BF2142 and Post Updates

Wow, I cant believe how long it has been since I posted last. I have been busy with RL stuff and my internet time has been shared with moderating some forums and gathering news info for one of them, playing bf2142, and studying.

For the BF2142 players out there, on Nov 2nd, there was a post in the official EA BF2142 Fourms about the new patch 1.05 for BF2142 that will be released later this month. This is good news since there are some server stability issues along with several in game issues that need to be corrected. The most frustrating thing that I have seen so far is spending 40-5- minutes in a round working your butt off to win the round, receive a few awards and then the server crashes. I have lost so, so, many points because of the server crashing that its not even funny anymore.

For non-BF2142 related info, I will have to create another post later, once I catch up with my own news reading since everything else I have been doing has been BF2142 related. I did mention studying earlier which is for my own knowledge as I left college over 20 years ago. I am an avid server admin and try to stay up-to-date with the latest OS’s and internet server add-ons. I will cover more of that with future posts also.

BF2142 Patch and Server Files

BF2142 Updates

Well, its been a busy week. Tomorrow is the official release of the new EA Battlefield 2142 game. Some already have to DVD version but the mass sales for the USA is scheduled for tomorrow with the sales in the UK being released sometime in the early morning of the 20th.

On top of these releases, there is also a patch for the DVD version. You can download the patch using the EAD or from the EA Games FTP server. They are also slowly showing up on the major gaming sites. With this patch, they have the stand-alone non-ranked server files also available. The download from EA has both the Windows and Linux server files zipped up together. This created one large 180MB file to download. The individual server files are Windows 85MB and Linux 88MB. I did find the individual files over at 3D Gamers and I also uploaded the files to my FileCloud premium account for download to everyone.

The patch will not be needed for those that purchased BF2142 straight from EA using the EAD as that download is already suppose to be patched and ready to install.

So far the reviews for the final release have been very good. Those that played the demo where amazed with how much the final changes the overall game play on the ranked servers. With the demo, the soldiers were limited to only the basic weapons with no awards or rank ups. In the retail version, all of the weapon unlocks are available along with rank ups and awards. This expands the game from a very strict level of play with 4 limited soldier classes to a 4 soldier classes with a large array of unlocks and upgrades the action is greatly enhanced.

I logged into my EAD and the “Countdown to Release” is at 22:12:00 and counting down. So what to do until then, off to play some more of the BF2142 demo.

BF2142Fever.com and BF2142 Retail Version Pre-load

Last night I became a BF2142Fever.com site news poster and a forum moderator to assist the gaming site while some of their team is away supporting our US Governments military. I have been an active poster in the forums there assisting users with the game configs and problems they run into with the game.

I have done this before several years ago for another site and also posting info for my teams that I have played with. I am a news hound and am always reading about what is happening on the internet with things I am interested in, thus this is also why I started this blog.

As I was set to report a story from another site, I remembered why I moved from a news poster to a server admin in the past, its my lack of creativity. But alas, several years have passed since the last time I tried to do this and I have become use to posting my thoughts and relating ideas to others. Hopefully I can pass on the news to the users in a way that will be of interest to them.

Last night was not the best night for me to start this though. I was busy all day and had not been on the internet all day. I fired up the computer to open my EA Downloader (EAD) to start the pre-load to the retail version of BF2142. Once this started downloading, I checked my email and seen a message from Simon Moon, the FeverGaming.com Founder. I answered the email and was put to work shortly after reading some rules and guidelines for FeverGaming.com. This is when the fun started.

I had not had anything to eat for about eight hours and my stomach was growling like mad. I had just started reading the article that I was to report on and I could not concentrate. I took a break to make something to eat and sat down in front of the TV. Ah man…tonight was the UFC fight between Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz. I had wanted to watch this and after that was the Spike TV “Screem Awards 2006″.  So here I am, stuffing my face with the fights going on and Simon was on ICQ waiting for me to post my first news post.

