New to the game and having issues getting to run

[lilblackgirl]

Hey all, i've tried to find some answers to my issues on EAs boards, but they seem to be running very slowly this morning and found Total BF2 and it appears that you guys may be able to help out. I installed BF2 last night and also Special Forces via the downloader.

I remember the original BF being a LONG loading game, but was hoping that Dice would have fixed this with 2. But regardless, here are a few of the issues i'm having.

1. Horribly long load times into the game (not even to finding servers yet).
2. I assume that the server listings are all done by Gamespy? I kicked off the master server to ping all the individual servers and 20 minutes later, it appeared to still be going. How long does it take to query the servers? Do i need to go mow the yard when i kick the server query off?
3. The in-game server interface is a bit confusing. How can i tell when a server is running Special Forces as opposed to the base BF2 game? Every time i tried to connect to a server, i got an error (don't have the actual wording here at work) indicating that the server isn't running this mod or the versions were incompatable.
4. Is there another server browser aside from the in-game browser which is more efficient and doesn't take so long? Maybe a 3rd party app?
5. Is the game normally so laggy (even when playing single player)? I've got a fairly good hardware setup and it's a bit glitchy. Will setting my graphics settings down some help this out?
6. And finally, i'm running PC-cillin on my box that has a firewall built in and has the option to exclude any programs that i run, but when i try to choose Special Forces, i see that SF doesn't actually run from an executable, it runs from the original BF2 exe + some additions at the end of the command line. Can i just take the full target and use it as an exception in PC-cillin and actually reach the outside world?

sorry there's so much, but it's frustrating to install, purchase and then spend the evening trying to connect and not be able to.

thanks for any help!

[Talus]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

1. Load times are still long...particularly for some people. More RAM will help.
2. Gamespy handles all of the server listings, yes. But you can use 3rd party browsers like The All-Seeing Eye
3. Make sure you are running the latest patch (v1.2), there should be a green icon indicating that the server is running SF (#2 would solve this problem as well).
4. See #2.
5. Yes, decreasing graphics options will help, particularly resolution, AA, dynamic lights, and dynamic shadows.
6. I'd suggest that you disable PC-Cillin altogether before running BF2. But allowing BF2.exe should be all you need to do when running SF.

[-[MDS]-Stormy]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

First welcome to the forums.

As for your questions, 1-4 will be easier to answer if you could complete number 5,

I've got a fairly good hardware setup and it's a bit glitchy.

If you could list your full system specs (cpu, ram, video card, etc.) it will help immensely. As for number 6, I don't use Tend but I think you have the right answer.

[lilblackgirl]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

My bad, i knew i missed something.

P4 3 Ghz
2 Gig PC3200 ram
Geforce 6800 GT (latest drivers installed, i believe)
400 gig in HD space
Sound Blaster Audigy

what else you guys need?

[Somerville]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

Yeah, RAM should help the loading times. Mine loads faster than **** off of a greased shovel, and I've only got a 6600le. But to compensate, I got 2gb of RAM.

[Talus]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

That looks good...you SHOULD be able to play BF2 with little to no performance issues at 1024x768 with 4X AA or 1280x1024 with 2X AA and most settings on high.

Your rig is VERY similar to mine.

Try the following:

• uninstall your graphics drivers
• run Driver Cleaner Pro to remove all traces of previous driver versions
• download and install THESE drivers
• delete your cache, located here: c:\..\..\My Documents\Battlefield 2\profile##\mods\bf2\cache
• run BF2 and load a single player map to optimize shaders
• quit BF2
• defrag your HDD
• run BF2 again

Oh..and welcome to the forums :hi:

[lilblackgirl]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

/bows to Talus and co.

thanks so much guys.
one thing, Talus, which version of the drivers would be best. And in all honesty, i'm a bit weary of d/l drivers that i've never heard of. Certainly not that i don't trust your suggestions, but these are reliable?

[Talus]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

Yes, I've been using them for a long time now. Tweaked drivers can give you a mild performance boost and sometimes ALSO a graphical enhancement. Since you have the same card as me, they should be fine. You can ALWAYS uninstall them

I recommend 81.98v2

General BF2 and PC tweaking can go a LONG way to improving performance with this hog-of-a-game.

http://www.tweakguides.com/BF2_1.html

http://gear.ign.com/articles/626/626714p1.html

http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12

[lilblackgirl]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

again, my most sincere thanks on everything.

i'll give it a go this evening when i get home.

[Talus]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

No problem, be sure to post back here with your findings or with any problems you have.

Getting BF2 to run properly is a game in and of itself.

[lilblackgirl]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

will do
if i have other issues, ya'll will be the first to hear of it. :)

[lilblackgirl]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

Ok, so i took your advice and ran thru the steps you listed here on the board as well as the first tweakers guide you had listed and discovered other issues. First off, one of my big problems were network issues, so that's obviously nothing you guys can fix here (or can you? :laugh: ). Secondly, i ran the Special Forces mod from the icon on my desktop and none of the graphic changes I'd made were there. Do i need to make all the same adjustments for SF as i did for BF2? I was under the impression that they both ran off the same executable, but SF just had different files that the .exe used. I may be incorrect about that, but i'm not sure. Aside from those two issues, the defrag on my drive took about 5 hours. whew, guess it was really time to do that!

I'm gonna give it another run tonight and hopefully can get it to work. I'm really getting frustrated and wonder if it was worth it, but then i remember how slow the original game was when it was released and I got thru that. So i'll buckle down and get it going.

[Talus]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

All of your settings for BF2 and Special Forces are stored here:
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles\####

Special Foces has its own set of cache files...so you will want to delete those as well:
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\Battlefield 2\mods\xpack\cache

[lilblackgirl]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

But the graphic settings via the menu don't need to be reset too?

[Talus]

Re: New to the game and having issues getting to run

Not by simply deleting the cache, no.

You'd have to delete your video.con file to lose your graphics settings (or hit the defaults button in the menu).