A dedicated Battlefield 3 server for Icrontic and Trinet’s Division-G

Brian Ambrozy 24 Oct, 2011 at 1:34am ET Article published in Gaming

Battlefield 3 server with two awesome communities? Yes please

Today I’ve got some great news. Icrontic is partnering with Trinet’s Division-G to provide our respective communities with a dedicated 32-player Battlefield 3 server.

Division-G is the gaming arm of Michigan network management and computer repair company Trinet Corporation. The owners have been Icrontic members for years, and Brett “Boasist” Nosakowski reached out to me so we could partner on this game server.

On the Icrontic side of things, I’m also happy to announce that David “Nights” Kenkel will be our dedicated Battlefield 3 community manager. He’ll be scheduling events and being generally helpful. If you have any questions or concerns, he’s your go-to guy.

If you want to get in on the action, get your copy of Battlefield 3, build yourself a perfect PC to play it on, and say hello on our shiny new Battlefield 3 dedicated discussion forum, and get ready to play the game as it was meant to be played: troll-free, with friendly adults who want to get the most out of the game.

Server info is pending; as soon as the game is launched, we’ll publish it!

Comments

24 Oct 2011 ~ 6:51am Snarkasm Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
24 Oct 2011 ~ 1:29pm Sp00nman We're very happy to promote the PC gaming experience. This is just the first of what I hope will be many team efforts to promote good gaming.

I look forward to seeing everyone on the server tomorrow!

EA ID: Sp00man72

~Neil
24 Oct 2011 ~ 1:33pm Cyclonite Woo! Can't wait!
24 Oct 2011 ~ 9:49pm primesuspect If you don't have Battlefield 3, you can get it for $51 on Amazon.
25 Oct 2011 ~ 7:35pm fatcat is this 32vs32 or 16vs16?
25 Oct 2011 ~ 8:04pm boasist 32 max slots. So 16vs16.

If the demand approaches, we can upgrade to full on 64 player mayhem! ROFLCOPTR
25 Oct 2011 ~ 8:13pm fatcat

boasist wrote:

32 max slots. So 16vs16.

If the demand approaches, we can upgrade to full on 64 player mayhem! ROFLCOPTR

was just curious. allows platoon sized warfare. thanks for info

I would really love to see 64v64, with all the bells
25 Oct 2011 ~ 8:34pm Tushon I had trouble getting connected first time. Try closing and opening the origin client once (not restarting computer). I had not closed it since purchasing and was having issues. After restarting client, login to server went perfectly.
25 Oct 2011 ~ 8:41pm Annes I don't think I'll have it downloaded before the end of the night.
25 Oct 2011 ~ 10:04pm Tushon I know we have the vent server from Division G for BF3, and I got into that one, but I can't seem to get into normal IC server. I have details from the minecraft sticky, but it doesn't seem to want to let me in. Anyone PM me something to make me feel dumb and get connected?
25 Oct 2011 ~ 10:16pm Starman Played with Tushon, Nights, Pigflipper and others. It was fun! Now I have to figure out how to play something other than MEEEDIC.
25 Oct 2011 ~ 10:24pm pragtastic Oh, are folks on a different vent server than IC's?
25 Oct 2011 ~ 10:25pm Ryder

pragtastic wrote:

Oh, are folks on a different vent server than IC's?

http://icrontic.com/forum/showpost.php?p=806537&postcount=11
26 Oct 2011 ~ 2:05am UPSLynx So Jimmeh and I tried for at least 30 minutes tonight to play together on a public server. Origin is such a frigging mess that we've had no actual luck at playing in the same game at all so far. This is a total nightmare. Origin blows.

So basically, it's like this: If you don't have any friends, BF3 online rules. If you have friends, go f*k yourself.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 2:24am Thrax I hate Origin as much as the next guy, but ur doin' it rong. Import your Origin friends to the Battlelog, then create a party. Find a server with open slots or let BF3 do it for you with a quick match.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 2:31am TiberiusLazarus

Thrax wrote:

I hate Origin as much as the next guy, but ur doin' it rong. Import your Origin friends to the Battlelog, then create a party. Find a server with open slots or let BF3 do it for you with a quick match.

Did that and done that.

Also:

s/origin/battlelog/
26 Oct 2011 ~ 3:09am UPSLynx

Thrax wrote:

I hate Origin as much as the next guy, but ur doin' it rong. Import your Origin friends to the Battlelog, then create a party. Find a server with open slots or let BF3 do it for you with a quick match.

