FAQ (Battlefield 2142)

From EncyClanPedia

Contents 1 Frequently Asked Questions for Battlefield 2142 2 Credit 3 General 4 Game Interface 5 Gameplay 6 HUD and minimap 7 Vehicles 8 Weapons 9 Equipment 9.1 Squad Leader Equipment 10 Unlocks 11 Titan 12 Awards and Ranks 13 Northern Strike 13.1 NS Unlocks 14 Support and Tech 15 PunkBuster 16 References

Frequently Asked Questions for Battlefield 2142

This is a list of Frequently Asked Questions regarding Battlefield 2142 and their answers, collected from the Total Battlefield 2142 forums.

Credit

Where ever possible the source used for the answer have been credited in the references. Since this is Frequently asked questions it is very likely the question has been answered by many others.

General

Q: What does FF mean? I see a lot servers with ############ FF OFF

• A: That stands for Friendly Fire. FF OFF means that certain types of attacks won't damage friendlies but some still can, depending on server settings. FF ON means that you can hurt your friends in any way you please. ^[1]

Q: Where do you find the screenshots you take?

• A: Short answer: C:\Documents and Settings\Your Username\My Documents\Battlefield 2142\Screenshots. Long answer: Inside your "My Documents" folder, there's a "Battlefield 2142" folder. Inside that there's a "Screenshots" folder ^[2]

Q: What exactly is Stat-padding?

• A: Its a broad topic, but it usually involves repeatedly doing an action that does not make sense gamewise, only to get some kind of bonus/award. An example was dropping ammo boxes at the Titan guns, which would give you points for resupplying them, even though they had unlimited ammo. This has now been fixed. Be aware that you can have your stats reset if you are caught padding them ^[3]

Q: How do I view the info for the dogtags I've collected?

• A: In the leaderboard, you can set a filter called 'Dogtags' which lists the names of all the people you've knifed. ^[4]

Q: What is the "Away bonus" That I see in my score?

• A: While not playing you accumulate an away bonus, which will be applied to your score when you return. You will gain 1 hour of "Away Bonus Time" for each 24 hours where you do not join a ranked server. During bonus time you will get a 50% bonus added to your score. ^[5]

Q: How do I get a picture of my own dog tags?

• A: There is a BF 2142 dog tag generator available at http://elxx.net/doggen/index.php

Q: Can you gain rank while playing singleplayer?

• A: No, you only gain rank while playing on ranked servers online.

Q: How do I uninstall a patch?

• A: BF2142 patches can not be uninstalled, you will need to reinstall. See Having different versions of Battlefield coexist to have two different version at the same time.

Q:Where can I find a list of the ingame tips shown at the loading screen?

• A: Strategy:In Game Tips (Battlefield 2142) has a list of all the tips

Q:Is it true that BF2142 contains spyware?

• A: Not really. BF2142 contains in game ads, and it monitors when and how you are looking at these ads. But nothing outside the game gets monitored. It is possible to block the access to the ad servers entirely, which will also prevent new adds from being downloaded to your game. See Blocking Ingame Ads

Q: What is "Knife and Pistol Servers"? And what is all the fuss about?

• A: Ranked Servers where players are restricted by admins from using anything but a few select weapons (usually knife and/or pistol) are a hotly debated topic. Some see them as harmless fun, while others consider them blatant stat-padding. Regardless of opinion they are clearly against the Rules Of Conduct by EA. Notice that this does not apply to unranked servers, where anything goes.

Q:What are the ROE, ROC or Rules of conduct.

• A: EA has published a set of rules governing the gameplay on ranked servers. These rules are usually not built into the game itself, but EA reserves the right to punish for violations, typically by resetting the stats of the offending user or removing the ranked status of the server in question. For more info, including how to report violations, see Rules Of Conduct

Q:What is the difference by ranked and unranked servers?

• A: Ranked servers communicate with EA central servers where the player data is stored. Only points and awards gained on these servers counts toward your total. Server owners and players must abide the Rules Of Conduct by EA

Unranked servers still allow you to use unlocks gained on ranked servers, but your score will not be reported to EA and you will not gain any awards or ranks.

Game Interface

Q: On your respawn selection screen, what does it mean when your squad leader has a red border around him?

