DICE has recently finished it's newest client, (R3), and it includes
optimization for dual core machines! On January 28th, 2010, the developers at
DICE blessed the PC community with a playable beta-stage download; however, many of us tend to forget that this is a BETA, not a DEMO. Due to high server latency, the first days of the beta were almost unplayable, but - in case anyone reading this is still pondering whether or not to obtain a beta key - the majority of latency has been fixed, and the community is now able to test the game as developers have intended. Granted, the latency is still an issue but we must remember that this is a beta and it doesn't reflect the finished product; don't go canceling your pre-orders based on what you hear about this beta.
One of the biggest complaints about the
Bad Company 2 PC Beta is the poor performance many of us are experiencing; players with high end gaming rigs are still experiencing disheartening results. This is due to the lack of optimization. Being
DICE's first pc title utilizing the profound
Frostbite engine, we must fix in our mind that DICE isn't working with their old Refractor engine that we were used to seeing in exclusive PC titles such as
Battlefield: 1942,
Battlefield: Vietnam and - more recently in an updated version -
Battlefield :2, and
Battlefield: 2142. The
Frostbite engine was first tested with
Battlefield: Bad Company for the X-box 360 and PS3, which are machines that run identical components within their respective products. This makes it easier for the developers to optimize titles so they may run at their optimal performance. However, PC rigs are in multitudinous in configurations: CPU Speed, GPU memory, RAM, Sound cards, CPU core, CPU core memory, speaker set up, keyboard and other peripheral support, so on and so forth. We can see why not everybody is having the performance they expect.
However, many of the PC's community's brightest minds have come up with solutions to help better your frame rate, and enhance your
Bad Company 2 PC Beta experience! Here is a list to help you self-diagnose and improve your game play.
- 1. So far, the most popular change is to modify the DirectX Settings to DX 9.
Velocity Girl's instructions on how to do this.
The 3rd line from the bottom should read DxVersion=Auto.
Change DxVersion=Auto to DxVersion=9, and save it.
DxVersion=9 will usually increase your performance, but disables the Anti Aliasing Function. If your Graphics Card only supports Direct X 9, then you probably will not see an improvement, because the "Auto" function will have already selected Direct X 9.
- 2. Bad Company 2 PC Beta is - in the current stage - very CPU intensive and another way to improve your performance is to take the strain off of your CPU as much as possible:
- Turn off any unnecessary programs (X-fire, AIM, Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer).
- When you start up the game, set the audio level to "headphones". This lowers the quality, although not terribly noticeably and allows the CPU to focus more on video. If concerned about audio quality, just put some headphones on! - 3. One method that works particularly well for me is to run the game in a windowed mode, in a smaller resolution. Just press alt + Enter when playing the game, or go into the "settings" file from step #, and change "Fullscreen=True" to "Fullscreen=False". This is particularly helpful if you own a larger, widescreen monitor. In my case, I own a 23'' Widescreen monitor, and its native resolution is 1920 x 1080 but I cannot run the Beta at that high of a resolution. So, I run it at 1440 x 900 and windowed, so that what you see is native and is not stretched out or disproportioned.
- 4. Another thing that is widely accepted is to turn off HSAO and BLOOM.
- 5. Set your graphics all to "Low" or "1x" (for AA and AF) and turn them up gradually one by one while playing to determine your safe frame rate zone. Alternatively, just keep them all at LOW and save the awe-inspiring visuals for when the game comes out, finalized and optimized.
- 6. When in-game, set the processes' CPU priority to "High".
CAUTION: This may cause your CPU to run unstably, proceed at your own risk. Make sure you are not running below the recommended CPU speed and make sure your CPU is not already overloaded. - 7. Although I am not sure if this next method will work for all/many of you, one individual recommended turning Anisotropic Filtering, (AF) up to 8x. I have tried this and although this has worked wonders for many, if there are any improvements, it might be too small to notice. Nonetheless, it is still a possible improvement.
- 8. Set your video card to "performance", as opposed to "quality".
For example, if you are running an Nvidia card, go to the Nvidia Control Panel and move the slider over to "performance".
Hopefully, at least some of these tips will have improved your performance on the Bad Company 2 PC Beta. Remember, the game isn't
completely optimized yet, but the developers at
DICE have already begun to start optimizing!
Check it out!