Yeah, definitely not that simple. We partied up and it didn't make a difference - no matter which server we connected to, either Tiberius or I did not recieve the confirmation popup that the other sent out when trying to connect. It was a frigging mess.

We ended up just connecting to whatever server we wanted,and using the join feature from the other person's status page.

We spent an hour and a half tonight playing BF3, but we only played BF3 for 40 minutes. Battlelog blows.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 3:21am UPSLynx A couple shots from our first few games on the server:
26 Oct 2011 ~ 3:42am pigflipper "just like crabs"

That line caused me to die a few seconds later cause I was laughing too hard to pay attention
26 Oct 2011 ~ 7:29am primesuspect Man that looks freaking gorgeous.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 9:18am boasist What better man to take pictures than the Dean of Computer Graphics, great stuff UPSLynx.

It was a blast last night, I was mostly romping around getting familiar with the controls, maps, etc. But we all got along and once we were in the game it was awesome. Thanks again to all that showed up.

I've implemented the following changes to the server

Rotation is now - Conquest, Rush, then back again, I've also changed the map size to small, as that is setup for 32 players, last night we were on 64 player maps.
Server will start a game with fewer people in it, allowing you to hop in when the server is slow and practice flying around.

Worst part for me was I realized my GTX285 doesn't cut the mustard. I was playing at 800x600, low res, in a window. That will have to change.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 9:21am Cyclonite That explains why you kept getting the tank stuck so much early on. :-p
26 Oct 2011 ~ 9:24am boasist

Cyclonite wrote:

That explains why you kept getting the tank stuck so much early on. :-p

Hahaha, yes, I was getting huge airtime in the tank going over those rubble piles, I was curious if it would kick you off when we went upside down. The answer is no and we can now be a full on multi-dimensional killing machine.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 10:37am BlackHawk

boasist wrote:

Worst part for me was I realized my GTX285 doesn't cut the mustard. I was playing at 800x600, low res, in a window. That will have to change.

I'm using a GTX260 and the game ran pretty well for me considering I didn't get around to changing any of the video options.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 10:45am Thrax

boasist wrote:

Worst part for me was I realized my GTX285 doesn't cut the mustard. I was playing at 800x600, low res, in a window. That will have to change.

It cuts the mustard, sort of, but the current GeForce drivers are fucking awful for BF3. Constant stuttering, hiccuping, etc. It's nasty.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 11:03am boasist

Thrax wrote:

It cuts the mustard, sort of, but the current GeForce drivers are fucking awful for BF3. Constant stuttering, hiccuping, etc. It's nasty.

OK good, so it's a driver thing. I did update to the latest public release before playing last night. Patience it seems I need yes.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 11:18am Cyclonite

boasist wrote:

Hahaha, yes, I was getting huge airtime in the tank going over those rubble piles, I was curious if it would kick you off when we went upside down. The answer is no and we can now be a full on multi-dimensional killing machine.

Woo! I had a good time. Wish I could have stuck around longer.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 11:20am Tushon

Thrax wrote:

It cuts the mustard, sort of, but the current GeForce drivers are fucking awful for BF3. Constant stuttering, hiccuping, etc. It's nasty.

I was playing on latest release drivers and experience none of those things (on a GTX570 ... so if your comment was directed at 200 series cards, ignore this)
26 Oct 2011 ~ 11:21am Thrax It's any DX 8/9/10 NVIDIA cards, and select 500 Series cards, primarily 560/580 and SLI configs.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 11:24am NiGHTS For what it's worth, Lynx: Church, Pig, Blackhawk and I partied up mid-round and ended up spawning in the same squad for 3 games in a row on a 64 player server. We also had Cri1s89 and Church's gf in the server with us, too (they found us through Origin browser).

Don't be so quick to write the system off, it's the first day - who knows, you might have been trying to do it at a wonky time. All kinds of things were going on last night that prevented something from happening properly.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 11:55am NiGHTS

fatcat wrote:

was just curious. allows platoon sized warfare. thanks for info

I would really love to see 64v64, with all the bells

I'll try to get some footage for you - we gamed on a 64v64 last night and it was absolute madness. Most jawdropping part of the night was trying to avoid an Abrams: sprinted towards a highway pillar and dove behind it just as he fired a shell over my head. I'm crawling around and I can hear him moving to get into position when a Havok showed up over the top of a hill in front of me, out of nowhere, and disables the Abrams. I finished off the crew when they hopped out, he performed a sort of overwatch while I capped the flag, and flew off.

