Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3

Developers
	DICE
End Game	Visceral Games
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Engines
	Frostbite 2
Release dates
Windows	October 25, 2011
Reception
Metacritic	89
IGDB	85
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions	Boost
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, FPS, Shooter
Vehicles	Automobile, Flight, Helicopter, Naval/watercraft, Tank, Transport, Truck
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Contemporary
Series	Battlefield

Battlefield 3 is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action, FPS and shooter game in the Battlefield series.

The PC version features 64 player multiplayer, unlike the console versions which support up to a maximum of 24 players only.

General information

Official forums

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Executable on disk contains SecuROM DRM Release Control
Amazon.co.uk
Microsoft Store		Premium Edition. Included exclusively with Xbox Game Pass for PC as part of its version of EA Play.
Origin		Included with EA Play.
Steam		Premium Edition. Included with EA Play (Steam).
Amazon.com		Premium Edition also available.
(unavailable)		Premium Edition also available.
Green Man Gaming (unavailable)
Humble Store (unavailable)

All versions require Origin DRM.

Monetization

Type	Notes
DLC	Additional content.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Available via 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]
Open the console (~). Input either WorldRender.DxDeferredCsPathEnable false or DxDeferredCsPathEnable 0 Notes You can create a text file called user.cfg in the installation folder containing this command, so that it's permanently enabled.

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.

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
Look in the installation folder for a file with .par extension Upload it to NoFaTe's Origin Requirement Remover Replace the original file with the one returned from the procedure.

Game data

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Battlefield 3\settings\
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1238820/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Battlefield 3\settings\
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1238820/pfx/

meta.xml, PROF_SAVE_body, PROF_SAVE_header and PROF_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.
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD			In-game UI elements scales poorly with resolutions larger than 1280 pixels wide, making them too small in very high resolutions.
Field of view (FOV)		Between 60° and 90°; for higher settings use BF3 Settings Editor or Flawless Widescreen or Widescreen Fixer. Can also be edited directly in the PROF_SAVE_profile file in the config folder.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use -noBorder as a shortcut parameter or use BF3 Borderless.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Up to 16 samples.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Low to High Post AA and 2x or 4x MSAA options. MSAA can be enhanced with TrSSAA on Nvidia systems; requires setting Antialiasing - Behavior Flags to none with Nvidia Profile Inspector and value must equal MSAA value (thus 8x is not available).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Color blind mode

Input

In-game control settings.

In-game key/button map settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Quick Time Events keys cannot be rebound from the default layout.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		In-game prompts refer to mouse and keyboard keys. Quick Time Events can only function using a keyboard and mouse.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Tracked motion controllers		Razer Hydra works with Sixense MotionCreator bundled profile.
Button/gesture prompts

Generic/other controllers

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		Up to 5.1
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

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
Hungarian				Fan translation, link #1, link #2.
Italian				GDFBinary_it_IT.dll, it_IT
Japanese				GDFBinary_ja_JP.dll, ja_JP
Korean
Polish				GDFBinary_pl_PL.dll, pl_PL
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation.
Russian
Spanish				GDFBinary_es_ES.dll, es_ES

Change game language

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Electronic Arts\Battlefield 3

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Origin Games\DGR01609244

Instructions[citation needed]

If you've purchased a foreign version of the game and would like to play it in English, you can either download a complete package: Download the complete package here. Or follow these steps: Download the BF3 Language Pack and extract the files to <path-to-game>\Data\Win32\Loc\. Download the second BF3 Language Pack for the 5 March 2013 patch and extract the files to <path-to-game>\. Download the December patch archive and extract only the "en.toc" file from Update\Patch\Data\Win32\Loc\ in the archive to <path-to-game>\Data\Win32\Loc\ Update this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Electronic Arts\Battlefield 3 Update this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Origin Games\DGR01609244 Replace the circled keys (to the right on this page) with those provided above.

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 (archive.org).
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			AMD HD3D
Nvidia 3D Vision
TriDef 3D
iZ3D
vorpX		G3D Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Devices
Novint Falcon

Issues fixed

"Game disconnected: something went wrong" error

Replay Mission[citation needed]
From the main menu, select Replay Missions. Select the mission you would like to continue from. Notes This will overwrite your latest checkpoint.

"You are not allowed to login to Battlelog" error

See Games activation or login fail despite owning them

"Battlefield 3 has stopped working" error

Find PROF_SAVE_body[citation needed]
Go to the save game data location. Find a file called PROF_SAVE_body. If its size is 0KB, it is corrupted. Overwrite the file through re-installation or get a replacement from a verified source (friend, reputable website). If prompted by Origin, opt to use your local data instead of the version stored on the cloud.

Game crashes when trying to open video settings

Avoid non-standard refresh rates
Download Custom Resolution Utility and run it. Open for edit the detailed resolution(s). Set a 60.000 Hz frequency to them. Save and restart your GPU drivers or PC.

