Huge Delay Before Battlefield 2 Starts

[Fuzzi0n]

So I run BF2, I just get a blackscreen for 10 seconds then it starts and plays fine. Any idea as to why this is happening?

 

[Fumz]

Could be any number of things?

Hard drive isn't defragged; EA master servers are slow to respond; anti-virus is interfering; not running as admin... not sure?

 

[Fuzzi0n]

Fresh install of 7, happens all the time, doubtful, I am admin.

 

[Fumz]

Here's what I'd do:

First,

Leave the multimedia class scheduler service running, but disable its network throttling "feature":

• Open regedit
• Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile
• There will be an entry for network performance throttling, default value is 10; set it to FFFFFFFF hex (willl look like 0xFFFFFFFF to the right of the entry)
• Reboot

This has made a noticeable difference for me in terms of ping stability.

Second, defrag. I'm assuming you've patched to the latest version, which means your game files are now fragmented.

Third... allow Punkbuster Admin rights. If you're running a 64-bit system, then go to Windows\SysWOW64 and give PnkBstrA and PnkBstrB admin rights. Then head to Program Files (x86)\Battlefield\pb and, if it's there, give PnkBstrB admin rights.

The 32-bit version's files can be found in the System32 folder. The game's files are just in Program files... no (x86) folder.

If you've got anti virus, then I would deselect Battlefield from the real time scan.

If it's EA's master server just being slow to respond... which is actually a common occurance... then there isn't anything you can do about it. As you say, once your past this initial pain, the game runs fine, right?

 

[Fuzzi0n]

Yep, 1.50 patched.
Running 32 Bit ( Read my system specs? )
Using Microsoft Security Essentials.
And yeah, after the delay everything is fine.

And I'll try All your suggestions and report back.

 

[stormy13]

Is this right after you double click to start the game? If so it is probably due to two things,

1. They removed the CD check in the 1.5 patch, but it didn't really make the game start up any faster; just made it so you could play without the CD in.

2. Only 2 GB of ram, even when the game was new 2 GB was the minimum for it to run smoothly, BF2 is a ram hog and more would help with that delay, not much but it will shorten it. I get it too, but it is only like 4-5 seconds.

Another thing it could be is that BF2 disables Aero if you have it on. For me it happens a second or two after I click on "Join Game" (can see it happen courtesy of having two monitors). It's possible that for you it is happening during the black screen, and you just can't see Aero being disabled. If that is what it is the only fix is to disable Aero before launching the game.

 

[jaggerwild]

Here's what I'd do:

First,

Leave the multimedia class scheduler service running, but disable its network throttling "feature":

• Open regedit
• Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile
• There will be an entry for network performance throttling, default value is 10; set it to FFFFFFFF hex (willl look like 0xFFFFFFFF to the right of the entry)
• Reboot

This has made a noticeable difference for me in terms of ping stability.

Second, defrag. I'm assuming you've patched to the latest version, which means your game files are now fragmented.

Third... allow Punkbuster Admin rights. If you're running a 64-bit system, then go to Windows\SysWOW64 and give PnkBstrA and PnkBstrB admin rights. Then head to Program Files (x86)\Battlefield\pb and, if it's there, give PnkBstrB admin rights.

The 32-bit version's files can be found in the System32 folder. The game's files are just in Program files... no (x86) folder.

If you've got anti virus, then I would deselect Battlefield from the real time scan.

If it's EA's master server just being slow to respond... which is actually a common occurance... then there isn't anything you can do about it. As you say, once your past this initial pain, the game runs fine, right?

Big Thanks on that one! I don't get booted out no more!

I tried to add rep to your posting but there is no link?

 

[stew2]

Hi Fuzzi0n,

I had the same problem with the black screen for 10 seconds but managed to fix it. Heres what i did:

1. Went into the game and changed graphics settings to what i wanted
2. Exited the game
3. Went into My Documents folder and opened the folder called BFBC2
4. In there is a file called settings.ini which i opened in Notepad

Heres what mine looks like now:

View attachment 62458

In that file i changed the following:

1. set refresh rate to 60
2. set speaker count to 2
3. set undergrowth to low
4. set shadows to low
5. set HSAO to false
6. set water to low
7. set dxVersion to 10
8. set Fov to 65

I dont know which setting fixed the problem but i no longer get the black screen and have also seen a boost of about 15 fps, which is nice lol.

Hope this helps

 

[stormy13]

stew2, the original question was about BF2, not BC2.

 

[stew2]

Yeah i just noticed, and its 2 months old lol.

Just ignore my previous post.