Battlefield 2

Battlefield 2

Developers
	DICE
Special Forces	DICE Canada
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Engines
	Refractor 2
Release dates
Windows	June 21, 2005
Reception
Metacritic	91
IGDB	93
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, FPS
Vehicles	Automobile, Flight, Helicopter, Naval/watercraft, Tank, Transport, Truck
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Contemporary
Series	Battlefield

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Battlefield 2 is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action and FPS game in the Battlefield series.

The game received a major expansion pack, Special Forces, in November 2005, and two booster packs, Euro Force and Armored Fury in March and June 2006, respectively. The two booster packs were integrated and made available for free to all owners of the base game with patch 1.50 in September 2009.

The official GameSpy servers were shut down in 2014. The Revive community offered a custom master server, but in late 2017, after a legal notice from publisher Electronic Arts forbade the distribution of game ISOs, the service was shut down. BF2Hub took over shortly thereafter and is operational as of October 2023.

In addition to server lookup, some users may find issues with mouse skipping/stuttering for which there is no known fix, as well as compatibility issues with multi-core processors and potential rendering issues.

General information

Battlefield 2 hub on Planet Battlefield

The Battlefield series on Battlelog - PC section.

EA Answers HQ

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc v3 DRM - Removed by the official 1.50 patch. Can be redeemed on Origin through the EA Support.
Origin (unavailable)
Steam (unavailable)		Complete Collection

Version differences

Disc-based versions require a CD-key which has to be typed in when installing. Individual CD keys are required for each expansion, except for the Complete Collection as mentioned below.

The Complete Collection includes the expansion pack Special Forces, along with the two booster packs Armored Fury and Euro Forces. Only one CD key is available for all the expansions.

Monetization

Type	Notes
Expansion pack	The major expansion pack includes a separate set of maps featuring different gameplay. The minor booster packs include new standard multiplayer maps, factions, vehicles, infantry gear and awards. Initially a separate purchase, booster packs were integrated with the official 1.50 patch.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Armored Fury	Included in the 1.50 patch and the Complete Collection
Euro Force	Included in the 1.50 patch and the Complete Collection
Special Forces	Included in the Complete Collection.

Essential improvements

Patches

The Origin and Steam versions are already patched.

Patch 1.41

Includes a new map, fixes bugs and exploits.

Includes prior patches.

The retail version of the Complete Collection is on this version.

Patch 1.50

Version 1.41 has to be installed beforehand.

Removes the disc check DRM and adds widescreen support.

Includes the Armored Fury and Euro Forces expansions for free.

Patch 1.50 Hotfix

Fixes a crash issue when using Alt+Tab ↹ to switch to desktop.

Online play support

The BF2Hub client allows the game to be played online after the shutdown of the GameSpy online service.

Download and install the BF2Hub client
Notes Changes done by the client can be reverted at any time. Includes fixes for crashes on startup.

PunkBuster updates

Support for the anti-cheat software PunkBuster in BF2 has been discontinued by Evenbalance.

Update PunkBuster manually
Make sure the PunkBuster service is installed and working properly by using the PunkBuster Service Installer (pbsvc). A reboot is required if it is installed for the first time. Download the PunkBuster files for Battlefield 2. Extract the contents to <path-to-game>\pb\, overwriting any older files. Enable PunkBuster in-game in the lower right corner of the server browser.

Skip intro videos

Use the +restart command line argument

Game data

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles\<user-id>\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/24860/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Origin
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See Widescreen resolution. Use BF2 HUD fix if experiencing a stretched HUD.
Multi-monitor			Use Widescreen Fixer and BF2 HUD fix if experiencing a stretched HUD.
Ultra-widescreen			Use Widescreen Fixer for FOV adjustment and BF2 HUD fix if experiencing a stretched HUD.
4K Ultra HD			See Widescreen resolution. Use BF2 HUD fix if experiencing a stretched HUD.
Field of view (FOV)		Use Widescreen Fixer.
Windowed		See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Labeled as "Texture filtering", High is 4x.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 8x MSAA. SGSSAA available on Nvidia systems with flag 0x40000000.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Add renderer.vsync 1 to GameLogicInit.con, otherwise if forcing through driver control panel does not work, use D3DOverrider instead.
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Capped at 100 FPS. See High frame rate, which may also fix crashes on high refresh rate displays.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Widescreen resolution

Included in version 1.5 of Battlefield 2.

