Battlefield 4 - complaints

This could be a really long post. I just wanted to air my grievances about the cra.ppy Commander mode on my Android tablet.

I've used Commander mode before on tablet but don't remember it being so extremely frustrating. My tablet is a 7" model so the icons are really small and don't want to go where you want them to. I think Commander mode on Android/iOS is a great idea, at least potentially.

Perhaps this mode works better on 10" tablets (and higher)? Commander mode in general (as played on a PC) is pretty boring and is nothing like how it appears in the trailers.

Oddly, in reality, Commander mode is a lot worse than it used to be actually playing it in BF4 than it was in BF2 all those years ago. Why? Despite there being some useful aerial reconnaissance and electronic tools available it feels really disconnected from what's going on for a number of reasons: you can't go back to playing the game as a soldier for one.

Why isn't there a better explanation for what EMP actually does? You seem to have to guess everything all the time. Reinforce squad? Erm. How does that actually implement then? Rapid redeployment?

Well, anyway. 7" is too small (the actress cries to the vicar. ooer). It's extremely boring though very useful to have an active commander on your team. Back in BF2 you felt more connected as your Commander Assets (ooer) could be destroyed by the opposing team: the mobile UAV command centre, artillery and infantry/vehicle-sweep radar could all be taken out. The fact that artillery never made it back is a huge blessing though there was nothing quite like capturing a flag and getting the hell out before the inevitable attack from the sky came. There's no personality with it these days it seems.

And don't get me started about all the other things wrong with BF4...

well its seems EA's investors have asked EA to make a report on the BF4 issues.

Since EA has to answer investors they will be under more pressure now to fix.

Redacted

Edited by deleted (Fri 13-Dec-13 16:52:21)

Now, maybe that's what I need to do. Become a shareholder eh?

Have you got any links to this story mate? I would be surprised if anything ever gets fixed in the world of gaming, at least DICE/EA style.

Commander mode is fine, as for why you cannot switch to being back in the game it stops players abusing the commander role- this was common in bf2.

Check this video out and its part 2 for a commander guide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sz3RBrMh60

Jet/Heli pros the way to deal with them is active missiles- will kill any chopper or jet if used right.

Maps are fine, it just comes down to teamwork and balance between the two sides.

Server browser takes a few clicks to select the settings you want and its fine, the player number click works on pc.

BF4 was made for 5 platforms, their will be alot of bugs but the game is playable and dice will fix it in time.

Edited by deleted (Fri 13-Dec-13 17:04:03)

And i thought you loved the game

Redacted.

Edit

That is a very instructive video. Good find. I'm not sure he's a 100% correct on the EMP blocking but I had no idea it disrupted the Cruise Missile attack.

I don't play Commander Mode that much as it really is pretty boring in the main. My comments are subjective. You realise that it's valid for people to have differing points of view and opinions don't you?

Anyway, like the Oshrilkal the YouTube Commander says there's currently no official info about Commander Mode from EA and the Wikis and suchlike are woefully short on intel too, at least at the time he made his video which is several patches and at least two Commander Modes versions away (and preceded the tablet version btw). Also, he wasn't using a 7" Android tablet which was my main gripe.

Edited by deleted (Fri 13-Dec-13 17:01:35)

Rant over Spook retires to Bed with Hot Water Bottle,Lemsip and Vicks Chest Rub�..ZZZZZ.ZZZZZZ.ZZZZZZ.

So is ccxo missing the point or what matey

Well, all I'm saying is there are problems and they're frustrating. He seems to be saying everything is lovely. I don't think there's good reason for his comments to be so diametrically opposed in view if he's being totally honest.

It's not time for bed yet though it is dark. Have you been playing BF4 today then mate or what?

Edited by deleted (Fri 13-Dec-13 16:53:00)

Yeah for 4 hours straight,i just think the single player is so intense and Awesome�.I was hoping once i went online in Multiplayer it would have shined even brighter,but after your Rant I'm going to play KNACK instead

Edited by time2die (Fri 13-Dec-13 19:43:04)

Can't believe you actually bought Knack after moaning and berating it so often. Having seen some of the video footage of the game it looked ok but maybe more for kids. Guess that explains why you've gone ahead and bought it then.

Go learn to fly the helos in BF4 then. Get some practise. Nelly will need a co-pilot!

Battlefield games have always had issues, which dice will patch and likely break something else in the game.
Im used to these issues, they are enoying but it does not stop me playing and enjoying the game.

I never bought it....it was free from Tesco with 10 kilo of satsumas

So, have you actually played Commander Mode on a 7" tablet then?

I didn't know you shopped at Tesco. Had you down as more of a Iceland kinda guy like me. Only jokin'. I expect you spend all your time in Poundland.

In reply to a post by SPOOKish:

Back in BF2 you felt more connected as your Commander Assets (ooer) could be destroyed by the opposing team: the mobile UAV command centre, artillery and infantry/vehicle-sweep radar could all be taken out.

I got kicked so many times for doing that even though it was my job

Don't be silly he's moved up to shopping at Lidl

In reply to a post by time2die:

I never bought it....it was free from Tesco with 10 kilo of satsumas

Lmao!

My thoughts on BF4 so far.

It's not a patch visually on KZ:SF and I mean that whole heartedly. Not even close, sorry Timey. But it does look nice and I can imagine what future iterations of BF might look like if DICE get the proper support, but what Gueriila Games have done with art direction and polish is remarkable for a launch game. Killzone online performance update. It does lag! It's the preferable type of lag though, where they won't die very easily, rather than the [censored] poor COD style lag with instadeath.

Anyway, I digress! BF4 is nice in campaign mode. Similarly to KZ:SF it has been berated by YouTube reviewers who expect to walk through a game without even exploring any of the challenges (I don't disagree with Chryalis's assertions in the other thread, but some YouTubers shouldn't be allowed independant thought ). But like Timey says, it's reasonably well done.

As for online, I haven't tried it yet (man of my word you see ) but I have been on the practice range. Timey is right, the helicopters and jets seem to have leaned even more in the direction of simulation, which in my opinion is a mistake. I have had a little practice though, and while the ground attack jet appears to be my fort�, I am more than willing to be a Timey Helitaxi. If he gives me any gob, I'll just drop him in the drink.

Simples.

Yeah, just take Timey out to the edge of the map and drop him there. He'll have 10 seconds to make his way back into the playable area. He won't make it.

What do you mean about simulation? Realism? The FPS view is inner cockpit which is a bit harder but you can view left/right no probs. The Test Range's graphics are abysmal compared to the main game so I wouldn't judge graphical quality that way. Stylistically, the graphics aren't really my cuppa tea being that there's far too much contrast and the colour palette ain't right for me. I prefer a bit more saturation in the main. I used to like the sunny maps on BF2 and BF1942. Nothing beat El Alamein for that desert holiday feeling!

I thought some of the sights in the single player were excellent - well, one in particular stood out where there were about a million birds in the sky. But, though I haven't played KZ, and do agree from the trailer's graphics, the game looks really tasty, I think DICE deserve some credit for the sheer scope of the game including the graphics (in the main). A lot of the textures are pretty rough, especially grass but overall it's not bad I thought.

I've yet to have played a game on the PC that matches KZ's visuals. AC3 had some good locations though. I'm not fond of AC4 BF just yet. Need to progress further I suppose.

