Finally after the last patch update a new one is due this week!! Woop Woop!

here is what to expect server wise and weapon wise:

The client update will be roughly 500MB in size.


Changelog:

Server - Some potential sources for lag/rubberbanding have been eliminated
Server - The old reserved slots has been replaced by a kick-on-demand system like in BF2
Server - Log file for server admins: all remote admin interface commands/events are logged
Server - Log file for server admins: major server events + all chat messages are logged
Server - Idle kick is controllable
Server - Profanity filter can be disabled
Server - Teamkill-kick system is controllable
Server - Ticket counts and bleed rate are controllable per-level
Server - Infantry only mode available per-level
Server - Initial spawn delay and respawn delay are adjustable
Server - Server description can be up to 400 characters, and use "|" for line breaks
Server - Banlist can contain up to 10.000 entries
Server - reduced latency in packet handling

Admin Interface - fixed the player.onKill spam that occasionally happened
Admin Interface - ensured that player.onJoin events always report the player name
Admin Interface - events triggered when people spawn
Admin Interface - much more info on kills
Admin Interface - detailed stats are reported at end-of-round

Gameplay - Various minor level bugfixes
Gameplay - Helicopter handling has been tweaked
Gameplay - Weapon tweaks have been implemented based on PC public feedback
Gameplay - Fixed technical hang when a crate was armed outside of the combat area
Gameplay - "Victory is near" message was shown for the wrong team on Valparaíso, this has been fixed
Gameplay - Countermeasures can be fired when driving a helicopter
Gameplay - The brightness of the pilot view in the Russian helicopter has been reduced
Gameplay - Advanced Spotting scope works better
Gameplay - Knifing people in the back works again (we backed out the change that we had done for Server R11)

Server Browser - Servers are sorted into 3 categories: Normal, Modified, Hardcore depending on their settings
Server Browser – Added support for retrieving update progress
Server Browser - Now refreshes information
Server Browser - Join queue system when attempting to join a full server
Server Browser - all settings are automatically saved between sessions
Server Browser - Pings are sent via an alternate mechanism, which should work for non-Administrator users as well

Client - Fixed DX9 issue, which likely caused graphics glitches and perhaps crashes
Client - Fixed some crashes
Client - Toggle/hold crouch is user controllable
Client - Toggle/hold zoom is user controllable
Client - Vsync bugfixed for DX10/DX11
Client - Rewritten how settings are written to disk; this should reduce/eliminate the spawn lag
Client - Fixed bug where a player could join a server before the stats has been downloaded causing faulty stats in "EOR- unlock progression"-screen
Client - New chat system allows chatting when dead (but not during end of round) and keeps a 100 lines log
Client - Improved Play Now functionality
Client - Removed K/D ratio and Skill Level filters in the leaderboards
Client - Any points you get while being dead will be added to your score
Client - Reduced negative mouse acceleration
Client - More informative disconnection/kick reasons

The Balance tweaks are as follows:

Slightly increased the damage of the UZI at long range.
The AKs74u now has more felt recoil when aiming.
The G3, VSS, and all SemiAutomatic rifles now settle slightly faster between shots when aiming.
The PKM, Type 88LMG, G3, An94, and 40mm shotgun have returned to their former glory.
Increased the damage of the MG3 to bring it in line with the rest of the LMGs.
Fixed a bug where the Saiga12 with slugs would do too much damage at long range.
Fixed a bug where the SVU would do too little damage at long range.
Fixed a bug where M95 rounds would not kill armored targets with headshots.

A new Server Update (version R11) has been rolled out to counter a couple of bugs that came up because of the new R10 Update released yesterday. R11 fixes a problem with players Favorites List and fixes servers showing hardcore when the are not. Below is the full post and change log.

Bazajaytee:

Within the hour we will start sending out R11 servers to providers.

This fixes:

Favourites lists
If you have ANY R10 servers in your favourites list you will continue to get the bug where they all appear as the top R10 server. We will be making sure all providers update R10 servers to R11.

Squad Death Match and Squad Rush showing as Hardcore
Neither of these game modes will force Hardcore to be shown anymore. Instead read the Why do servers become HC? thread as to what will make a server appear as Hardcore.

Mikael Kalms:

RSPs are switching from R10 to R11 now. Since lots of people are online playing, we are not going to a massive update right away.

Exact method varies from RSP to RSP, but it is done through rolling restarts / when servers drain out / when server admins opt to upgrade (via the RSP’s control panel).

It fixes two things:

1) SQDM and SQRUSH levels are no longer automatically classified as Hardcore.
The reason why they were classified as such, is that the game’s autobalance is inactive in those two gamemodes. This caused the server browser’s new hardcore-icon logic to always consider those servers to run in hardcore mode.

