Battlefield 2042

Battlefield 2042

Developers
	DICE
	Ripple Effect Studios
	Criterion Games
	EA Gothenburg
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Engines
	Frostbite 3
Release dates
Windows	November 19, 2021
Reception
Metacritic	68
OpenCritic	65
IGDB	67
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Subscription gaming service
Modes	Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Shooter
Vehicles	Automobile, Flight, Tank
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	Battlefield

Warnings

This game requires a constant internet connection for all game modes.

Battlefield 2042 is a multiplayer first-person shooter game in the Battlefield series.

The game's Gold and Ultimate Editions were released on November 12, 2021, with a global release taking place a week after.

At launch, the game was criticized by players due to the many bugs, lack of features present in older titles, and gameplay changes. Despite some of these changes being addressed by DICE, the game failed to meet the sales expectations of Electronic Arts. However, the game continues to receive updates and follows a battle pass model since June 2022 with the launch of Season 1, titled "Zero Hour".

General information

Official forums

Official forums for game series

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Standard Edition only. European copies have 7 DVDs while other regions only get a download code.
Epic Games Store		Elite Edition also available.
Microsoft Store		Included exclusively with Xbox Game Pass for PC as part of its version of EA Play.
Origin		Elite Edition also available. Included with EA Play. Manual link for EA App purchase.
Steam		Elite Edition also available. Included with EA Play (Steam)
(unavailable)		Gold and Ultimate Edition also available.
Green Man Gaming (unavailable)		Gold and Ultimate Edition also available.
Humble Store (unavailable)		Gold and Ultimate Edition also available.

All versions require Origin DRM, Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM and a constant internet connection for all game modes.

Version differences

All pre-orders included the base game, early access to open beta and three different cosmetics.

Gold Edition included earlier access to game launch, three cosmetic bundles, and the Year One Pass. Players on console versions also get the Cross-Gen bundle. No longer available.

Ultimate Edition included all Gold Edition bonuses, but includes a new cosmetic bundle, digital artbook and soundtrack. Players on the base game could upgrade to this version. No longer available.

Elite Edition supplants both the Gold and Ultimate Edition and features all content as of May 2023, including an exclusive cosmetic bundle. Players on the base game could upgrade to this version.

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Available via EA Play

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
Boost	EA Play members receive a melee takedown animation, and recurring in-game member-only awards.
Cosmetic	Cosmetics for soldiers, weapons and vehicles.
Currency	Battlefield Currency is used to unlock cosmetics in the in-game store. Premium Pass is also available for purchase.
Free-to-grind	A limited version of the Premium Pass is available and the rewards can be earned for free.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Elite Upgrade	Upgrades the base game to the Elite Edition.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Battlefield 2042\settings\
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1517290/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1517290/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher		Handled through the cloud sync of Origin.
Origin
Steam Cloud		Handled through the cloud sync of Origin.
Xbox Cloud

Video

Video settings

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Hor+ gameplay and menus.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Vertical field of view from 50 - 105° (and 44 - 88° for vehicles). Toggle available to allow FOV to affect aiming down sights.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		TAA Low or TAA High.
High-fidelity upscaling		DLSS 2.0 The option appears on supported hardware, also there is a Dynamic Resolution Scaling option which replaces the static res scale option. See #Forcing resolution scale to set a static resolution scale, as this exists in 2042's commands.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Ray tracing (RT)		Ray traced ambient occlusion
Color blind mode		As of the Season 3 update, users can now change the UI colors to their liking.

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  16:9 presentation with the default FOV

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  21:9 presentation with the default FOV

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  HUD settings

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  Accessibility settings

Forcing resolution scale

Since 2042 doesn't have a static Resolution Scale slider in the video settings, one can instead force the static resolution through commands or through a user.cfg).

Both methods utilize the Frostbite console with the command Render.ResolutionScale.

Eliminates edge-case scenarios where enabling dynamic resolution causes stutters.

Commands
Open console with ~. Use Render.ResolutionScale n, where n refers to a number you want to choose (eg. 1.5 for 150% of the resolution). Applies it only to the session, to set it through different sessions refer to the method below.

Creating a user.cfg to execute the command on launch
Go to <path-to-game> and create a Notepad file titled user.cfg. Use Render.ResolutionScale n, where n refers to a number you want to choose (eg. 1.5 for 150% of the resolution). Applies to all sessions.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		Different sensitivity options for soldier, vehicle and each level of zoom available.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Separate options to invert for soldiers and vehicles.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity		Different sensitivity options for soldier, vehicle and each level of zoom available.
Controller Y-axis inversion		Separate options to invert for soldiers and vehicles.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers		[citation needed]
DualShock button prompts
Light bar support
Connection modes	Bluetooth, USB

Generic/other controllers
Button prompts

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

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  General settings

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  Keyboard and mouse settings (1)

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  Keyboard and mouse settings (2)

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  Controller settings (1)

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  Controller settings (2)

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  Key bindings (1)

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  Key bindings (2)

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  Key bindings (3)

Audio

Audio settings

Subtitle settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		Also has a 3D audio sound profile for headphones
Subtitles		Subtitles show during the pre-round map overview.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Can be toggled on or off in the audio settings.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Arabic
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play		1-128	Versus 1 player in Solo vs Bots In addition to 128 players, some modes are 64, 32 or 16 players. Cross-platform play and progression is enabled with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking		Selecting any mode from the main menu will matchmake you directly into a match. Battlefield Portal also has a server browser.
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated		Hosted by developers
Self-hosting		One can self-host a server on Battlefield Portal, but the server will not be persistent unless one player is connected to it.
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	5222, 9988, 17502, 20000-20100, 22990, 42127
UDP	3659, 14000-14016, 22990-23006, 25200-25300

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues unresolved

Game does not launch on Kepler/TeraScale/early GCN cards

The game crashes with a DirectX Error with the error An invalid parameter was passed to the returning function.

This is due to the game requiring DX12 feature level 12.0, which these cards don't support. This affects all Kepler/TeraScale/early GCN cards, even high-end cards like the 780 Ti and HD 7700. There is no fix.

"Unable to load persistence data" error

Connection with game servers experienced some problem. Could be on either side of the pipe.

Issues resolved

Origin overlay is permanently enabled for games you bought on Steam and disabling it in the Origin client doesn't help.

Delete or Rename: C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin\igo64.dll.
Also fixes the input lag issue below. Will affect all games that use the in-game overlay.

Input lag on mouse and keyboard

Disable the Origin overlay from the Origin client. On Steam, see the steps above.

ERROR: DirectX function GetDeviceRemovedReason failed with dxgi_error_device_hung

Download and run .NET Framework Repair Tool: https://download.microsoft.com/download/2/B/D/2BDE5459-2225-48B8-830C-AE19CAF038F1/NetFxRepairTool.exe

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	12	Feature level minimum is 12.0, which restricts compatibility with certain cards (see #Issues unresolved above)

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Anti-cheat	In house Anti-Cheat	Easy Anti-Cheat Replace with In-house Anti-Cheat in Season 6: DARK CREATIONS

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10
Processor (CPU)	AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Intel Core i5-6600K	AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Intel Core i7-4790
System memory (RAM)	8 GB	16 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	100 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti AMD Radeon RX 560 DirectX 12 compatible	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT

A 64-bit operating system is required.