In reply to a post by Lt_Swan:

In reply to a post by SPOOKish:

Back in BF2 you felt more connected as your Commander Assets (ooer) could be destroyed by the opposing team: the mobile UAV command centre, artillery and infantry/vehicle-sweep radar could all be taken out.

I got kicked so many times for doing that even though it was my job

Yeah, I remember being told off on occasion. A lot of servers had special rules that allowed Spec Ops class in with the C4. What a pain that was and yeah, stupid to get kicked for doing that really. It was what the class was made for at the time!

I loved playing Spec-Ops
» Special-Ops 110:47:31
http://www.bf2stats.net/player/43674715/
My C4 deaths show the sacrifices I made for my team

Strange it says I was only Banned/Kicked From Server 1 / 4

I'm sure it was loads more than that :/

Edited by deleted (Fri 13-Dec-13 22:08:08)

Don't get me wrong mate, I think BF4 is a big step up compared to BF3, but I couldn't put my finger on the right description. Now I reckon your contrast comment is likely how I feel too. It's good to know the visuals improve in the online proper.

Why do you think PC games haven't matched KZ visually, budget? The irony is that KZ will probably only move 5 million units (not that that is a terrible number) whilst making COD visuals look amateurish. I wonder if there will ever be truly phenomenal looking multiplats, but I hope Battlefield steps up to the plate next time around.

Oh, and the PS4 version does have that slider you mentioned. I haven't fiddled with it yet but it's set at 50%?

Only 144 hours playtime? Lightweight!

Check out the devotion! Ah, brings a tear to my eye and still, I was nowhere near ranking up to Colonel.

500 teamkills from me... Naughty! Shocking eh?

Yeah, I've been playing with it but forgot I'd set it. You can also set your Field Of View crop too. I've been experimenting with things like that as I've been finding it quite hard seeing people. I think also it didn't help that I've only just discovered there's a brightness slider (maybe that was added in a patch?) Worth checking these things out though.

As for PC graphics. Far Cry 3 has some nice views as did Crysis all those years ago. I truly feel consoles held back development in PC gaming massively so perhaps we'll see some truly jaw dropping visuals in games to come? I think I am probably a little hard to please in some respects as some games certainly do have certain aspects of really high quality artwork: Dishonored, Borderlands but ultimately don't give you that wow factor. My own views might not be shared by other PC gamers like Herr Toady and co though.

So, I guess you're been well impressed with Killzone then? What kind of game would you most like to play where the graphics were outstandingly gorgeous to look at? For me, a nice sandbox RPG like Elder Scrolls or something like GTA would be superb. I'm really looking forward to a big expansive world that looks highly detailed and super realistic.

Actually, I read today that that gaming headset - the Oculus Rift could soon be changing the way we play our games and it's exciting to think FPS games like BF4 and COD could get a serious injection of realism just by the mere fact you can properly look to your left and right without deviating from your course (like reality!) Yeah. Look around you. I'm sure with that I'll finally know what the hell is going on and should (hopefully) die a little less often!

Blimey 715 hours I bow to you
You obviously never [censored] anyone off enough to get banned though

Hey my accuracy is better than yours and I have a higher death streak hehe

It's still installed on my old PC maybe I should have another go. It's been 6 years since my last game so I maybe a bit rusty.
Just noticed I started playing 12 days before you Spooky so that makes me the BF vet around these parts

6 days before me eh??!!!! Wow. Can't change that now. I feel like a fraud.

I've been kicked plenty of times. I don't think the stats got properly recorded for stuff like that.

My accuracy still sucks these days as I just like to shoot like crazy, especially when I'm bored or have a big minigun or something. Also, it won't help that I spent a good few hours on one BF4 map shooting down all the trees.

6 years eh? That's quite a gap innit? I've got BF2 installed still too. And BF1942. Tried to play '42 the other day but it asked for the disc and I couldn't be ar'sed to go and find it. It's been ages since any game has asked me for a disc. I felt insulted! That's what you get for buying most of your games on Steam I suppose!

12 not 6 don't try to gain 6 days
My accuracy will be 0% now as I've gotten used to the stupid PS3 joypad thing, even though I'm rubbish with it

In BFBC2 I seemed to be more of a lumber jack than a soldier, me and my mate took it upon ourselves to clear the maps of trees

Quite rewarding innit? Felling trees. Timber!

Safety hazard trees are. On another note, the jeeps in BF4 are hazardous too as they have a habit of exploding if you drive into things that normally don't cause you any kind of damage at all. Things like bollards and rocks. It's all a bit silly really.

I noticed your gold, silver and bronze medal count was pretty good for someone who'd only played the game 100 odd hours. Mind you, I used to mainly play 64 player servers and it was hard getting a top rated place at the end of a round. Toady's right that 64 players is kind of stupid really as it's just too hectic really. I think 48 is the maximum (enjoyably) playable for the map sizes we've got really. Still, I'd love to play some of the maps with 128 players just to see what it was like in action. Preferably without any aircraft!

I don't like it when a tank gets stopped in its tracks by something as stupid as a park bench

Your Score Per Minute is higher than mine. Not sure what size servers I played on, probably smaller numbers as I don't like too many players and being spec ops you need to be sneaky, which is easier with less players

Well a bollard and a rock are pretty hard things to drive into, any jeep would take damage but their are issues with the vehicles they slide around too much.

64 players its not hard to finish top, just good teamwork with revives and holding points you dont even need that many kills.

128 players would be cool to see in BF4 but what Dice would have to limit in game to make it play smooth, take Planetside 2 the visuals are nice but kept simple to ensure gameplay for 100's of players.

As for good looking pc games, the crysis series has always been good but the best example would be Skyrim and the community graphic improvments as they really make the game breathtaking.

I don't think you understand that on console (and likely on PC too, to a certain degree) finishing top is down to a blatant latency advantage that everybody else in the game knows you have ccxo, except yourself. It is extremely irritating when people make comments like this without acknowledging the fact that it is happening.

It is an obvious but unspoken truth that developers won't admit too publicly in fear of harming sales, but I can assure you that matchmaking is based on getting games populated quickly, not fairly. If you fit the average latency bracket (whatever that is) you will get by. If you don't the game is a joke. COD is the same only slightly less frustrating due to the small frenetic nature of the maps and a quick turnaround after death.

I am a very capable gamer ccxo, but Battlefield is still fundamentally latency biased and always has been. Knowing that the game will discriminate against purchaser and then simply claiming that Internet connections are difficult to predict is a cop out. The game should match latency properly, even if that means taking longer to populate.

Yeah last night was a prime example of a great looking game ruined by online lag that made it unplayable for both me and Nelly last night.

I shall test it again later tonight but based on last night there would be little to no point keeping a game like Battlefield 4 that you can not play online.

I'm sure i have been in other online matches and did not encounter the same laggy mess as last night,it could have been server/Psn Issues so more testing is needed.

So is the issue you have with latency that you have a low ping but are put together with people with higher pings ? Don't even know how you can check your ping in game on console but I remember it was always shown in PC games and people were obsessed with it.

It is amazingly easy to skid a tank...

Edited by deleted (Sat 14-Dec-13 12:57:36)

That's right mate. And no you can't tell the difference in latency other than the "five bar" nonsense. Last night I stood in front of people and emptied magazines without even one hit marker appearing. Terrible

Timey watched me streaming Resogun last night then we had a few games. I'm sure he will vouch for how capable my reactions are. I am the cat after all.

