Battlefield 3
Developers | |
---|---|
DICE | |
End Game | Visceral Games[1] |
Publishers | |
Electronic Arts | |
Engines | |
Frostbite 2 | |
Release dates | |
Windows | October 25, 2011 |
⤏ Go to series page | |
Battlefield 1942 | 2002 |
Battlefield Vietnam | 2004 |
Battlefield 2 | 2005 |
Battlefield 2142 | 2006 |
Battlefield Heroes | 2009 |
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 | 2010 |
Battlefield Online | 2010 |
Battlefield Play4Free | 2011 |
Battlefield 3 | 2011 |
Battlefield 4 | 2013 |
Battlefield Hardline | 2015 |
Battlefield 1 | 2016 |
Battlefield V | 2018 |
Battlefield 2042 | 2021 |
Key points
- PC version features 64 player multiplayer, high resolution textures, high quality shadows and more PC-specific features.
General information
- Official website
- Battlefield 3 on Battlelog - PC section.
- Answer HQ for the Battlefield series at EA.com
- Battlefield Wiki
Availability
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Retail | ||||
Amazon.com | ||||
Amazon.co.uk | ||||
Premium Edition also available. | ||||
Origin | Included with EA Play. |
DLC and expansion packs
Name | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Aftermath | Included with EA Play Pro. | |
Air Vehicle Shortcut | ||
Armored Kill | Included with EA Play Pro. | |
Assault Kit Shortcut | ||
Back to Karkand | Included with EA Play Pro. | |
Close Quarters | Included with EA Play Pro. | |
Co-op Weapons Shortcut | ||
End Game | Included with EA Play Pro. | |
Engineer Kit Shortcut | ||
Ground Vehicle Shortcut | ||
Kit Shortcut Bundle | ||
Promotional Items | ||
Recon Kit Shortcut | ||
SPECACT Kit & Dog Tag Bundle | ||
Support Kit Shortcut | ||
The Ultimate Shortcut Bundle | ||
Vehicle Shortcut Bundle |
Essential improvements
- TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game.
Performance boost
- This command disables the engine's deferred compute shader lighting path. This may give a large FPS boost in open, outdoor areas, but possibly may reduce performance in heavily lit scenes. Most users report only the performance boost, including inside closed areas.
- This command provides no graphical change.
WorldRender.DxDeferredCsPathEnable false or DxDeferredCsPathEnable 0[citation needed] |
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Notes
|
Optimal video settings
- You may use any configuration with-which you are satisfied. The following tips serve to balance graphical fidelity, function and performance.
- Setting textures to High may eliminate texture pop-in, if it is happening to you.
- Setting effects to Low is recommended. Other levels show no particular improvement, it only adds a little bloom around fire sparkles.[2]
- Settings mesh to Ultra is recommended as it allows you to spot enemies at a greater distance.
- Set anisotropic filtering to the maximum value your PC can handle. Better AF comes as a minimal (or none) performance cost and significantly improves graphical fidelity.
Play the game without Origin
- Warning: no official word from EA, proceed at your own risk.
Patch your parameter file[3] |
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|
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Battlefield 3\settings\ |
Save game data location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Battlefield 3\settings\ |
-
meta.xml
,PROF_SAVE_body
,PROF_SAVE_header
andPROF_SAVE_profile
are the save files.
Save game cloud syncing
System | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
Origin | ||
OneDrive | Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers. |
Video settings
Input settings
Audio settings
- IndirectSound copied to the game directory can be used to enhance audio quality and spatialization. Consider also enabling enhanced stereo mode in game options.
Localizations
- Some regions do not include all languages; see Change game language.
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | GDFBinary_en_US.dll , en_US |
|||
Traditional Chinese | ||||
Czech | GDFBinary_cs_CZ.dll , cs_CZ |
|||
French | GDFBinary_fr_FR.dll , fr_FR |
|||
German | GDFBinary_de_DE.dll , de_DE |
|||
Italian | GDFBinary_it_IT.dll , it_IT |
|||
Japanese | GDFBinary_ja_JP.dll , ja_JP |
|||
Korean | ||||
Polish | GDFBinary_pl_PL.dll , pl_PL |
|||
Russian | ||||
Spanish | GDFBinary_es_ES.dll , es_ES |
Change game language
Instructions[citation needed] |
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Or follow these steps:
|
Network
- Update PunkBuster using the PBSetup utility to fix most issues.
