Create a Windows Desktop Shortcut to Join EA117

    HOW TO: Create a Windows desktop shortcut to immediately join the EA117 Desert Combat server.



    To make joining the EA117 Desert Combat server as easy as possible, you can create a Windows desktop shortcut to immediately join the server, without having to go through any Battlefield 1942 menus or selections first.

    In addition, the shortcut is able to use the EA117 Desert Combat server's DNS name instead of a literal IP address, which means you'll never have to worry about updating the shortcut with a new IP address.


    Creating the Shortcut

    Start by right-clicking your desktop and selecting "New" to create a new "Shortcut". In the "Create Shortcut" dialog that opens, use the "Browse" button to browse to your Battlefield 1942 installation directory.

    For example, this may be the "C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\Battlefield 1942" folder on your machine, unless you installed Battlefield 1942 to a different folder. Choose the "BF1942.EXE" program from your Battlefield 1942 folder as the target for the shortcut.

    Name the shortcut "Join EA117" or whatever you prefer to name the shortcut.

    Once you have a shortcut for launching BF1942.EXE, open the properties of the shortcut again and add the following additional parameters to the command line shown in the "Target" of the shortcut:

    Code: Select all

    +game DC_Final +restart 1 +joinServer dc.ea117.com
    Note you can use the "Select All" link here to then copy and paste this information into your shortcut's "Target" command line.

    When you have successfully added the parameters to the command line, the total overall "Target" value for the shortcut will be similar to:

    Code: Select all

    "C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\Battlefield 1942\BF1942.exe" +game DC_Final +restart 1 +joinServer dc.ea117.com
    Image


    What do these parameters do?

    +game DC_Final
    The game parameter allows specifying which Battlefield 1942 mod to load. Specifying that "DC_Final" should load will reduce the time Battlefield 1942 would otherwise spend switching from the default "bf1942" mod to the Desert Combat Final mod.

    +restart 1
    The restart parameter causes Battlefield 1942 to skip all the initial intro cinematics and branding.

    +joinServer dc.ea117.com
    The joinServer parameter allows specifying a specific multiplayer server to join immediately after loading Battlefield 1942. By using the DNS name for the EA117 Desert Combat server ("dc.ea117.com"), you will never have to update this shortcut with a different IP address, even if the EA117 Desert Combat server's IP address changes.

    Note: Unfortunately Battlefield 1942 does not allow using DNS names in-game, such as when using the "Add Server" button to add a server to the multiplayer server list. Only IP addresses can be specified in the "Add Server" dialog.