• A: That you cant spawn on him, because he is dead or in a full vehicle. ^[6]

Q: What does that '2' symbol mean next to players names when I show the scores? It looks like the 2 from the title of "Battlefield 2".

• A: That means that they are a BF2 Vet, and have come from the land of BF2 to play BF2142. Owners of BF2 were able to register for Veteran Status at http://www.battlefield.ea.com/battlefield/bf2142/veteran.aspx, gaining the Icon and a free promotion on new soldiers (To private, worth 40 points) ^[7] The offer is no longer valid. ^[8]

Q: How can I check the FPS in game?

• A: Activate the console (default ~, left of the "1" key), then type "renderer.drawfps 1" (without " " of course), that should activate a counter in the upper left corner of the screen. To deactivate just replace 1 with 0 ^[9]
• A: I suggest getting the free version of fraps. It can of course be used to record movies, but it can also display your FPS and create statistics for a selected period, with min,max, and average FPS. You just press a button to start and stop the benchmarking ^[10]

Q: How do you add/invite people to your buddy list?

• A: Just enter their player name into the search box at the bottom of the buddy list panel ^[11]
• A: When playing you can send a buddy request from the management screen. I believe its tab, manage then there are options to kick vote and send buddy request ^[12]

Q: How do you invite people into your squad?

• A: Press Caps Lock (or whatever button you have assigned to open the squad panel). This should open the map on the right and a pane on the left detailing the squads on your team. At the bottom of the pane there should be a 'Manage Squad' button; from this you can invite new members into your squad and kick troublemakers ^[13]

Q: How do you "whisper"?

• A: Hold down TAB so that you are looking at the Score Screen. Right click so that you can use you mouse on that screen. Select the "Manage" tab and then double click on whoever you want to "whisper" to. ^[14]

Q: I can't join/rejoin a squad that I just accidentally left. The squad icon is not showing locked and I am unable to join or create a new squad.?

• A: You cant join a squad if you are dead ^[15]

Q: How can I see which servers have auto-"balance" enabled and which not?

• A: When in the server browser you can click the square I button on the far left of the browser and check the players/server setup on that specific server, it will show you if autobalance is on or not. Also as you join a server it will state whether or not autobalance/friendly fire is on in the center right of the box. ^[16]

Q: How do you initiate a kick-vote?

• A: Press TAB, initiate the mouse and click manage, and there's a column of boxes under "Kick Vote" and the players name next to them. ^[17]

Q: How do you add servers to your favorites?

• A: There's a Little Plus Amongst all those "linux" and "ranked" symbols ^[18]

Q: On the server list, with players it says 25/32(2) whats the number in the parentheses mean?

• A: Reserved slots, which will kick a player to make room for a player with one. ^[19]

Gameplay

Q: What is a best kill streak and how do you get them?

• A: You get a best kill streak by having the most kills in a row in a round compared to anyone else. ^[20]

Q: What actions yield teamwork points?

• A: These actions are believed to give teamwork points^[21]:
  • Teamwork Score - Positive
    • Healing (1 point per 50% soldier health)
    • Reviving (1 point)
    • Resupplying (1 point)
    • Repairing (1 point per 50% damage or recover Commander Asset)
    • Neutralise Silo/Control Point (1 point)
    • Capture Silo/Control Point(2 points)
    • Capture Silo/Control Point Assists (1 point)
    • Defend Silo/Control Point - Kill a soldier trying to capture a silo or Control Point(1 point)
    • Spotted Assists - Spot Enemy which teammate then kills (0.5 point)
    • Diver Ability Assist - Kills by Teammate when sharing a vehicle (0.5 point)
    • Squad Order Bonus - Kill, Revive, Heal, Resupply, Repair near Squad Leader (1 point)
    • Squad Assist Bonus - Heal, Revive, Resupply, Repair a Squad member (1 point)
    • Transport Drops (? point)
    • Kill assist - Remove 50% health from an enemy that a team mate then kills (0.5 point) <-- Is this a Teamwork Score ?

• • Teamwork Score - Negative
    • Teamkill (-3 points)
    • Team Damage (-? points)
    • Team Vehicle Damage (-? points)
    • Team Switch (-2 points) <-- Is this a Teamwork Score ?
    • Suicide (-2 points) <-- Is this a Teamwork Score ?^[22]:

Q: What are field upgrades?

