BF3 Tweaks and Help Thread

Reinstalled CAP4, everything is smooth now. 64 player servers still causes rubberbanding and jitter.
I recommend playing in smaller server for the best performance.
 
BF3 benchmark (Hyperthreading - on vs off)

Interesting finding...

Source

Hyperthreading on ---------

Frames: 28457 - Time: 338553ms - Avg: 84.055 - Min: 51 - Max: 141

Frames: 28928 - Time: 344216ms - Avg: 84.040 - Min: 34 - Max: 142

Hyperthreading off ---------

Frames: 28084 - Time: 331798ms - Avg: 84.642 - Min: 59 - Max: 143

Frames: 28886 - Time: 333764ms - Avg: 86.546 - Min: 40 - Max: 144
Click to expand...
 
Is there a way to re-bind the key for enemy spotting?
Q really feels weird for me, I'd rather bind it to an extra button on the mouse.

Thanks
 
Hornet said:
Is there a way to re-bind the key for enemy spotting?
Q really feels weird for me, I'd rather bind it to an extra button on the mouse.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Yes, I did it last night. It's in the "Common" Tab under "Key Bindings". Make sure you select the Mouse column.
 
Wow finally got this game working. Played all night last night with no crashes.

Rig i7-2600k, asus p7z68 pro, 6950 2gb pre2 drivers
  1. Ran the origin repair install on bf3
  2. after that i got the installation hang up, followed fixes for that
  3. updated punkbuster
  4. happiness

I'm too tired to go find all the links for my fixes. I was up til midnight playing. But they are all in this post spread out I believe.
 
cnick79 said:
Yes, I did it last night. It's in the "Common" Tab under "Key Bindings". Make sure you select the Mouse column.
Click to expand...
lol. Thanks. I completely missed the Common section :eek:


BTW, I do have one more thing I'm wondering about. Anyone noticed that Battlelog don't actually list all found servers that fit our criteria?

I saw this while I was searching for empty servers. At first, it shows a list of servers where all of them while empty, are password restricted. If we scroll down further, there will be a dividing line across the list and below that are servers that doesn't match the criteria.

It doesn't look right so I search again, this time setting that the servers are empty and from Africa region. Now I get a list of servers that are empty and open to public.

Is there a reason why they don't show everything?
 
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Hornet said:
lol. Thanks. I completely missed the Common section :eek:


BTW, I do have one more thing I'm wondering about. Anyone noticed that Battlelog don't actually list all found servers that fit our criteria?

I saw this while I was searching for empty servers. At first, it shows a list of servers where all of them while empty, are password restricted. If we scroll down further, there will be a dividing line across the list and below that are servers that doesn't match the criteria.

It doesn't look right so I search again, this time setting that the servers are empty and from Africa region. Now I get a list of servers that are empty and open to public.

Is there a reason why they don't show everything?
Click to expand...

Not sure how it works on their end. I only game in North American servers.
I'm sure there are thousands of servers out there, but they only gives us so many to browse.
 
WorldExclusive said:
Not sure how it works on their end. I only game in North American servers.
I'm sure there are thousands of servers out there, but they only gives us so many to browse.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can understand wanting to shorten the list up instead of showing everything given the number of servers out there. I just wish there was a way to "show more" should we choose to do so.
 
I had a small issue last night. Got it all installed, running, was in MP for about half hour. But, every time I went to change the mouse sensitivity or basically anything in the MP options screen, it would say apply changes then keep display options then kind of sit there. After selecting yes to keep display options it just sat there and would not go back to the game. I had not yet dropped in to the match and I was running full screen.
 
Hornet said:
Yeah, I can understand wanting to shorten the list up instead of showing everything given the number of servers out there. I just wish there was a way to "show more" should we choose to do so.
Click to expand...

You do know as you scroll down more servers are automatically populated?
 
Is there a definitive reason why you do not get pins in Battlelog? Any way to fix that? Tried in three different browsers so far.
 
Korben Dallas said:
You do know as you scroll down more servers are automatically populated?
Click to expand...

I've tried that, while scrolling down beyond the first batch of list does brings up more servers, these servers don't seems to follow the search criteria.

As in the example I mentioned, the first list I get are all servers that are empty as per the criteria I set, and they are all password protected (those without password probably wasn't there because of the long list of empty servers). When I scroll down, I get other servers that are populated.

That's not a big deal, but the same thing happen when I search based on region. Beyond the first list, I start getting servers from other region. There's obviously additional servers in my region that I cannot view unless I further restrict my search based on game type, then I'm seeing more servers for each game type in my region. Problem is even then it looks like I'm hitting the list limit.
 
Have they fixed the issue from Open Beta where you can't remap the mouse buttons? I prefer to have jump on RMB and wasn't able to get this to work without adding a third party program (which I refuse to do).
 
Going back to the Hyperthreading topic. The more I see the more I'm convinced you want to disable it for gaming.

HT is only really needed for specific applications such encoding and other stuff. HT will actually make use more wattage increasing your CPU temperature. I experienced this last night. I played BF3 for few hours and my CPU cores were nice and cold.