One of at least 4 moments last night that gave me goosebumps.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 1:27pm CrazyJoe

primesuspect wrote:

Man that looks freaking gorgeous.

I know. I haven't played a Battlefield Game since 1942 but this looks phenomenal and if Icrontic gets a crew together I might have to pick up the game. Does anyone know of a way I can get the game for less than the standard $60 retail right now? And was the limited edition version a pre-order only thing, or can that still be had as well?
26 Oct 2011 ~ 1:27pm UPSLynx

primesuspect wrote:

Man that looks freaking gorgeous.

Yeah, and those pictures were down-scaled on Photobucket to boot. The visuals are simply on a different level.

Don't be so quick to write the system off, it's the first day - who knows, you might have been trying to do it at a wonky time. All kinds of things were going on last night that prevented something from happening properly.

I was going to write about the importance of a first impression, especially with a service as big as Origin/Battlelog, but then I remembered that this is the second sour taste this service has left in my mouth. Things seem marginally improved over the beta with Battlelog (the game itself, though, vastly improved). I won't get over the fact that a browser-based log system is nothing but a needless layer of complexity that does nothing to improve the current means of matchmaking. It'll improve - it has to, but what a wretched means just to play a game.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 1:40pm UPSLynx So while we're on the topic of intense moments in this game - I experienced a moment on the IC server last night that blew my mind.

It took place immediately after that first screenshot that I posted. Boasist and I were putting pressure on a few enemies on the opposite side tucked into a building. We were trying to grab that point and GTFO, but there were too many enemies around.

Shortly after I grabbed that pic, an high explosive round of some sort hit just to the left of us on the corner of the building. Boasist went down, and my hearing went with him. So I'm suddenly in a blurry daze, my buddy is dead, and the building to my side is raining concrete all around me as it crumbled from the shell. I took off running to the right, hoping I could duck around the wall.

Not familiar with the map yet, I wasn't sure which areas were just walls, or which areas were full buildings, so I ran with the assumption that the wall to my right might be something I could hide behind. I was wrong, it was a full length building, competely open to line of fire from the other team. My adrenaline suddenly jumped up high as I realized that I was now in a full on sprint for my life. The enemies knew it, too. I could hear the pops of their rifles in the distance, followed by the twang of riccochet as the bullets missed me but found a home in the wall beside me. Intensity grew as I realized that whatever fired the explosive round that killed Boasist would probably be reloaded and ready to fire again any second now. I was nearly to the safety of the end of the wall when I heard the pronounced BAM from the canon firing. Suddenly, the dirt to my immediate left exploded high into the sky as the shell hit the earth, mud and crap covering my goggles obstructing my view. Again, my hearing went out from the sudden explosion, but I was alive. At the end of the wall, I dove off a small cliff and landed on a road below, where I quickly ducked into a building to finally take my first breath of air since the beginning of the ordeal.

Frigging awesome.

I'm leaving for ICHQ today, so I won't be back in action until Monday night.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 2:25pm primesuspect

Crazy Joe wrote:

I know. I haven't played a Battlefield Game since 1942 but this looks phenomenal and if Icrontic gets a crew together I might have to pick up the game. Does anyone know of a way I can get the game for less than the standard $60 retail right now? And was the limited edition version a pre-order only thing, or can that still be had as well?

Sorry Joe, everywhere I look, $59.95.

Amazon and Origin
26 Oct 2011 ~ 2:26pm boasist

primesuspect wrote:

Sorry Joe, everywhere I look, $59.95.

Amazon and Origin

Should be able to grab the download version from Amazon, still listed at $50.99.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 2:29pm primesuspect I looked at that one, and it had been pulled by Amazon yesterday.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 2:31pm primesuspect Well, here it is again:

Battlefield 3 on Amazon for $50.99. Your mileage may vary.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 3:09pm PirateNinja

UPSLynx wrote:

So while we're on the topic of intense moments in this game - I experienced a moment on the IC server last night that blew my mind.

...

The intensity of this game is something I've never experienced. It seems so damn real. I found myself not wanting to die, completely forgetting I was going to respawn regardless. Normally I play games like this like a reckless idiot, but this game scares me and makes my heart pump.