Then we moved to BF4 and I straight off went 0 - 18. I think Timey went 1 - 12 or something similar, but he only got that kill saving my bacon (cheers bro!). Then he went beddy byes (lightweight) and I stayed on for another game ending 2 - 15, the two being point blank rocket launcher kills because guns won't give me a hit marker. It is utter pants mate, but you have to understand it is connection biased. If you have not had problems in the past you likely won't now. But for those of us that have, it's same [censored], different day.

It even made Toadys high pingers videos look desirable.

Yeah, I hear ya. Park benches on metro.

Hadn't realised my spm was ever so slightly higher than yours. My deaths per round are quite a bit higher too!

Yeah, playing on less crowded/smaller servers was definitely a better experience. Far more rewarding. I used to play as Spec Ops initially for the first couple-a-hundred hours. Then I discovered the G36C and E and fell in love.

Being unsure of a level playing field is something of a nightmare in these online shooter games. I wouldn't know where to begin with trying to determine if my own game was suffering due to latency/jitter-type issues or whatever the hell it is.

I can tell you right enough that there are still bugs regarding hit boxes. There was an infamous one where the damage from single hits would be awarded multiple times. I know I've had that happen before. And then there's the really annoying bug of frame latency whereby you appear to die when you're not even in direct line of fire of an enemy fighter, say ducking back behind the wall you're hiding behind (Operation Locker) but getting shot as it takes so many frames for the hits to register (totally out of synch with the visuals). That's annoying. You think you're safe then wham!

So, to compensate for hit accuracy somewhat and the fact the enemy player is likely hopping around I used to just left-right-left-right shoot if you follow me and aim for the head but this was in BF2. It used to work so much better but I'm unsure if it holds true with this game. There are no doubt plenty of strategies to adopt and CCXO's one true piece of advice is Battlefield rewards players working alongside one another but that's an impossible task if people aren't doing that already. Most of the time squad mates just go off on little outings of their own completely ignoring any objectives. There's loads of strategies for making points and getting kills; most of them have nothing to do with skill but simple exploitation of game mechanics.

On PC, we get a full numerical latency readout. Numbers! I play in the US too. Couldn't say if it helps or not: sometimes I will do really well and other games I won't. Judging Swanny's and my own BF2 player stats I would say we're similarly balanced players though he tended to finish far higher than me in a round (number of players potentially). I think score-per-minute is probably a good metric for judging a player's contribution to the game; it's not all about the kill. Hope you have fun regardless of the poor latency Mr Nels mate. Amazed Timey actually came in useful other than as a bullet sponge. I'd love to join you both I really would. It would be great to have Trance, Toady, Lt Swanny and others on our side too.

So, earlier on you claimed there was nothing wrong with the BF4 Battlelog server browser in how it filtered populated servers by players. Can you please prove that as I've just gone in again and it's not working properly at all. You seem very confident about it working fine so I'd like you to show me that as you make a lot of claims and really, all I'm interested in is in getting the server browser working as well as you. Might be that I am doing something wrong (though I doubt it).

Also, my point about Commander Mode being nigh on unplayable on a 7" tablet. You said there was nothing wrong with Commander Mode either but you didn't respond when I queried whether you'd actually tried to play it on a tablet device or not. My suggestion was that a larger tablet size would help. Is that what you've found yourself?

I seriously doubt 'most people find it easy' to come out on top of a round. What you seem to be suggesting is deliberate points harvesting - doing things for the sake of gaining points rather than simply playing the game towards achieving team based objectives. That smacks of simply exploiting game mechanics with the sole purpose of forwarding your own personal agenda of climbing to the top of the end of round rankings. I'd find that a very hollow victory and I really do think there are plenty of players with that mindset. I've been playing Battlefield long enough to see how some player's mindsets operate and it makes me feel very sad. Obviously I can't tell if you're this kind of player or not. The only thing that negates what I'm saying is those players who play as part of a dedicated, well organised squad. I haven't seen too many squads playing like that of late myself incidentally but maybe you're in one yourself? If so, I guess you take the game pretty seriously then.

The bollard I was talking about was on Golmund Railway - a famous bit of road with - I don't know what they're called - but little concrete bollard things on the sides. You always post like you're trying to be reasonable but you always (deliberately?) miss the point that every other person picks up on. You can do stupid things with the vehicles that often defy physics so it's strange that the jeeps just explode the way they do rather than bounce off objects like quads and bikes and every other vehicle you can get.

Edited by deleted (Sat 14-Dec-13 12:23:20)

Thanks mate. I'm definitely going to stick with it if Timey does. I am a team player and KD means nothing to me, other than a marker as to how playable the game is in any given match.

I will go straight to objectives without too much concern for my own safety. In your grill is my style and like football, even when it isn't personally productive, your runs open up the opportunity for other players to capitalise on. I don't care if I end games on 10 - 16 or whatever. The way I play a 0.7 K/D is an expected outome. But filling other players (and I mean full brumcullenderisation) with bullets, head on from 10 virtual feet away, only to end up dead without even seeing a hit marker, should not be acceptable and if the more fortunate players connection wise weren't making excuses for it (no offence ccxo) then developers would have to rethink their latency strategy in a world of rapidly improving local connections. I expect the apologists however don't want to rock the boat in respect of their own K/D's.

Operation Locker lol! Love it.

In reply to a post by mrnelster:

brumcullenderisation

Now I'm pretty sure you just made that word up!

Yeah, Operation Locker is um - mental? Innit?!! I usually play support class in that one like loads of others. Spam grenade-a-plenty. But it's a good level to use medic kit on too. Must remember that. There's plenty of awards and so on for reviving people and the rest of it. Worth remembering.

My K/D is pretty much .7 so I guess we're playing a similar objective. The top K/D ratio on the PC is 74.33 to nill. W>>>T>>>??? Fuh...? I think some people just create new accounts and go for new records. He's only played 8 hours. Still mighty impressive tho. But odd.

well maybe look after some sleep, I watched some videos, one linked to the store about shareholders so I would need to look for it again.

Yeah I can vouch he is a really good player after watching him on Twitch last night,not so keen that he wanted a Piggy Back all the time though why we were playing Battlefield 4,no wonder are Kill/Death ration was Pants.

Later Nelly let's put Killzone online through some serious scrutiny to see if that plays
Ike Battlefield,like I said in the Pm I just sent you and Spook,we could have some settings that we need to adjust or something ,we might have been in some American one or somewhere far away.

Spook will know...Is there a setting Spook to use only local servers like some games.

Hope it don't end up like last night because the game looks brilliant,if it's like that I have just wasted £100 having bought the premium stuff as well.....will I ever learn

There a lot more going on in Battlefield mate compared to Killzone as far as I can see,not really played more than 5 minutes of Killzone online so I'm not really in a position to comment having not had a Playstation 4 for the past 5 days,but now it's back both Battlefield and Killzone are going to get hammered in the next week or so.

Killzone is a tremendous game mate but I wasn't blown away buy the initial start of the single player,thought that was very weak affair from a game that looks really drop dead gorgeous 10 minutes later and throughout .

