BF2: Best FPS Video Settings for Competition

Das Capitolin

You could nearly consider me an expert on this subject. I play(ed) BF2 competitivly in prize and money leagues... and boy did I learn some performance tricks.

Note: With each patch the video configuration settings are reset to default (Medium for everything).

First: In BF2 there are two video settings that make more of an impact then all of the others combined. They are Terrain and Lighting. I recommend never going beyond med for terrain and low for lighting; no matter what video card you own. Sure my systems can play everything on the "High" settings, but then I would see shadows when I want to see the enemy. My custom recipe sheet for the BF2 video settings is this:

Terrain = med
Effects = low
Geometry = high
Texture = high
Lighting = low
Dyn Shadows = med
Dyn Light = med
AA = off
Text Filter = high

I get over 100 FPS full time in the game with these settings. While in-game, go to your console using the "~" key, and type in "renderer.drawfps 1". It will show FPS and time between frames in ms.

Here is my Video Options screen showing the competition settings:

Remember that "renderer.drawfps 1" displays the current frames per second (FPS) and the time in milliseconds between frames in the upper left corner of the screen.
References were all done on 16-player size Karkand, MEC side, get into tank without moving anything, and taking the screen shot using a 1280x1024 screen resolution.
Here is the LOWEST SETTINGS 100FPS reference screen shot:

Here is the COMPETITION SETTINGS 100FPS reference screen shot:

Here is the HIGHEST SETTINGS (with highest AA) 37FPS reference screen shot:

Now keep in mind, this is on my old overclocked ATI X800 GT, which still posts 100FPS with the competition settings. Obviously my SLI 7900GTX's will post much faster FPS speeds, but that's not the point of these settings. You will notice major differences in how objects stand out with the competitive settings. Try them and see for yourself.

LaTech · Posted: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 12:26:14 Post Subject:

Even at the lowest setting for BF2, the game is playable...but I agree, tweaking the settings makes for a much more visually appealing game.

Das Capitolin · Posted: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:25:14 Post Subject:

Cleem · Posted: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 21:25:18 Post Subject:

Thanks for these tips! I recently got off an MMORPG craze and am looking to go back into FPS gaming. I used to play Counter-Strike: Source but now it is starting to feel too repetitive to me. I tried the BF2 demo and liked it, except for two major gripes:

1. I was forcing myself to be alert at all times, which resulted in major fatigue. I was not used to this coming from Counter-Strike where, after death, players need to wait for the round to be over to play again. I find that this little respite allows me to regain focus, which I didn't get in BF2.

2. I had a little eye fatigue, perhaps from trying to spot enemies. Not too sure what I can do to prevent that, but I guess it was from trying to see the contrast between the sand and the players' bodies.

Do you have any tips to help me in that regard Das Capitolin? Also, I currently have an AMD 3800+, 2 gigabytes of RAM, and a 6800GT graphix card - do you think I should tweak your settings at all? I would prefer to play at 1280x1024 as you do because that is what I am used to and prefer for the detail.

Thanks!

EDIT: Adjusted speLing to remove external hyperlinx.

knight0334 · Posted: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 22:41:26 Post Subject:

Any opinions/facts on how well that game would play on this system below??

Athlon XP-M 2600+ @ 2600mhz (yes mhz)
DFI Lanparty NF2-B
1gb of PC3200 (ch1= 2x256mb geil | ch2= 1x512mb Ultra)
Radeon 9800Pro 128mb

BeerCheeze · Posted: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 23:57:19 Post Subject:

Your biggest killer Knight would be the R9800. But it should be very playable on that.

Murdock[NJLP] · Posted: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 17:38:48 Post Subject:

Hey...Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give them a try tonight. I got a 6800 with a gig of ram, so I think it performs nicely. However there are times where I wonder how I didn't frag that guy. That is why I gave up my wireless mouse.

edvallie · Posted: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 17:41:48 Post Subject:

If anyone needs any help with css settings I could help you there Razz