• A: Every squad bonus gained by a squad member counts toward a meter shown in the upper left corner of the HUD. When this bar is filled, all squadmembers get to select a free unlock. You can only field upgrade one level, and the upgrades will be lost when you leave the server. It takes 10 squad bonus points to get a field upgrade.

HUD and minimap

Q: You get shot at and a little triangle at the upper left hand quadrant of the "circle" on the main screen lights up red at about 10 o'clock indicating I just got shot and took damage.Is the shooter in front of me slightly to my left or above my left shoulder? IE: is that "ring" oriented parallel with the ground or oriented vertically?

• A: If the red indicator is at 10 'o clock, so is your shooter (he is to your front left). If you're shot from behind then the indicator will be at 6 'o clock. ^[23]

Q: On your minimap, what does it mean when a blue dot (your teammate) is drawn with a red outline around it?

• A: It depends on if you are an assault or support. As assault, it means they are injured and have below 100 hp. As support it means they expended some form of ordinance or ammunition. ^[24]

Q: The other day when I was playing I noticed on the mini-map that there was one team member with a blue fan shaped cone out in front of him (looked like a flashlight beam).. What was that? or rather what did that represent?

• A: A friendly sentry gun. ^[25]
• A: If the cone keeps going back and forth in a full circle, though, it's the Accipiter SL drone. ^[26]

Q: As commander can you issue orders via the 'T' menu to your squads? How can you change which squad gets the order in this case?

• A: The mousewheel allows you to move the squad selection up/down ^[27]

Q: How do I place an Attack/Defend order on the Titan instead of on the ground below.?

• A: Press and hold "t" and Aim for the Titan Icon. Then left click to issue the order. Note that the titan icon is not visible while inside the cargo bay and corridors.

Vehicles

Q: What is the workaround to make the right minigun on the EU air transport work again?

• A: When you get in it, before firing, cycle all the way back and forth, side to side. ^[28]

Q: Is a walker considered Armor?

• A: Yes the walker counts as armour.^[29]

Weapons

Q: What are the properties of the different weapons

• A: Take a look at the BF2142 Weapon Compare Tool which allows you to view and compare the data on the weapons.^[30]

Q: When I prime a grenade with the rmb in readiness to throw. Can I put the pin back in if I don't need to?

• A: No, but you can hold the grenade indefinitely if you hold on "right-click" ^[31]

Q: Is there a set detonation range for RDX? Can you detonate from way across the map?

• A: As far s I know, yes, I often put RDX on the first flag I take and go sniping somewhere on the other side of the map. When "my" flag is taken, I hit the detonator and it worked every time. ^[32]

Q: Do APMs still kill FAVs?

• A: APM's do negligible damage to the FAV. They DO kill the driver and passenger though. ^[33]

Q: I read that if you get a head shot with the sniper rifle you get your victims dog tags. I keep trying but no luck.. Is this true?

• A: You only get dogtags if you knife someone, not headshots. Headshots count towards the infiltrator pin. ^[34]

Q: Can you throw a grenade through a "friendly" forcefield?

• A: No, You have to be on the other side of the field to throw the grenade. ^[35]

Q: How do you activate and deactivate single-shot mode on the assault rifles?

• A: For Assault rifles just hit "3" to toggle between auto and semi (i.e. single shot).^[36]

Q: I saw a strange Gun in game that I haven't seen before?

• A: It was most likely the Bofors, a pre order bonus that replaces the skin of the Scar-11. It is functionally equivalent to the Scar-11, it just looks different.

Equipment

Q: What are the buttons to pilot the pod (while falling) when you spawn on a beacon?

• A: The pod is not supposed to be controllable when you spawn on a SLSB. ^[37]

Q: What exactly is a Netbat? Is it automatic or does the player need to activate it?

• A: Communication network available as passive unlocks. Puts a red diamond around spotted targets with additional info depending on your class. See Netbat^[38]

Q: How do I pick up my placed support gun or shield?

• A: Use the same key that you use to pick up kits from dead soldiers. Default is "g" ^[39]

Q: How do I use my Gruber 5 Stabilizer?

• A: It is activated by sprint (shift for most people) ^[40]

Squad Leader Equipment

Q: I do not understand the spawn beacon. Whats the deal with to be 'trained' on it you have to be a squad leader with 2 members?

