Battlefield 3 thread - Server details in opening post -

WingZero30 · 4 Apr 2012 at 16:26

Spektor said:
I'd agree, from 1942 onwards DICE have made overall fun games, but have always lacked in the ultra responsive, solid feel that other FPS games provide. Which wouldn't be so bad but then they clearly put an emphasis on close quarters combat in BF3 with so many non BF-like maps, as well as the upcoming DLC, which is them putting half of their latest game's content into their entire franchises weakest aspect.

All the gripes about what the latest patch did aside, I find my biggest problem with BF3 overall is just the complete lack of visceral feedback from what's happening and what you're seeing, which is mainly down to, yet again from DICE, poor netcode. This time they've just palmed it all off on the client, which is just an utterly lazy way out. I see most of the complaints here (probably mostly neil79s ) are pretty much down to this one aspect.

The most obvious way the client side hit detection manifests is the getting shout after having run around a corner issue. But there are a few others which I see constantly and just chip away at me whilst I play. That feeling of having been instantly killed by someone? that to is down to clientside, that guy will have fired most of his clip at you - but did his animation reflect this? no, did any sound effects reflect this? no.

What you're looking at, even with good 20-30ms is always 1-2 seconds behind what's actually happening, if what's actually happening ever gets sent you way to begin with. So you see that guy mid reload animation, you rush him, you die instantly? lag your side? no, BS hacks? no... on his screen he finished reloading and has fired half his clip at you, the game just neglected to show any of that your end.

All just leads to a very disconnected feeling when it comes down to the core of the game, never makes me feel enthusiastic to keep playing or come back for more. Such a shame.

I do agree that coming from counterstrike source which is a solid game, I felt something was lacking in BF3. However I do wonder may be that is because Battlefield is a much bigger game than the likes of COD or CSS in terms of vehicles, larger maps and more weaponery & equipment. I do wonder if Valve developed counterstrike to the scale of battlefield incorporating air,land and sea vehicles, then how would the game have turned out. Would CS also be having much further problems in terms of solid gameplay mechanincs etc?

As for hit detection that is one thing that annoys me. That's why when I see enemy soldier passing in front of me, I tend to shoot at burst rates in front of him rather than shooting straight at him

Davepen · 4 Apr 2012 at 16:45

WingZero30 said:
As for hit detection that is one thing that annoys me. That's why when I see enemy soldier passing in front of me, I tend to shoot at burst rates in front of him rather than shooting straight at him

You do realise shooting in front is the correct thing to do? You need to lead your targets to account for bullet travel time/target movement.

Wucked · 4 Apr 2012 at 16:53

I think they've made some improvements with the latest patch. Jumping over obstacles is somewhat easier, getting up from prone is quicker now and its far easier to escape from grenades. The weapon balance, even though they've nerfed my favorite guns, I think is better over all. And vehicle play I think is improved now and more exciting, imo armor was OP prior to the patch. So for me its starting to shape up into a pretty good game, and not just pretty. If they get on with introducing the e-sports stuff that is rumored I think it still has allot of potential.

But it's definitely drowning in whiny girls, still pining for that rose coloured memory of BF2. The problem with all these menstrual teenagers is that they wont give up and move on, leaving the people that do like the game to play it in peace. Oh no, they have to stick around and constantly whine about every... little... thing... until its snowballed out of all proportion and killed off half the community. But what are you meant to do? Counter whinge? Nope. Agree with them in the hope that they'll get over it and leave? Nope, nothing works. So I'm resigned now to watching BF3 slowly die under the weight of several thousand tonnes of discarded uterus lining, while indulging in the odd counter-bleed panty-liner operations of my own here and there. Like this one I guess.

I remember BF2 when it first arrived quite vividly, and I distinctly remember how much of a God awful mess it was. It took a good year of patching before it became the sublime FPS that people remember now. Being responsive is one thing, but the bunny hopping, dolphin diving shenanigans of BF2 were just stupid. But I have to agree with some points though. The hit detection for instance, and the lag issues that still need working on for BF3. I still get killed behind cover quite often which is really annoying

opethdisciple · 4 Apr 2012 at 17:12

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a gold standard fps.

