First of all: thank you for joining the Open Battlefield 4 Beta! By participating, you are helping us to get Battlefield 4 ready for launch.

The Beta is the first opportunity that we at DICE get to test how well our infrastructure holds up in a scenario where millions of players join to play the game. We have a very complex system of services and hardware, that all need to work together.

This includes our back-end, game servers, Battlelog, game client, Origin – and the list goes on. Here at the DICE office in Stockholm, we’ve set up a “war room” where you’ll find people from different teams that are monitoring and taking care of issues as they arise. As we continue working on ironing out some of these, we expect to have a few hiccups along the way. However, rest assured that we are committed to making sure that you have a great experience playing the Battlefield 4 Beta.

The second part of the Beta is the game client itself. To get a taste of what you can expect from playing the Battlefield 4 Beta, watch this video:

Now, let’s be bluntly honest. You will experience bugs. This is a Beta, and not the final game. But, this is also where you come in. We ask you, and your friends, to help us find and report bugs on the Battlefield 4 Beta Battlelog forums: http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf4/forum/view/2955064762159285271/. The forums are monitored, and we’re making sure to handle your findings.

Some of you may wonder if we’ll have time to fix some of the issues that you’ve reported before launch.  The short answer is: yes. The version of the game that you are playing is several weeks old, and many of the problems that you may have encountered are already fixed for the final game, while others are being worked on.

Currently, players may experience game breaking bugs, meaning you might have a hard time playing. Here are some of the worst offenders, and we are working on fixing them as soon as possible:

Stuck on loading screen

We have identified and fixed two issues that we think should resolve this problem that affects mainly PC players. More info to come shortly.

Low frame rate/stuttering

We believe we are close to fixing this too. We will release more info as we know more. Meanwhile, please make sure that you have the Beta drivers for your graphics card. Also, please try changing servers to see if your performance increases.

Radeon 13.10 Beta Drivers
Geforce 331.40 Beta Drivers

Once again, thank you! And please do not hesitate to contact us on the forums.

Yours,

Aleksander Grøndal and the Battlefield 4 team

Check out our new Battlefield 4 Beta Overview Video for a look at what’s on offer in the Exclusive and Open Beta, as well as some quick tips on playing the game modes available in the Beta: Domination and Conquest.

As always, we are listening to your feedback. Please let us know what you think in the Beta forums here on Battlelog.

Now that the Exclusive Battlefield 4 Beta has started rolling out, here are some tips to get you going. Let us know if there is anything more we can do to help you get into the Beta as quickly as possible.

Finding the Exclusive Beta on PS3
If you are eligible, you should be able to find the Exclusive Battlefield 4 Beta on the PlayStation Store. Navigate to the PlayStation Store, select “Search” and enter “Battlefield 4″. Select the Beta and follow the download instructions.

NOTE: The European rollout of the Exclusive Beta on PS3 has started. It will however take some time before all eligible users will be able to see it in the PlayStation Store. If you can’t see it now, please check again later.
Find out more about the Beta rollout in this earlier post.

Finding the Exclusive Beta on X360
The Exclusive Battlefield 4 Beta for Xbox 360 can now be accessed through Xbox Live for eligible players. Navigate to the Games section on the Xbox 360 Dashboard. If you have either BF3 Premium or a Medal of Honor Warfighter – Limited Edition Online Pass, you will see an image for the Battlefield 4 Beta on your Dashboard. Select it and follow the download instructions.

NOTE: The world-wide rollout of the Exclusive Beta on X360 has started. It will however take some time before all eligible users will be able to see it on the Xbox Dashboard. If you can’t see it now, please check again later.
Find out more about the Beta rollout in this earlier post.

Find out how to be eligible for the Exclusive Beta: http://www.battlefield.com/battlefield-4/faq/beta

Get the Exclusive Battlefield 4 Beta for X360 from the XBL dashboard if you are eligible.

Joining the right server on PC
On PC, start the Exclusive Beta from your Origin app. This will launch the Battlefield 4 section of Battlelog. From there, select the MULTIPLAYER>SERVER BROWSER menu item to bring up a list of active servers.

Use the powerful server browser to find exactly the server you want. The server browser is available on both PC and consoles.

The name of the server will list the map and game mode. In this Beta, the map will be ”Siege of Shanghai” (one of ten maps in Battlefield 4), and the game mode will be either Conquest Large (up to 64 players), Conquest (up to 32 players), or Domination (up to 20 players).

Either join one of the listed servers directly, or click the SEARCH FOR SERVERS toolbar just above the server list to enter your own filter settings for a more advanced search for servers. Here, you can select the mode, game size, free slots, and region, among other things. When you are happy with your options, hit APPLY FILTER to update the available server list.

Once you’ve found a server you’re interested in, hit JOIN SERVER to join it.

Joining the right server on X360 and PS3
If you want to get quickmatched into a game on an appropriate server, just hit QUICK MATCH and then select either DOMINATION or CONQUEST.

Hit QUICK MATCH for instant action, or select SERVER BROWSER for increased control of which server and game mode to join. Image from X360, but PS3 interface is nearly identical.

If you would rather use the more powerful manual server browser on console, select SERVER BROWSER to enter the server browser proper. This will bring up a list of some of the available servers. From there, hit Traingle or Y to enter the server info page, where you will be able to get more detailed information about your currently selected server.

The console server browser adds options for you to find exactly the server and game mode you are looking for. We encourage all players to try it out.

From there, hit X or A to add the server in question to your Favorites. This will let you quickly find the server again using R1-L1/RB-LB in the server browser menu.If you want to search for a specific server setting, hit R3/RS. This will bring up the filter settings similar to what is described above for PC. Once you are happy with your filter settings, just back out by hitting O/B to apply your settings and get a refreshed list of applicable servers that you can join.

Playing Conquest and Domination
The game modes available in the Beta are Conquest and Domination. Conquest features a large variety of land and air vehicles, while Domination is focused around infantry combat. There are five more game modes in Battlefield 4, and you can find out more about them in this blog post.

As always, if you have any feedback regarding the Battlefield 4 Beta, please let us know in the Beta forums here on Battlelog.

If you have any technical issues in the Beta, please head to EA’s Answer HQ for help.

The Exclusive Battlefield 4 Beta runs October 1-3. Just by joining, you are helping us make the game better!

During the Exclusive Beta, you will be able to play Conquest and Domination game modes on the Siege of Shanghai map. If you are eligible, you will be able to download the Exclusive Beta from the ”MY GAMES” tab in your Origin app.

Please note that that servers might be restarted with short notice and that the Beta is not representative of final quality. We are listening: Please submit any feedback in the newly set up Battlefield 4 Beta forums here on Battlelog.

After the Exclusive Beta, there will be an Open Beta available for everyone from October 4 through October 15. Head to this blog post for everything you need to know about the Battlefield 4 Beta.

Note that you are required to run a 64-bit OS to join the Battlefield 4 Beta on PC. As a studio, we wanted to focus our efforts on testing the 64-bit version of the game. The full version of the game will also run on 32-bit Windows OS.