• A: All it means is that for you to use it, you need at least 2 squad members, one and yourself.^[41]

Q: What exactly does the Otus do?

• A: A constant radar sweep which puts a Netbat] diamond at the enemy's current position. Same principle as the Pulse Meter, just hands free, continuously and 360 degrees ^[42]

Q: I cant make the Accipiter (SL Gun Drone) shot at anything, how does it work?

• A: The Accipiter fires in two modes: Attack mode and lock-on mode.
  • Attack mode happens when you attack an enemy soldier, the Accipiter generally will start firing in two to three seconds or less.
  • Lock-On mode occurs when the Accipiter locks onto a target via the Netbat system.
    You do not need to be shooting in order for it to fire in lock-on mode.^[43]

Q: I lost my SL drone, what now?

• A: The drone can be resupplied at Ammo Hubs and supply crates. It takes a while but if you keep the control out you can see when it has "reloaded"

Q: I need to get rid of the drone again, do I have to destroy it?

• A: The drone can be picked up like other deployables. Just stand below it and press "g" while looking at it. This can be useful if you need to enter place with low headroom, or be stealthy.

Unlocks

Q: Can you combine 2 kits? Like put a medic pack on sniper kit?

• A: No, you cannot combine kits like that.^[44]

Titan

Q: Where are the titan pods

• A: Titan pods are the 6 doors on the sides of the titan hangar spawn platform. They are facing the gun seats and are bit lower level than the gun seats. 3 doors on the right and 3 on the left.^[45]

Q: How do I pod off the titan, I see the pod doors but don't know how to pod?

• A: You go to the door press E (the same key you use to enter vehicles) and then look around with your mouse to the direction you want to lauch. Then press right mouse button and off you go! You can steer the pod mid-flight with WASD and mouse. To pod from an APC press F3 and press right mouse.^[46]

Q: Do your own explosives harm your titan consoles? Say I put RDX on the wall partition, does the explosion hurt the console as well if I explode it?

• A: If Friendly Fire is ON, yes, your RDX will hurt your own team's assets, including the Titan consoles. Easy way to test - start an empty local server, go into your own Titan and lay 3 RDX on it, you'll blow it. ^[47]

Q: How do you destroy the shields protecting the upper Titan Corridors?

• A: You need to destroy the console below it first; that is, you have to destroy #1 to get to #3, and #2 to get to #4. ^[48]

Q: How do I pod on top of my own Titan?

• A: You have to use the directional keys (WASD) in combination with your mouse to manoeuvre the pods. Look away from the Titan and press "s" after launch. ^[49]

Awards and Ranks

Q: What does the IoR requirement on some award mean?

• A: In One Round. It means you have to reach that score in one round, but all non-IoR requirements must have been met before you start the round where you complete the IoR requirements

Q: What is the "Dog Tagger Dagger", and how do I get it?

• A: It is a knife with dogtags dangling from the handle, awarded for 50 unique knife kills. It has no special properties. ^[50]

Q: I have enough points to get a promotion, but it just shows 1050/1000 without actually promoting me?

• A: Promotions has to be verified against EA´s central servers. At times they become overloaded which causes delays up to a couple of days. But don't worry, the promotion and unlock will come through eventually

Q: How do I archive the ranks above Brigadier General?

• A: The top three ranks are not permanent but are re-evaluated each week, based on the score and K/D ratio of existing Brigadier Generals during the previous week.This table contains the latest released info from EA, but it may have been changed since that. See Decay Ranks Letter for the full message
  ^[51]

Rank	Available positions	Score/week	K/D Ratio
Major General	50 players	2000	1
Lieutenant General	25 players	3000	1.5
Supreme Commander	1 player	5000	2

Northern Strike

Q: Can I purchase Northern Strike on a DVD?

• A: No, Northern Strike is only available as a download using the EA Download Manager. Some stores will sell you a Northern Strike Box, but it only contains a activation code, the game still has to be downloaded.

Q: Can I make a backup of Northern Strike, so I wont have do re download it again?

• A: Yes, the Northern Strike installer is a standard executable that can be found in the cache of EA Download Manager. Look for the folder in c:\ProgramData\Electronic Arts\EADM\cache\{<Some Random Number>} The Northern Strike folder is named "bf2142_bp1"

Q: I do not have the bandwidth to download Northern Strike, what do I do?