I have now got to install and start all over which I will be doing a little later this evening,but my priority tonight is online to test the online stuff and hope I don't experience much of the same as me and nelly encountered in Battlefield 4 last night....if it plays like that then there is little reason to keep it like Nelly said,and if a fast Fibre connection causes games online to be unplayable then what's the point in upgrading from the standard ADSL connection ....can somebody answer this Question....Who else has Fibre and finds online gaming unplayable like Nelly the Elephant

Edited by time2die (Sat 14-Dec-13 16:17:32)

Haven't you got your playstation set to backup the save files to the PS+ cloud ?

Obviously not...I have seen the Playstation plus cloud options and I thought that all my saved data was backed up to that ,but when I press the option I'm not seeing anything

That sucks, I always choose the option to backup my save games when it asks but I have never had a need to get them back so I don't know how it works.

I have fibre but have no problems as far as I can tell. I'd hate to buy a console and find all my games lagging like hell through the stupid match-making/bad netcode deal.

As for server filtering, don't you guys have Battlelog for the PS4? There's an advanced config section so maybe you missed that?

Yeah that's what I'm going to check out later Spooky....Any tips on menu and connection settings then let us know...I'm sure it looks the same on a Playstation 4 as it does on a PC.

I do not play console games online as the latency is that awful especially with one player hosting- servers help to a point but its how the game deals with latency.

I play PC so i know what pings people have- anything over 150 will cause issues as their will be a latency advantage but below 100 their is very little difference as the way BF4 has its hit detection.

Pings of below 50 are ideal and on alot of UK servers people with good connections will have sub 10 pings but thats down to the server providers network.

On PC you can set up servers to restrict high ping players ie anything over 100ms cannot join or as a server admin you can kick high ping players- console players should campaign to get rid of the connection bars and have actual pings.

All FPS are latency based but you also have to factor in hit dection and player reaction times.

Indeed its one of the most enoying things in Battlefield, why a tank that ways a few tons can skid around like a go kart.

Edited by deleted (Sat 14-Dec-13 19:46:39)

Just to clear up what you are asking you want to order the servers in terms of population size?

I have not tried to play commander on a tablet, i have only played it on my monitor as i see no point to use the tablet why go to a smaller screen and you need to use comms to be a good commander.

How i play is with friends or find a decent public squad and work together to take and hold flags, their will be plenty of flanking and falling back to cap rear flags that have been taken.
The difference between normal players and better players is map awarness, not many people have it and it shows.
On some maps air can dominate yet if 1 or 2 players, deploy with stingers you can shut down the air and get the game back under control.
Other maps certain vehicles can determine how the map will play out- for instance on Hanin the AA and Mobile Artillery are key to winning the map.

Team balance is one of the hardest things to get right in a public server- player on a 64 server first round on hanin it was 0-653 tickets a one sided map, a change to Flood Zone it finished 50-0 a very close round.
The difference can be just a few players leaving or joining the server, their are alot of lone wolf players in Battlefield but squad work makes a massive difference.

Small vehicles are alot more prone to exploding or suffering heavy damage in bf4 then in bf3, yesterday i was on a jet ski and collided with the attack boat- insta death.

Yes, we have had this conversation before with someone on here (mr saffron if I recall correctly) and he explained the same. I would take an increase in server population time over poor matchmaking every time. The green bars are irrelevant if you want to compete in any meaningful way.

Can you tell me what you know about BF4s servers? Is it dedicated servers with client side hit detection? I am writing to Dice and EA out of sheer [censored] mindedness as this game is a load of [censored]. After two hours of wasting my time, I have a KD of 0.09 and a score per minute of 0.04.

I am going to speak to plusnet today and force them to write to me explaining why there fibre apparently makes for a better gaming experience. The I will forward that to EA and Dice for their comments. I wholeheartedly believe that it is an accepted and unspoken falibility of this online model that I should have the choice to opt out of. I'm fed up of paying for thngs that were never going to work in the first place.

I also have no function to the server browser. None of the servers are ever populated. Anybody know why they all show 0/64 and let me join, but there is never anyone in game?

You make some good points but really they are your idealistic observations if you'll forgive me for saying so.

Yes, playing with a well organised (open) squad is the way to play but in my experience, it isn't all that common to find one that's actually playing the same objective. Instead, it'll be fragmented and the squad leader will be off flying a plane or something.

Two guys with stingers can make a big dent on maps like Flood Zone. Even on Golmud Railway a single stinger guy can discourage a fairly sizable area like points C/A and B from the helos even if you can't take them out completely, the constant lock on gets annoying. But if they've got a repair guy going at it nonstop you've got to admit it's not possible to take them out at all. And I've only come across squads with more than one stinger guy on a handful of occasions (chiefly being in response to me piloting a transport chopper with a couple of gunners on Guilin Peaks). We were dominating so I guess there frustration forced them to equip stingers. They were far more effective in dealing with us for sure.

I've only ever heard a commander talk over comms once. As commander myself, I'm learning just to give orders that follow what a squad leader is doing as people rarely pay attention though the good squads do once you've built up a rapport with them (and this takes time). You do you see, offer idealistic points I feel though I'm only going by my own (admittedly long term) experience from playing chiefly BF2 and BF4 that on the whole, the games are pretty anarchic and chaotic.

So, you're a member of a clan or you just have a few mates that you more casually play with? It's been a long time since I played alongside guys I know in Battlefield but using comms and having a singular objective is a must really if you want to play the game as effectively as you can. Having balanced teams isn't really possible I suppose, unless it's organised from the outset. That would be good to see, even better to experience a professional type of game going on to see what really could be achievable. I guess that's a major frustration to see the potential of the game and have it fall so far short of that 99% of the time. We did have some very close games last night whilst I was commanding. It was good to see more balanced teams actually as your experience on Hainin Resort is quite common. I personally feel it's important to try and hold your two capture points (say A and B if playing as US or E and D if China) and then try and hold the central point C as best as possible. All too often we'd lose say point A which means it's really easy for people to spawn and flank and capture B. I'd see squad leaders drive right past A a lot even with the UAV drone flying and it showing there was no enemy there even. [censored] dumbnuts that they were. Felt like using the comms and yelling at them really.

DICE have some good ideas but so far the tablet one needs a lot more work and as for listing servers by their populated player size, I've finally found a fix. You've got to first scroll down the list and a long way at that to get the populated servers to show, then importantly not to refresh as you'd expect as DICE's system doesn't load much more than say 20 servers on screen at a time and the vast majority of them are always empty so it is a broken and frankly stupid system they've got: again, it's a great innovation but poorly executed as it is if it doesn't work. I'm surprised you didn't notice but I guess you might be playing differently: I am in the habit of just refreshing the server list to see what's available rather than going through favourites/history or selecting to just randomly join a game. Nothing worse than joining a server where everyone's playing the same stupid map over and over again in hardcore rush mode with only pistols allowed or something.

They are sort of dedicated, although they will most likely be running other games at the same time too. Collision detection is (unfortunantely) client-side, so lower the ping the bigger advantage you have with this.

Higher pingers have advantage over movement though, so unless all players have the same ping +/- around 5, you are going to have some problems somewhere...

BF4 characters are much harder to see - possibly because everything is much darker. Maybe even the characters are smaller too.

Personally servers should be region-locked. We dont have the technology to time-lock them too yet

Anybody know why they all show 0/64 and let me join, but there is never anyone in game?

0 is the number of players, 64 is the maximum the server allows (64 is far, far too many).

I'm fed up of paying for thngs that were never going to work in the first place.

