There are a lot of posts regarding BF3 here on the Battlefield Blog. But… what about older titles? Well, here’s an update long in the making for BFBC2 PC!

It will all go live in the wee hours of Wednesday Sep 21st (EU time).

What is the patch about?

Its main goal is to address stability problems with the game and performance issues. It is not intended to address game logic fixes.

You are being vague. Exact changelist please!

Removed some memory leaks

Fixed crashes when the game attempted to render lots of content (high detail, high FOV or multiple-monitor modes); this should particularly help multi-monitor users

Chat window no longer causes lag spikes

Chat window reworked opacity & visibility-time is controllable through settings in settings.ini

Clantag is remembered when using auto-login

Banner URLs can be up to 252 characters in length

SecuROM wrapper removed from non-Steam version

Minor performance enhancements

Reduced rubberbanding on servers with more than 24 active players

PrintScreen takes a screenshot, file stored in Documents\BFBC2\Screenshots directory

How large is the patch?

It is approximately 2.6GB.

That’s huge man. Given that size, I would expect dinosaur survival mode to be included.

The patch itself contains all previous patches rolled into one. While it would have been technically possible to create a smaller patch for those who have Client R10 installed already, that would have delayed the release of the patch even further – so we thought it better to release a larger patch now, than a smaller patch sometime in the future.

Are there any known problems with it?

If your Windows username contains non-English characters (such as ö, ý, etc) then PunkBuster will not activate properly. To work around this, ensure that your Windows username uses only characters from the English character set. In other words, “7-bit ASCII only, please”. We caught this at the very end of the validation pass, and decided that it was better to deliver the build to the public than to give it another tour through the whole patch generation and validation process.

How do I get the patch?

Steam users: The Steam client will automatically begin distributing it to you in the wee hours of Wednesday morning… at 4AM UTC, to be precise.

non-Steam users: the auto-updater will suddenly discover the patch around that same time.

Or – you can find a manual updater for the non-Steam version here. Note that if you install Client R11 too early, you will not see any game servers. If so, just wait till those begin updating as well.

For those users that are having problem with the game’s auto-updater, we recommend trying the manual updater.

I installed the Client R11 Public Beta patch some time ago, how do I sort out my machine?

Follow this link to see what you have to do.

What about the game servers?

These will gradually be updated by the RSP companies, starting at 4AM UTC on Wed Sep 21st as well. New game clients can only see new game servers, and vice versa… so toward the end of the day, most of the servers should be updated and visible in the new game client’s server browser.

Now, pardon me, but there are game servers to distribute…

For more information, visit our DICE channels over at:

www.twitter.com/battlefield

www.twitter.com/kalmalyzer

www.twitter.com/zh1nt0

As many of you know, some months we focus on performance improvements much like you will see with the AMD Catalyst 11.8 Preview driver. Other months we focus on adding exciting features such as AMD Steady Video like you saw with the AMD Catalyst™ 11.6 driver. However, this month we took a slightly different approach. Thanks to feedback from our community, we’ve focused on resolving some minor issues that have been reported. We work tirelessly to continually improve our drivers, and here’s a look at the issues we’ve resolved in AMD Catalyst 11.7.

Issues experienced with mouse cursor lag
Log event (Event ID 62464) issues when playing video content
System hangs seen in the AMD Catalyst™ 11.6 driver on specific HDMI and DP displays
Blu-ray playback using PowerDVD 10 under High Performance mode no longer randomly displays a blank screen.
Some Divx format files no longer display video corruption using WinDVD.
AMD SteadyVideo is now applied to Home Video clips using WinDVD 10.
Chequerboard corruption is no longer displayed intermittently when playing DirectX 10 titles in an AMD CrossFire™ technology configuration and AMD Eyefinity technology-enabled.
Shogun II now renders the cinematics correctly when run in various Eyefinity configurations.
Video playback now works correctly when Hardware acceleration is enabled with VLC Player version 1.1.9.
AMD CrossFire technology now functions correctly when playing Hamilton’s Great Adventure.
PowerDVD now correctly handles 3D Blu-ray content.