• A: As long as you have purchased NS from EADM, it doesn't matter how you get the file itself. A copy of a friends downloaded NS installer will work just as well as your own since NS is tied to your EA account.

Q: Do Northern Strike unlocks work on all Battlefield 2142 servers/maps

• A: Yes ^[52]

NS Unlocks

Q: How does the Improved Spawn Beacon work?

• A: It reduces spawn time from 15s to 10s if it is selected as spawn point at the time of death.^[53]

Q: Is the Clark 12-RDX tied to the shotgun?

• A: No, it occupies an unlock slot and can be used regardless of what your main weapon is, as long as you are support class.

Q: How do you obtain credits for the extra unlocks? Are there further ranks available in NS?

• A: There are no extra ranks, the NS unlock credits are tied to certain awards that are only obtainable on NS maps.

Q: Can I use NS unlock credits to unlock vanilla weapons, and vice versa?

• A: Yes, once you obtain a NS award you will gain a standard unlock credit that can be used as you wish. But NS weapons can only be unlocked if you own Northern Strike.

Support and Tech

Q: Does BF2142 support widescreen?

• A: Although you can set widescreen resolutions, it does not result in an increased FOV. This is intentional since EA believes wide-screen is an unfair advantage.

Q: How do I set Wide screen resolutions? They are not available from the settings?

• A: You can edit the properties of your BF2142 shortcut to set a custom resolution. e.g. "C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Battlefield 2142\BF2142.exe" +menu 1 +fullscreen 1 +szx 1400 +szy 1050"^[54]

Q: I have been told that I should delete "My Documents\Battlefield 2142\mods\bf2142\cache", why is that?

• A: This is where Battlefield 2142 keeps its graphics cache. You will notice that it spends some time generating this each time you change your graphics options. If you delete the contents of this folder (not the folder itself) you will force it to generate them again, which may solve some problems.
  It is recommend that you run a defrag between deleting the files and starting BF2142 again, since that may improve performance due to the new cache files loading faster.

Q: The game freezes about halfway through the map load (often at 60%)?

• A: This is often caused by the file radial.cdb becoming corrupted. Try renaming it, which will cause a new file to be generated. Notice that you may have to configure Explorer to show hidden files and protected operating files. ^[55] On a standard installation, radial.cdb should be found in "C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Battlefield 2142".
  If you have troubles finding it run this from a command prompt: attrib -s -h "C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Battlefield 2142\radial.cdb". It will remove the hidden and system attributes from the file so that it can be seen and deleted.

Q: What is radial.cdb used for?

• A: BF2142 features ingame advertising, which uses this file for caching the dynamic ads

Q: Why don't I see any Ads?

• A: The ad system in BF2142 can target ads for specific regions based on your IP-address. There may not be any ads for your region.

Q: Can I block the ads? Will that get me banned?

• A: Blocking Ingame Ads in BF2142 is as simple as blocking these IP-addresses 72.3.184.144 - 72.3.184.159 and 72.32.5.0 - 72.32.5.15 and deleting the cache file. To date there has been no consequences for users blocking ads. ^[56]

Q: After updating EA Download Manager, I get an error message about my GUID or CD-key?

• A: Updating EADM has been know to corrupt your key info. A fix can be found on EA Support^[57].

PunkBuster

Q:What is PunkBuster?

• A: PunkBuster is a third party Anti-Cheat program used by Battlefield 2142 and other games. See PunkBuster

Q:I got kicked by PunkBuster with the message "You've been banned for excessive teamkilling or by an admin decision". But I wasn't cheating, am I now banned?

• A: PunkBuster also serves as a tool for the server administrator to kick players. What you are seeing are the default PunkBuster kick message used in this case. Depending on circumstances you may just have been kicked to make room for another player, banned for the rest of the round, for a set time (like 24 hours) or even banned permanently. I any case it only applies to that particular server.^[58].

Q:Why does PunkBuster constantly kick me from the servers?

• A: Most likely your PunkBuster client has not been correctly updated. Check the main article on PunkBuster failing to update or read the PunkBuster Battlefield 2142 support pages.

References

Rating:	0   1   2   3   4   5	Point(s)
Comment:

---

This article was rated 13 time(s) with a score of 4.9231 point(s) (until 10:03, 8 January 2008).

This article has been accessed 1264 time(s) (until 10:03, 8 January 2008).