Free Battlefield 1942 on Origin

[sanchez]

my son told me yesterday that Origin was giving battlefield 1942 for free in the 10 anniversary.
so we both downloaded it and played yesterday, there is lots of new servers and tons of people playing.
it wont let you add mods I think but still made me happy to see battlefield being played as when it came the firs time, lots of people playing.
....I still play in your server though with my original cd , your server is still lot of fun.

[mikeyteh]

EA actually said it is mod friendly. Haven't tried it out yet though.

[Nightstalker]

EA actually said it is mod friendly.....

That is somewhat true ... here is from the FAQ section .. This is officially untested and we cannot guarantee any mod functionality. Sporadic testing leads us to believe that Desert Combat 0.7 works, as well as Eve of Destruction 2.5. For more discussion on popular mods, head to the new Battlelog forums we have set up specifically for this release of Battlefield 1942. Please share your findings on which mods work and which do not.

And it was pointed out to me that anyone who downloads this even if the DC mod does work will not be able to play on the EA117 server. You MUST have the CD version to play on the server.

[Raptor22]

DC 0.7 and DC Final works for the Origin version. Just played some today It is a different version from CD copy. v1.612 instead of v1.61.

[fluffy]

so if you have the normal game installed you can still download this one and play it right...? or will it mess up something lol...???

[sanchez]

so if you have the normal game installed you can still download this one and play it right...? or will it mess up something lol...???

no it wont mess anything.
first install origin, download free battlefield 1942 game. thats it.
after you can install desert combat and dc final ..."BUT" make sure when installing mods the folder will be c/programs/origin/games/battlefield 1942/ mods/
remember your original battlefield is installed in c/programs/EA games/battlefield 1942/modes/
so don't install it there or you will mess the good old one.

[Trench]

So the Origin 1.62 client can or cannot play against existing 1.61 CD-based servers?

I do presume that existing 1.61 CD-based clients cannot play against 1.62 Origin-based servers.

If anyone did download and install the Origin version, what did they do regarding Punkbuster? Is it still offered during installation but then doesn't work? (Because Punkbuster still doesn't support 1942 any more.) Or does Punkbuster still get offered and installed? (Suggesting that either Punkbuster or EA changed something to re-enable support.)

And ultimately, can you play on Punkbuster-enabled servers with the 1.62 Origin client without having to do anything custom (Tank's PB update), or is using the Origin 1.62 client a non-Punkbuster-only client and therefore only playing on non-Punkbuster servers?

-Trench

[Trench]

So the Origin 1.62 client can or cannot play against existing 1.61 CD-based servers?

I do presume that existing 1.61 CD-based clients cannot play against 1.62 Origin-based servers.

Since we had some unexpected downtime I took the time to finally answer my own question. I rebuilt my Windows 7 SP1 x86 gaming machine with a Battlefield 1942 CD-based installation running at 1680x1050 to be Windows 8 x64 with both Origin and CD-based Battlefield 1942 installations running at 1920x1080. What I learned was:

- A 1.61 CD-based client cannot play on an Origin 1.612-based server. A CD-based 1.61 client can both list and connect to either 1.61 CD-based servers or 1.612 Origin-based servers, but attempting to connect to a 1.612 Origin-based server from the 1.61 CD-based client will show a "Wrong version! Do you want to upgrade?" question which will take you to the ea.com front page if you answer "Yes".

- A 1.612 Origin-based client cannot play on a 1.61 CD-based server. Trying to add the server to the list manually is just ignored, and trying to connect directly by IP address simply immediately reports "failed to connect to server".

- Punkbuster is definitely not included with the Origin-based install. The "Enable Punkbuster" option is still present in the game, but it reports "unable to enable Punkbuster" if you try to select it. So indeed the Origin-based servers that report "Punkbuster = 0" likely do not have or require Punkbuster.

- Punkbuster appears to be successfully installable for the Origin-based client using the PBSVC.EXE followed by PBSETUP.EXE available as PB42setup.zip from http://www.moongamers.com/forum/index.p ... howfile=68. During PBSETUP used "Add Game" and selected "Battlefield 1942" and then provided the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Battlefield 1942" path to the Origin-based install. Then used the "Update" button which downloaded and installed Punkbuster for the game. (As described in the readme, an error trying to overwrite a read-only .HTML file is expected during this process.) Once installed, you are able to select "Enable Punkbuster" in the 1.612 Origin-based client, but there do not appear to be any 1.612 Origin-based server that have Punkbuster installed to actually test connecting with.