2) Favorites handling has been restored.
Some R10 servers made people’s favorites’ list show the same server in all entries. This is corrected with server R11. Once server R11 has been properly deployed, some people will have to rebuild their favorites list. I don’t have any statistics on how many people are affected.

link: http://badcompanytwo.com/news-tidbits/server-update-r11-is-rolling-out-fixes-r10-issues/

Yes ATI/AMD has finally fixed the annoying bug which caused ATI users too have to wait much longer to load into a map. I have tried this driver myself and it most definately works. Here are the released notes:

ATI Catalyst™ 10.4a Preview features:
The ATI Catalyst 10.4a Preview provides resolution for the following issue:

• Long load times for new maps in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 when using a Windows 7 / Windows Vista based system with an:
  • ATI Radeon HD 5xxx series graphics card
  • ATI Radeon HD 4xxx series graphics card
  • ATI Radeon HD 3xxx series graphics card
  • ATI Radeon HD 2xxx series graphics card
• The XP driver is provided only as an early look of Catalyst 10.4

You can download the drivers here:

Clicky!

Its finally here!!

Some of you will be delighted (ie me) the others disapointed but you all new it was coming!  They have Nerfed the M60!!!!!!

Here is a list of the updates:

As requested by the community, here is the exhaustive all inclusive changelist of all balance updates made in the R10 Server update for PC.

Increased the base range of all Automatic and Semiautomatic weapons for more consistent close range combat.
Slightly increased the damage of Semiautomatic rifles over long range for more consistent damage output.

Increased the zoomed burst accuracy of LMGs and decreased LMG accuracy when moving to reduce LMG run and gun.
Decreased the base damage of the M60 and XM8 LMGs to bring them in line with the other LMG damage values.
Decreased the damage of the PKM over long range to balance it with other LMGs.
Increased the base damage of the Type88 LMG to balance it with other LMGs.

Slightly reduced the base damage of the M16 and G3 to balance the increased range.
Slightly increased the damage of the AEK971, F2000, AN94, and AUG over long range to balance them with other Assault Rifles.

Reduced the lethal blast range of the 40mm grenade and M2CG to highlight their role as a secondary weapon against infantry.
Slightly Reduced the max range of the 40mm shotgun to balance it with other shotguns.
Slightly increased the base damage of shotgun rounds and reduced their range to clarify ideal shotgun combat distance.

Reduced the base damage of the PP2000 to balance the increased range.
Increased the damage of the 9A91 over long range to balance its lower magazine size.

Increased the damage and range of the M9, M93 pistols to make them more desirable as a secondary weapon.
Increased the range of the MP443 pistol to make it more desirable as a secondary weapon.
Increased the damage of the MP412 over long range to balance its low rate of fire.
Slightly reduced the rate of fire of the M1911 pistol to balance it with other pistols.

Increased the repair and overheat speeds of the Power Tool. Now overheats sooner but repairs the same amount before overheating.
Increased the maximum number of Motion Sensors that can be carried from 2 to 3 and increased the speed which new sensors are acquired from ammo boxes.
Significantly increased the speed of the Tracer Dart projectile to make it more effective against airborne targets.
Increased the reload time of the Mortar Strike and reduced the damage it does to heavily armored vehicles.
Decreased the range of Bolt Action Sniper and Pump Shotgun Slug rounds when using Magnum Ammo for better Kit Balance, especially in Hardcore.
Slightly increased the Health of soldiers in Hardcore for better Kit Balance.

Increased the benefit from the Medkit Heal+ specialization to make it more desirable as a Specialization.
Decreased the benefit from Vehicle Reload Speed to balance it against other Vehicle Specializations.
Slightly decreased the benefit from accuracy specializations to balance the changes to range and accuracy tweaks.


Fixed a bug where the BMD3 would take extra damage to the front armor.
Reduced the explosive damage from Attack Helicopter cannons.
Increased the damage of AA guns against all targets. The AA gun should be much more effective against infantry on Port Valdez.

These changes will eventually make their way to the 360 and PS3 as we work with our partners Microsoft and Sony to continue to support BFBC2 on all platforms.

Thanks to all Steelbacks that made it over the weekend at such short notice. I (Akaskero) harped on for an hour each time about what we plan to do and what's expected to happen in the future and some of you raised some great points which are a great help.

Like I have been saying in the briefing we had over the weekend, we will have multiple layers of teams starting off with just two groups. Group 1, which has been created now and Group2, which we still need more players for.

