EA Launches Battlefield 4 Community Test Environment

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

EA and DICE want help in testing new features and patches.

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.

Kevin Parrish
13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • StarBound
    Wait a minute, I thought everyone that bought BF4 has been a tester for the past 6 months?
    Reply
  • zhunt99
    It was a paid alpha test; now they're launching into beta.
    Reply
  • soldier44
    Wait what, people still are playing that...
    Reply
  • Bean007
    So just to help everybody out, you purchased a pre-release of Battlefield 4 and now were getting close to the final testing phase to where then Battlefield 4.1 will be released for the price of $59.99. However you will get a discount if you did purchase the pre-release version of Battlefield 4 which will give you a $10.00 discount bringing your total to $49.99.
    Reply
  • harmaatukka
    "EA and DICE want help in testing new features and patches." I think you meant content for the next DLC.
    Reply
  • boju
    not only will we be able to address player feedback at an early stage, but also increase the overall quality of the game

    Bring back LAN or at the very least, make it possible(Or easier!) to play multiple accounts on the same connection,

    Please!

    Reply
  • Bean007
    13264293 said:
    not only will we be able to address player feedback at an early stage, but also increase the overall quality of the game

    Bring back LAN or at the very least, make it possible(Or easier!) to play multiple accounts on the same connection,

    Please!

    Fat chance on that. They said back in the early start of BF 3 that if enough people wanted LAN play back they would put it back in. Either not enough people asked for it or they just flat out lied which is what I'm think they did.

    DICE started pissing me off when BF 2 came out and the poor support on the hitbox issue. Took them forever to come out with patch 1.50. BFBC 2 was great even though it wasn't like Battlefield and then came BF 3 which had so many glitches. I had even purchased Prem. for BF 3 and didn't even play all the DLC just cause I was just so unhappy. Of course BF 4 was never on my mind to purchase at all and I'm so glad I didn't waste my money on it. Even though EA pushed them to release BF 4 early it's still no excuse for some of the problems that have been going on since the start. Even the ceiling glitch on Metro from BF 3 which they fixed and for some reason they put it back in BF 4. DICE won't get my money for anything else anymore. Shame since I've been with them since BF 1942.
    Reply
  • boju
    13264528 said:
    13264293 said:
    not only will we be able to address player feedback at an early stage, but also increase the overall quality of the game

    Bring back LAN or at the very least, make it possible(Or easier!) to play multiple accounts on the same connection,

    Please!

    Fat chance on that. They said back in the early start of BF 3 that if enough people wanted LAN play back they would put it back in. Either not enough people asked for it or they just flat out lied which is what I'm think they did.


    Probably true.

    Im Pee'd off because a few friends and i who don't play online much like to get together for a lan now and again and oblivious to the foreseeable dramas we all bought BF4 to add another game to our list only to find out we cant all play together online either...at the time anyway, so we thought F*** it and moved on to another game, but still $80...

    We briefly had a look on the internet how to simultaneously play online but was bit of a hassle and couldn't be stuffed mucking around. Maybe next time though. Anyways, ok no LAN, but cant readily play online as a group in the same room? lol EA.


    Reply
  • somebodyspecial
    People signing up for this should be able to charge EA/Dice $60 for their services. Kind of like the $60 beta (alpha I guess) they sold to their customers. This is a BBB title not AAA. It's been out how many months and still in beta? ;)

    Vote with your wallet. Do not buy EA related games. There are enough others out there that are better without the alpha/beta user testing. Better yet, do not buy DRM games (go to GOG.com instead).
    Reply
  • squish8294
    So, buggier than what we already play, then?

    On a more serious note - stuff like this only works if you actually listen to the players you involve - which they're not so inclined to do this time around, given their track record thus far.
    Reply