Time less. It had everything.

I dont think any fps game since has really relicated its success.

Swifty55 · 4 Apr 2012 at 17:19

Davepen said:
You do realise shooting in front is the correct thing to do? You need to lead your targets to account for bullet travel time/target movement.

Depends on distance, etc...

Edinho · 4 Apr 2012 at 17:22

~>Dg<~ said:
it fails at the fundamental basics of fps gameplay !

basically the game is decentish but compared to fps games it is shallow and not finished. movements are clunky hitboxes are any mans guess and simple animations tried to be done fancy when a simple jump or fast move would have made it so much more better.

so for all those who knock games like cod and counterstrike and so on in one years time when the servers are still full on cod4 and cs see what game isnt it will be bf3.

on a whole i enjoy the game and can be fun but thats mainly to do with having fun with the actual people on the game not the actual game itself.

in my top five fps it wouldnt even be in the top 5 .

I agree with you. In my opinion its the way it's going to stay. The days are long gone for competitive fps's. Its been written on the wall for 10 years or so. FPS was a niche genre mainly limited to PC and relatively low budget cod4 came along and now its all about $$$$$$ and a big up yours to the people that made the fps what it was. But im sure we'll have the last laugh when it goes the way of Guitar Hero and the publishers destroy the next big thing.

Im just glad I played them before they got butchered.

timebomb26 · 4 Apr 2012 at 17:36

One of the things that bugs me about this game is when someone is standing behind cover and you can only pretty much see their head, yet they still shoot you. Surely the gun was behind the cover?

setter · 4 Apr 2012 at 17:45

Davepen said:
You do realise shooting in front is the correct thing to do? You need to lead your targets to account for bullet travel time/target movement.

Quite often ive had more success shooting behind people, due to the bad lag and reg issues. Ive tried leading, but depending on the server, ping etc it just doesnt work. And leading a target is something im extremely familiair with, due to my experience in competitive clay pigeon shooting.

Fr0dders · 4 Apr 2012 at 17:50

~>Dg<~ said:
fps games are basically shooting games

so shooting and hitboxes reg should be the first most important thing in the game. that is why its a fps (first person shooter )

does bf3 perform well in this area ? = no

I honestly don't get the hate for the hit reg.

The client side hit reg has its positives and its negatives. The positive side is that when you are the one doing the shooting ,you no longer have to aim at where you think the player is, and instead just aim at your target.

Obviously bullets have drop and travel time so you have to properly lead your targets if the target is moving, but by and large you hit what you aim at, since its the client thats doing the deciding, and it knows if you're crosshair was over the player or not.

Downsides are that it is more succeptable to hacking, and it leads to you getting shot round corners because you were round the corner on your screen, but not on theirs, thus you die round the corner.

The devs have gone on record saying that they prefer this model to the pure server side hit reg, as it enables you to get the credit for more kills, and consider the deaths round corners a sacrifice worth making to get this.

setter said:
Quite often ive had more success shooting behind people, due to the bad lag and reg issues. Ive tried leading, but depending on the server, ping etc it just doesnt work. And leading a target is something im extremely familiair with, due to my experience in competitive clay pigeon shooting.

thats down to poor servers rather than poor netcode. Playing on console, we spend all our time playing on servers provided by EA / DICE and with a max of 24 players. These never seem to lag. Tehran highway rubber banded horrendously at release, but this was quickly sorted with a serverside patch a few weeks later.

This would also tie in with those on here saying they have no problem with hit reg, its down to the quality of your connection (i've got 50mb Virgin and always get my full 50mb) and the quality of the server. Those with good connections and on good servers probably won't experience it. The other possibility is people messing with the interpolation slider. Something we don't have on xbox.

WingZero30 · 4 Apr 2012 at 17:53

Swifty55 said:
Depends on distance, etc...