Game crashes with a sound loop using an ASUS Xonar sound-card

Disable GX Mode[citation needed]
Open the Xonar Audio Center. Disable GX Mode.

Crashes on 32-bit Windows

Increase user-mode virtual address space to 2500MB

Nvidia GeForce GTX 500-series freezing or displaying bad graphics

Turn off various options, etc[citation needed]
Turn off Antialiasing Deferred, Vertical Sync and Motion Blur in the options menu. Close overclocking and/or monitoring software such as RivaTuner. In the Nvidia Control Panel, set Power management mode to Prefer maximum performance. Uninstall TeamViewer and any associated drivers and services. Uninstall or disable FFSplit.

Black screen (AMD/ATI)

Edit PROF_SAVE_profile[citation needed]

Go to the save game data location. Edit the file PROF_SAVE_profile using Notepad. Modify the entry GstRender.FullscreenEnabled to 0 Modify the entry GstRender.FullscreenScreen to 1 Save the file, then change its properties to Read only. Launch the game. Go to the Video menu in the options menu. Change the undefined monitor number to 1 Modify the screen resolution option to a resolution lower than your normal/native resolution. Modify Fullscreen to ON. Apply the changes.

Origin error - "Could not activate"

Delete License files
Close Origin (right click tray symbol > Exit) Go to %PROGRAMDATA%\Electronic Arts\EA Services\License Delete any files named 71067.dlf, 70619 or 70169.dlf Go to %PROGRAMDATA%\Origin\DownloadCache Delete all of the files in this folder Restart your computer and launch Origin Log into your Origin account and launch Battlefield 3 to force a license update

Weak performance on Intel Core i3/i5/i7 CPUs (especially Laptops)

Deactivate Intel TurboBoost using this trick[citation needed]

Open Control Panel-> Power Options → Change Plan Settings (on current plan) → Change advanced power settings On Processor power management change the maximum CPU usage to 99% instead of 100%. This will disable TurboBoost, which is the reason for weird performance issues in connection with Battlefield 3. ATTENTION: You might also have to turn down minimum CPU usage if it is set to 100% (eg Max performance mode often has this). Also your performance will get steadier with both minimum and maximum settings set to 99%, but at the cost of battery life.

PunkBuster kicked player 'xxx' (for 0 minutes) ... No Packet Flow

Update PunkBuster manually[citation needed]
Close Battlefield 3, and ensure PnkBstrA.exe and PnkBstrB.exe aren't running in Task Manager. Download and run the PunkBuster Setup utility (PBsetup.exe) Once you see the main PBSetup window, click "Add a Game" and select and add Battlefield 3. It's install path should be automatically determined through the Windows registry.

Dual WAN router - use one WAN for both BF3 and PunkBuster[citation needed]
Find the user manual for your router Route all connections to/from your PC through one WAN connection You may need to restart your router/ your PC

Cannot go FullScreen

Identify the cause below

This bug has three or more possible causes: TeamViewer If you have TeamViewer installed: Uninstall TeamViewer, or Disable its virtual graphics adapter when playing BF3, following step 4 below: Virtual graphics adapters are commonly used for remote viewing apps, so check with your app provider or check the Device Manager in Windows: Click Start and search for Device Manager, or type Windows-key + R and then type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter Look under Display adapters to verify that you have a virtual adapter installed To disable the adapter, right click on it, and select Disable device 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: Right click on desktop and run Graphics Properties Click on the Power tab Click on Switchable Graphics Method Click on Select the graphics processor manually based on power source nVidia Scaling If you have an nVidia GPU and none of the other criteria are met, follow these instructions: Right click on Desktop and click NVIDIA Control Panel Click on Adjust Desktop Size and Position under the Display section Click on the Scaling tab Set the scaling mode to Full-screen

Mouse not working in game, even if it works in the menus

Disable the Origin in-game overlay
Open Origin Go to Application Settings Disable Origin In-Game

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11	Can be run on DX10 hardware with limited features. For Windows Vista - the DX11 update (KB971512) must be installed
Shader Model support	5

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Interface	Qt
Multiplayer	Origin	Blaze backend
Anti-cheat	PunkBuster

Uses the Enlighten middleware for Global Illumination.

Playing on Venice Unleashed

Venice Unleashed is an alternate launcher for Battlefield 3. It is separate from Battlelog and can be used alongside it.

Installing Venice Unleashed
Sign up for a Venice Unleashed account and download the client. Log in with your Venice Unleashed Account.

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.ForceRenderAheadLimit 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 with KB971512 update	7 64-bit
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHz	Quad-core
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	20 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 3870 Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 10.1 compatible	AMD Radeon HD 6950 Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 1 GB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible
Sound (audio device)	DirectX compatible