Use the +szx 1920 +szy 1080 +menu 1 +widescreen 1 command line arguments

Windowed

Use the +fullscreen 0 command line argument

Use +wx (number) and +wy (number) command line arguments to position the window

High frame rate

Use console command

Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles\Default\Video.con in a text editor and change the 60 in VideoSettings.setResolution 800x600@60 to the display's refresh rate. In-game, press ~ and the command console will appear. Type Game.LockFps XX where XX is the desired frame rate (e.g. Game.LockFps 0). Press ↵ Enter to activate the console command and press ~ again to close the console. Notes This data can also be put into Global.con in the profiles folder (needs write protection).

Ambient occlusion (HBAO)

The inspector tool.

Use Nvidia Inspector tool
Download the NVIDIA Inspector Tool. Extract the files to any new folder. Open nvidiaprofileinspector.exe. From the drop down list next to Profiles select Battlefield 2. Select the Ambient Occlusion compatibility line. Set SettingValue to 0x00000003 (Fallout 3) from the drop down menu. Notes This tweak might not work with the previous 1.4 patch.

DirectX API Wrappers

Some modern Windows systems may experience glitches or crashes with old DirectX games. Some have had success with the following DirectX wrappers. They are usually installed by extracting override DLLs alongside the game EXE file in the game installation folder.

1. DirectX to OpenGL: WineD3D for Windows

Input

In-game general control settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		Forced heavy mouse acceleration. Heavy mouse stutter on X axis.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Mouse look can't be mapped to analog stick.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		Missing from Windows Vista and onward. See Surround sound.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		EAX 2, EAX 5 (via OpenAL)
Royalty free audio

Surround sound

Only Creative X-Fi cards support surround sound by selecting Creative X-Fi as audio renderer in the in-game audio settings. This may lead to game crashes however.

Replace OpenAL files

Launch the game and set the audio renderer to Hardware. Go to <path-to-game> and create a backup of the file BF2OpenAL.dll. Install OpenAL. Copy the file OpenAL32.dll from %WINDIR%\SysWOW64 (when using a 64-bit OS) or %WINDIR%\System32 (32-bit OS) to <path-to-game> and rename it to BF2OpenAL.dll. Download and extract OpenAL Soft to a temporary folder and copy the file soft_oal.dll from inside bin\Win32 to <path-to-game>.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Traditional Chinese
Dutch
French
German
Hungarian				Fan translation, for base game and 'Euro Forces', for 'Special Forces'.
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Russian				Fan translation - download
Spanish
Swedish
Thai

Network

Servers can optionally use PunkBuster anti-cheat protection.

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		64	Versus, Co-op
Online play		64	Versus, Co-op The official GameSpy service has been shut down; see Online play support.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting		Dedicated server software available for Windows and Linux.
Direct IP		In-game via Connect to IP or through the +joinServer parameter.

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	80,1024-1124,4711,27900,29900,29901
UDP	1024-1124,1500-4999,16567,27900,27901,28910,29900,55123-55125

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

In-game Novint Falcon settings.

3D modes	State	Notes
Native 3D
Nvidia 3D Vision
TriDef 3D
iZ3D
vorpX		G3D User created, see profile introdution.

Devices
Novint Falcon		Requires Patch 1.50.

Issues unresolved

Mouse skipping/stutter

Battlefield 2 suffers from mouse skipping and acceleration when standing still and looking left/right. Skipping will not occur if moving forwards/backwards but will when strafing left/right.

There is no known fix for this.

Issues fixed

TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game.

Newer version already installed

Download and install Patch 1.41 before 1.5

Can't find install folder

Patch 1.41 won't install ("Can't find install folder")
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Electronic Arts\EA Games\Battlefield 2. Create a new string by right clicking in the folder and select New > String Value, label this string InstallDir. Right-Click, Modify the string, and in the Data Value field, input the installation folder (e.g. G:\Battlefield 2).

Game crashes often

Disable desktop composition for bf2.exe

Set core affinity for bf2.exe to one core

Game crashes to desktop at launch

Set frame rate in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles\Default\Video.con to match the display's refresh rate; see High frame rate[citation needed]

Game crashes when entering a game

Multiple input audio devices can lead to a crash when entering a game. Remove all input devices like Bluetooth headsets the one.

If the game crashes to the desktop entering a LAN game, try randomizing the key with https://github.com/art567/bf2keyman/releases.