It's actually a scary sign of things to come with how real this is.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 5:40pm NiGHTS Go post in the heartstopping moment thread!
26 Oct 2011 ~ 9:42pm pigflipper Server down?
26 Oct 2011 ~ 10:51pm Tushon Nope, changed IP though. just search for icrontic again
26 Oct 2011 ~ 11:03pm pigflipper I did, nothing showed up earlier when I posted that, but it has been added now.
26 Oct 2011 ~ 11:13pm fatcat Curious to see how "real" this game is. Any of you veterans?

Yes I played the alpha, but that was one map. I want to know how full 32vs32 8 hour battles are
27 Oct 2011 ~ 2:18am UPSLynx

fatcat wrote:

Curious to see how "real" this game is. Any of you veterans?

Yes I played the alpha, but that was one map. I want to know how full 32vs32 8 hour battles are

I got into a tank and blew a hole in a building. That's how war works, yeah?
27 Oct 2011 ~ 4:05am FPS are meant for console xbox has no problems
27 Oct 2011 ~ 10:27am Tushon lulz @ fps are meant for consoles ... then they test and console FPS players get destroyed when playing against PC. /trololol
18 Nov 2011 ~ 9:46pm RyanFodder Is the server down?
19 Nov 2011 ~ 10:59am boasist Investigating.......
19 Nov 2011 ~ 11:02am boasist Back in business....game on.
19 Nov 2011 ~ 2:59pm pigflipper Cool, thanks! Guess we should try for tonight on the server? I will be in after the FSU game finishes up around 8 PST (11 EST)
19 Nov 2011 ~ 5:20pm boasist

pigflipper wrote:

Cool, thanks! Guess we should try for tonight on the server? I will be in after the FSU game finishes up around 8 PST (11 EST)

Sounds like a plan, I'll get it up on the platoon wall.
20 Nov 2011 ~ 6:09pm RyanFodder Questions about the server:

Is there anyway we can designate some admins - be able to change the map/game types?

So, basically, right now, even if we have 5-6 ppl on the server, we can't do anything.
30 Nov 2011 ~ 9:56am boasist

CannonFodder wrote:

Questions about the server:

Is there anyway we can designate some admins - be able to change the map/game types?

So, basically, right now, even if we have 5-6 ppl on the server, we can't do anything.

I'll be working on a solution for this today. Should have it up before the weekend. Then we'll need to define some admins, hop in and test and all should be set for future matches in our DG/IC server.

Thanks for being patient.
3 May 2012 ~ 12:08am Tushon had a pretty good game going for quite a few rounds.
3 May 2012 ~ 12:10am pigflipper Was a blast, literally.
3 May 2012 ~ 12:11am QCH need more IC folks on the server!
9 Aug 2012 ~ 12:23am Ilriyas Does Icrontic still play this enough to warrant my getting the game? I finally have a capable PC for it but I'm worried that I'll miss hopping on the wagon and that jumping will just leave me with broken legs.
9 Aug 2012 ~ 1:53am pigflipper I still play at least two or three days a week.
9 Aug 2012 ~ 2:40am QCH Me too... I'll go a week or so and not play then play 3 or 4 times a week for weeks
9 Aug 2012 ~ 8:19am d3k0y Now I just have to get past my near overwhelming hatred of EA and Origin, install a game that is too large for how much I enjoy it, then log in with the really stupid web-based game UI, so I can play with you guys for 10 minutes before I remember I am really really bad at BF3! Then I can uninstall the game, then go and manually delete the rest of the game since the uninstall leaves 10gigs of shit on your PC.
22 Feb 2013 ~ 6:54pm Tushon Just a little bump for a deal I saw today. If interested, all DLC for $20 here
23 Feb 2013 ~ 12:21am Cyclonite And base game for $10: http://store.origin.com/store/ea/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.225064100
26 Jun 2013 ~ 2:26pm boasist If you listen closely you can hear the faint sound of taps being played gently right now.

That would be in honor of our BF3 server....it is no more.

Now bring on Battlefield 4!!!
15 Aug 2013 ~ 1:17am trooster89 Just picked it up thanks to the latest Humble Bundle . Despite my dislike of EA and Origin, I couldn't pass up such a good deal. Did I miss the boat on this one? It looks like all the links the IC's servers are dead.
15 Aug 2013 ~ 1:48am _k Have a spare key if someone wants it, pm.
15 Aug 2013 ~ 3:07am NiGHTS The server is no more, but the players certainly are. Hit up the platoon page and start adding everyone to your friend's list.