Playing offline

[iceman0262]

Is there a way to play the new maps from booster packs without being online and not connected to the internet? Thank you. :salute:

[Scinto]

BF2; http://battlefieldsingleplayer.planetbattlefield.gamespy. com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6233
BF2 SF; http://battlefieldsingleplayer.planetbattlefield.gamespy. com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6270
EuroForces; http://battlefieldsingleplayer.planetbattlefield.gamespy. com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6932
Amoured Fury; http://battlefieldsingleplayer.planetbattlefield.gamespy. com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6622

[iceman0262]

Sorry, I'm new to this.

[Scinto]

the downloads from Filefront will have readme.txt files in them giving you the information to help you set them up

[RYKUU]

Sorry, I'm new to this.

chill man its all cool.

[jdrou]

Actually, you don't need the map packs to play offline (except for the vanilla maps with no SP support at all); it just makes it more fun to have 32/64-player sizes instead of just 16. It's also not sufficient for playing EF/AF offline; you need to rename the maps to play them with an offline account with or without the expanded maps:
http://battlefieldsingleplayer.planetbattlefield.gamespy. com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2998
EDIT: And, for Armored Fury only, you'll need to rename the booster_client.zip and booster_server.zip as well. Info on page 6 of the above-linked thread.

[Farcus]

Actually, you don't need the map packs to play offline (except for the vanilla maps with no SP support at all); it just makes it more fun to have 32/64-player sizes instead of just 16. It's also not sufficient for playing EF/AF offline; you need to rename the maps to play them with an offline account with or without the expanded maps:
http://battlefieldsingleplayer.planetbattlefield.gamespy. com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2998
EDIT: And, for Armored Fury only, you'll need to rename the booster_client.zip and booster_server.zip as well. Info on page 6 of the above-linked thread.

From your post you're saying we don't need to download the 64player map to play the two expansions as single player? You mention changing the maps' names and such... how does this go along with enabling single player for these two booster packs? I personally don't want to download the two mods just so I can play it offline.

[jdrou]

If you only want to play the 16-player map sizes offline then you don't need a mod, just to rename the map (which can be rather tricky the first time you do it though) and the booster zips as my BFSP thread describes. The mods are just to enable the larger map sizes and to play them offline you would still need to rename.

[Shnowy]

I know this might sound quite annoying, but could u post the process on how to 'rename' the maps / .zips as the links above dont work (for me anyway)

Thanks if you could help

[jdrou]

How to rename a map (so you can have modified and unmodded versions available for example.)
Crossposted from a couple of other fora:

Rename the map folder
Rename the .desc file in the Info folder inside the map folder.
Change the name in the Info\map_name.desc file (this is what shows in the maplist in-game).
Change the name inside these files:

client.zip\Lightmaps\Objects\LightmapAtlas.tai
client.zip\terraindata.raw (binary)

server.zip\CompiledRoads.con
server.zip\Heightdata.con
server.zip\Init.con
server.zip\Sky.con
server.zip\Terrain.con
server.zip\UndergrowthAtlas.tai
server.zip\Overgrowth\Overgrowth.con
server.zip\Overgrowth\OvergrowthAtlas.tai

Note that because of the binary file you have to keep the name the same length until/unless someone decodes the file format. EDIT: not true, just use Find & Replace in the hex editor.

EDIT:
Additional files in server.zip for EuroForce maps (courtesy of Miska[HUN]):
1. AmbientObjects.con
2. objects\Effects\ambient\staticfx\e_sAmb_BurningOil Fire.tweak
3. objects\Effects\ambient\staticfx\e_sAmb_OilFire.tw eak

2nd EDIT:
As several people have noted, some of the 64-player expanded maps (e.g. Dalian Plant) have a Lightmaps folder in the server.zip. This must either be renamed also or possibly just removed.