Thats what comes of buy things as soon they are released, instead of waiting at least a year...

Edited by deleted (Sun 15-Dec-13 13:19:28)

I think Mr Nelster is asking why aren't there any populated servers showing in the server browser. It's the same problem I reported that ccxo said wasn't an issue.

After experimenting I found a solution by scrolling down and down and down (like I said before) right the way through loads of unpopulated servers past the few that had a decent number of people playing (ie more than 2) and then - importantly! - did not refresh the list or anything but instead made my way back to the top THEN click on the players column to get a proper list of populated servers in descending order from most players to less.

It's a fe.cking stupid system that DICE should try and fix. Good luck getting any kind of meaningful personal statement or advice from them Nelly. We'd need a global campaign to get them to listen. I do sympathise for you I really do though and if that's the standard or common console online multiplayer experience then you can count me out.

For the record, I am with Plusnet for fibre too, live close to my cabinet (<50m) and about 700m to my exchange as the crow flies. Thus far I've been really fortunate I reckon save for a lengthy period of bad streaming from BBC iPlayer when I had BE as an ISP. As far as gaming goes I think I'm one of the lucky ones but I don't have a console as you know. You're welcome to try it out at my place if you live in/near to London. And you can add my name to DICE's dissatisfied customer list: they need to up their game along with the rest of them when it comes to online game support.

I would personally start by haranguing them on the official DICE Battlefield forums (along with the millions of others).

Yeah I noticed that in the server browser,nobody in the 64 player servers ? Still be testing the Battlefield 4 game then mate,won't have much time in the next 2 days as my Mother is paying a visit so if I'm on your talking late.

Yeah he could ship his Playstation 4 to your house so you can test it all over Christmas

In reply to a post by time2die:

Yeah he could ship his Playstation 4 to your house so you can test it all over Christmas

That's a great idea. You could ship yours to mine and me and Spooky could really do a good review of BF4

I guess my offer to help nelly was none too subtle. You all saw straight through me.




Well, at least you guys would have two veterans testing. We'd let you know what's at fault soon enough. Well, after a few weeks or so. Gotta be thorough y'know.

Whats your address i will box it up after i type this

Just for the Record i played Killzone Shadowfall online and its a awesome experience,no lag and no server issues.

Its quite hard testing a playstation 4 with a Straight Jacket on you know ?

In reply to a post by time2die:

Its quite hard testing a playstation 4 with a Straight Jacket on you know ?

Well, take it off then! Silly person!

You can take out the little bird and transport helo as the flares and repair tools have a cool down window- if you have enough stingers/IFV with Active missiles /AA and air units you can down a enemy chopper.

Dice may well nerf the reapir tool on the choppers as it can be hard to deal with- just needs co-ordination on a public server that can be hard.

The Commander role relies on good communication between squads and commanders- clans etc will make best use of this but what you find in most public servers people do what they want hence the chaos.

I have groups of people that i play with online and use comms and it does make a difference in gameplay as its alot more enjoyable.
Balanced teams comes down to good server management as server admins can either switch players or you can have the server setup to scramble teams after a heavy one sided round.

Their are alot of videos of competive games online from small 5v5 infantry to 32v32 games.

If you are playing alone or as commander do use in game comms as you may well find people using comms or can understand the orders- its up to the players to get teamwork going.

What are you server filters as it sounds like when you search you have your filters to inculde all the empty servers.

Have to say I agree with ccxo on all of the above. For me Battlefield is only really fun when playing with friends / comms. When you go it alone and just join a random squad and have no contact with anyone it's alright, but I get bored within an hour. When I play with friends and we can communicate and help each other, we pretty much finish top every time.

In reply to a post by Jaxx281:

When I play with friends and we can communicate and help each other, we pretty much finish top every time.

IF you all fall within that correct latency band.

I understand the complexities in getting the correct approach in conquest and how fruitful teamwork can be. But it is very difficult to explain the frustrations of playing against the server settings, when everybody thinks they have experienced it. They haven't. You haven't or you would understand how comments like that one are incomprehensible to players suffering my issues.

Imagine coming to my pad with your box, hooking it up to my router, playing a private match and continually beating me by a 10% kill margin. You can safely say you are a slightly better player than me on any given day.

Then when you can't be bothered to leave the house and we play a private match over the Internet, I beat you 64 - 0. Then we move onto a public server and everybody beats you 64 - 0.

It's controller snapping stuff and I have done so...twice.

In reply to a post by ccxo:

What are you server filters as it sounds like when you search you have your filters to inculde all the empty servers.

You are right there.

I looked in the menus last night and nothing was selected for anything, which is a bit daft. The default server list was all of the China Rising servers which are only available on premium.

Hmm I was just referring to his last post to be honest, not all of the other posts

I have plenty of issues with BF, not sure if it's my connection or just the game. But I play 2 games fine then the after that it just gets really laggy and is incredibly frustrating. People jump all over the shop or my character does the same and driving a jeep or a quad bike is just unbearable because it lags so much. I have lost count how many times I have blown my quad bike up because of it!

I still keep playing though, I love the game and sometimes it sorts itself out sometimes it doesn't. I haven't really bothered to look into it properly to see what it is, if it persists I usually just swap to Assassins Creed or Fifa for a bit to cool off haha.

Hey, it wasn't a dig at you mate. It's just I would love to be able to settle for good then bad games.

As I've said before, it's just so frustrating because it is a game I would truly love to get into, but it won't let me.

Yeah, you were right. I think it must've been the FREE SLOTS default setting to SHOW ALL which [censored] me up. Also, I had NONE unticked so full servers would not show. Good tip.

What you say is correct but I've never come across a vocally communicative commander. At best you get some weirdo heavily breathing down the mic or making some strange noise when they accidentally turn the mic on.

I was using mic quite a bit last night but no one was replying. As a squad leader I wanted to pass information quickly and when inactive (ie - dead) to improve their 'situational awareness', also just to [censored] about. No one seems to bother responding much. It was different in BF2 but most people chose to remain quiet in that 99% of the time too.

There's been another update released today. I think DICE must have seriously cocked things up over the last couple of days and some servers have been acting very strangely. Soldier sprint speeds have been treaclely slow but for the duration of just one life I was sprinting like Ben Johnson.

Might have to look for some competitive vids at some point. I've seen a few from BF2 days but they were mainly just show off reels.

What servers do you play on then ccxo?

Trouble is I don't have any mates to play with. Spooky-no-mates they call me. Do you play BF4 on the XBO then Jaxx mate?

There was some weird server lag going on last night for sure - I think it was overloaded with a load of us on this one point. But it might have even been my own computer slowing to a crawl. Fortunately it doesn't happen very often - just once or twice in over 100 hours of play. Not good though. I quit the server. There are loads of German servers actually and that's where I usually end up playing. It's weird actually. I guess Germans just like war games eh?

Wow. Now I finally understand. There is some seriously bad sheet going on with your connection mate. I would have put my fist through my telly by then. I tend to strangle my monitor when the going gets bad and scream!!!!! I should medicate myself more I suppose. Medication time, Dr Spook...!

Depends on who is online and playing or if its myself just look for a low ping server for the gametime im after.

Once January's out the way I'll either get myself a gaming rig or a PS4, If I get a good rig then I'll be in your squad Spooky

Or you could get yourself a ultra fast Playstation 4 or a PC.