X-Fi related sound issues

On 64-bit Windows 7 systems with a Creative X-Fi sound card, severe audio corruption or crashes may occur when running under X-Fi Audio Mode and Ultra sound quality.

Reduce sound quality to high or change it to hardware mode

Some maps fail to include the file Sounds.con which leads to broken EAX on X-Fi hardware and the X-Fi MB3 virtual sound card (see <path-to-game>\mods\bf2\Levels\Dragon_Valley\server.zip\Sounds.con). This file contains the line sound.setReverb "common/sound/levelambients/Openlandscape.eax" ("City.eax" for some maps).

Extract Sounds.con from a map's server.zip file and put in maps that do not have it

Invalid CD Key

Some people get kicked from every game with an "Invalid CDKey" message. This also happens with the Steam version, where the key is bound to be correct anyway.

There is a thread on the Steam forums containing some fixes for this. To manually resolve this issue, see this guide from EA.

Rendering issues

Certain graphics card drivers cause visual issues with the game. These include black terrain and/or models, objects, black spots on map, and more.

Set "Terrain" quality to low

Download updated shader ".fx" files
Download a new "shaders_client.zip". Go to <path-to-game>\mods\bf2, make a backup of shaders_client.zip and replace it with the downloaded file. Delete the cache folder in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Battlefield 2\mods\bf2. This will force Battlefield 2 to recompile the shaders. Notes Applying this fix will not allow the game to be played on PunkBuster-protected servers.

Connecting to account server takes a long time

Delete server history
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open General.con with a text editor. Delete all lines starting with GeneralSettings.addServerHistory.

Fix stretched HUD in widescreen resolutions

Use "BF2 HUD fix" by marekzajac97

Download the latest release. Make backup copies of Battlefield 2\bf2.exe and <path-to-game>\mods\bf2\Menu_server.zip. Open the zip file, and copy hudfix.dll, BF2.exe and hud_config.txt to <path-to-game>. Copy the contents of the Menu_server folder within the zip file into <path-to-game>\mods\bf2\Menu_server.zip. Notes Only supports patch 1.50. As this includes a modified bf2.exe, consider using a DLL injector to create a custom patched executable.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0b
Shader Model support	1.4

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	OpenAL, Speex
Cutscenes	Bink Video, Swiff Player
Multiplayer	GameSpy
Anti-cheat	PunkBuster

Automatic login

Use the Command line argument +playerName YourName +playerPassword YourPassword
Notes It might be necessary to login at least once. The command and login data is case-sensitive. Doesn't work on offline accounts.

Mods

• Mod DB landing page for Battlefield 2
• Battlefield Singleplayer Forum

Forgotten Hope 2

Forgotten Hope 2 is an award-winning World War II mod for Battlefield 2, covering all aspects of land, air and sea combat, with a focus on realism and historic accuracy.

Project Reality

Project Reality reworks Battlefield 2 to create the most realistic and demanding virtual combat environment for PC gamers possible. Does not require BF2 to be installed.

Allied Intent Xtended

AIX aims to deliver an amazing array of content which is 100% bot compatible for use in single player and coop game modes.

Heat of Battle: RUSH

Heat of Battle is a BF2 mod focused on delivering top-tier animation, sound, and lighting, as well as fast-paced, intense gameplay to make it more in-pair with modern releases in the series. Does not require BF2 to be installed.

MoRoZ Rebalance MOD

MoRoZ Rebalance is a mod that rebalance various aspects of the single player game, already added and is compatible with all the maps from Special Forces expansion as well as extra maps from Point of Existence mod which also added Russian factions. Weapon kits are also rebalanced, notably the PLA which has now the correct weapons for each class.

BF2:Sandbox

Sandbox is a mod that lets players use the BF2 engine to build structures, set up racetracks, ramps, and much much more. This is all done from an easy Command Rose interface in-game.

Eve of Destruction 2

Based on the Vietnam war, it features a variety of weapons, over 40 brand new vehicles and diverse maps ranging from dense jungles to overgrown rice paddies.

Battlefield 1943

A recreation of the console exclusive game.

High Definition User Interface

The main goal is to improve original UI include Fonts, minimap icons, crosshairs etc. while still keeping the original look of the game.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 1.7 GHz AMD Athlon XP equivalent	Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon XP equivalent
System memory (RAM)	512 MB	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2.3 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce FX 5700 ATI Radeon 9500 128 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0b compatible	256 MB of VRAM