3rd EDIT:
A hint on the search and replace string from a later post in the thread:
One thing I do is to search for levels\zatar_wetlands\ or levels/zatar_wetlands/ (depending on the file) instead of just the mapname. There may be other occurances of the mapname that you don't want to change besides the filepaths. Also, adding the trailing \ or / after the mapname helps to make sure you don't accidently apply the change to the same string twice and end up with zatar_wetlands_64_64.
====================================
You should keep trying to go to the link though; it would probably help to read the whole thread.

[Sars99]

3rd EDIT:
A hint on the search and replace string from a later post in the thread:
One thing I do is to search for levels\zatar_wetlands\ or levels/zatar_wetlands/ (depending on the file) instead of just the mapname. There may be other occurances of the mapname that you don't want to change besides the filepaths. Also, adding the trailing \ or / after the mapname helps to make sure you don't accidently apply the change to the same string twice and end up with zatar_wetlands_64_64.

wo0t! my little bit of help that i could give to the pros :yay:

[Vanlem]

Yea, the problem with playing offline is the lack of maps and the map and unit size. With more people it keeps you involved with less running through empty areas.

[jdrou]

Yea, the problem with playing offline is the lack of maps and the map and unit size. With more people it keeps you involved with less running through empty areas.

That's why you need to go to the BFSP forum where there are plenty of maps and you can also change the number of bots (it's a bit easier in co-op since you can adjust it when choosing the maps where in SP you need to edit a file). I've currently got about 80 maps in my levels folder (although some are just variations of the same map with the armies changed).

[dmarburg]

ok so i renamed all appropriate files/contents, i was wondering if the MD5 needs to be altered? i mean it looks like its checkin the sum of the map folder and its obviously different now as i used winrar to re-zip the server/client folders (is this neccessary?) -> Basically the problem is when i load this modified map i crash to desktop

any suggestions?

[Sars99]

delete them (only in your copied level though)

[jdrou]

If you used winrar, make sure you made the files .zip and not .rar format. If you run the game in windowed mode (edit the command line with +fullscreen 0) then you usually will get an error message that will give you some idea of the problem. Most people who try renaming maps seem to either miss a file or change a string that shouldn't be changed the first time they do it.

[dmarburg]

thanks for your help so far guys, im crashing to desktop whenever i open any booster map now so im deleting all my modified and starting again, i just have a couple of questions if you guys have time:

1) to clarify, i extract the client and server zips to folders, rename the paths/files/etc and re-zip?
2) i just delete the MD5 file?
3) i cannot find any reference in the maps folder of:

-> objects\Effects\ambient\staticfx\e_sAmb_BurningOil Fire.tweak
-> objects\Effects\ambient\staticfx\e_sAmb_OilFire.tw eak

would this be an issue? i just figured because i have the 'complete collection' they might have slightly differing files/file structures

4) also, would it matter if i had backups of the map folders in other folders with in the Levels folder (eg: mods\bf2\levels\AF_EF_Maps\OperationHarvest\)

anyway ill start again now, thanks for your time guys

[Sars99]

1) to clarify, i extract the client and server zips to folders, rename the paths/files/etc and re-zip?

Copy and paste the existing level folder and rename it:
example:
copy strike_at_karkand
rename the copy to anything, just no spaces


2) i just delete the MD5 file?

yes in the copied level folder only, though for SP use this might not be necessary, but i also do with my copies and never have a problem


4) also, would it matter if i had backups of the map folders in other folders with in the Levels folder (eg: mods\bf2\levels\AF_EF_Maps\OperationHarvest\)

you can leave the originals alone once you have copied them, so that folder isn't necessary, it could be whats causing the CTD.

just follow what i answered for #1 and this wont' be needed

hope that helps

p.s. i don't know about #3 sorry, hope jdrou comes on and helps

[jdrou]

3) i cannot find any reference in the maps folder of:

-> objects\Effects\ambient\staticfx\e_sAmb_BurningOil Fire.tweak
-> objects\Effects\ambient\staticfx\e_sAmb_OilFire.tw eak

The only place those would need to be changed is in OperationSmokeScreen\server.zip . If you're renaming any other map you won't see them.