Battlefield 2 patched to 1.3

By Tom Bramwell Published 5 October, 2005

Wake Island map, new features.

EA and DICE have released patch version 1.3 for Battlefield 2, which takes care of a number of bug fixes and gameplay tweaks (for details of which we'll refer you to the readme.txt) as well as introducing some interface additions and, clearly the highlight, a remake of the Wake Island map from Battlefield 1942.

The patch, weighing in at 165MB, is available now from Eurofiles.

Wake Island has been redone with a 64-player layout and is for multiplayer only. Speaking in one of its community updates on Friday, EA described it as a "modern-era update of one of the most popular maps from BF1942".

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Wake Island... OI! ISLAND!

On top of Wake Island (well, actually next to it, or in orbit around it, or something) are the interface changes. The first is a new server favourites and server history features, which allows you to tag your preferred playgrounds and check back over the last 20 you played in case you want to hop back into familiar territory.

There's also a news page to greet you when you log in now, as well as the facility to compare player stats, set up a reservation list for your server and - about time - add a prefix to your nickname, for example a clan tag.

EA's also trumpeting improved mod support, although on that note EA does advise that there's a known issue with mod auto-activation at the moment which it's in the process of squashing. Basically, if you plan to join a server running a mod, for the time being you need to activate it manually beforehand.

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Darkedge #1 7 years ago

    Finally - and they have tweaked the levels at which you get promotions as well so if you have got some score expect an unlock :D

  • Furbs #2 7 years ago

    Old!! ;)
    Just so you know folks, the offical Eurogamer Battlefield 2 Server has been updated to 1.03. IP address is 195.149.21.74 with no password required.

  • Bezzy #3 7 years ago

    And now that I've seen what's been fixed, I go to the comments to see what's been broken...

    Anyone?

  • Furbs #4 7 years ago

    Most people playing last night seemed pretty pleased with it. Not perfect, but alot welcome changes/additions.
    (Having to dismount to cap works v.well).

  • tonynibbles #5 7 years ago

    Had a great game last night with the patch. Really good. Much better. Plus I've unlocked new weapoins - the support machine gun is T3H PWNARZ!!111!!

  • Bezzy #6 7 years ago

    Whoa. I like the sound of the tank surfing.

    But then, I liked it when people could wing walk in the first and second game.

  • Furbs #7 7 years ago

    By the way Tom, its patched to 1.03. Not 1.3 :p
    /pedant

  • PearOfAnguish #8 7 years ago

    Heat-seeking missiles are teh suck. It's nice that they work now, but I preferred the dumb-fire AA guns in Desert Combat, at least they actually took some skill to use.

  • Bitkari #9 7 years ago

    The best fix was the fact that I was awarded 3 ranks after patching. :]

  • binky #10 7 years ago

    F_S, can you elaborate on your server comment? What sort of probs you getting with GF5 server (other than I'm on there;) )

  • sonmi451 #11 7 years ago

    BF 1942 was my favourite online game. Is BF 2 as good? I wasn't so keen on the desert combat updates on 1942. I preferred the balance of 1942's warfare. Am I right or do I sound like someone who never mastered flying the copters.... ;)

  • Furbs #12 7 years ago

    Just to let you chaps know, there should be a fair few of us on the server from 8pm tonight. Feel free to drop in, but play nice.


    binky, were no probs for me last night, although my VOIP wasnt working. Couldnt hear anyone, even though the icon was flashing. Obviously thats an issue my end though :)

    sonmi, the best part about BF2 is that you now really need to be part of a team to be successful. Its a different experience to BF1942 due to the up to date vehicles and the tighter maps, but it really is an awesome experience.
    Seeing a Blackhawk drop a well balanced squad off to cap a flag whilst a Cobra provides firesupport with F/A-18s screaming over head and your squad mates telling you where targets are over the ingame voicechat is true gaming nirvana.
    Edited by Furbs at 05/10/05 @ 13:36

  • Wobble #13 7 years ago

    played for a couple of hours last night.
    all the new stuff is nice, the new sounds in the vehicles are good, and I love the named cap points.
    the Map for Mashtur city seems to have gone all blurry though, which is weird..

