Battlefield 3 Tweaks

     Given that our first podcast is going to be on Battlefield 3, I thought it would be a good idea to post this article on BF3 tweaks and tips.  BF3 seems to be a little pickier than its predecessors. There are three items you need to look at when it comes to how BF3 will play.  CPU, Video, and RAM. Then again, this is what you look at for any game you play.  First, if you are running anything less than a Dual Core 2.7 GHz, forget about the game because you will not be able to play it. It’s recommended to be using at least a 4 core CPU. Minimum requirements are a Dual Core 2.4 or 2.7 GHz CPU.  Second is your video card which may be even more important than the CPU.  Again minimum requirements are a card with at least 512 MB of RAM. ATI Radeon 3000 or better or Nvidia GeForce 8 or better. As for your RAM minimum requirements is 2 Gigs.  Again everything above is minimum, which means you could play the game on Ultra LOW settings. What I would recommend is an I7 or some other Quad Core CPU. Nvidia GTX 560 or equivalent, and at least 6+ Gig’s RAM. 

     Now there are a few things you can play with to try and improve your performance.  PhysX for example is something you can tweak. What is being used to process PhysX?  GPU or CPU? By default Windows with an Nvidia card will set this to Auto-Select.  If you are running an I7 CPU and an older video card, set this to have the CPU handle the PhysX. 

 
Another setting you can look at is in your 3D settings.  Nvidia has a Threaded optimization setting that BF3 doesn’t seem to take advantage of. I had to manually turn this on and it reduced my load times dramatically between maps.
 

     If you are getting some jumpiness within the game try turning off Motion Blur. This can tax the PhysX CPU/GPU depending on what you are using.  One of the issues that I and many others complain about is the fact that you can’t mess with Display setting until you are in game, alive.  Meaning that if you get into a game and die you cannot tweak your setting until you respawn. Don’t ask me why Dice decided that was an effective way to manage game settings. You would figure you would want to mess with settings while you are dead. Dice, Really? 
     There is however another option you can try when it comes to changing you BF3 settings.  This other option is a 3rd party app called Battlefield 3 Settings Editor by Realmware.  Its function is in the name.  This app allows you to tweak the crap out of the game without ever launching it.  Of course you have no idea what your changes will do until you get in the game, but still this is a great tool that you can use to perfect the settings without worrying about finding a corner to hid e in.  An added benefit to using this application is you actually get access to more settings than what’s available in the game.  It will also backup your configuration just in case you need to go back.
 
You can get this little gem from http://bf3.realmware.co.uk/. 

     Some other settings that you may want to look at.  If you are using a 5.1 or 7.1 sound setup make sure you disable enhanced stereo.  This will enable the surround sound in the game which is the icing on the BF3 game.  Another tip, do you use a joystick for flying and hate the fact that when you jump into a Jeep it takes off because your throttle on your joystick is up? All you need to do is un-bind your joystick to land vehicles. I would also make sure that it’s not bound to infantry as well.
     Be sure that before you make any changes you get at least a backup of your config.  Also keep track of your changes and do the adjustments in stages so you can have an idea if you are making things better or worse.  Be sure to find out what version you are on with your video card driver. Write that down before you update it just in case you need to go back.  Remember, BF3 is a very picky game. Sometimes just by starting the game it will crash for no reason. Dice, FIX THIS!  Other tips can be found on your video cards manufacture site that may also help.  Hopefully a few of these changes will help you out and give you a better experience with BF3.  If you still have questions or would like to add to this guide be sure to post on the forums and we would love to add it or help out if you have questions.

Other helpful links
Nvidia GeForce http://www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guides/stable-gaming
Another site for tweaks is www.tweakguides.com

Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows Vista (Service Pack 2) 32-Bit
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core (Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHZ or Althon X2 2.7 GHz)
Memory: 2 GB
Hard Drive: 20 GB
Graphics Card (AMD): DirectX 10.1 compatible with 512 MB RAM (ATI RADEON 3000, 4000, 5000 OR 6000 series, with ATI RADEON 3870 or higher performance)
Graphics Card (NVIDIA): DirectX 10.0 compatible with 512 MB RAM (NVIDIA GEFORCE 8, 9, 200, 300, 400 OR 500 series with NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800 GT or higher performance)
Sound card : DirectX compatible
Keyboard and Mouse
DVD ROM Drive

Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows 7 64-Bit
Processor: Quad-Core CPU
Memory: 4 GB
Hard Drive: 20 GB
Graphics Card: DirectX 11 compatible with 1024 MB RAM (NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 or ATI RADEON 6950)
Sound Card: DirectX compatible
Keyboard and Mouse
DVD ROM Drive