OK. I turned on the tape recorder and sat back down at the computer. I re-read the interview and then looked at some past news posts on the site to see how they have done the posts in the past. I layout my post in notepad and then post it in the team area of the forums for Simon to preview. Oops, formatting error. Well, mainly cause the vBulletin forum software does most of the formatting to URL links automatically. I make the quick changes and update the post, at which time it is approved for news posting on the site. I make the post and then watch the rest of the UFC fights and get there just in time to see Ortiz beat Shamrock again.

So here I am, at the computer again several hours later and I think posting news on the site will be fun. I just search out the news specific to BF2142 and report about it. That is just a small additional thing from my normal posts in the forums and hopefully will contribute to the sites popularity.

If you like games like BF2142, BF2, America’s Army, Crysis, and Alan Wake, check out FeverGaming.com. Each game section has their own forums and there is lots of info and users to help out if you have any questions about the games listed.

There are still chances to win a free copy of BF2142 with the contest that BF2142Fever.com have running. So go over there and enter the BF2142 contest.

BF2142 Demo

The BF2142 Demo release info was posted at the Battlefield Franchise site. Since I won a copy of bf2142 from BF2142.com as I posted here, I have already downloaded the demo pre-load using the EA Downloader (EAD). According to the count-down timer in the EAD, I can install the demo at midnight tonight PST.

For everyone that pre-ordered BF2142 using the EAD, they get to download and play the demo 24 hours before anyone else can. Then, the Gamespot Total Access account holders get to download the demo tomorrow and start playing it at midnight PST. On Saturday, everyone else will be able to download an play the demo. It should be fun.

You can use Game-Monitor to see what servers are playing the demo.

So, did you pre-order? Are you planning on purchasing BF2142?

Let me know.

BF2142

In a past post, I showed that BF2142.com was having a contest to give away keys to the upcoming BF2142 game from EA/Dice. I have been submitting my question answers following the contest rules. None of the winners are posted anywhere, they just receive a PM and email about their win.

Today I logged into the bf2142.com site and was notifed that I had a PM. Of course I have all of the security features set in FireFox, so the popup did not show. I went to my message control panel and there it was, “Congratulations Cigar_Man, you have won a free copy of Battlefield 2142″. I opened the PM and followed the info in it and I now have the game awaiting pre-load in my EA Downloader (EAD).

Thanks to Simon Moon and all of the crew at Fevergaming.com, the main site to BF2142.com. Also, thanks to EA/Dice for providing the keys and the game to the gaming community.

Check out Fevergaming.com for all of your FPS gaming news, info, and support.

Pixel Image Editor

I am not a graphics person so I have never invested into a program to create graphics. I have used GIMP to modify some pics but normally I just have a friend create or modify pics for me. Well, I have been looking at different software for my Linux desktop ( I use linux for my general computer tasks, XP for my FPS gaming) and came across Pixel. It is still in beta (beta 6) but there is a lot of positive appraisal comming from the internet community about this program.

It is available for Windows, Linux/x86, Linux/PPC, Linspire, Zeta/BeOS/x86, QNX/x86, FreeBSD/x86, MacOSX/PPC and MacOSX/x86, MorphOS/PPC, eComStation, OS/2, SkyOS and DOS now. The licensing also is multiplatform so you can use it on several OS’s at once. If you purchase a license now it cost you $32 and you get free updates until version 2.0. Once the final version 1.0 is released, the cost will go up to $79.

Try the beta version now to see how well the program works, then you can purchase at the discounted rate before version 1.0 is available. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.

Free Open-Source software for Windows

I came across a digg about some free software at OpenSourceWindows. Some of the programs I already use, like FireFox and Thunderbird, but there was a lot of programs from the Linux desktop OS’s that also have window versions. Check it out, there is a lot of software listed there.

Blog test with Writely from Google

Since Gmail account users can now use Writely , I figured I would give it a try.

So far, I see several more option here than I do with my desktop blogger program, I just have to test a few of them to see how they work out. I will need to play with the different styles and font types to see how things turn out.

To much to read atm so I will find stuff to place in my blog and use Writely to add it.

BF2142 goes “GOLD”

EA and Dice announced that BF2142 has gone gold. This means that all coding for the game is completed but for some reason EA and Dice say the game has been handed over to the quality assurance team for final testing. From EA/Dice’s statement, it looks like they are at the final release candidate level and not gold. We will just have to wait and see what state the program is in.

