Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2

Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2

309 ratings
How to play online after the shutdown
By =THB= Captain Bathrobe
As you might have heard by now, BC1, BF1943 and BC2 got taken offline permanently 8 December 2023. Thankfully, the community has ensured that BC2 will continue to live on.
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How-to
  • Go to Venice Unleashed [veniceunleashed.net] and create an account.
  • Download Project Rome [veniceunleashed.net].
  • Unzip the file in the game's root directory, which is one of these four depending on where you got the game from:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\Battlefield Bad Company 2 < Disc version

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Battlefield Bad Company 2 < Steam version

C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Battlefield Bad Company 2 < Origin version

C:\Program Files\EA Games\Battlefield Bad Company 2 < EA App version

IMPORTANT:
Never use Autologin as it has been bugged since launch and will almost always cause login issues. The Remember Password option is working fine however, though very rarely it can cause issues as well. If it does; simply uncheck it, re-enter your password and toggle it back on again.

Reshade and Project Rome do NOT work together, as in the game refuses to even launch with both enabled. Uninstall Reshade after adding the Project Rome files. It's possible there is a fix or workaround, but I have been unable to find one so far.

Use the Server Browser to play online. Matchmaking doesn't work and will try to reach out to EA's servers, resulting in an error message.

If you're a newcomer to the game, you might want to know that you'll have to press the Search button in the server browser for servers to show up, as they don't show up automatically unlike in all the newer Battlefield titles.

Depending on where you got the game from, there's a small chance you may get an error stating that MSVCP100.dll is missing (or the game will simply refuse to boot). If you run into this problem, run the included Visual C++ setup. It's located in Battlefield Bad Company 2\install\Redistributable\x86. The setup file is called vcredist.msi. You may need to reboot afterwards. Alternatively you can download the all-in-one Visual C++ installer if all else fails: https://www.techpowerup.com/download/visual-c-redistributable-runtime-package-all-in-one/

FAQ
Q: What is Project Rome?

A: Project Rome is a community-made master server. A master server holds login info, server list, and soldier data. What this file does is to tell your game to connect to Project Rome's master server instead of EA's.

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Q: I own the Steam version but have no license key. Will I be able to play online?

A: Yes! With the non-disc versions, you used to need a serial key to create an account. Project Rome, however, does NOT require a serial key for this nor for online play.

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Q: Seeing as the game is no longer purchasable, can I play online with a non-legit copy via Project Rome?

A: You can use any version of the game, be it legit or not. All that matters is that it's updated to the latest version. Digital versions come pre-patched, but the disc version and some (but not all) non-legit copies will need to be patched first.

When launching the game, before you get the main menu, you will see the version number in the bottom right corner of your screen. If it says 795745, you're running the latest version. If not, you can download the latest patch manually here [www.gamepressure.com].

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Q: Why is the server list empty?

A: Press Search. Unlike in newer Battlefield titles, the servers won't show up automatically.

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Q: How do I get rid of the blinding effect when looking through my scope on snow maps?

A: Go to C:\Users\YOURNAMEHERE\Documents\BFBC2, open settings.ini, scroll down to where it says Bloom=, change it to say Bloom=False then save and exit.

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Q: How do I change my FOV?

A: Go to C:\Users\YOURNAMEHERE\Documents\BFBC2, open settings.ini, scroll down to where it says Fov=, change the number, then save and exit.

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Q: What about the DLCs?

A: You don't need to buy the Vietnam DLC/Specact kit - on Project Rome everything is pre-unlocked for everyone *including* the Vietnam DLC, regardless of whether you owned the DLCs or not. Additionally, most servers have all weapons and perks set as pre-unlocked by default regardless of your soldier rank.

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Q: What if I play BC2 on console? And what about BC1 and BF1943?

A: Unfortunately this only works for the PC version of BC2. However, the team over at Battlefield Modding are hard at work to find a solution for the console versions of BC2 in addition to BC1 and BF1943. They have been making solid progress on the PS3 version of said games, so there's still hope. You can track their progress over at https://discord.me/battlefieldmodding, under *Modding & Development > Frostbite 1*.[/i].

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Q: How do I play on servers running custom maps?

A: For this, you'll first need to download BFBC2 Mod Loader [www.nexusmods.com]. This will serve as your mod manager and game launcher. Open it and select *Map Browser*, then download all the custom maps. You can also download additional mods, such as UI mods, new textures for weapons and more on Nexus [www.nexusmods.com].

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Q: I play on Linux, and the game still tries to connect to EA's servers.

A: Add this to your launch options:
WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dinput8.dll=n,b" %command%

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Q: I've heard the old BF games got shut down back in 2014, is there a workaround to play them online too?

A: Yes, there is!
BF1942 [team-simple.org] video tutorial here
BFVietnam [team-simple.org] video tutorial here
BF2 [www.bf2hub.com] video tutorial here
BF2142 [battlefield2142.co] video tutorial here

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Tags;
bc2, battlefield, bad company 2, bfbc2, bc2, new, master server, how to, play, fix, online, after, shutdown, project rome, pc, version, nexus emulator, guide, tutorial

67 Comments
Sanich 28 May @ 5:28am 
bump
=THB= Captain Bathrobe  [author] 28 Apr @ 6:58am 
@Саша Aye, there's still plenty of life left in the game! I see veterans as well as complete newcomers alike in the game, so there's still a clear interest even 15 years later ^^
Саша 27 Apr @ 3:09pm 
Are there people still playing?
n3crophilia 3 Apr @ 12:01pm 
i cant start game i extract dinput8.dll to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Battlefield Bad Company 2 when i press play it start lunch but notthing happend
AoD 5 Feb @ 11:51am 
Appreciate you! :praisesun:
pimpingbunny 25 Dec, 2024 @ 9:31pm 
lets go
=THB= Captain Bathrobe  [author] 9 Jul, 2024 @ 6:17pm 
@Local Alcoholic You want to make sure that you have Punkbuster unchecked in your server browser filter, it sounds like you might have it set to checked.
Local Alcolholic 9 Jul, 2024 @ 1:36pm 
Using a cracked version thats up to date but can't find any servers. Pressed the search button too but still nothing shows up anyone know what could be the problem?
xGrindizeRx 1 Jul, 2024 @ 5:34pm 
It worked, Thanks. Now I need to get some training as I'll be the noobiest noob you'll ever see
Diepla 20 Jun, 2024 @ 4:11am 
muy bueno!!!! vuelvo