BF2 v1.50 Patch: more info

[[RC]Hunter]

After nearly a year of development and three public beta tests Battlefield 2 v1.50 is ready for release. The update will be released on Tuesday 1st September at 5pm UK, 6pm Europe. Stay tuned for release announcement in the near future!

As part of Update 1.50 we are glad to announce that not only is Highway Tampa now a required install included in the update but Euro Forces (Great Wall, Taraba Quarry and Operation Smoke Screen) and Armored Fury (Midnight Sun, Operation Harvest and Operation Road Rage) is now FREE for all Battlefield 2 players. Including the brand new map, Operation Blue Pearl this brings EIGHT new maps that everyone can play and will be added to ranked Battlefield 2 servers world wide. The Booster Pack content is included in the update and has made the file just over 2Gb in size.

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Server providers around the world will have access to the client file so find your closest host for best download speeds. To install Battlefield 2 Update v1.50 you must have Battlefield 2 updated to version 1.41 or Battlefield 2 Complete Collection from EA Store installed. Thank you to all of the EAUK Forums (http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-2/) members who have given feedback and requests during the development of this update. The full change log for Update 1.50 is as follows:


Features Gameplay Tweaks Bug Fixes

- Additional support for Windows Vista.
- Changes made to both the J10 and F35B to make them more balanced.
- Fixed the issue where picking up a players kit would cause CTD
- Added Highway Tampa as a required map.
- AA targeting tweaked to make it more effective.
- Updated BF2OpenAL.dll from version 1.1.1.0 to version 2.1.8.1
- Added a new map called Operation Blue Pearl.
- Added checks to prevent "runway grieving".
- Updated ch_gas_station collision mesh on Dragon Valley to be consistent with other gas station buildings
- Added Euro Force and Armored Fury as free to play content for all Battlefield 2 players.
- Various changes made to prevent cheating.
- Fixed the issue where MEC artillery piece on Operation Clean Sweep changes to the USMC's control when they capture the Airfield flag
- Added Widescreen support
- Tweaked the hit detection, hits will be more accurate to the model.
- Updated the Challenger2 HUD to show the correct icon instead of the M1A2 HUD icon
- Allowed BF2.exe to use more than 2Gb RAM
- Occasional connection drops after being on a server a couple of minutes - Fixed
- Changed a PLA FAV to MEC FAV on Road to Jalalabad
- Added support for the Novint Falcon controller (http://www.novint.com).
- Prevented use of mouse wheel to provide speed boost to vehicles
- Tweaked the artillery respawn time on Dragon Valley for to 360 seconds as other artillery uses
- Prevented use of mouse wheel to exploit parachutes
- Included a delay after weapon switch for the Bizon (PP-19) to 0.666
- Players can now pass claymores by going prone
- Updated the F35B's lock delay to 1 second instead of 1.5 seconds to match other aircraft
- Update the HUD on TV Guided missiles to increase visibility on maps like Dragon Valley
- Changed the Humvee camo on Taraba Quarry to be the correct design
- Added Battlefield 2142 style prone deviation (going prone will now cause reduced accuracy for a brief period)
- Increased the splash damage of the UH-60 (Black Hawk) guns from 0.25 to 1.5
- Updated the G36E HUD to react the same as other weapons during sprint

[[RC]Hunter]

The EA Uk forums show some more feedback from Baza @ DICE about the upcoming patch. If you want to save your time reading, these are the main key points in addition to the last week´s released changlog.


Great news that the booster packs will be free. But why there won't be a full 1.5 patch, only incremental as you say 1.41 will be needed? First 540 MB 1.41 and then over 2 Gb 1.5.
A full version would be a lot handier.

A full installer wasn't made to get Battlefield 2 v1.0 up to v1.50 due to a change in how updates were made between DICE Canada and DICE Sweden. We could have made one large update but it would have been almost the same size as the game install itself. To solve compatibility issues it was decided to have players update to version 1.41 (or have Battlefield 2 Complete Collection installed from EADM) before running Update v1.50.


Baza, its up to the ranked server providers to update their servers, do you expect there will be a drop in available 1.41 servers before 1.50 will be made public?

If so, for how long do you expect it to last?

Battlefield 2 v1.41 servers will run up to and including Tuesday when the update launches. You may see a drop in server numbers for a couple of hours before the client is released as they switch over server versions. I don't see a big drop, if any, before that time though.


Will the no DVD patch be delivered as an extra addon or will we never see this?

It is part of Update 1.50. There is no extra patch or file needed.


Have you removed the notorious registration of the boosters to one account?
Is it now just installing patch 1.5 and then play them?

Install the patch and any account that can play Battlefield 2 can play the Booster Pack maps. No need to link your BF2 soldier to EA.[/orange]




Hunter


ps: good to see that annoying booster pack <-> soldier name linking registration becoming obsolete ...