Bad Company 2 PC Guide: Getting Online and Tips

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is an extremely popular game, one that has gathered an enormous fan base in short time. It shows, as even our South African servers are populated to the max, and often I’ve waited as much as 20 minutes to get into a server. Fortunately, once some technicalities are sorted out, we should have more servers and a faster server browser. This article will help you out with getting started, getting online and helping you get passed problems you might be experiencing with the PC version of the game. Also, we’ll be giving you some pointers to improve your game, but the primary focus here is to help you out, because we’ve noticed that a number of players have been having trouble getting online. Read on if you’re one of these gamers!

Getting Started and Online

1. Before doing anything, it is recommended that you uninstall the BETA version of Bad Company 2 from your PC, if you have it installed. This is the cause for a few problems online that are best avoided. Once you have done that, install Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – the serial key can be found at the back of the manual. When prompted in the setup, choose “Disc Authentication”, if you bought the game from the shops and not online.

2. Once the game is done installing, you will need to get PunkBuster set up (make sure you install it during the game’s setup as well, it will ask you at the end). The best way is to do it manually, so head over to evenbalance, scroll down and select the version you need. If you have Windows, select the top one, version 3.4 for all windows games. The “evenbalance” link takes you straight to the download page. Once you have downloaded it and extracted the ZIP, open up “pbsetup.exe”, which will make a white box appear on the screen.

Click “Add a Game” on the top left, and select “Battlefield: Bad Company 2″ from the Game drop down box. If you have the game installed, the Game Path field will automatically be filled once you have selected the game.

Now, click on the name so that it becomes highlighted, and then click “Check for Updates” to update your punkbuster to the latest version.

3. Many gamers complained that they could not see any servers. In order to fix this, you need to update your Bad Company 2 game. To do this, you need to go to C/Program Files/Electronic Arts/BattleField Bad Company 2 and look for “BFBC2Updater.exe” – double click it to update your game. This process will take a while, depending on your internet connection speed.

4. We’ve come to the last step, which is adding the South African servers to your favourites list. Thanks to the guys at games.saix.net (this fix was provided by juandre-za), it’s easy to jump online and have a blast. The reason we’re doing this step is because the server browser is currently very slow (although DICE are working to fix this), and some guys can’t find any games on it, so the best way to get online is using your favourites list. Unfortunately, the downside is that your favourites list is capped to 6 servers maximum, for some random reason, so we’re hoping this will be fixed as well. Servers passed the 6th one on your list will be grey’d out.

To add them to your favourites, go to “C:/Users/”username”/Documents/BFBC2/Gamesettings.ini” and look for “FavoriteGames” (NOT FavoriteGamesConnectDate and ConnectCount) near the bottom of the INI file. If you’re having trouble finding it, press “Control + F” and search for it. If you’re using Windows 7 or Vista, go to “Libraries/Documents/BFBC2/GameSettings.ini”.

Once you’ve found “FavoriteGames”, simply copy and paste the following next to it, after the equals sign: 3758396037,bb092dd1-3639-4707-9cbf-8e599b1f3302,-= SGS BFBC2 CONQUEST I Server =-;310275289,26da128a-ea2f-4746-8975-e87f8aeda6f0,iGame Hokum;4030406588,27f205a0-083e-411f-8627-8bd3ce3a6730,iGame Longbow;3417878619,7ff92b35-9dd0-4087-b2fa-868d3402c2a4,iGame Hornet;3561778166,ed1a5ffc-97d0-4bdd-ae1a-d636149e5aa7,iGame Fulcrum;3043094619,f97329cf-16bc-4ede-a9ca-a578831b7298,-= SGS BFBC2 SQUAD:RUSH Server =-;1748390822,9c88aebf-d82b-4ddc-abf6-952b9d2eaadc,-= SGS BFBC2 SQUAD:DEATHMATCH Server =-;543711440,717312ea-7e6d-402a-86e1-081d923b5f81,-= SGS BFBC2 RUSH HARDCORE Server =-;629143716,8c4a0680-efaa-48dc-aedf-49992c627c56,-= SGS BFBC2 CONQUEST HARDCORE Server =-;

That will give you access to the South African servers in your favourites list.

5. If you bought the limited edition of the game, which you will most likely have, then, to redeem your code, while on the main menu of the game, drop down the “multiplayer” tab and click redeem code. Type in the code found on that slip that came in your game box and you will be rewarded with the four vehicle perks and two guns.

That’s it, we’re done. You should be able to play online without any problems your side. Note that DICE are still working on the servers, so if you get a “connection has been lost, please check your network connection” error or something along those lines, just join another server, or retry. Enjoy the game!

Tips

Here are just some in-game pointers to help you with a couple of things :D

1. When using a sniper rifle (we’ve found this to be 100% true with the starting Recon rifle, the M24 sniper), you’ll notice that if you’re shooting over a long distance, your bullet will “drop” the further it goes. That’s why, in order to hit targets that are far away, who you seemingly miss even though you’re aiming right on their heads, you need to aim a little bit above them in order to hit.

2. Don’t spray when using assault rifles unless they’re extremely accurate. Try to fire in bursts for the best results. Also, aiming down sights improves your chance of hitting.

3. M-COM stations can be damaged by C4 (Recon class get this), so it would be a good idea to damage them in this way in case you’re having trouble getting the set charge to explode. Also, any damage done to them helps a lot and gets you lots of experience, so do this whenever you can.

4. If you fall from a high distance (e.g jumping out of an airborne helicopter) press the “jump” button (on PC it should be space) to open up your parachute and land safely. You can guide your parachute using the directional keys.

5. Join a squad! This will allow you to spawn on any alive member if you die, which lets you get right back into the action – if that’s where your squad members are of course! Also be sure to work with your squad whenever you can, you’re much stronger together than you are on your own.

6. Grenades don’t explode if you cook them for a while, so don’t panic! At least, the grenades I used didn’t explode after about 4 seconds of cooking (I threw them after that, so didn’t get to see further) so you have enough time to aim.

7. Completing challenges and objectives gets you lots of experience, so try to do them as well rather than only killing. Also, objectives do make you win, so it’s ideal to make them your focus.

8. To set a charge on an M-COM station, simply approach it, get close and hold down the “use” button. You disarm charges in the same way. Anyone can do this, you don’t have to be a specific class.

9. Carefully monitor your map and the borders on it, because going out of the battlefield will result in a 10 second timer to get back in before death. Although chances are, due to the size of the maps, you won’t really get out much unless you’re an explorer.

10. Most of the servers I played on had team damage on, so be careful when using big explosives like C4, you could end up murdering your teammates. Although you can always argue that sacrifices sometimes need to be made for the greater good (we’re kidding).

11. Be sure to “spot” your enemies, so that they become revealed on the map for your whole team to see. To do this, press “Q” (PC) or “select” (PS3/Xbox360) while looking at an enemy (e.g if you’re using a sniper rifle, you can spot them while looking down your scope). This is a great help to your whole team.

12. When playing the Assault class, if you choose a gun (in the kit selection while in-game) that does not have a grenade launcher attachment, you will gain access to C4s instead.

This article is mostly for newcomers and beginners, so that’s why the tips are things you pros will most likely know already :D If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments section! Happy gaming.