DICE jumped on the official Battlefield blog on Thursday and announced the launch of the Battlefield 4 Community Test Environment (CTE), a community program that will allow players to take part in Battlefield 4's development. Here DICE will test new ideas and introduce fixes for current issues before they're rolled out to the general Battlefield 4 population.
"Among the first things we will work on is the 'Netcode', which is what the player experiences with the game world including player-to-player interactions like damage registration. This involves tweaking to the 'tickrate' servers and networking in general," states the company's blog.
"By launching this new program, not only will we be able to address player feedback at an early stage, but also increase the overall quality of the game. We are excited to explore the possibilities together with you," DICE adds.
Initially, only a limited number of Battlefield 4 Premium members will be able to participate in the program. However, DICE and EA plan to expand to a larger player base later on after they test this new program.
Available for PC only, the first wave of CTE seats are already filled. Once additional seats are made available, gamers will need to download a second CTE-dedicated game client and connect to a special Battlelog that's solely established for testing purposes.
PC gamers interested in participating in the program should head here. The new Battlefield 4 client will be made available within the Origin desktop client. Gamers must also download and install a Battlelog browser plugin, the blog states.