Though Battlefield 4‘s launch this week is an appreciable improvement over Battlefields 3’s in 2011, it’s not without its hiccups. PC users are reporting significant crashing issues while others are reporting various bugs and glitches.
Rest assured, however, as developers DICE have acknowledged our troubles. So, what exactly is studio aware of and looking into, you might ask? All that and more as been detailed in a recent Battlelog forum entry, so let’s check out what they had to say:
Game crashes and freezes
ELIMINATED AS WE IDENTIFY THEM
Players on all formats have been experiencing game crashes and freezes while playing. We have logs of the most frequently occurring client crashes, and we are actively working to Obliterate the cause of these crashes in upcoming updates.
Note that crashes come in different types, and therefore this is technically not one single issue. There are two kinds of crashes and two types of updates that can address them: server-side updates that we can release on the fly (four of these have already been released since launch), and game client updates that require more in-depth testing and certification before they can go live.
We have found and eliminated some of the server-side crashes on PC in the latest server update (version R4) that went live November 1. There is also a planned client update on PC in the near future where we are aiming to eliminate as many of the client-related crashes as possible.
Progress in Multiplayer Lost
INVESTIGATING
Players have reported losing their progress in multiplayer. This is probably related to crashes stopping the game reports from being sent to Battlelog. We are still investigating this issue in more detail. Note that your progress sometimes can seem to be reset during server maintenance windows. In these cases, your stats will be just fine and reappear later.
Single Player Save File Corrupted
INVESTIGATING
We are still investigating the issue of single player save files being corrupted for some players. If you have experienced this problem, please describe below the steps leading up to the save file being corrupted, your platform (PC, PS3 or X360), and when the issue occurred. If you’re on PC, please also list your OS and system specs.
Miscellaneous Audio Bugs
FIX UPCOMING
We are aware of the issues with missing/corrupted audio in multiplayer and have created a fix for them. This fix is planned for release in the next PC client patch (see “Upcoming Updates” below.)
Magazine Reload Bug on Normal
FIXED
On all platforms, some players were experiencing a bug when playing on Normal servers. The bug caused the reload setting to incorrectly mimic the behavior from Hardcore servers. This was fixed in our fourth and latest server update.
Xbox 360 Missions not Working as Intended
FIXED
There was a bug preventing Xbox 360 players from creating MISSIONS. This should now work properly, as we made some necessary changes to the backend infrastructure.
Battlefield 4 Premium “Reset Stats” Feature Not Working
FIX ROLLING OUT
Battlefield 4 Premium members have the option of resetting their multiplayer stats. This feature has not been working as intended. We have now identified the cause and solution, and Battlelog will perform a zero downtime fix for this that should roll out very soon.
Server Queues not Functioning
PENDING FUTURE PATCH
Players haven’t been able to join queues for servers, and we are actively working on the issue. We believe we have a solution to this, pending a future patch. We disabled server queues as we found a bug in the queue system, and we are working to isolate the real issue and find a solution for it.
Promotional Battlepack Items Not Appearing In-game and/or on Battlelog
INVESTIGATING
We are aware of this issue, and are working on a solution for it. Note that in some cases the Battlepack items will actually show up after a delay. If you’re still not seeing your items after 12 hours or so, please reach out to EA Help at https://help.ea.com/en/battlefield/battlefield-4 [help.ea.com].
What’s Next? Upcoming Updates
We are working on a PC client patch at the moment and hope to release it soon. We will share the patch notes once we have the patch contents finalized. The main focus is to fix as many crashes as possible, starting with the issues affecting a large number of players. We will update you once we are ready to release new server updates. We are currently working on server update #5, with four being released so far.