- Since I was installing both Origin-based Battlefield 1942 and CD-based Battlefield 1942, I skipped installing Punkbuster during the CD-based install (since PBSVC.EXE and PBSETUP.EXE had already installed a potentially later version). Then after the CD-based installation and patches to 1.61b were installed, I repeated the PBSETUP.EXE process again (not PBSVC.EXE, because that component just needs to be installed once). I again used "Add Game" and selected "Battlefield 1942", but this time provided the "C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\Battlefield 1942" path to the CD-based install. Followed by using the "Update" button to actually download and install the Punkbuster files to that installation. This installation works successfully without Punkbuster failures on both the ea117.com server and other servers.

- Note that although PBSVC.EXE did create Windows Firewall exceptions for PnkBstrA.exe and PnkBstrB.exe, it only enabled them for the current network profile (e.g. "Public" or "Private"). If you move between more than one network profile, you may need to update those automatically-created Windows Firewall rules to apply to both network types.

- At no point did I try or use TanksPBupdate.exe, since the Punkbuster installation appears to be working successfully. (Presumably all the required files are already obtained in the steps described above. I would just be concerned that running TanksPBupdate.exe at this point would unnecessarily back-rev something that doesn't need to be back-revved.)

- No issues installing or using Desert Combat Final. Did have to "install twice"; once to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Battlefield 1942" so that I could play Desert Combat server with the Origin-based install, and again to "C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\Battlefield 1942" for playing Desert Combat using the CD-based install.

- If any admin wants to try remote screen-shotting this installation, just catch me online. Note in addition to now being Windows 8 x64, I'm also now running at 1920x1080 which is an "unsupported" resolution for Battlefield just like 1680x1050 was. So maybe either/both those things could in theory affect expectations for the screen shot.

- I do run the CD-based install on Windows 8 x64 by setting "Windows XP SP3" on the "Compatibility" tab on BF1942.EXE, just as I did on Windows 7 SP1 x86.

- The Origin-based install actually grants "Everyone" to have "Full Control" of both the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin" and "C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games" directories, so the program is able to write configuration files even without "Run as Administrator". The Origin-based install setup a shortcut that BF1942.EXE without "Windows XP SP3" compatibility and without "Run as Administrator", and is working fine thus far and I've seen no need to modify it.

- For the CD-based install, on Windows 8 x64 I was able to continue successfully using Daemon Tools Lite (http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/products/dtLite) and a little "stub" BF1942 .MDS/.MDF file which provides just enough of the CD-ROM image to satisfy the copy protection check. So that I can run "the real CD-based version" without the NO-CD hack, but without having the delay or hassle of an actual CD-ROM.


I think that was everything interesting I saw. So ultimately I do still have to use the CD-based Battlefield 1942 install to play on EA117.com, because the 1.612 Origin-based client can only connect to 1.612 Origin-based servers. The version difference alone keeps you from connecting, and never appears to get far enough for Punkbuster to be a factor.

-Trench

[Swanny-CG]

EXCELLENT post. Thank you for taking the time to make it.

You guys, if he did all this with a 12 hour downtime, think of what we might get if we banned him for a WHOLE WEEK!

[Nightstalker]

I am gonna echo Swanny on this and add HOLY CRAP man. I said you could buy me a beer when I am down there in TX but I think we owe you one. Thanks for that.

Edit: ... It did remind me of an oil viscosity speech though. A simple yes it works would have done my ADD wonders.

-only giving Trench some of the crap he gave me about 10w30 vs 5w30 . In all seriousness ... Great write-up.

[Trench]

So the Origin 1.62 client can or cannot play against existing 1.61 CD-based servers?

I do presume that existing 1.61 CD-based clients cannot play against 1.62 Origin-based servers.

- I had it backwards: A 1.61 CD-based client can play on an Origin 1.612-based server. But an Origin 1.612-based client cannot play on a 1.61 CD-based server. So the backwards compatibility is only in the Origin-based server, which allows it to accept either type of client. But the Origin-based client is not backwards compatible, and can only connect to Origin-based 1.612 servers.

So I am STILL WRONG. I could have sworn I was playing the Moongamers 1.612-based DC server using my CD-based 1.61 client, but I must have been playing their 1.61-based server during that test.

Attempting to connect to an Origin 1.612-based server from a CD-based 1.61 client results in a "Wrong version! Would you like to upgrade?" message being shown in the game. And if you elect "Yes", the game is closed and you're simply redirected to ea.com's front page in a web browser.

So there is NO backwards compatibility at either the 1.612 Origin-based client or the 1.612 Origin-based server. Apparently there is no server you could run that would accept both clients, nor any client you can run that would connect to both servers.

The ability of a 1.61 CD-based client to list and show status of 1.612 Origin-based servers is still true though. And the 1.612 Origin-based client is unable to list or show status of a 1.61 CD-based server. I'll try editing the original post just to not further propagate any wrong information.

-Trench