Battlefield 3 announced

Seriously. It feels like a PC title to me, graphically and play-wise. I think the commo rose needs work, but a patch could fix that. I need to yell when I bail out of a vehicle.

I've been getting a few friend requests on the battle log, some people I'm not sure who you are, but I accept it anyway. I figure more is better.

 

The squad interface is not good, forming and joining, tiny little letter at the bottom join etc ummm my eyes are not like they used to be. The Battle log interface has problem showing pings consistently, one of the most important aspect of FPS gaming. Game is good, needs some polishing.

 

Cutscenes where they interrogate Blackburn are videos right!? becouse they run at avg 180fps on my 4890 with highest settings and 1680x1050...

 

I hope so because they mostly look like sh** right?

 

Well considering it was said to use tessellation on the terrain on PC and it doesn't....There's enough proof for ya

 

It uses tessellation for LOD as far as I'm correct, best case for this is the second co-op mission (helicopter) where you can physically see the detail of mountains increase when you come closer.

 

Some guy had an epic battlefield moment right here.

 

Nice!

Hackers Work Around Battefield 3's Origin Requirement
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/38304/Hackers_Work_Around_Battefield_3s_Origin_Requirement.php

 

Ha ha ha! That is why Battlefield is so amazing! Some people don't stick with it long enough to see all the crazy things that go on. It really is something special.

 

Flawed logic based on false assumption.

On another note:

I've used sandboxie to block origin from looking through all my files. I don't have anything to hide (I think) but I thought that it might actually be good for performance if Origin isn't trawling through my C drive. Thoughts?

BF3 is on the news a lot in Germany at the moment. Looks like they're facing a lawsuit about privacy issues, which hopefully will force a change in their policies. I saw a youtube vid that claimed Origin was looking at the content of the users IM chat.

 

That video is amazing! Definitely captures why BF3 is in a class of its own.

 

Anyway what is origin doing exactly? Do you have any links about that issue? What is EA trying to find on my HDD?

PS. That movie posted earlier is awesome

 

What evidence do you have that Origin does these things?

The only thing I can see with Procmon is that Origin.exe for some reason goes through c:\programdata\ and all subfolders.

 

Does what things? I'm only claiming that it's looking through folders it shouldn't have any business in. Opening and closing lots of files, to which I ask a simple question: Will using sandboxie to only allow access to it's own folders actually improve performance?

The youtube vid I mentioned is claiming that the guys IM chat is being looked at. I'm not saying he's right or wrong. The other thing I suppose I'm claiming is that the privacy issues are all over the German news, which they are.

 

As I said, I can see Origin.exe looking through the entire programdata folder and all subfolders. I don't see it go anywhere else after that but its own folder.

You may try sandboxie, but I doubt it will increase performance.

 

BF3 has a bit of a PC smell too. It seems a bit glitchy for a console game, at least compared to BC2. Placing equipment such as the radio beacon or proximity sensor seems buggy - sometimes the game just refuses to let you place it. Also, the animation to throw AT mines is buggy too - doesn't even seem like there is an animation for this. I deploy them and they just appear on the ground. I can see other engineers throwing them, but from my first person perspective I can't see it. Anyways, just some examples I've noticed.

 

http://www.nerdbuster.com/2011/09/eas-origin-wants-to-scan-your-pc-and-invade-your-privacy/

Their TOS that you agree to allows them to transmit back to EA any software you install (does not have to be theirs), when you installed it, "how" you use your software, what hardware you install and how you use it. EA then has the right that you granted them, to share that information with anyone it wants. They also retain the right, that you granted them, to use this in marketing products to you, including products from any partners (presumably that pay them enough money).

The article compares that to Steam as well. Which unlike Origin is self restricting (only their own software or software distributed through Steam) and cannot be used for marketing or data mining.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lGUOFjMuQA#!

A video showing just what stuff Origins is data mining and monitoring on your system. This includes Skype, IM clients (Messenger for example), and other things Origins should have no business monitoring. The monitoring of Skype (and I presume any other voice application, Teamspeak, Ventrilo, Mumble for example) and IM I find particularly disturbing. Especially as it allows them to track any and all conversations you have with anyone on the internet if they desire.

Regards,
SB

 

I'll carry on using Sandboxie! It's easy to set up and leave running and I've been having no problems playing with it activated today.

 

If I allow Origin to access only a few folders in programdata (via Outpost Firewall system guard), it creates the folders it needs on the root of C:

Annoying, I'm gonna let Origin.exe do whatever it wants inside programdata.

 

This discussion should probably be split into a different topic but that video and ProcessExplorer screenshots show nothing suspicious at all. Origin is merely scanning the ProgramData directory for installed game information. That's hardly abnormal and in fact if applications are storing personal data in there, you should bitch to those applications (that is not the proper location). Furthermore Origin is not actually opening any of the files according to that trace, so no data is being collected.

Also, Steam does collect information on other installed programs... it shows up in their survey after all.

Just curiously... do any of you guys who are freaking out over this actually have a clue how ProcessExplorer works and what the data it is displaying means?