass.

[schild]

If we can't have our own server with webadmin shit, it's just pointless. Maybe they'll release it later and we can all pick it up for $20.

The fact that DICE won't have a stable dedicated Linux server with GUI for the webadmin stuff at launch is just unforgiveable. I hope they all get shipped off to Sweden.

[Trippy]

When that is said, I don't get the uproar over EAs behavior. They don't want people adding stuff to the demo, that they only want people who buy the game to experience... uh eviiil!!
And they punish people by... delisting their server for a whole week. Nasty.

The long-term success of a game like BF2 requires that people be willing to freely donate their CPU cycles and bandwidth to run the game servers. Calling 1/3 of all the demo server operators "hackers" (it went from around 3300 servers to 2200) just because EA was too lazy to remove the functionality out of the demo code is not a good way to engender good will among the server operators. They could've just asked nicely first and then started delisting servers after a short grace period if they really felt that strongly about people playing, *gasp*, longer than 12 minutes. I can understand them being upset about the unlocked weapons but again they should've taken that out of the demo package. That on top of the crappy thing they did to Trauma Studios (they could've at least offered them space at one of their many US offices) whose Desert Combat mod was clearly the predecessor to BF2 and who contributed a lot to BF2 itself makes me far less inclined to buy the game now. Plus it's EA -- do you really need a new reason to be pissed at them?

[Shockeye]

I'm thinking I will put up the retail linux server and count how many times it goes down with no one playing on it.

I'm thinking 3-5 times a day based on how often the demo one crashes.

[Hanzii]

The long-term success of a game like BF2 requires that people be willing to freely donate their CPU cycles and bandwidth to run the game servers. Calling 1/3 of all the demo server operators "hackers" (it went from around 3300 servers to 2200) just because EA was too lazy to remove the functionality out of the demo code is not a good way to engender good will among the server operators. They could've just asked nicely first and then started delisting servers after a short grace period if they really felt that strongly about people playing, *gasp*, longer than 12 minutes. I can understand them being upset about the unlocked weapons but again they should've taken that out of the demo package. That on top of the crappy thing they did to Trauma Studios (they could've at least offered them space at one of their many US offices) whose Desert Combat mod was clearly the predecessor to BF2 and who contributed a lot to BF2 itself makes me far less inclined to buy the game now. Plus it's EA -- do you really need a new reason to be pissed at them?

Yes, and server operators should know better than to mess with democode. It has always been verboten to "hack" demos. Even from the very first Doom-demo the rule was, that you could hack, mod and play with the gamecode, but don't offer content, that only needed the demo and not the full game to work.
But yes a form-letter or other warning before starting the de-listing would be better - on the other hand, it's only a one week delist, which IS a warning not to do something like that again.

And regarding trauma studios.
Desert Combat sucked big hairy monkey balls. The idea of doing a modern BF game wasn't new or original, Trauma was just the best organized modgroup and the ones to take it furthest. But they messed up balance and anything that made BF1942 more fun than realistic. DICE was working on BF2 (and the BF:Modern Combat game for consoles) before they bought Trauma. They didn't fire them and did offer them relocation to Sweden (which isn't a bad place to live) - asking employees to relocate from Austin to California or NY to Sweden doesn't really make that much of a difference. European developers/programmers relocate to the States all the time... sorry, I can't work up any anger over this either.
(allthough buying a studio and breaking it up shortly after smells like a bad business decision, but then again, it happens all the time).

[Sky]

One reason I ditched my bf1942 clan, aside from the burnout of playing almost every night competetively, was DC. They /loved/ DC and pretty much switched over to the mod full-time. I felt it was way unbalanced with far too much firepower, a sentiment I also held about Vietnam. Bf2 seems to be a bit nicer mix, some strong weapons, but better terrain and objects, so one is not a constant open target.

I'm definitely onboard for BF2, spent a couple hours yesterday dicking around on the (empty) f13 server. My new girl showed up and I found out she is fascinated by war and wargames, though she's not a gamer. She actually cooed the first time a jet rumbled overhead (I had the sound system cranked)! I don't think she realized the big points she made, heh.