Now let’s talk about the AMD Catalyst™ 11.8 Preview Driver which most of you are probably excited to learn about. With this preview of next month’s driver you are going to see some amazing performance improvements which are highlighted below. You will also see how we are further enabling the 3D ecosystem by offering AMD HD3D technology support on some of the latest and greatest DisplayPort panels on the market.

Here a few quick highlights of what you can expect to see with the AMD Catalyst™ 11.8 Preview driver.

Enables AMD HD3D technology support on DisplayPort panels, such as Samsung 750 and 950 series 3D displays.
Improves performance up to 13% in Crysis 2 DirectX 11 version at 2560×1600 resolution and 4X Anti-Aliasing on the AMD Radeon™ HD 6870 GPU
Improves performance up to 7% in Shotgun 2 – Total War at 2560×1600 resolution and 4X Anti-Aliasing on the AMD Radeon™ HD 6770 GPU
Improves performance up to 13% in Call of Duty: Black Ops at 2560×1600 resolution and 4X Anti-Aliasing on the AMD Radeon™ HD 6770 GPU

Last but not least I want to thank everyone for the feedback and comments we have been receiving from the community. Please continue to send us your feedback as we do review them all*.

*IF you are having technical issues with the AMD Catalyst™ driver, or your graphics card please report your issues here.

To download the AMD Catalyst™ 11.7 driver, click here.

The AMD Catalyst™ 11.8 Preview driver can be found here: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst118DriverPreview.aspx

Until Next Time,

Chris Bell

Chris Bell is a Product Marketing Manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links sites and no endorsement is implied.

Welcome to the second installment of the Battleblog, a blog series taking you all the way to the launch of Battlefield 3 on October 25th! In this blog series, you’ll learn more about every aspect of our biggest shooter ever. This time out is a look at the classes found in multiplayer with Senior Mulitplayer Designer Alan Kertz.

Here at DICE, we’re very proud of the team play functionality that we have become known and loved for in the Battlefield series, and we’re continuing to embrace that approach for Battlefield 3, but not without a few upgrades for the new game. In Battlefield 3, we’re making sure each of the four playable classes (Assault, Engineer, Support and Recon) are each completely capable of holding their own in combat. While they each have different specialties, each class is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

If you’re that kind of lone wolf player who simply wants to jump in and cook some fools, that’s perfectly fine – we’re making sure each class in Battlefield 3 packs a mean punch on their own, giving you another chance to play it your way. However, we’re also hard at work fine-tuning each class and their unique team play capabilities, so squads in Battlefield 3 will be able to function tightly, giving even more reasons to team play than ever before.

As mentioned, the four classes available in Battlefield 3 are Assault, Engineer, Support and Recon. All classes include familiar elements, but this time around, we’re tweaking things a bit, bringing something new to our online multiplayer. Our Assault class is still the frontline run and gun class, and considering the havoc and fallen team members someone will see while on the frontlines, the Assault soldier now has medic abilities. That’s right, all the abilities such as medkits and defibrillators typically found on the Medic class are now incorporated into Assault. It makes sense that the class on the frontline will be able to revive fallen team mates, right? Right! Remember, you can play it your way, so if you want to customize your Assault soldier more towards medic abilities or towards serious gunplay, it’s totally up to you.

Engineers are returning in Battlefield 3, bringing back the class in charge of making repairs to the various vehicles on the battlefield. On the other hand, the Engineer is very adept at taking down vehicles as well – this class includes RPGs that can take down armored targets that can’t be destroyed by bullets alone, or even building facades that enemy combatants may be using to take cover. Add the fact that an Engineer’s arsenal includes Carbine weapons, you get an extremely versatile multiplayer class that can truly move like a butterfly and sting like a bee.