Multiplayer types
Type | Native | Players | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
LAN play | ||||
Online play | 64 |
Connection types
Type | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
Matchmaking | May not be reliable. | |
Peer-to-peer | ||
Dedicated | ||
Self-hosting | Servers must be rented from approved providers. | |
Direct IP |
Ports
Protocol | Port(s) and/or port range(s) |
---|---|
TCP | 80, 443, 9988, 17502, 20000-20100, 22990, 42127 |
UDP | 3659, 14000-14016, 22990-23006, 25200-25300 |
- Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.
VR support
3D modes | State | GG3D | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Native 3D | ||||
Nvidia 3D Vision | ||||
TriDef 3D | ||||
iZ3D | ||||
vorpX | G3D Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list. |
Issues fixed
"Game disconnected: something went wrong" error
Replay Mission[citation needed] |
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Notes
|
"Battlefield 3 has stopped working" error
Find PROF_SAVE_body[citation needed] |
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|
Game crashes with a sound loop using an ASUS Xonar sound-card
Disable GX Mode[citation needed] |
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|
Crashes on 32-bit Windows
Increase user-mode virtual address space to 2500MB[4] |
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Nvidia GeForce GTX 500-series freezing or displaying bad graphics
Turn off various options, etc[citation needed] |
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|
Black screen (AMD/ATI)
Edit PROF_SAVE_profile[citation needed] |
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|
Origin error - "Could not activate"
Delete License files[5] |
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|
Weak performance on Intel Core i3/i5/i7 CPUs (especially Laptops)
Deactivate Intel TurboBoost using this trick[citation needed] |
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|
PunkBuster kicked player 'xxx' (for 0 minutes) ... No Packet Flow
Dual WAN router - use one WAN for both BF3 and PunkBuster[citation needed] |
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|
Cannot go FullScreen
Uninstall or disable TeamViewer's virtual graphics adapter[6] |
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This bug has three or more possible causes: TeamViewer If you have TeamViewer installed:
Virtual graphics adapters are commonly used for remote viewing apps, so check with your app provider or check the Device Manager in Windows:
Hybrid Graphics If you have a laptop with hybrid graphics (integrated graphics + discrete graphics) that are programmed to switch on and off depending on when a game is running, do these steps:
nVidia Scaling If you have an nVidia GPU and none of the other criteria are met, follow these instructions:
|
Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
Direct3D | 11 | |
Shader Model support | 5 |
Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Windows |
Middleware
Middleware | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Anti-cheat | PunkBuster |
Console commands
- Launch console with ~.
- You can have these commands run automatically, whenever you start the game, by entering them in
user.cfg
in the Battlefield 3 installation folder (the file won't exist by default, you can create it through Notepad and save as a .cfg file).
Command | Description |
---|---|
Render.DrawFps 1 | Show FPS counter |
Render.PerfOverlayVisible 1 | Show performance graph |
GameTime.MaxVariableFPS # | Limit frame rate (where # is a positive number) |
RenderDevice.TripleBufferingEnable 1 | Enable Triple-Buffering (only recommended if Vsync is on) |
RenderDevice.RenderAheadLimit 1 | Force rendering only 1 frame ahead (may remove stutter, default value is 3) |
Screenshot.Render | Take a screenshot (into %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Battlefield 3\Screenshots\ ) |
System requirements
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | Vista SP2 32-bit | 7 64-bit |
Processor (CPU) | AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz |
Quad-core |
System memory (RAM) | 2 GB | 4 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 20 GB | |
Video card (GPU) | ATI Radeon 3870 Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 10.1 compatible | ATI Radeon 6950 Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 1024 MB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible |
Sound (audio device) | DirectX Compatible |
References
- ↑ Visceral Games developed Battlefield 3: End Game DLC - Battlefield Hardline - last accessed on 2016-5-9
- ↑ Battlefield 3 Tweak Guide | GeForce
- ↑ NoFaTe's Awesome Blog » Playing Origin games without Origin
- ↑ ***CRASH PROBLEM - Battlelog / Battlefield 3 Forums
- ↑ I need help now code - Forums - Battlelog / Battlefield 3
- ↑ can't fullscreen / Battlefield 3