Spooky and Swanny vs the world eh? Yeah, I like the sound of that. Though you should check out both versions to see which one you before: PS4 or PC.

Might be you wanna play with grandpappy Time and 'Hell's Bells' Nells. Sounds like they need some help.

Edited by deleted (Tue 17-Dec-13 14:12:34)

I have a couple of mates. Well that's what they tell me. One has a PS4 and the other a up to date PC so I'll check them both out.
At the moment I'm thinking I'd prefer to get back into PC gaming

bye bye

Where are you going??

On me next gen? Where you going ....Geeky Paradise

It's the way forward

Yea I play on XBO Spook, I did buy myself a gaming laptop at the start of this year and it would run Battlefield great but I just prefer playing it on the XBO.

Wow, must be some souped up laptop to play BF4.

How do you find the control system then on XBO for BF4? As you've experience of both mouse/keyboard aiming and controller I was wondering how different it was in practise in online multiplayer?

That was his last conscious thought as he waved goodbye to his remaining mental faculties. Now he's off to buy a Wii U!

Good that you can check both systems out Swanny. I'd be interested in your findings. Would love to check out BF4 footage on PS4/XBO firsthand meself.

Edited by deleted (Wed 18-Dec-13 15:53:05)

Yea it's a beast of a laptop to be fair, 16GB Ram, 2.4Ghz i7 processor, Nvidia GTX675 2GB GDDR5.

Personally I prefer using the controller, except for spotting enemies. You can't change it to the select button and that is what it used to be, you have to use RB which if you don't know an Xbox is the button next to the Right Trigger. I find it puts a bit of strain on my fingers after a few hours play because I don't feel comfortable putting my middle finger on the trigger and my index finger on RB, I prefer to have my index on the trigger.

That is my only complaint, other than that I prefer it to keyboard and a RAT. It's not as fast to turn or move around, but then everyone is using a controller so I don't find it puts me at a disadvantage. I have my sensitivity on about 40% I think it is on the Xbox and that seems more than enough for me.

Glad to hear you're busy spotting the enemy, Jaxx. Amazed how many people don't do that on the PC. Plus, all the stupid squad leaders who don't bother giving orders are really annoying though maybe that's more of a problem in France as I was playing on French servers... racist blaggard that I am!

Non monsieur, Libert�, Egalit�, Fraternit� ici. We are all equal! Err? Yeah. Just tell me where you're headed is all I wanna know!

That laptop of yours sounds like it could do some serious computing. Do you do any video editing on it at all? You've got better specs than my gaming PC for most things...

Thanks for explaining the controller option as I like to know to know these things before getting into them. Unlike Timey who always jumps in feet first. Eh Jimmy?

I fart in your general direction

Yeah, hard to get any kind of co-operation with zee french for sure.

They certainly are strange types

Haha yea same here, it annoys me when people don't spot. Most of the time I play with my two mates who live next door and the one lad plays as squad leader and he is great at tagging conquest flags so we rack up the points. When I am playing alone and join a random squad I tend to find they are pretty useless!

Yup it's a nice bit of kit, I don't do any video editing no that is something I have never got into. I do a lot of music production on it though, that was actually the reason why I bought the laptop because my last ones processor couldn't cope with the number of synthesizers & plugins I was using so was creating horrible distortions. I went on the Internet to find something decent with an i7 and a minimum of 8GB of RAM that wasn't a Mac and stumbled across this beauty, which just so happened to have a great graphics card in it too

In reply to a post by SPOOKish:

That was his last conscious thought as he waved goodbye to his remaining mental faculties. Now he's off to buy a Wii U!

Good that you can check both systems out Swanny. I'd be interested in your findings. Would love to check out BF4 footage on PS4/XBO firsthand meself.

And its arriving in a few hours with Mario 3d and Pikmin 3

Actually I would have said the opposite and said PC Gaming is a step backwards

Well, you would but nobody ever listens to you, which is fortunate really.

Well you do and you know I'm the Master

You see I'm in a fine position to comment having gaming consoles and high end PC equipment in the past and this Desktop iMac i have now.

Like i said there are so many games out on consoles compared to PCs and there is know getting away from that Fact Mr Spooky

You are the master, my master. I am listening oh mighty one.

But I already have far too many unplayed games, my master. I don't really need more.

And the one game my heart truly desires, GTA5, will surely make its way to PC next year.

It is a shame I'll not get the opportunity to play The Last of Us and games like that from Naughty Dog.

You are right of course. Some games never make it to PC. It is something I have learned to live with, oh high one.

We have had this conversation before, my lord and master. If I am not mistaken you made this point once or twice or thrice before. In any case it is not my place to question your eminence, only to obey.

I've spaced it out for ya and used little words as usual your excellency. There are many words and I know how they baffle you so.

The PC was next generation 6 years ago my lord and master. I must not lie. Shame there weren't no good games for it then though apart from Crysis.

As I am yours, truly, your loyal and humble servant, Spook, a mere PC owner and inferior system games player.

Don't worry you will be playing GTA5 before the new year��I have a free gift winging its way to you a week today and this will convince you to may be in the new year think about a Playstation 4 or a Xbox One or even a Nintendo Wii U

In reply to a post by SPOOKish:

You are the master, my master. I am listening oh mighty one.

But I already have far too many unplayed games, my master. I don't really need more.

And the one game my heart truly desires, GTA5, will surely make its way to PC next year.

It is a shame I'll not get the opportunity to play The Last of Us and games like that from Naughty Dog.

You are right of course. Some games never make it to PC. It is something I have learned to live with, oh high one.

We have had this conversation before, my lord and master. If I am not mistaken you made this point once or twice or thrice before. In any case it is not my place to question your eminence, only to obey.

I've spaced it out for ya and used little words as usual your excellency. There are many words and I know how they baffle you so.

The PC was next generation 6 years ago my lord and master. I must not lie. Shame there weren't no good games for it then though apart from Crysis.

As I am yours, truly, your loyal and humble servant, Spook, a mere PC owner and inferior system games player.

PCs are not inferior Spooky but the choice of games on consoles is a temptation to great,we have all struggled the past 7 years with not so good looking games restricted by the console shear lack of power,and now in those respects we have taken a severe leap forwards,never going to beat a high end PC granted but we are seeing some beautiful looking games already and by the end of 2014 i bet we will be blown away by developers Sucker Punch and Naughty Dog and a load more.

The only Master I know is from Dr Who. John Simm played him brilliantly!

Yeah, I was just kidding about the PC. They might have more grunt in numbers but the current consoles once devs have gotten used to them are more than capable of blowing most PCs away. I only use one graphics card for one monitor so there's an exception with the truly hardcore geeks with multi-display setups and 3 or 4 high end graphics cards running things.

What you got for me then? I ain't got you nothing mate. Hmm. I'm gonna be away next Friday down at me folks for a few days. I hope it'll go through the letter box then! Thanks matey btw. Nice of you to think of old Spook this Xmas. I've already got a hot water bottle btw just to remind you so no more please and no more socks either. Got loads. Some clean pants wouldn't go amiss tho....

The biggest problem for me with consoles is the lack of control, joypads are ok but not great

John Simm is a class actor. Haven't seen him in Dr Who though or anything much other than Life on Mars. Sounds like a cool character tho.

Now, I am the master! Said Darth as he killed Obi Wan. Won't argue with that. Darth was one seriously bad as's mofo.

