I write this thread after about a week of trial, error and failiure. I seriously want to ask for help, but I shouldn't have to. All other games worked perfectly on me, always. I have a great rig that can easily handle Battlefield 3 and somehow I manage to have all sorts of issues with it.
To start off, I couldn't play the game when I installed it. It basically said "random error: reinstall, not sure why but still do it anyway". So I tried repairing it first (obviously). It downloaded some patch which I expected that would fix it until it got stuck on 100%. So I cancelled the update, which it wouldn't, so I had to reinstall the game anyway(I really wanted to play this game at this point). The next day, I decided to scour every forum there was for a possible solution. I tried about 20 different things and I eventually found it: I had to update Internet Explorer. I repeat: I had to update Internet Explorer and the game didn't even give me the slightest clue. But hey, I could play the game at this point, so it was a mistake easily forgiven.
Next up, I play the game and appears to be almost unplayable. The sound stutters and skips, mutes randomly, does all sorts of stuff but just the wrong stuff. It looks like lag but it still runs at a solid farerate. Why? I havn't figured out yet. I did find a way to solve this (amongst other things) on http://segmentnext.com/2011/10/25/battlefield-3-crashes-lag-stuttering-low-fps-graphics-origin-and-fixes/ [this website]. To sum up the solution: I'm supposed to alter my audio settings to properly play the game. I'm a music producer and I've got all my equipment set up on a different setting. I'm NOT going to change this setting every time I switch between gaming and making music. There HAS to be another solution. Heck, this problem shouldn't even be there.
Then there's the multiplayer. The very reason to buy this game. It doesn't only suffer from the audio problem, but also massive lag. I figured that's the reason why they don't show ping rates in the score menu. Somehow, the server selection doesn't seem to care about ping either. Someone at DICE *somehow* must've reckoned ping isn't very important. Right, let's get on with this. So I found the solution to this too; here [https://help.ea.com/article/online-ports-for-battlefield-3]. "Thanks EA! You're so helpful."
This is kind of like EA saying "we know we didn't make a good game, so here's what YOU have to do to fix the problems we created, good luck. Oh, and there's a guide on this particularly cheesy looking website that's stuffed with advertising. Oh, and you actually have to download some freeware from this website as well." There's no way I'm downloading anything from that website just to fix the problems they've created.
I don't regret buying this game. Heck; when I was in this lag-free server yesterday, I had an amazing time and it was hella fun like it should be. But it's unplayable in this state.
Am I missing something crucial here? Would opening up the ports fix the problem (even in single player)? Do you think EA / DICE are going to fix these problems and should I just wait for a month before playing this game? Are you experiencing the same problems? What did you do?
I'm clueless. I'm going to lay in a corner, sobbing.
To start off, I couldn't play the game when I installed it. It basically said "random error: reinstall, not sure why but still do it anyway". So I tried repairing it first (obviously). It downloaded some patch which I expected that would fix it until it got stuck on 100%. So I cancelled the update, which it wouldn't, so I had to reinstall the game anyway(I really wanted to play this game at this point). The next day, I decided to scour every forum there was for a possible solution. I tried about 20 different things and I eventually found it: I had to update Internet Explorer. I repeat: I had to update Internet Explorer and the game didn't even give me the slightest clue. But hey, I could play the game at this point, so it was a mistake easily forgiven.
Next up, I play the game and appears to be almost unplayable. The sound stutters and skips, mutes randomly, does all sorts of stuff but just the wrong stuff. It looks like lag but it still runs at a solid farerate. Why? I havn't figured out yet. I did find a way to solve this (amongst other things) on http://segmentnext.com/2011/10/25/battlefield-3-crashes-lag-stuttering-low-fps-graphics-origin-and-fixes/ [this website]. To sum up the solution: I'm supposed to alter my audio settings to properly play the game. I'm a music producer and I've got all my equipment set up on a different setting. I'm NOT going to change this setting every time I switch between gaming and making music. There HAS to be another solution. Heck, this problem shouldn't even be there.
Then there's the multiplayer. The very reason to buy this game. It doesn't only suffer from the audio problem, but also massive lag. I figured that's the reason why they don't show ping rates in the score menu. Somehow, the server selection doesn't seem to care about ping either. Someone at DICE *somehow* must've reckoned ping isn't very important. Right, let's get on with this. So I found the solution to this too; here [https://help.ea.com/article/online-ports-for-battlefield-3]. "Thanks EA! You're so helpful."
This is kind of like EA saying "we know we didn't make a good game, so here's what YOU have to do to fix the problems we created, good luck. Oh, and there's a guide on this particularly cheesy looking website that's stuffed with advertising. Oh, and you actually have to download some freeware from this website as well." There's no way I'm downloading anything from that website just to fix the problems they've created.
I don't regret buying this game. Heck; when I was in this lag-free server yesterday, I had an amazing time and it was hella fun like it should be. But it's unplayable in this state.
Am I missing something crucial here? Would opening up the ports fix the problem (even in single player)? Do you think EA / DICE are going to fix these problems and should I just wait for a month before playing this game? Are you experiencing the same problems? What did you do?
I'm clueless. I'm going to lay in a corner, sobbing.
then we won't have to play this terrible game ever again! 
