DICE is rolling out a server update for Battlefield 3 on all platforms. This update will come with a number of minor fixes, tweaks and other additions primarily aimed at increasing server and matchmaking stability.
The server update will begin to roll out at 08:00 UTC (November 6), and will take about six hours to complete on consoles and at least 24 hours on PC. Using this same starting time, Battlefield 3 multiplayer might be affect, but only an hour or so, click here to check the update time in your area of the world.
Here's the full update list straight from DICE.
Battlefield 3 Game Server R33 change list
1) (Server renters on PC only) The “rcon” server info command now reports external IP and port as well as information regarding whether the backend queue is enabled or not.
2) Fixed an occasional issue where console servers changed max player counts incorrectly.
3) We now enforce a minimum player count of 4 on both PC and consoles (PC previously had no such limitation while console servers had 2 players as the limit) to be able to exit preround on Ranked servers. You will still be able to move around freely in preround, but the match doesn’t officially start (and thus no stats are affected) until at least 4 players have joined. This goes for both PC and console servers. This will make it harder to easily use Ranked servers as boosting servers.
4) “Hardcore no map” is now a proper preset on both the server side and backend. This means console users can now filter between hardcore servers with and/or without the “no map” setting.
5) We fixed a bug where server admins could exploit the system to effectively become immortal on his/her server.
6) We introduced a number of server stability improvements which should lead to less crashes throughout. Two specific crashes that we have eliminated are:
A) Servers running 9 or more maps that would crash when loading the 9th map
B) Servers running high player counts in combination with very high ticket count where end game reports would stall out the server
DICE has also revealed a "big client patch" in preparation for Battlefield 3's latest expansion, Aftermath, will be released soon.