Also here is the nail in the coffin: Special Thanks to KILLfactorR

BF3 has an amazing performance monitor you can check if the CPU or the GPU is the one bottlenecking:render.perfoverlayvisible 1

BF3%20perf%20graph.JPG


Basically the graph shows render rate in ms (milliseconds).

The higher the MS render rate the worse that particular component is doing (CPU or GPU).

You want the lowest figures and you want the graph to be lower than higher (reversed).

So if your CPU is BELOW your GPU then your GPU is the problem/bottleneck etc.
GREEN (GPU) BELOW YELLOW (CPU) = CPU is slower

So if your GPU is BELOW your CPU then your CPU is the problem/bottleneck etc.
YELLOW (CPU) BELOW GREEN (GPU) = GPU is slower
The Higher the graph the worse your performance, the bottom Bar on the graph is 60fps while the middle bar is 30 fps, top bar being 0 fps.

Spikes in the graph indicate an unstable system/performance but hard to know what causes this?

Here is some more pics so people understand how it works:

GREEN = GPU, YELLOW = CPU.
BF3%20perf%20g.JPG


BF3%20perf%20g2.JPG


Summary:
You want the graph to be stable as the pic above shows (no spikes) and you would ideally want both CPU and GPU to be at the same level (60fps if possible).

Here you can see why disabling HT is so important. Remember: The numbers in the graphs are milliseconds and not FPS so the lower the better.

Here with HT enable. Take a look at the spikes. Basically those spikes are when you stutter or game lags/freezes also you can see a much lower rate (milliseconds) than with HT enabled. This is a no brainer for me. HT disabled is the way to go.
bf32011102701223874.png


Here with HT disabled. No spikes no issues:

bf32011102701310955ht.png
 
^Excellent Post

Bloodwulf said:
Have they fixed the issue from Open Beta where you can't remap the mouse buttons? I prefer to have jump on RMB and wasn't able to get this to work without adding a third party program (which I refuse to do).
Click to expand...

Yes. Make sure you click in the column for which device you want to remap.
 
Need help. My FPS has taken a big hit ever since the maintenance/patch today, dipping to 30fps and chugging bad. Running a HD 5870 on a 2500k. Before today everything was always running smooth about 60fps. Drivers used are 11.10 preview 3.

Any idea whats going on here?
 
Searched the thread but I couldn't find anything so here goes:

Anyone getting a game freeze with the error - "Battlefield 3 has stopped working."

Every 5-15 min in either MP or SP I get this! It's driving me INSANE.

Rig in sig. 285.62 drivers. Prime95 stable after 24hrs. GPU @ 55 degrees (max). WTF mate?!
 
is there anyway to shut off the glare from the sun? I have AO disabled but its still overwhelming and annoying on some maps.
 
-Sn1PeR- said:
I'm fairly certain this is server side lag.
Click to expand...

It was, I didn't word it correctly.

CallMeTheStig said:
Searched the thread but I couldn't find anything so here goes:

Anyone getting a game freeze with the error - "Battlefield 3 has stopped working."

Every 5-15 min in either MP or SP I get this! It's driving me INSANE.

Rig in sig. 285.62 drivers. Prime95 stable after 24hrs. GPU @ 55 degrees (max). WTF mate?!
Click to expand...
Could still be a PunkBuster issue. Try one of the [H] servers and see if it happens there. PB is off in those servers.
http://hard-gaming.org/index.php?site=static&staticID=2

xXxDieselxXx said:
Going back to the Hyperthreading topic. The more I see the more I'm convinced you want to disable it for gaming.
Click to expand...
I was able to use your post to tweak my video settings. Enabling two types of AA on my 5970 causes major spikes. 2xMSAA and SSAO was smooth as butter. 2xMSAA and HABO cause minor spike in action heavy areas but smooth overall.
That's an excellent tool to see what you PC can handle beyond in game and fps meter. CPU Avg. 11 - GPU Avg. 22
 
CallMeTheStig said:
Searched the thread but I couldn't find anything so here goes:

Anyone getting a game freeze with the error - "Battlefield 3 has stopped working."

Every 5-15 min in either MP or SP I get this! It's driving me INSANE.

Rig in sig. 285.62 drivers. Prime95 stable after 24hrs. GPU @ 55 degrees (max). WTF mate?!
Click to expand...

Many people were getting this, which makes me think it is/was a punkbuster issue.

They should change the name to just Buster.
 
Anyone else getting an issue where BF3 will Alt tab and it seems like your graphics card reset? No error, nothing, just alt tabs and the game is busted and have to restart.

I manually set my fan and that resets to default every time.
 
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CallMeTheStig said:
Searched the thread but I couldn't find anything so here goes:

Anyone getting a game freeze with the error - "Battlefield 3 has stopped working."

Every 5-15 min in either MP or SP I get this! It's driving me INSANE.

Rig in sig. 285.62 drivers. Prime95 stable after 24hrs. GPU @ 55 degrees (max). WTF mate?!
Click to expand...

