Battlefield 3 - Onboarding & Hosting

[M1khail]

Getting started

System Requirements
CPU: Quad-Core
RAM: 4 GB
Video card: DirectX 11 compatible with 1024 MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or ATI Radeon HD 6950)
Dedicated VRAM: 1 GB.

Note :Not recommended for Intel HD Integrated graphics

1. If not already, purchase Battlefield 3 & download all the addons, you may get it from Steam Battlefield 3™ on Steam
   Note : It occasionally goes on discount at ~$2.49, wait for the specials if it isn’t.
   

   

2. Download EA App and create an EA account, the Steam version uses the EA app for product activation and authentication. Download the EA app – Powering next generation of PC gaming - Electronic Arts

3. Install PunkBuster and allow exceptions if there is popups from your AV or Firewall. Navigate to your BF3 Folder, click into __Installer\Punkbuster\redist Run pbsvc.exe as a Admin then run it again to test services (important)

4. Launch Battlefield 3, If its the first time you will be asked to link Battlefield 3 to an EA account, the EA app with popup and you’re asked to sign in, then BF3 will launch.

Finding a Server

Out of the box, you have to use the Web browser on Battlelog, Battlelog / Battlefield 3 which requires an EA account signup that is already steam linked.

Accessing Private Servers

Private servers were made possible from the community mod Venice Unleashed.

This requires signup and downloading of the VU Client (Server browser App)

1. Signup to VU https://veniceunleashed.net/signup
2. Download the VU client Download - VU
3. Launch VU Client
4. Sign into VU with the account you’ve created
   
   
5. Create a Soldier, Note: You will need to manually include your subnet tag
   
   
6. Click Servers and double click a server to join
   
   

Tips

• Use Empty servers for practicing your vehicle handling skills
• Use Empty servers to configure and test your controls.
• Use Empty servers to configure your loadouts.
• Use a external view for Jets, 1st person view to fire.
• Use a mouse for Helis.
• To take screenshots, add VU Client or VU.exe as a non-steam app and use the steam overlay to take screenshots.

Hosting

Battlfield 3 is Online only, as the browser connects to the internet to list the servers.

Have a think If you wish to host a server on the same computer you’re gaming on or use a spare PC, as hosting with bots will eat up performance, according to the documentation for bots & VU, it recommends a Dual core 3ghz CPU, with 6 GB of RAM (Bots + Server instance), less bots = less resources taken.

Port requirements

7948 UDP VU networking layer
25200 UDP Frostbite networking layer
47200 TCP Remote Admin

Note: Internet connectivity is required

1. Launch VU Client first for VU Activation, then close the app
2. Head to Login - VU, create a key
3. Download the .key file and place it into Documents\Battlefield 3\Server
4. Under Documents\Battlefield 3\Server\admin, create startup.txt and copy and paste the below into the file, make any changes you like, then save it

vars.friendlyFire false
vars.maxPlayers 64
vars.serverMessage "Test Server Only"
admin.password "myadminserverpassword"
vars.unlockMode all
vars.gameModeCounter 120
vars.nametag true

5. Under admin, create maplist.txt and copy and paste the below into the file, make any changes you like, then save it.

mp_018 RushLarge0 2
mp_007 RushLarge0 2
xp1_002 RushLarge0 2
xp1_004 RushLarge0 2

6. Download the Bots https://github.com/Joe91/fun-bots/archive/refs/tags/V2.9.3-Release.zip
7. Unzip into Documents\Battlefield 3\Server\Admin\Mods
8. Under Documents\Battlefield 3\Server\admin, create a modlist.txt and copy paste the below into the file, then save it.
   fun-bots-2.9.3-Release
9. Launch VU Server (120hz) App

To run multiple instances on the same host, refer to this article https://docs.veniceunleashed.net/hosting/config/#running-multiple-servers

You may use ProCon to admin you server and make changes on the fly, Downloads - MyRCON
Connect using the RCON port as seen in the server app and password as set in your startup.txt file

You may configure the amount of bots by making changes to the Documents\Battlefield 3\Server\Admin\Mods\fun-bots-2.9.3-Release\ext\Shared\config.lua file scroll down to SPAWNLIMITS and make changes there.

Also recommend to disable bots from driving vehicles, as they do get stuck in a loop, while denying the vehicle to good use, scroll down to -- VEHICLE
Change
UseVehicles = false,
UseJets =false,
Note:This means if the bots spawn from the carrier, they will need to swim ashore

[AusSTY]

Hell yea, love this! I’ll give it a spin. The vanilla BF3 server browser (in the browser) doesn’t seem to work on my Win11 machine. I’ll try this out instead and see how it goes.