There was one chap on when I first got on (I'm Komoto in most fps), shot down his jet couple times then blew up his tank with my tank. I'm so rusty at battlefield, but the skills aren't entirely gone. I just shiver thinking about the talent in organizations like CAL, some cats are just so damned good at these games.

[Trippy]

Fry's is going to have it on sale on Wednesday assuming the shipment arrives and gets unpacked. I may still get it if it's cheap enough.

[Fargull]

Picked it up yesterday, have had zero problems with it so far, but then I suck mightly since I have not played FPS in a few years... well, damn, many.

[stray]

Picked it up yesterday as well. Had a couple crashes, but after updating my NVidia driver, everything seems fine. Name is NavajoJoe.

[Sky]

Ohmyrobojesuslovefest.

I guess I'm the odd man out around here in that not only didn't the game crash, but I was up until 3am playing it my first night, always a sign of a great game imo. Probably 7 straight goddamned hours of playing without a crash or any problem whatsoever. The internal browser is a bit slow on the update, but with some filtering, I had it down to around 100 servers and it updated quite quickly.

I made my girl chuckle when I opened the box (the shipping box, not the bf2 box) and took the case out. Dropped it and rolled around on the floor howling in pain, clutching my face. She got real worried (she's like that), asks me what's wrong. I yell "A DICK...IN MY EYE!!!". Lolzers schild, you're too much, man. I say hurray for less wasteful packaging, but hey.

Jumped on a ranked server and whupped some ass. After I ate some grub I started on another server, but autobalance had me opposite about 8 clan members, got slaughtered, killed my stats from earlier. The stat tracking and unlockables is a nice addition. The squad system lifts it up over the previous titles in the series quite nicely. Spawning right on the SL is cool as hell, often popping into his vehicle directly on respawn. WAY more teamwork on public servers than I ever saw in 42 or V. And of course the new shiny is great, my old rig can only run stuff on medium, but it's still very visceral, and the level design is another great aspect. When I saw that little ladder that led to a storm sewer, so one could sneak into the outpost unseen...with silenced weapons...

Hell, I've just been playing the basic assault kit. Loves me my 'nade launcher, and the single shot mode is just too nice. Great game! Woohoo! 

I think the worst thing is every goddamned name I could possibly imagine was taken by the time I got the game. So I'm "gruntzilla" 

[MrHat]

I might pick this up today at EB along with GTA: San Andreas for my XB.

I want my TV dammit.  And I want a long long cable with which to connect my computer to my tv without it being really near each other.

[stray]

So I'm "gruntzilla" 

Look me up (if you can??).

Yeah, I'm digging it too. I'm getting my ass kicked for the most part though....Save for a couple Bruce Willis moments.

[MrHat]

Nevermind.

Apparently I cant even RUN the game with a GeForce 4600ti.  Wont even load (thank you demo).

So I'm out of this game for at least 4 months until I can upgrade my comp.

[Trippy]

Nevermind.

Apparently I cant even RUN the game with a GeForce 4600ti.  Wont even load (thank you demo).

Yup the game by default requires that you have a card that supports pixel shader 1.4 which the GF 4x00s don't. People have been coming out with various workarounds to this problem including:

http://help.lockergnome.com/index.php?showtopic=35830&pid=273605&st=0&#entry273371

and

http://forum.game-deception.com/showthread.php?t=7739

[Fargull]

On as Fargull.  Do we have a server?  I am going to be horrible for a time till whatever rust I have is removed.

[WayAbvPar]

Have they patched it yet? I keep hearing horror stories about it. Also, the store I pre-ordered from through EBgames.com still hasn't called me to tell me it is ready to pick up. If I cared more, I might stop in and ask them...

[Sky]

There is a small patch, not sure if it's out of the oven yet. As I've said, I haven't had any problems beyond the sluggish server browser, and that's not even a problem because I use filters to speed it up nicely. I either play on EA ranked servers or on the Fragnastika server. I wish EA had more ranked 32 player servers, though, 8 players on a side is just too few for most of those maps and it just becomes musical flags.