    Not a big fan of the new Wake map, Operation overlord or whatever the other similar map was always my least favorite, shame they didn't do a new city map, as people seem to like those the most anyway.

    Oh and I'm not sure about the 'no TK's for artillery strikes' change, getting really sick of my team battling their way to a flag tooth and nail and just as we finally get there, the flag's going down, our comander kills the lot of us with artillery.
    That happened 3 times in a row one game last night, and the commander 'got off' scott free.

  • Artemus #14 7 years ago

    The city maps are the best. Probably because of the limited vehicle usage and focus on infantry combat. The bigger maps just tend to become tank and helicopter runs.

  • tonynibbles #15 7 years ago

    One of the best maps you can have, imo, is Gulf of Oman on the smallest size but with 64 players.

    Really close range combat and proper trench-style fighting.

  • Furbs #16 7 years ago

    If anyone knows of a mod to remove armour and aircraft from the maps, please let me know :p

  • Artemus #17 7 years ago

    Does anyone else think the anti armour class is rubbish? The anti tank weapon in question is crap. Takes like four shots to blow one up. By which time they've already gunned you down.

  • Furbs #18 7 years ago

    Attacking from behind improves matters, but yeah I agree. Should be 1 shot from the rear or two from the side. Like you say, by the time you've shot, reloaded and shot again the tank usually has locked on and you're dead.

    Tanks need to be afraid of AT rockets. That way they wouldnt be able to just roll in to cap a flag, they'd be used properly with infantry backup and from a distance to keep the enemies heads down.

    Anyone see any improvement in the SAMs? I havent :(

  • Wobble #19 7 years ago

    SAM's seem to move a bit faster, but their 'locking-on-ness' seems just as crap. One very important thing is that they won't go after friendly targets at all now, I managed to fire past a friendly chopper to take out a blackhawk last night, previously i'd never have shot with any friendly craft in view as 50% of the time the rockets would hit whatever they wanted to.

    As far as AT go, aim for the tracks (the actual tread, not the wheels) you can kill a tank in 2 direct tread hits from full health. Someone in one of the BF2 forums did extensive testing and practically every surface of the tank model has different amounts of armour (the treads are the weakest)

    This also applies for tank v tank combat, aim for the treads first, then the wheels or the back (not the back of the turret)

  • Artemus #20 7 years ago

    So have they screwed up the promotions or what? I was just playing a game and everyone went up at least two ranks within a short space of time.

  • Macross #21 7 years ago

    Nah all the promotion boundaries where changed as it was stupidly hard to get to the righer ranks

  • keano #22 7 years ago

    lol the ranks are stupid now i dont play much but im like master gunnery sergant now. it makes the effort u made for tht slightly higher rank or when u see someone with a high rank like staff sergant and u kno they have earned tht rank with the amounts of time and effort they put in, absolutely piontless!

  • Artemus #23 7 years ago

    I agree with Keano. The old system was better as you knew the players had really earned their rank. It seems a bit cheap now with so many Master Sergeant + running around.

  • The Old Bill #24 7 years ago

    I doubt the ranks were done like that intentianaly.

  • Merefield #25 7 years ago

    Yeah, i think they've gone too far lowereing the bars for the ranks, but i believe it in preparation for adding a whole load of officer level ranks

  • Furbs #26 7 years ago

    Tis true. With the ranks as they are now, you cant tell those who have too much time on their hands from those who are actually normal people :)

  • sonmi451 #27 7 years ago

    cheers Furbs. i will purchase soon.

  • Furbs #28 7 years ago

    I would imagine theres still a few demo servers out if you wanted to try before you buy. The map in the demo is one of the best and really gives you a feel for the game.

  • Bezzy #29 7 years ago

    I think the anti tanks are pretty fine, actually. As a tank driver I AM scared of them, because cunning bastards are good at finding inaccessible cover. When I am AT, I only miss not having grenades (and an often pointless sub machinegun), but otherwise, I enjoy trying to out wit the tanks, rather than going face to fucking face with one :)

    Hitting the tracks, as well as the back/underside of the tank does more damage, too. I like to sometimes run straight at a tank, let it roll over me, and shoot AT into its underbelly as it goes over me. Very many damage in tank tummy!