Davepen said:
You do realise shooting in front is the correct thing to do? You need to lead your targets to account for bullet travel time/target movement.

Yeah this is what I meant, when I see enemy soldier passing by at mid distance. I have tried shooting straight at him in the past and realised that I used to miss the target

.

setter said:
Quite often ive had more success shooting behind people, due to the bad lag and reg issues. Ive tried leading, but depending on the server, ping etc it just doesnt work. And leading a target is something im extremely familiair with, due to my experience in competitive clay pigeon shooting.

Lol setter, ur experiences are always pretty different

Fr0dders · 4 Apr 2012 at 17:55

WingZero30 said:
Yeah this is what I meant, when I see enemy soldier passing by at mid distance. I have tried shooting straight at him in the past and realised that I used to miss the target.

thats because the bullets in BF3 have proper ballistics.

They have bullet drop and also have an actual trajectory and time to target. If you aim squarely at a moving target, by the time the bullet gets to the target ,they will have moved forward and you will have missed.

setter · 4 Apr 2012 at 17:59

Im mainly playing on uk servers. Last night i was on a german tdm one ive used regularly. Its been great previously, but last night was really bad. 27 players on at the time.

setter · 4 Apr 2012 at 18:04

MrLOL said:
thats because the bullets in BF3 have proper ballistics.

They have bullet drop and also have an actual trajectory and time to target. If you aim squarely at a moving target, by the time the bullet gets to the target ,they will have moved forward and you will have missed.

Yep, if playing as recon with a bolt gun, if you stay scoped in after firing at a moving target, you can watch your bullet flight. Therefore giving you an idea on any adjustment required.

Gerard · 4 Apr 2012 at 18:06

For some reason i found this amusing, tkilling to the Rocky "gonna fly" theme.

Neil79 · 4 Apr 2012 at 18:12

LOL lol

Nexus18 · 4 Apr 2012 at 18:19

LOL

Just imagine the rage from his team mates

Was playing earlier on there and my hit reg was dreadful, no idea why, was on a server with a ping of 23 and my ping was 23 and jitter of 8 yet none of my hits were registering :mad:

When that happens, RAGE QUIT

Neil79 · 4 Apr 2012 at 18:23

Nexus18 said:
Was playing earlier on there and my hit reg was dreadful, no idea why, was on a server with a ping of 23 and my ping was 23 and jitter of 8 yet none of my hits were registering When that happens, RAGE QUIT

Weebull · 4 Apr 2012 at 18:27

Have the people complaining about the suppression mechanic tried using the cover perk? I was having a bit of a sniper duel yesterday, and I could fire back accurately immediately after the other guy missing me, and snipers are supposed to be the worst for it.

I've also been killed a few times by the person I've been trying to suppress with an MG, so either it's quite a useful perk now, or we're playing different games. :confused:

MrLOL said:
has anybody been able to form an opinnion over the best loadout for assault rifles yet ?

Previously ForeGrip + silencer ruled all. But they've now added an accuracy penalty when using the foregrip at long range and reduced the sway reduction.

I'm finding heavy barrel pretty awesome at the moment, I must admit. If you're shooting over distance you shouldn't really be spraying anyway, and if they're close, the lack of spray accuracy barely counts.

Davepen · 4 Apr 2012 at 18:30

Weebull said:
I'm finding heavy barrel pretty awesome at the moment, I must admit. If you're shooting over distance you shouldn't really be spraying anyway, and if they're close, the lack of spray accuracy barely counts.

I'm also really liking the heavy barrel, wasn't so keen before when it only helped single shot, but now it helps bursts it's pretty much a given on any assault rifle/carbine I use.

WingZero30 · 4 Apr 2012 at 18:40

Davepen said:
I'm also really liking the heavy barrel, wasn't so keen before when it only helped single shot, but now it helps bursts it's pretty much a given on any assault rifle/carbine I use.

Agree. I have got it attached to my ak-74su