The Support class makes its return in Battlefield 3, incorporating the ability to use light machine guns and can lay down heavy fire, allowing him to become a serious mobile weapons platform. “Support has always been about heavy infantry firepower from his LMG,” says Alan Kertz, Senior Multiplayer Designer at DICE. “It’s a role that we’ve wanted to feel different than Assault’s running and gunning.”

This brings us to two new features in Battlefield 3: Bipods and Suppressive Fire. Bipods have a very practical use, especially for LMGs, as they provide a substantial increase in stability while laying down a base of fire. Bipods can be deployed anywhere by zooming in with your LMG when prone, or when standing/kneeling in front of suitable supports, such as a window sill. The stability created by deploying a Bipod gives players a massive boost in accuracy and recoil reduction. You’ll be able to unload an entire clip of 200 bullets from your LMG with great accuracy without even letting go of the trigger, all thanks to the Bipod.

Suppressive Fire is a new in-game mechanic that changes how you can play the game. When you lay down fire in close vicinity to an enemy, the incoming barrage will show up as a graphical blur effect on his screen to stress him and let him know it’s not safe to pop out from behind cover. Just as importantly, this mechanic also affects his character’s in-game firing accuracy, making him less of a threat by using real world tactics. Better yet? You get team play experience points for doing so!

“Supported shooting with Bipods and Suppressive Fire finally allows us to achieve an obvious difference between Assault and Support, since the heavy LMGs are not terribly mobile,” explains Kertz. “When deployed with a Bipod, they become an incredibly powerful force. Suppressive Fire forces the enemy to keep their head down and lets the Support gunner pin his enemies in place so teammates can flank.”

Love him or hate him, Recon is the long range sniper class for Battlefield 3 who excels at gathering intel while on the battlefield. His sniper scope gives this class a distinct view of the battlefield, making Recon particularly suited for spotting enemies as seen in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, ensuring your entire team can see the locations of spotted members of the opposing team. “Recon traditionally has been seen as just a sniper,” Kertz said. “We wanted to change that perception, so we’ve built several completely new teamplay oriented gadgets specifically for the Recon class so he can be a team player, even if he’s sitting on the top of Wookie Mountain.” We’ll talk more about these toys and how they work in a blog post a bit further down the road.

Even though each soldier has a default loadout, they’re there for you to completely customize, making sure you’re able to cater to your own unique style so you can play it your way. We’ll be able to talk more about unlocks, persistence and customization later in the Battleblog series, so stay tuned for more on Battlefield 3 soon!

Fonte: Blog BF3

Below is a summary of the AMD Catalyst™ 11.6 driver:

AMD Steady Video Technology1

AMD Steady Video technology is currently an AMD exclusive feature based on AMD App Technology2
By applying advanced algorithms behind the scenes, users do not have to deal with shaky or unstable video ever again!
Capabilities scale with hardware and are end-user controlled
Image Stabilization brought to your favorite social media video sites!
Enabled through the AMD Vision Engine Control Center: Video Settings tab:
AMD Steady Video technology is supported on the following products:
AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 Series when used in combination with an AMD CPU
AMD E-450 and E-350 APUs
AMD A8, A6, and A4 series APUs

Supported in the following 3rd party players: Adobe Flash player, Windows Media player, Cyberlink PowerDVD, Corel Win DVD, ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater.

Decode Acceleration of MPEG-4 Part 2 Content

AMD has enabled decode acceleration of MPEG-4 part 2 content in Microsoft video player applications (through MFT support) for all AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 Series graphics cards.