The line up for group 1 is as follows:

1. Rampage
2. Att4ck f0rc3
3. VooDoo
4. CalBar
5. Akaskero
6. Mightshade
7. Biscoito
8. Sipe

All the other guys that attended but aren't mentioned here are going to make up the next group, Group 2. We hope to formulate group 2 this week and let you all know who is going to be in it.

Battlefield Steelbacks Team

The time has come for the Steelbacks to form a competitive team so we can start playing ladders and showing our skills around the world of Battlefield. It is time for us to form together and create a single unit, a force that is unfathomable by it's opposition.

This is the first team however and we have to be realistic. We are not organised and the only Steelbacks that know the score are Rampage, Akaskero (myself) and Stealthgeek so training must commence.

We have plans and drills that we need our team to flesh out and we know who is interested but who is committed? We have two team meets which are briefings only and no training. Training will happen once a week for now and we do not intend to play matches until the drills are rehearsed.

We need you!

So the first briefing is tonight at 19:00. That's 04th april 2010 and the next meet is at 05th april 2010 at 19:00.

• 04th April - Team selection. What's expected of you. Team briefing.
• 05th April - Team briefing. 3 stage Battle drills. Squad construction.

The tactics and battle drills are top secret and anyone selected into the team will be made aware that if these drills are leaked, they forfit their place on the team.

Where do we meet?

We will be closing Server No.2 tonight from 19:00 and issuing a password on Teamspeak to the trusted selected team members.

Do we get a say in tactics and game play?

Through our experience with clans, playing matches and Battlefield in general we are all to clear at the consequences of a disorganised team or a team that is insubordinate so during play, the team is expected to play the game plan that is declared by the leader even through defeat and overwhelming force. The reason behind this is clear. Battlefield Steelbacks discuss strategy and tactics off the field, not during play.

You all get an input into the gameplan inbetween matches and off of training sessions. Never in training and never in matches.

Hope to see you all there this Easter!

The Steelbacks join Clanbase

Steelbacks Battlefield Bad Company 2 community are on their way to the front line in competitive gaming firstly joining Clanbase and next building up the competitive team.

We have loads of interest from the community and also lots of volunteers that want to represent the :SB: community tags in competition against other clans/communities and gamers.

Very shortly, we will be compiling Alpha, Bravo and Charlie squads each consisting of members with different specialisations and abilities. Alpha being the most experienced and of course Bravo being the less experienced.

If you haven't put your name down in the forum as interested in the competitive team, then do it here so we know who you are! : )

Get over to Clanbase and register your player. We'll help you sign up to the community on Clanbase very soon!

GO :SB: Steelbacks!

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Infantry fun with Battlefield BC2 Map Pack 2

Well EA Games have just released the new Map Pack 2 which includes a map that resembles the infantry mayhem of Strike at Karkand from Battlefield 2.

We have two new modes of play now including:

Arica Harbor Conquest Mode: Take to the streets and put your infantry skills to the test! Capture strategic town positions as Arica Harbor is enhanced with Conquest Mode.

Laguna Presa Rush Mode: Capture and secure M-COM stations in Laguna Presa’s Rush Mode and discover all-new areas of the maps to take on the enemy.

The map pack has to be purchased by console gamers in order to get a VIP code however we don't care about that here at the Steelbacks as we get it as downloadable content for free!

Both Steelbacks Bad Company 2 servers have been updated with the server release code 8 and also the new map packs so come play with us!

ATI has released a non WHQL signed driver where they claim to have fixed the severe flickering in Bad Company 2 when in dx10 mode.

Latest updates available in the ATI Catalyst 10.3b preview driver

• ATI Catalyst(TM) support for ATI Radeon(TM) HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition
  • This release of ATI Catalyst(TM) introduces support for the production version of Windows 7 and Windows Vista for the ATI Radeon(TM) HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition.
  • Supports up to 6 displays (driven from a single GPU) operating together as an Eyefinity Display Group in both Windows 7 and Windows Vista
• The desktop mouse cursor issue (becoming enlarged at random when using Windows 7) has been fixed
• Fix for Severe flickering / flashing in Battlefield 2 bad Company

Check out the preview!

Steelbacks have a new server AND we have moved the old server to a new box

We have a new Steelbacks Battlefield Bad Company 2 server and the old server has been moved to a new box which I have been told will possibly increase traffic and reliability.

This is great news because now we can play battlefield the way we Steelbacks want. Also this means that when we train, we can direct the community that aren't involved toward our other fully working server.

Remember that the old server won't show up now on your favourites in the Battlefield BC2 server browser so be sure to add these new ones!

Hop over to the Server Details page on the left to grab a cut and pastable IP for when you want to join!