Battlefield 2 & Patches Guide

booman · Jul 10, 2013

High Res Screenshots:

Robbie · Aug 7, 2013

Good stuff, I should give it a try.

mrdeathjr28 · Nov 24, 2014

good guide as always, and work with lastest wine

booman · Nov 24, 2014

Yes, I'm very impressed with Wine and its ability to run older games like Battlefield 2. I still wonder how the flickering black textures can be fixed? They really look like polygonal grid textures. The flicker black on the ground only.

Otherwise, it plays just like in Windows!

MajorLunaC · Dec 2, 2014

Did you know you can actually play online even now? After the GameSpy shutdown that closed down the official master servers, many MANY alternate master server systems were setup by communities. The one that works really nice for me and others is Battlelog. The same guys that made it are also working on a BF2142 version too, but there are still bugs being worked out in the beta testing. For BF2 online play, you might need a script to keep PunkBuster working right, because it's fidgety on both Windows and Linux in the same way, but I found a way to fix it. See, Linux users have the upper hand over Windows users in a Windows game! You can see the long details at Wine AppDB. (Note: I suggest lowering the timing to 1 second on the script for perfection. You'll understand when you see and use the script.)

The texture problem may be a little complicated. You have to install some of the newer MESA drivers if you have an Integrated Intel video card, and it supports it, as well as a proprietary texture compression library. Search for "black textures" on the WineAppDB page for Battlefield 2, Renegade X, MechWarrior Online, and others.

booman · Dec 2, 2014

No, I had no idea you could still play online, mostly because I have my own LAN server that runs Battlefield 2 (offline) in my Fedora server. So I'm not surprised. I could just host it online instead and others could probably join.

Its nice when developers release dedicated servers for their games!

I had no idea there was a "hack" for punkbuster in Linux. I'll definitely look that up, because there are other games that refuse to work online because of it.

I'll look up those texture fixes as well. I won't be using open source drivers any time soon, but maybe there is a patch for Wine that could help
Thanks!

booman · Dec 9, 2014

I was able to successfully play offline with a Windows computer.
I launched a Listenserver with Battlefield 2 in Window$ Vista and connected with Mint 17 using PlayOnLinux. It played just like another Window$ box.

MajorLunaC · Mar 8, 2015

The Battlefield 2142 alternate master server system is up and running. As far as Wine goes, it installs and runs the same way as Battlefield 2.

*Simple Instructions: http://dethklokclan.enjin.com/forum...17844803-bf2142-alpha/post/86042870#p86042870

*Advanced Instructions: http://dethklokclan.enjin.com/forum...17844803-bf2142-alpha/post/86229620#p86229620

booman · Mar 9, 2015

Awesome! Thanks for the information. I don't have Battlefield 2142, otherwise I would definitely do a guide on it.
They use the same Refractor Engine correct?

MajorLunaC · Mar 9, 2015

I think it's the Refractor 2 Engine, because it seems to have the same engine as Battlefield 2. In fact, there are custom maps that directly use Battlefield 2 resources, destructible bridges, boats and all. The game settings are identical except for a couple of keys.

If you don't have it, I think it would be safe to just make a guide and link it to this BF2 guide, with just the new links. That or copy and paste. Any specific extras are on the Wine AppDB entry. I would prefer that people knew it works than assume it doesn't.

booman · Mar 9, 2015

Agreed, its better that gamers know it DOES work
One pet-peeve I have with AppDB is the "garbage" reports for games that actually run in Wine. Some require patched versions of Wine, but they run never-the-less

MajorLunaC · Mar 9, 2015

Yeah, but that's why there are volunteer maintainers: To clear up bad reports. Although it's meant as "communicate with the submitter about the report". I got in trouble a while back for deleting someone's report about an error that was also happening in Windows that was solvable (which I mentioned beforehand).

The basic report is intended for out-of-the-box running, with possible winetricks. If a game requires a patched version of wine, I don't bother because it's often unstable and untested, unless it's something minor like a mouse fix.

booman · Mar 12, 2015

IT would be nice if they could archive the "bad reports" because some of them still apply. I prefer a forum format like this so people can research what we did to fix something. In AppDB old comments get deleted and no one can research the steps taken in order to get a game to work.

I've had many comments deleted because they were obsolete... totally understood, but since all of those old versions of WINE are still "out there" someone else may need a tip I posted on how I got a game to work.

booman · Jul 28, 2016

Hey MajorLunaC, I'm having issues connecting to my Battlefield 2142 LAN server. Can you check out my comments here:
http://www.gamersonlinux.com/forum/threads/battlefield-2142-guide.1799/

Justme488 · Oct 5, 2016

Has anyone set up a bf2 server on linux for lan? I set one up for me and my kid to play, but can't get the full maps in coop with bots. I can only get 16 player maps. I can get full map in conquest, but no bots. Does anyone know what i'm doing wrong? Thanks

booman · Oct 5, 2016

Yes, I've only ever played Battlefield 2 on LAN with cooperative maps. Unfortunately Battlefield 2 only offers 16 player maps in co-op since the beginning.
There is a mod that allows more bots and players: Assault Mod

I haven't tested it in Linux, but have played it in the past in Windows. The mod is also a realism mod where you don't see the characters names (over their head) and you can die really easily from a single shot... depending on where you are hit. Its pretty cool though, huge maps with aircraft carriers, planes, 64 bots and custom maps. There are some graphical changes as well.

Justme488 · Oct 5, 2016

booman said:
Yes, I've only ever played Battlefield 2 on LAN with cooperative maps. Unfortunately Battlefield 2 only offers 16 player maps in co-op since the beginning.
There is a mod that allows more bots and players: Assault Mod

I haven't tested it in Linux, but have played it in the past in Windows. The mod is also a realism mod where you don't see the characters names (over their head) and you can die really easily from a single shot... depending on where you are hit. Its pretty cool though, huge maps with aircraft carriers, planes, 64 bots and custom maps. There are some graphical changes as well.

Thanks. I will have to check into that. I was hoping I missed a setting somewhere.

booman · Oct 5, 2016

Nope, its still fun playing 16 player maps, specially if you added the last 1.5 patch because there are a few more maps from the expansion packs. Just making sure you have a beefy machine if you are going to run Assault Mod with 64 bots on one map and play the game.

Justme488 · Oct 5, 2016

Honestly, i'd be happy with 32 players total. I just want the full map. My other pc that I use for my server is q9400 quad, 8gb ram, gt640 nvidia, sb recon. It's not the fastest, but I figured it would work ok.