We are also bringing you some noticeable performance improvements on the latest and greatest games. Some of the performance highlights are:

The AMD Radeon™ HD 6990 GPU will see the following performance gains:
3DMark11 – gains of up to 25% with 4x Anti-Aliasing and 16x Anisotropic Filtering at 1920×1080 on single GPU configurations
Alien vs. Predator – gains of up to 7% with 4x Anti-Aliasing and 16x Anisotropic Filtering at 1920×1200 on single GPU configurations
Civilization V – gains of up to 7% with 8x Anti-Aliasing and 16x Anisotropic Filtering at 1920×1200 on single GPU configurations
Crysis Warhead – gains of up to 8% with 4x Anti-Aliasing and 8x Anisotropic Filtering at 2560×1600 on single GPU configurations
DiRT 2 – gains of up to 9% with 8x Anti-Aliasing and 16x Anisotropic Filtering at 2560×1600 on single GPU configurations
F1 2010 – gains of up to 9% with 8x Anti-Aliasing and 16x Anisotropic Filtering at 2560×1600 on single GPU configurations
Tom Clancy’s Hawx – gains of up to 7% with 4x Anti-Aliasing and 8x Anisotropic Filtering at 1920×1200 on single GPU configurations

Catalyst 11.6 Performance

Last but not least I want to thank everyone for the feedback and comments we have been receiving from the community. Please continue to send us your feedback as we do review them all*.

*IF you are having technical issues with the AMD Catalyst™ driver, or your graphics card please report your issues here.

To download the AMD Catalyst™ 11.6 driver, click here.

Until Next Time,

Chris Bell

1. AMD Steady Video is a technology designed to eliminate shakes and jitters during the playback of home video. Users may turn on this technology via the AMD Catalyst Control Center™ or the VISION Engine Control Center application. AMD Steady Video will work with content that can run on Adobe® Flash® Player 10.2 (and later versions) or on any player which has been programed to use AMD’s decode acceleration (DXVA) engine. AMD Steady Video is not designed to (a) isolate overlays, logos

or captions, or (b) improve the playback of letter boxed, premium/commercial, or interlaced content. AMD Steady Video is only recommended for use with videos that contain unwanted shakes and jitters.

2. AMD App Acceleration is a set of technologies designed to improve video quality and enhance application performance. Full enablement of some features requires support for OpenCL™ or DirectCompute (including AMD’s Unified Video Decoder (UVD)). Not all products have all features and full enablement of some capabilities and may require complementary products.

Chris Bell is a Product Marketing Manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links sites and no endorsement is implied.

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The year is 2027. The world as we know it is unraveling after fifteen years of economic meltdown and widespread global conflict over dwindling natural resources.

A once proud America has fallen, her infrastructure shattered and military in disarray. Crippled by a devastating EMP strike, the USA is powerless to resist the ever expanding occupation of a savage, nuclear armed Greater Korean Republic.

Abandoned by her former allies, the United States is a bleak landscape of walled towns and abandoned suburbs. This is a police state where high school stadiums have become detention centers, and shopping malls shelter armored attack vehicles. A once-free people are now prisoners… or collaborators… or revolutionaries.

Join the Resistance, stand united and fight for freedom against an overwhelming military force in Homefront’s gripping single player campaign penned by John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Red Dawn). Stand alongside a cast of memorable characters as an emotional plot unfolds in this terrifyingly plausible near-future world. Experience visceral, cinematic first-person shooter action as you fight your way across Occupied USA using guerrilla tactics, and commandeer military vehicles and advanced drone technology to defeat the enemy.

Multiplayer brings epic warfare to the online arena as infantry, tanks, attack helicopters and combat drones battle across huge, open battlefields. A rich feature set offering layers of tactical depth combined with a game-changing innovation in the multiplayer space will set a new benchmark in online warfare.

• Discover a terrifyingly plausible near-future world – the familiar has become alien in this nightmare vision of Occupied USA
• Fight for a cause – join a cast of memorable characters as your resistance cell wages a guerrilla war against overwhelming military odds in the name of Freedom
• Witness the human cost of war – a gripping story from the pen of John Milius is told through immersive, interactive 1st person cut scenes
• Experience explosive FPS gameplay – battle through a dynamic mix of infantry and vehicle combat in a gripping single player campaign boasting intense, memorable set pieces
• Take the battle online – experience large scale multiplayer action like never before in epic infantry and vehicle warfare