I have actually had this issue a few times myself. It doesn't happen that often for me but it has happened. I have not read any other posts with this problem.

Rig in Sig. 285.62 drivers
 
I'm running OC'd SLI 1GB 460s @ 2560 x 1600. The video configuration auto-settings has everything on High, which results in stutters on some maps (which results in me getting my ass handed to me in a firefight). Think it's the VRAM being exceeded? If so, texture quality will have the most effect on that, right?
 
So I ran the performance overlay, and found something strange: my CPU would spike on the same interval constantly. Any ideas on what that could be?

Otherwise, it was as expected. CPU in 2s, GPU in the 20s.
 
Katalysis said:
So I ran the performance overlay, and found something strange: my CPU would spike on the same interval constantly. Any ideas on what that could be?

Otherwise, it was as expected. CPU in 2s, GPU in the 20s.
Click to expand...

I'm seeing the same like every inch so to of speak.
 
Anti-Hero said:
I'm running OC'd SLI 1GB 460s @ 2560 x 1600. The video configuration auto-settings has everything on High, which results in stutters on some maps (which results in me getting my ass handed to me in a firefight). Think it's the VRAM being exceeded? If so, texture quality will have the most effect on that, right?
Click to expand...
Texture quality and AA type/level would have the most effect.
 
xXxDieselxXx said:
Here you can see why disabling HT is so important. Remember: The numbers in the graphs are milliseconds and not FPS so the lower the better.

Here with HT enable. Take a look at the spikes. Basically those spikes are when you stutter or game lags/freezes also you can see a much lower rate (milliseconds) than with HT enabled. This is a no brainer for me. HT disabled is the way to go.

Here with HT disabled. No spikes no issues:
Click to expand...

Need someone with a 2600K to look at this and see what they get. I'd do it, but I'm still at work for a few more hours.

Edit: Took a couple of quick screenshots. This is a 2600K with HT on. The one little spike in the third pic is from Fraps taking an earlier screenshot.

bf3-1.jpg

bf3-2.jpg

bf3-3.jpg

bf3-4.jpg

bf3-5.jpg

bf3-6.jpg
 
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CallMeTheStig said:
Searched the thread but I couldn't find anything so here goes:

Anyone getting a game freeze with the error - "Battlefield 3 has stopped working."

Every 5-15 min in either MP or SP I get this! It's driving me INSANE.

Rig in sig. 285.62 drivers. Prime95 stable after 24hrs. GPU @ 55 degrees (max). WTF mate?!
Click to expand...

I get those every once in a while but only when I am entering a game. I am seeing lots of hitches when entering a game but not once I am in. I can play for a few hours with no issue. But if I jump out of the game and go back in it will give me the "Battefield 3 has stopped working". I am using the same drivers and my rig is also stable in everything else.
 
I'm occasionally getting an entire screen flash of green. It's a very short burst, but it's obnoxious. Anyone having a similar problem?
 
Katalysis said:
I'm occasionally getting an entire screen flash of green. It's a very short burst, but it's obnoxious. Anyone having a similar problem?
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is a driver/game issue apparently. I'm using the latest from nvidia on my GTX570. So, definitely something with the game as it's happening to both sides.
 
Anti-Hero said:
I'm running OC'd SLI 1GB 460s @ 2560 x 1600. The video configuration auto-settings has everything on High, which results in stutters on some maps (which results in me getting my ass handed to me in a firefight). Think it's the VRAM being exceeded? If so, texture quality will have the most effect on that, right?
Click to expand...
Use the in game Performance Overlay too see performance spikes in your system.
When you see a spike, it means the system is being strained. Running out of VRAM and HT usually causes it.

Open the Command Console, then type Render.PerfOverlayVisible 1
If you change the settings and it disappears, just open the console again and press the down arrow and the command will automatically reappear.
Forceman said:
Need someone with a 2600K to look at this and see what they get. I'd do it, but I'm still at work for a few more hours.

Edit: Took a couple of quick screenshots. This is a 2600K with HT on. The one little spike in the third pic is from Fraps taking an earlier screenshot.
Click to expand...

Try reducing the AA or AO to flatten it a bit more. But what you have now is fine, spikes will happen when killed and joining back into the game.
 
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§·H·ï·Z·N·ï·L·T·ï;1037948652 said:
So on my 2600k when I disable HT my CPU usage climbs up alot.
Click to expand...

Does it really climb a lot, or does it just look like it because instead of 8 cores, the load is only being spread over 4?
 
Shotglass01 said:
I had a small issue last night. Got it all installed, running, was in MP for about half hour. But, every time I went to change the mouse sensitivity or basically anything in the MP options screen, it would say apply changes then keep display options then kind of sit there. After selecting yes to keep display options it just sat there and would not go back to the game. I had not yet dropped in to the match and I was running full screen.
Click to expand...

**Solved**

Don't know exactly what happened. I did drop in to the MP play and my MP settings stuck. All good here.
 
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