Battlefield 3 patch fixes crashes, improves performance, improves squad joining

That Battlefield 3 patch we mentioned yesterday has popped up in Origin, adding dozens of bug fixes and balance changes. I doubt I'm alone in skipping to the 'stability fixes' section, but there's plenty more there, including plenty of weapon balancing tweaks.

DICE say they've "fixed several crashes when joining MP and Co-Op sessions" as well as visual stuttering on some configs. A few of us in the office have had problems with long, long loading times getting into a game, and DICE suggest that those should be shorter thanks to some general performance improvements.

Good news, too, for hammerhead sharks. The patch has also "fixed multiple problems when using multiple monitors."

The extended patch notes on Battlelog delve into the detailed changes. Basic features like the ability to join a squad "by selecting a Squad and then clicking the Join Squad button," and the ability to join empty squads have also been added as DICE start to bring Battlefield 3 up to the level of polish that it should have had at launch. See the full notes below.

Client-Side Changes:

Visuals, Stability and Performance Fixes:

• General performance and loading time improvements

• “Black Screen” fix for an issue occurring on some PC Configurations

• Stereo and Rendering Support for Nvidia and AMD Graphics Cards

• Adjusted the “stuttering” encountered on some PC configurations.

• Fixed several Crashes when joining MP and Co-Op sessions

• Fixed multiple problems when using multiple monitors (Eyefinity / Surround).

• Fixed visual corruption issues on certain Nvidia Cards

• Improved loading times for certain textures

• Added console command “GameTime.MaxVariableFps” to limit max FPS

• Added console command “UI.DrawEnable” to hide UI for screenshots / videos

Balance and Gameplay Adjustments (PC)

• Fixed a problem with high speed mouse movement

• Added back some missing Growlers on Kharg Island Conquest Large

• Added back EOR sound for SQDM and TDM

• You should no longer be able to damage a friendly vehicle when sitting in an open position

• Grenades now drop to ground if you get killed while attempting to throw it(note the affect this will have on Hardcore mode!)

• Spawn protection now should work in Conquest. You should no longer spawn on points too close to enemies

• You should no longer spawn too close to enemies in TDM and SQDM

• Combat areas on Kharg Rush tweaked in order to disallow defenders to access the carrier ship after 1st base is taken and being able to enter the AA gun

• Fixed a problem with revived players not suffering suppression

• Fixed a problem with the camera when being revived in COOP

• Added joystick deadzone setting

• Fixed sound for when climbing ladders

• Fixed an issue with some weapon sounds in first person

• Fixed a swim sound loop error

• Increased the damage of Helicopter Miniguns, AA guns, and Jet Cannons against infantry

• Increased the damage of Helicopter Miniguns against jeeps.

• Reduced the physics impact of AA guns and Jet Cannons, players under attack from these weapons should no longer lose control.

• Increased the damage of the 44 Magnum slightly.

• Increased the range and minimum damage of the .357 Round from the MP412 Rex.

• Increased the range of all .45cal and 9mm weapons.

• Slightly increased the range of the P90 and MP7 and PDW-R.

• Slightly increased the range of the 5.56mm PDW-R and decreased the minimum damage at long range.

• Slightly increased the minimum range of the Mk11, SVD, and M39 EMR 7.62mm rifles.

• Decreased the maximum damage and maximum range of the G3 and SCAR-H 7.62mm weapons.

• Reduced the damage from FIM-92 and SA-18 IGLA missiles against aircraft.

• Increased the damage and range of the 40mm BUCK rounds.

• Reduced the damage .50cal weapons do against Helicopters.

• Updated T90 canister shell tweaks to match Abrams canister shells

UI Changes (PC)

• Added round duration and ticket summary at EOR

• Advanced squad polish – should be more intuitive

• Significant changes to the Join Squad functionality (see below)

• Fixed a problem regarding keybindings while playing

• You should now get a better error message when being disconnected via Battlelog

Server Update Highlights

• EOD Bot exploit fix

• Several crash fixes

• Anti-stat padding measures taken, disallowing ranked servers to run obscure settings

• Improved team kill kick configuration

• Support for unranked servers. Unranked servers do not report players' scores to Battlelog, but server administrators can freely control all settings

Share your profile and stats with new Battlelog functionality

• Ability to share your Profile and Stats pages to Facebook, Google+, and Twitter

• User Profile and Stats pages on Battlelog can now be accessed without being signed in to Battlelog if you know a user's URL

• Single sign on from Battlelog to Origin. If you're not logged in to Origin and join a game server, Battlelog will automatically sign you in to Origin in the background and join the game server

Quick notes on Squad changes in the Nov 22 update

• Removed FIND ME A SQUAD option

• Allow players to join empty Squads alone, thus having 1/4 squad members

• Change order of options to LEAVE SQUAD, INV A FRIEND, SWITCH TEAM

• Disable Privacy flag when 1 man squad

• Reset Privacy flag from Private to Public when squad drops to 1 player

• All occupied Squads will now show up colored blue on the Squad Selection screen

• Players who choose not to join squads will also show up as Blue in the "Not in a Squad” line

• Squads that are currently empty will display as white -- if you wish to join an empty Squad, you can choose the first one marked with white text