Battlefield 3 Alpha Review

[Stevenxowens792 806]

FIRST... THANK YOU ALEX SIX! I WILL REPAY YOU WHEN THE BF3 LAUNCH HITS.

The Game:

The game itself is a very weird combination of web interface plus back end engine. In truth I don't like the web interface but maybe it's something they have chosen to have it more lite on the front end. The game itself only has 4 settings in game once it's launched. Low, Med, High, Auto. The config file is located at

C:\Users\YOURWINDOWSLOGINID\AppData\Local\BF3\settings

The settings are strange in that if you make even one change and save, it will lock your game completely up. I have tried in game, out of game, auto.

Here are some comparison screenshots taken with FRAPS. Stock Clocks, No OC. Each on Low, Medium, High, Auto

Here are more screenshots taken with FRAPS. GPU @ 750/1000. Each on Low, Medium, High, Auto

More screenshots taken with FRAPS. GPU @ 750/1000. Each on Low, Medium, High, Auto

More screenshots taken with FRAPS. GPU @ 750/1000. Each on Low, Medium, High, Auto

Here are screenshots of the actual configs on each setting level. Notice that even on lower settings that Ambient Occlusion is enabled. This alone will cause major impact to game performance. Again Low, Med, High then Auto.

(Thoughts.. I am wondering if the config options are in mem **a lot like ATI driver settings** and rather than config file modifications we need a tool to modify the settings in memory)

The config file is located at

C:\Users\YOURWINDOWSLOGINID\AppData\Local\BF3\settings

PROF_SAVE_body

I played for many sessions (and on/off a few more). I stayed above 30fps for 95 percent of the time and up to 45fps during the outside maps. If Dice allows the ability to disable the ambient occlusion and AA we should easily be able to stay above 35-40fps even during the most intense fire fights IMO. I am very impressed with the game so far. I will post a few screenshots soon to follow. As you can see in the config file theirs really not much to choose from. I was yelling for others to optmize but at this point you really can't do much. I hope BETA allows for better individualization. For M14x Owners, if you get access to the Alpha, you can set it to AUTO, Low or Medium and play. If you set it to HIGH you will most likely see some drops into the 20s. I strongly advise you overclock to at least 750/900 as the screenshots show you its an extra 5 to 6fps for smooth gameplay.

My concerns...

1. Dx9 was not supposed to be supported yet the directx9 source files are included with alpha install and when I run the bf3.exe in compatibility mode as Windows XP it runs. You get a warning at the top of the in the web browser but the game starts and works.

2. Is the game really running in DX10 or DX11? I can run the game without issue in vista sp2 compat mode and dont get an increase in performance.

NEXT UP.. CPU UTILIZATION, GPU UTILIZATION, CORES, and other...

CPU Utilization - i7-2630QM with all 8 threads enabled (parking disabled) hovered anywhere between 40-60percent utilization.

most threads were around 40 percent utilized but overall total it was normally between those numbers. Never at 100 percent.

GPU Utilization - The nvidia 555mGT stays pegged at 99-100 percent the entire match. My temps were normally around 72-74c at all times. The graphics themselves are a step back from BFBC2 it still seems to push the card.

StevenX

Edited August 1, 2011 by Stevenxowens792

[Gearsguy 70]

You got in?

[Brian 1980]

Cool, looking forward to pics + vid if possible.

[coolguystan 3]

wait how did you get in?

[Stevenxowens792 806]

I will add some pics, config differences and performance thoughts later today to original post. I am going to blurt out the names at the upper right so nobody gets in any trouble. Also... I did capture a little video but I dont want to post as it can cause you to be kicked from alpha and beta. So if anyone has ideas on how to blurt the names at the upper right then we can talk about uploading vids...

[coolguystan 3]

How did you get in? I would love to play this.

[Brian 1980]

Edit the video using Sony Vegas and blur out the upper corner but don't bother. Youtube will remove it anyway.

[Stevenxowens792 806]

bump/10char

[svl7 5708]

Great update, thanks Steven! I guess the'll still come up with quite some changes between this alpha and the final version... It looks nice but it's nowhere as great as it should be (if you look at all the hype) Just my opinion...

[coolguystan 3]

Great update, thanks Steven! I guess the'll still come up with quite some changes between this alpha and the final version... It looks nice but it's nowhere as great as it should be (if you look at all the hype) Just my opinion...

Yeah I agree. I does look worse than bbc2. It is in alpha though.

[Ninjahunter 105]

Nice analysis/review. I felt a little queesy when i saw the screens but this is pretty good for alpha i guess. betas where the real shine comes in.

[Alex Six 12]

the alpha is only Dx9 so we are not even close to teh power of the Dx11 the game will push out.

[svl7 5708]

the alpha is only Dx9 so we are not even close to teh power of the Dx11 the game will push out.

Really? Must've missed this information... this would explain a lot, also it makes sense since it's still alpha. But this would also mean that there will be a huge drop in fps once everything runs at DX11.

And just a little thought... the game developers are always on a very tight schedule. Recently a lot of games (major titles) were scheduled too tightly, which resulted in delayed or crippled releases.

I'm taking for example about the poor story of Black Ops (which was almost unplayable at the beginning and had literally required to be patched up) and Crysis 2, where they simply left out some main features, namely DX11 support. These games were release in an incomplete state, the DX11 patch for Crysis2 was "nice" of course, but it doesn't change the fact, that this should've been there from the very beginning, everything else is just very poor business and inacceptable in my opinion.

I really hope that DICE manages to finish BF3 completely before the scheduled release date, I can't stand buying a such expensive game just to realize that half of the expected features are missing.

[Alex Six 12]

i agree. but this is alpha there is ALOT of optimization that has to be done to the game. im sure we will be albe to run this game on high (for the most part)

the game works, and from my time playing the game has a LONG way to go in terms of optimizing. i can compare the graphics of the alpha to... perhaps a beta of mw2? NOT teh game play of course.

the graphics HAVE a long way to go as well but again this is only Dx9.

as for Dx11 im sure i read and heard somewhere that it will ship with Dx11. (as this game is made for Pc then ported to Xbx/ps3)

[Guest Charismaztex]

Improvement in technology can also be seen from the increase in graphics on current hardware. For example bfbc2 still looks pretty good albeit at a slightly lower resolution running on my old 8800gts 320MB; the same with Crysis 2. I hope we can run this on high settings eventually on the gt555.

[Stevenxowens792 806]

Video shows one of the big problems with alpha so far...

[HTWingNut 95]

Cool beans! Thanks StevenX. Everyone has to remember that this is Alpha code so lots of improvements are yet to come. But if Alpha you can stay above 30 fps that's a great sign. And lolz, my video

[svl7 5708]

Take a look at this, lmao, this should become a mod for BF3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr8MmGTsj0I

Translation:

When the thousandth grenade is thrown...

When you're tired and weary from the battle...

Then...

it's time for some...

BATTLEFIELD HOLIDAY FUN