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Battlefield Vietnam

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games

This page is for the 2004 game. For Vietnam DLC, see Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Battlefield Vietnam
Battlefield Vietnam cover
Developers
DICE Canada[1]
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Engines
Refractor 2
Release dates
Windows March 14, 2004
Reception
Metacritic 84
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, FPS
Vehicles Automobile, Flight, Helicopter, Naval/watercraft, Tank, Transport, Truck
Art styles Realistic
Themes Asia, Cold War
Series Battlefield
Battlefield Vietnam on HowLongToBeat
Battlefield Vietnam on IGDB
Battlefield Vietnam guide on StrategyWiki
Battlefield Vietnam on MobyGames
Battlefield Vietnam on Wikipedia
Battlefield 1942 2002
Battlefield Vietnam 2004
Battlefield 2 2005
Battlefield 2142 2006
Battlefield Heroes 2009
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 2010
Battlefield Online 2010
Battlefield Play4Free 2011
Battlefield 3 2011
Battlefield 4 2013
Battlefield Hardline 2015
Battlefield 1 2016
Battlefield V 2018
Battlefield 2042 2021

Warnings

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).
GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Battlefield Vietnam is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action and FPS game in the Battlefield series.

General information

Battlefield Vietnam hub on Planet Battlefield
The Battlefield series on Battlelog - PC section.
EA Answers HQ

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
CD key
SafeDisc v2 DRM[Note 1].
Windows
SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
World War 2 Mod See Mods.
Windows

Essential improvements

In-game profile settings.
In-game profile settings.

Patches

The latest updates bring Battlefield Vietnam up to version 1.21. This requires installation of:

Online play support

Either downloading a patched executable or editing the Windows hosts file will restore the in-game server browser functionality.
Alternatively, it is also possible to join a server directly by using the "Add Server" feature of the in-game server browser (for a list of servers visit the Game Tracker page).
Or see GameSpy for universal solutions.

Download the patched executable (uses Qtracker server)[4]
Edit hosts file (Qtracker)[5]
  1. Go to %WINDIR%\System32\drivers\etc.
  2. Open hosts with a text editor running as administrator.
  3. Add the following lines and save the file.
65.112.87.186  bfvietnam.available.gamespy.com
65.112.87.186  bfvietnam.master.gamespy.com
65.112.87.186  bfvietnam.ms0.gamespy.com

PunkBuster updates

Support for the anti-cheat software PunkBuster in BFV has been discontinued by Evenbalance. Most servers do not have it enabled anymore, so it is recommended to move the contents of <path-to-game>\pb to a backup folder to avoid any disconnects by its service.
If an up-to-date version is required however, follow the steps below.

Update PunkBuster manually[5]
Make sure the PunkBuster service is installed and working properly by using the PunkBuster Service Installer (pbsvc). A reboot is required if it is installed for the first time.
  1. Download the PunkBuster files for Battlefield Vietnam.
  2. Extract the contents to <path-to-game>\pb, overwriting any older files.
  3. Enable PunkBuster in-game in the lower right corner of the server browser.

Skip intro videos

Launch the game with +restart 1 parameter[5]
Modify intro video files[5]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Movies
  2. Delete or rename the files Dice.bik, EA.bik, Intro.bik and Legal.bik.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Mods\BfVietnam\settings\Profiles\<user-id>\[Note 2]

Video

In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.
A method of Frame rate capping is recommended, as the game has no FPS limit and does not support Vsync by default.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
See Widescreen resolution. HUD slightly stretched.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
See Widescreen resolution. HUD stretched but playable.
4K Ultra HD
See Widescreen resolution. HUD slightly stretched.
Field of view (FOV)
See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Set to windowed and use external tools, see glossary page.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Use dgVoodoo 2 and choose between 2x-16x under "Texture Filtering".
Anti-aliasing (AA)
MSAA can be forced in graphics card control panel, or through dgVoodoo 2.
High-fidelity upscaling
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
See Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Color blind mode
No general support but crosshair color can be adjusted.

Widescreen resolution

Any form of widescreen resolution will, aside from a stretched HUD, cause a minor animation glitch when firing handheld weapons.
Download and extract the patched executable[5]
Widescreen resolution[5]
  1. Launch the game and create a new custom profile.
  2. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  3. Open the folder to the desired profile.
  4. Open Video.con and change the values of game.setGameDisplayMode to desired resolution (for example game.setGameDisplayMode 1920 1080 32 0).

Field of view (FOV)

Edit VideoDefault.con[5]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Mods\BfVietnam\settings.
  2. Open VideoDefault.con with a text editor.
  3. Modify the line renderer.fieldOfView with a new value.
1       - 4:3 (default)
1.33333 - 16:9
1.2     - 16:10
1.25    - 15:9
1.75    - 21:9

Windowed

Windowed mode[5]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Mods\BfVietnam\settings.
  2. Open VideoDefault.con.
  3. Change the value of renderer.setFullScreen 1 to 0.

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Edit VideoDefault.con[5]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open Video.con with a text editor.
  3. Add the line renderer.VSyncEnabled 1 and save the file.

Notes

Introduces noticeable input lag.

Input

Audio

In-game sound settings.
In-game sound settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Up to 7.1.[6] See Surround sound.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
EAX 1, EAX 2, EAX 3.
Royalty free audio

Surround sound

Surround sound is only available when using EAX as sound provider in the audio settings.
Install IndirectSound[5]
  1. Download IndirectSound and extract the files to <path-to-game>.
  2. Open dsound.ini and change eax1 = false to eax1 = true.
  3. Start the game and set the sound provider in the audio settings to "Creative Labs EAX (TM)", choose your speaker configuration and click "Save" to confirm the changes.
Use ALchemy (Creative sound card required)[5]

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Hungarian
Fan translation. Download available on magyaritasok.hu.
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
64 Co-op, Versus
Online play
64 Co-op, Versus
The official GameSpy service has been shut down; see Online play support.

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Dedicated server software available for Windows (+Patch) and Linux.
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
UDP 15567
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision
[7]

Issues fixed

TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game.

Blackscreen/crash at launch

Modify VideoDefault.con[8]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Mods\BfVietnam\Settings.
  2. Open VideoDefault.con.
  3. Change the value of renderer.allowAllRefreshRates 0 to 1.

Missing sound effects

Battlefield Vietnam is missing some audio, like radio commands and vehicle music on all Windows os since Windows Vista. The fix below consist of lying about the windows version.
Install compatibility profile[9]
  1. Download and install the compatibility profile.
  2. Remove any compatibility mode setting on the games executable.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9.0b
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Cutscenes Bink Video
Multiplayer GameSpy
Anti-cheat PunkBuster

Custom music

To play custom songs for the vehicle radios, place .mp3 files inside the folder <path-to-game>\My Music and they will become available in the radio menu. Other players will still hear the default music even if they use the same songs.

Console commands

The console can be accessed by pressing ~. Below are some common commands, for a more extensive list visit the TweakGuides.com Tweak Guide.

  • fps 1 Shows frames per second.
  • hud 0 Disables heads-up display.
  • freecam 1 Unlocks the camera while waiting for spawn (if allowed by server).

Mods

Mod DB landing page for Battlefield Vietnam
World War 2 - official modification by DICE which includes new maps, weapons and vehicles based on Battlefield 1942.
Point of Existence - a total conversion which is based on a fictional conflict between Russia and the US in the early 21st century.
Eve of Destruction - additional content based on the Vietnam war.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98
Processor (CPU) 933 MHz
System memory (RAM) 256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 2 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 3
64 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0b compatible


Notes

  1. SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[2] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[3]
  2. When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References