Support Forum Rules: READ FIRST!

[DrunkenPirate]

Help us, help YOU!

So many threads asking for help when so many people do not give us enough information to provide that help.

When asking for help with Battlefield 2 there are FOUR things we need to know.

1. The first thing we need to know isnt your problem that you are having, its your system specifications. For that we will need a copy of your DX Diagnostic report.

To get this, simply click on Start, Run, and type in dxdiag, press enter. When it comes up, look in the lower right corner for a button labled "Save All Information..." and click it. This will gather your system's hardware profile and current driver information and save them to a .txt file (no sensitive, personal information will be in this text file). Save this file to your desktop.

Before you submit your post, make sure you go down to the lower portion of the page and look under additional options for a button named "Manage attchments" attach the text file that you saved from the DXDiag application. Before posting please remember to include your power supply specifications (Wattage, rated capacity of the +12V rails.


2. The second thing we need to know is if you have tried updating your drivers. This includes your video card drivers, sound card drivers AND motherboard chipset drivers. We also need to know the current versions of these drivers that you are using right now at the time of this error.

If you havent updated them, then now would be a good time to try. That might be your problem right there.

It might seem like a hassel to list all of this, but if you want your problem to be resolved with any accuracy, this information really does help all of us.

Not posting your system info for help when you have a problem is like calling the Fire Department if you have a fire at your house and only telling them what city you live in! The more info you give in your first post, the faster it will get solved, or at the very least get you pointed in the right direction.


3. If you feel that you are just getting bad performance but have updated drivers, do you have your antivirus software running at the time and do you have anti-spyware programs running, these consume resources that would be better off being used by the game, shutting these programs during online gaming is harmless. Have you updated any of these lately?


4. Last but not least, what is the problem you are experiencing? No point in doing all that^^^ stuff if you dont tell us whats wrong! Please let us know if there are any symptoms that you can see, hear, or (hopefully not) smell.

This should help get your problem solved, but if we ( your fellow forum members) cant actually help you fix your problem, then we should at the very least help get you going on the right direction to GETTING it fixed.

[NoSoup4You]

[How To] Get Help Faster

A lot of threads seem to go unanswered and most of them for good reason. So I will hopefully help this issue become less of an issue (okay too many issues there). The other thing this does is make the forums easier to naviagte, and hark the Search function will work much better if you follow a few simple rules.

When you goto post:

1) Click on the Search button at the top. When the drop down box appears click on the "Advanced Search" button. Search the forum for your issue first. This will help reduce clutter and make the helpful Search function even more useful to others! Not only that but 98% of all of the new posts have been answered and it gets annoying to keep having to type the same thing over and over again. When you type in your search terms don't be overly specific. Chances are you will probably word things differently then someone else but the general idea will be the same. So for example if I had a problem with my Joystick not being able to be configured I would first search for "Joystick Not Configuring" or "Joystick Not Working". If I didn't find my answer I might just try the keyword "Joystick". Although there maybe many results please go through them as extensively as possible. Chances are you're not the only one with the problem.

2) If there is a thread already pertaining to your issue, don't post another thread asking if anyone has got a solution. If no solution was found in the thread already pertaining to your issue then chances are there still isn't a solution. If you happen to find a solution that worked for you, then by all means let us know where you found it and what steps to take, but again do it in the SAME THREAD. Do not post a new one. Also if you have found a "fix" please let an Admin or Moderator know. They can then change the title to include a "[Fix]" or "[Solved]" tag. Only do this if more then just you and a buddy have had the "fix" work for you though or undoubtably someone will complain that it didn't work and the tag should be removed.

3) Don't put broken words or "OMG HELP!!!!!!!!" (or something similar) in your thread title. It doesn't make me want to read your desperate cry for help, infact it makes me want to NOT read it. Hell I could care less if you're in the middle of the ocean with your dog and grandma drownding to death, if you make that type of title chances are I'm not reading it (along with a lot of others). Instead put things like "Joystick Not Working" or "Mouse Unresponsive". Give a brief 1 line summary of the problem or if you have an error put the Error message in the title. Using tags such as "[Error Message]" or "[CTD]" (crash to desktop) also is helpful. Consider putting the error message (if applicable) in the title. So lets say my game crashes and I get a memory error. My title would be "[Error Message w/CTD] Memory Buffer Overflow: Bad Reference in Section 0392 of your Virtual Memeory."

4) When describing things use English, not stupid l337 sp34k or lolololAIMwtfbbq language either. I can understand if English isn't your first language it won't be perfect but stupid online lingo just make the stuff harder to read and interpert. Also formatting is always nice. I don't want to sit down and read a paragraph that is longer then most short novels. Its confusing and thats the last thing I want to be. It also helps seperate ideas (kinda like this list) and helps those trying to help you keep their thoughts organized as they read.

5) Provide system specs. If you need help, then we need to know what type of computer you have. To get this run the DirectX Diagnostics tool by going to Start then Run and typing in "dxdiag" and hit enter. Hit "Yes" if prompted about the WHQL Certification. It may take a minute for the system to analyze the hardware. On the bottom of the dialog box that appears there will be an option to save the report to a file. Do this and either copy and paste the contents of the report or attach the actual .RTF file using the Attach Files box below the message box on these forums.

6) Detail. If there is an error message that you can view please let us know EXACTLY what it says. Not "I think it said my pubes were orange because I ate Cheetos". The whole "I think" part kinda makes us guess at what your problem might be. The more detail we get the faster we can rule things out, and the faster we can have an answer for you. Include things like any time frames (like every 10 minutes), temperatures (case or core) or actions (like watching pr0n or looking at nudey photos) that cause the problem.

7) Refrain from posting stupid things like "OMG the 7800GTX 512MB pwns the X1800XT!!!!111one". That is better suited for the Off Topic section of the forums. The Client Support and Hardware forums are exclusively for issues with the game and hardware related issues/questions.

8) Refrain from "bumping" your thread if no one responds after 20 seconds (exageration but honestly give it a day or so).

9) If you have to add something to your last post, use the "Edit" button. Thats what is there for. It also is less confusing for other readers.

Hopefully this will help get peoples questions answered faster and reduce the clutter on the forums as well as help the search function of the forums be better and faster!

If you have anything to add please post it below. If I think its good, I will add it to the list. I will explain why I did or did not add your suggestion. Also don't be offended because if you think this post was targeting you, it wasn't, its a general "Nettiquette" for Forum all forum goers not only on these forums but all other forums as well.