And Sifu from Kung Fu Panda of course... and Master Oogway!

Yeah, consoles are great for certain types of game but it'll be interesting to see how FPSs play. Used to love my driving games. GTA5 would be my top game to play tho.

You will probably hate playing FPS's with a game pad to begin with but you will get used to it in time. There's no doubt that a mouse and keyboard gives more accuracy and allows you to aim much faster but everyone is in the same boat on consoles so it doesn't really matter. I would say I rather using a game pad these days and its far more comfortable IMO.

Definitely put GTA 5 at the top of your list! it lives up to all the hype and theres no doubt it deserves the 10/10 rating.

Ho Ho Ho ! and a Xbox One

Never had a problem with joypads so i don't see what you do,the only thing i can recall PC gamers not liking are FPS because its obvious its more curate with Mouse and Keyboard.
Everything else however is better,especially games like GTA and all driving and platform games are far better than any Keyboard set up

What's it like on that system Jaxx matey......is it running 1080P

Yeah mate, reckon it will be painful but thanx as I guess it's something you have to persevere with and it's a level playing field. Looking forward to console gaming - reckon I'd get the PS4 if not for BF4 on the PC.

GTA5 is gonna be so sweet I cannot believe it. My idea of heaven really. And I think Timey's right that the controller will be a much better experience than it is with keyboard and mouse. Famously, GTA games control system has always been heavily optimised for controllers down to the rubbish weapon aiming system on the PC. It'll nice to see how it should be on a console and yeah, my sofa is a bit more comfortable than this chair.

10/10 here we come...

Hope to see you in Los Santos some day

EA are in a spot of legal trouble with regards to the BF4 problems - with any luck EA will lose and hopefully shake them out of their complacency and serve as a warning. It should be noted that despite the grumblings on the official forums, its not the gamers taking the action, but accountants...

Me too! Would be great to hook up with as many of you guys online in GTAV as possible.

Now I recall some sort of trouble brewing but had no idea it would come from this source... weird. What's the matter, did the accountants not get enough money or something?

They are regarding it as "fraud-inflated prices" as they EA mention they had problems...

Apparently it hasn't been selling to well either, which isn't surprising, especially with all the problems that BF3 initially had...

Edited by deleted (Fri 20-Dec-13 23:54:59)

Ooh, you're right. Just found this.

Warning (cute alert): EA vs investors. To be fair, I don't think the bugs are deal breakers. Maybe for consoles players if they're used to things just working right away but PC guys are used to it.

As I see it, EA are saying they're holding back the release schedule of future DLC so they can focus on fixing the many existing bugs like the sound drop outs. Yes, all the bugs have been a right mess but serious stuff like crashing is quite rare in my experience. It is crazy so many bugs still exist but why do they need to halt their DLC schedule? Can't they just spend more money hiring more programmers to fix things?

Imagine a world where software and media companies actually gave you your money back for stuff you didn't like or which crashed on you, failed to impress etc. We'd all be rich overnight! And they would be too scared to release buggy games...

Well, anyway. Happy Winter Solstice Toady dude. Hope you have a nice holiday period this Xmas. It's really good viewing by the way. Nice one Swanny! You clever wizard you!

It appears the XBox versions have been so serious that Microsoft have been granting refunds - much like the cricket game...

It is something that all publishers should do if a required stability threshold isn't reached - game stability over that last year or so does seem to be getting worse, which isn't good...

Happy Christmas to you too! I hoped to managed to see this before the year is out,

Edited by deleted (Sat 21-Dec-13 00:47:28)

Was it Xbone or 360 or both? I'd be less surprised if it was just the 360...

Yeah, I watched that Dr Who special. I don't normally watch Dr Who. First time really. Saw Brian Cox's Dr Who thingy too, which was quite good. Couldn't understand him though - he's too smart and I'm too thick.

Have a good one mate.

In reply to a post by astateoftrance:

Hope to see you in Los Santos some day

Are you playing with a PS3 ?? If so you're welcome to join SMEG as well. As long as you don't mind listening to a few yanks. Good fun though
http://socialclub.rockstargames.com/crew/the_scotshi...

You rank up quicker if you're in a crew

Thanks, yep I am on PS3. Will hit you guys up when I get to the online mode

Thats a Fridge aint it ? SMEG

You will find Swanny in Los Santos in Pound Stretcher or Pound Land looking for a Playstation 4 or Xbox One for around a Fiver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXKlC8ph7mM

I still have $49 million left in my LS bank account, so if I wanted a PS4 in my apartment I'd get one but I'm too busy out having fun modding cars etc

$49 that's a lot of Bank Heists

Smeeeeeg heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeead.... classic.

I presume it's the 350 version.

Have a good one mate.

Will do!

This is the story you were referring to? EA said to have artificially inflated share stock prices on the back of forecasted BF4 sales? Guardian

Yes, that's the one.

seen this game for real now on the ps4. My friend who owns the ps4 says he has yet to come across any bugs so the bugs are for the pc only?

the framerate is something I never seen on a console before.

Is that in a Good way or a Bad Way when you talk about Frame rate

On no - there are/were problems across all platforms...

In reply to a post by time2die:

Is that in a Good way or a Bad Way when you talk about Frame rate

in a good way as previous gen had inconsistent framerate with some games been jerk city.

Also tho he is a bit peed off now tho, like me he isnt really into multiplayer, and he is saying now he got the ps4 out of excitement but now feels like a big letdown, I reassured him in a couple of years he will probably be happy when more games are out. He does now also have killzone and fifa14 as he got those for christmas.

Edited by Chrysalis (Fri 27-Dec-13 14:08:47)

Guess depends on what type of games he likes,Killzone is excellent and so is Battlefield 4 and he only has to wait mere months and not years for some really good stuff such as Infamous and Watchdogs and a lot more besides.

Little point buying or having Battlefield if you don't like online play considering that's its core strength

I guess he got the bf4 ps4 pack?

he didnt pre order so got what he could.

II will check with him next week if he enjoys his new games more. He will probably like fifa as he likes sports games so killzone will be interesting if he likes.

Been playing bf4 since Christmas Day and I guess it wouldn't be battlefield if it weren't riddled with bugs!! Hardened battlefield players have come to expect nothing less than a full game release that still resembles an Alpha!!!!

I know this is a very late reply but im playing BF4 on a 32inch 720p telly at 60 fps on high settings ,with a control pad and i don't own either next gen console .

Now i know PC purists will spawn me just as will the console community but the aim assist in BF4 on PC with a control pad is ridiculously good and i don't feel im playing at a disadvantage to those using keyboard , mouse , in short to medium short , gun fights , im ruling .

Everybody except the hardcore keyboard/mouse dudes except operating helicopters works best with controller , tanks and planes im not so sure .

Seriously , if you are already competent with a controller , plug it in and see , if your not competent with a controller , this is not going to help you . Stick with what you know .

So yeah , i brought a entry level refurbished gaming laptop with a A10-5750m and a 7600m ( not sure of exact spec but has 2Gb of DDR5 )dedicated graphics card that runs in crossfire with the APU graphics that works a treat at 720p and then plugged it into my telly and connected a controller .

And yes im loving the steam sale .

Edited by deleted (Sun 29-Dec-13 14:36:10)

Which is weird because the aim assist doesn't work at all on my ps4 version, although I expect that is down to the poor compensation code.

Where did you get your laptop??