From Wikipedia: The expression that a software product “has gone gold” means that the code has been completed and “is being mass-produced and will be for sale soon.”

From Webopedia: The gold version is the final version of the software as it will be released to the public.

ATI 6.9 Driver

ATI release version 6.9 of the Catalyst drivers yesterday. I just upgraded the other day to the 6.8 driver after waiting a while for any new bugs to be reported. Since I am not having any problems with the 6.8 drivers I will again wait a few weeks before installing the 6.9 drivers. Hopefully the OmegaDrivers will be updated with the 6.9 as the last set was 6.7 based.

I have an old AGP x800xl card, so normally there are not many imporvements with the new drivers for my card. There is only one entry in the release notes pertaining to BF2:

Battlefield 2: Attempting to launch the game under Windows XP with the in-game display setting at 1920×1440 or 2048×1536 and AA set to 6x may result in the game failing to launch. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22817

Unless you are running CrossFire or a x1xxx series vid card, then there does not look like there is much new.

VMware

I have used VMware since it first came out in 1999. I had heard of the product through some of the community boards online and while at a Microsoft Trainers Conference that I attended but I had never used it. One of the trainers was talking about using VMware to practice configuring the servers for his classes. Shortly after that, there was info passed from a VMware rep about a free VMware Workstation copy for Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCT). I found the info in the MCT news group and was able to get my free copy. After learning how to use it, I was able to actually fully prepare my classroom servers and client builds all from my laptop. This brought up another idea, use it for certification preparation.

I can remember buying two used computers to prepare for my certification. You could not do everything from just reading, you had to have some hands-on time. Of course you could only do limited things on a production in-house server so I had to build my own servers to study with. With VMware, I could startup any number of servers and do everything I needed without having 3 or 4 machines all running at once in my room. Just use the 180 day evaluation server copy. It has it’s own limited license and is perfect for learning about the product.

I have since used VMware to test other OS’s and web server builds, configs, and updates. This is very useful for testing OS and security updates before doing so on a “live” server. It has also saved me from causing damage and downtime to some servers when bad updates/patches have been released.

Lately I have also been using the free VMware Player. You can use the player to run virtual machines that have been created by the VMware Workstation, GSX Server, or ESX Server. VMware has an area to download fully pre-installed and pre-configured application and operating system environments that run in the player. These downloads are called Virtual Appliances (VA’s) and they run within the VMplayer so there are no modifications to your computer. There are downloads like a browser appliance configured for secure internet browsing, mail server spam box, several Linux OS’s, a web hosting box, network sniffer box, etc. Just about anything that can run on a regular PC or Server can be virtualized into a VA, as long as it is allowed with licensing. I have been using the PC-BSD virtual image that I downloaded from their main site. So instead of downloading the full OS ISO’s, I can download the VA image and run it from the VMplayer. No more need to have a second machine or dual boot my windows machine. Give the VMplayer a try. It fun to run other OS’s. I especially like running the Ubuntu VA cause I am hooked on the Frozen-Bubble game. It is very addictive.

Games

BattleField 2142:

Over at BF2142.com they are giving away a copy of Battlefield 2142 everyday. Instructions for entering are here. There is one catch, you need to be a registered user of the forums. The good thing is that if you are an old member of the TotalBF2 site, then you are already a member there. If not, then just register. Good luck, I sent in my entry.

AlienArena2007:

Came across a new game today called AlienArean2007. Apparently I had tried to download a copy of AA2006 cause I had a directory for it in my games download directory, but it was empty. I am downloading AA2007 as I type from GamersHell at my full download speed from Cox cable. This game can be run on Linux or Windows since it is created off of the Quake2 engine, which supported both OS’s.The website looks like there is a lot going on there. I also checked out the forums and there is many hours worth of info there.

America’s Army:

Last Thursday, America’s Army: Special Forces (“Overmatch”) v2.7 was released. The full game download is 2.5GB so use some sort of download manager in case you lose connections. There are lots of sites mirroring the download and you can find them here.