Does any game work on your console Nelly

The devils OWN , PC World . HP Envy M6 . thing is the online advert says nothing about the dual graphics cards , its only because i watched a video about said laptop and checked the HP website .

I believe its a real bargain even at its full price but even more so refurbished . I researched and found due to manufacturing faults , they overheated , so where recalled and refurbished . will say its not the quietest but i don't hear it with my headphones on .

Edit: its actually no louder than the xbox360 slim , im just noise paranoid .

Edited by deleted (Sun 29-Dec-13 16:29:55)

In reply to a post by time2die:

Does any game work on your console Nelly

Online, no.

exactly that , and very strange , i have no reasoning why apart from you will be up against people playing keyboard/mouse and still have a chance .

As in , with out the Aim assist i would not stand a chance and I still struggle at distance so have been picking my engagements to be short distance and close quarters and game type to mostly " Team Death Match " . I mean i play Conquest but hog the helicopters .

Best sell it on ebay then or second chance offer to Spook when he returns from a Vampire reunion

We got to get this sorted in 2014 �..Toady what do you recommend Nelly does with his online connection problems based on his super fast Fibre connection that doesn't like him playing online Games�

Nelly i want to research this problem but time after time even though you have explained it over and over I'm still not really understanding the real issues,its not exactly lag related is it ?

No, it's the coding of the game itself. If you are on console with a low ping and a good route/connection to the game server, you get hammered.

Type low ping aim assist not working and you will see a very familiar title right at the top.

The majority of online FPS titles have it and those that understand the problem all call for the same thing, accurate matchmaking.

your not alone , i have a friend that's strangled his router and runs on moderate NAT on purpose .

Still think strangling it , was a bit extreme , im sure it would of been easier changing some settings .

so has this helped his problem and can you explain in better detail what you mean ?

Yeah it has helped his problem in the fact he never gets host any more but then he has real trouble getting into games and gets allot of flak from us as it messes up match making .

Its simple really , those with good connections are being punished for those that don't have good connections in the foolish quest of creating a level playing field for every one by punishing those that have an advantage .

I don't know of any guaranteed fix , i my self have had interleaving turned back on and now connect my Xbox by wireless , to deliberately increase in my latency , does seem to ( ridiculously as it might seem ) of improved my on line experience .

Edited by deleted (Mon 30-Dec-13 10:42:42)

I'm deliberately avoiding that route as I don't really want to alter the fixed overheads. I don't know enough about routers etc. (or have the patience!) to put it right when it goes wrong! The real variable is distance to the router. A VPN can increase that depending on your choice of server. I'm looking at Germany and Spain currently to bring me up to "average" latency.

The only problem is that if I want to avoid adding latency to all my devices (SmartTV, kids movie streaming from their laptops etc.) then I will need to share the VPN connection with my playstaion from my laptop, rather than flashing the router. But that then means the laptop must always be on if I'm gaming. I can apparently set it up wirelessly though, rather than linking them together.

So before I take that plunge I have been looking into DNS changing services. The beauty of them is that you can simply alter the DNS server addresses in the console settings menu, which negates a lot of flaffing around with the laptop. But you don't really get the same choices of server that most VPN providers offer. Plus you need to be careful who you choose.

And nobody is answering their emails over the Christmas holidays it seems!

Its just so ridiculous that we now try to increase our latency to be competitive .

Just a thought...
If you turned off aim assist and it was possible to use a keyboard and mouse would it be ok??
Aim assist is the problem??

Aim assist isn't the problem and I actually think it is an essential part of the game design on consoles. The problem is that at the the extreme ends of lag comp coding it doesn't work properly. With a really high latency you get a sort of "snap" aiming going in, almost like an aimbot.

At very low latency it doesn't really work at all, likely because the lag comp code is messing with the real time position of the player within the server, but who knows? It's just another symptom that if you haven't experienced, you will have absolutely no grasp of how infuriating it is.

In reply to a post by woweebert:

Its just so ridiculous that we now try to increase our latency to be competitive .

Without doubt Bert.

Anyway, here is my definitive plan of action. I think a VPN is a good idea. I hadn't thought about using one before but it makes perfect sense, especially with mobile banking etc. I have chosen a british company that works on most platforms, PC, iPhone, iPad, etc. This will secure our browsing through a UK server that shouldn't increase latency, other than by the encryption/decryption overhead (likely quite minimal). That costs £5 a month for a fixed country.

Unfortunately, PS3/4 and Xbox360 (don't know about the Xbox One) do not support VPN's. However, they do include proxy server support in their firmware. What I will have to do even though I was trying to avoid it, is set up the VPN on my laptop, then a proxy server. I can then share access with my laptop via the proxy server and forward on through the VPN. Simples eh?

Also unfortunately, a UK server is unlikely to add any latency, so for my ps4 I will have to pick another server abroad. This requires a "global" subscription upgrade to £9 a month. Luckily though, it is a monthly contract that can be cancelled or altered whenever you wish. So I will try out which servers work best before deciding which to stick with. It also removes region locking if you're into you're streaming. I must point out that this is all speculative on my part and based on limited research, but the company are apparently as good as it gets support wise, so we'll see what happens when I sign up later today.

As easy as it sounds, this still has the potential to go spectacularly Tittylargo, so stay tuned for the expletives..

Been using a VPN for years now and have run my 360 through it no problem , think i set it up through my rather complicated router , which is probably not a option you want to consider .

VPN are not complicated and choosing a provider with good support is a smart move , i have two VPN accounts one in America one in Europe which gives me the best of both worlds , especially as the one in Europe is in a country that prides its self on protecting people privacy .

Also have a VPN running on my home server so i can connect to iplayer when abroad .

What do you think to running the console via proxy on a laptop, to servers in say Spain or Germany? I reckon it should increase latency by around 50ms.

Do you use a Swedish company?

Yup Swedish indeed

no idea if you want to increase it that much , you just don't want to be the fastest on the block , like i said for my self putting interleaving back on the line and connecting my xbox wireless mostly sorted my issue .

Now i do the lag killing ," now you don't see me , Oops now you do but its to late instant death" .

There is a trick to playing with increased latency , all ways be the one to pop out from behind cover , not the one trying to run behind cover , or the bendy bullets will get you .

Edited by deleted (Mon 30-Dec-13 18:57:55)

That's what I suggested Nelly do months ago...switch on interleaving which I can do from my portal to my ISP .

Your ISP has no control over interleaving with FTTC connections, only ADSL. Open Reach don't allow it. Or at least they didn't the last time I enquired.

This shows average and peak time ping levels in the UK. That's the average not the highest, and that's only UK connections. How often are you in a UK only lobby on COD for example?

I reckon 70ms is likely optimum given the way matchmaking seems to work, so I will try Spain first as that seems to return an average of 60ms for me.

If that's the case and I get your online woes then it's back to a straight standard ADSl connection because there is little point in paying a priemium for a Fibre connection if it's utter pants matey

Besides Bert has Fibre ain't he so what part of interleaving is he talking about then ? Or has he got the basic ADSL connection and is getting confused.

I know when I had the basic package I had some control,but I'm not arguing with you Nelly if you say we have no control with Fibre

You never used to, unless its changed recently?

Doing a little research I think your spot on with your comments

Anyway sent you lots of Sony Network posts and from the time spent playing Battlefield and Killzone last night it was as smooth as silk