What is DUST 3.1 Combined Arms?
DUST 3.1 is a single player only 'hardcore' modification for Battlefield 2 with a focus on tactical gameplay rather than run n' gun. It features a completely reworked environment based mainly on vanilla BF2 assets.
DUST 3.1 Promotional Video by Dukern
Dust 3.1 gameplay video by Mohammed Furqon
You can find the DUST 3.1 download link at the bottom of this page.
Hardcore
In DUST, the AI is aggressive and accurate. Weapon damage is high and players have less body armour than in vanilla BF2. If you find Dust too hard? Ask for help!
Tactical
The new map layouts aim to make winning a round more challenging. Work as squad leader, and use tactics such as flanking to undermine or distract the enemy.
Use cover as you move, avoid crossing large open areas, and take roundabout routes to the CP that you want to capture.
Find good defensive positions and choose your loadout wisely based upon the situation.
This will give you the best chance of success on the battlefields of DUST.
Assets
DUST consists mostly of vanilla BF2 assets reworked by me over the last roughly 7 years.
Nearly all of the middle eastern buildings and props, including vegetation, have been retextured and enhanced.
DUST - Oman
DUST - Oman
DUST - Oman
DUST - Karkand
DUST - Karkand
DUST - Factory
DUST - Abandoned Town
Maps
The maps in DUST are a mixture of classic vanilla BF2 maps and maps made by other modders. All have been completely reworked by me. They have new colourmaps, details, lightmaps, vegetation, undergrowth, and lighting. They also have unique custom effects such as waves, dust storms, and custom sounds.
Control Point layouts have been arranged specifically for single player and, as far as possible, make use of the whole map.
N.B. The 16, 32, and 64 labels are a legacy of vanilla BF2 and have no meaning in terms of size or player count in DUST. They are simply different gameplay layouts, some more challenging than others.
Vehicles
Most of the main vanilla vehicles have been completely reworked with new textures, including custom alphas, normal maps and new HUD's. They have also had a lot of mesh edits to improve their appearance.
DUST - T90
DUST - T90
DUST - M1A1
DUST - M1A1
DUST - LAV25
DUST - LAV25
DUST - F18
DUST - F18
DUST - AH1Z
Handheld Weapons
The carbines, pistols, marksman's rifles and rpg's have been ported from other versions of Battlefield and elsewhere. This is because I believe the that vanilla weapons are mostly of too poor quality to use.
Factions
Viper (a western coalition) and Claw (a middle eastern coalition) are the two factions that battle over the arid dusty territory of DUST. They are not based on any particular nation or ideology.
Effects
Effects are an important part of DUST, and these are all custom made by me. They include new explosions, fire and smoke, bullet hits, ambient sounds, radio messages, and many other ingredients that add to the general atmosphere.
What are the requirements to run DUST?
DUST needs an unmodified copy of Battlefield 2 with all patches and DLC's.
N.B. Trying to run DUST on a modified copy of BF2 will probably result in crashes.
Because DUST uses mostly vanilla assets, and all new assets have been optimised, you should have no problems running DUST even on an old PC. I've tested it on my 12 year old PC and it runs at around 90 fps with all graphics set to high.
Credits
I've been creating DUST for a long time, and there are a few minor assets that I've downloaded over the years but have lost trace of the original makers.
So, I want to say a collective thanks you to all the BF2 modders who've shared their work with the community.
Thanks to the makers of the USI mod who kindly allowed me to use their assets: Link to USI mod
Most of the handheld weapons were ported to BF2 by Ponysaurus_Rex: Link to his moddb page
Custom maps
Abandoned Town: original map Abandoned Village by Jones
Airbase: original map Airport by SPFreak & ShaneJohn
Al Janna: original map by dennis75 and StrykerJ
Blackhawk: original map Operation Blackhawk Down by pro.bf2|Du$t
Factory: original map Kubaysah Cement Factory from BF2 Australian Forces
Kirkuk: original map Battle of Kirkuk Oilfields by ImTheHeadhunter
A special mention to my friends and fellow modders Dukern and Mortarty for their tips, advice, tweaks, and testing!
Custom aerodynamics for the Dust jets were created by Mortarty.
Last but not least thanks go to my wife, who has an intimate knowledge of dry, dusty desert environments, and gave me a lot of advice when it came to recreating the maps in DUST.
N.B. If you spot something of yours in DUST, please let me know so that I can credit you.
Important
You may not reupload any of my original work without my explicit permission.
I am, however, always ready to help other modders where I can.
Important: Sound Settings
Make sure you use the following sound settings or you may have problems with distant gunshots sounding as if they're right next to you.
Download Dust 3.1 HERE
Articles
Making a Desktop Shortcut for Dust
Part 1.
Open the Dust 3.1 folder at: 'Battlefield 2\mods\Dust_3.1'
Find the file named 'PLAY DUST.bat'
Right click on 'PLAY DUST.bat' and select 'Send to' > 'Desktop (create shortcut)'
Now go to your desktop and find 'PLAY DUST.bat – Shortcut'
Right click on 'PLAY DUST.bat – Shortcut' and select 'rename'
Rename it to 'Play Dust' or another name of your choice
Right click on your new shortcut again and go to 'Properties', then click on 'Change Icon'.
Click 'OK' on the change icon box that pops up, then go to 'Browse'
Browse to the 'Dust 3.1' folder and select the icon named 'DUST.ico'
Click 'OK' then 'Apply' and 'OK' again in the Dust 3.1 properties window.
If you've followed all of the steps above correctly you will now be able to start Dust directly from your new desktop icon.
Part 2.
You can use this technique to create shortcuts for other BF2 mods. Here's an example for the 'BF2 Conflicts' mod.
Copy the 'PLAY DUST.bat' file and paste it into the main 'Conflicts' folder (or main folder of the mod that you wish to make a shortcut for).
Right click on 'PLAY DUST.bat' and select 'edit'. In order to do this you'll need to choose notepad or similar.
Once the 'PLAY DUST.bat' is open for editing you'll see the following lines of code:
@echo off
cd ..\..\
bf2.exe +menu 1 +fullscreen 1 +modPath mods/Dust_3.1
You need to change the mod name from Dust_3.1 to Conflicts (or the name of whichever mod you are making a shortcut for) so that the third line of code looks like this:
bf2.exe +menu 1 +fullscreen 1 +modPath mods/Conflicts
Now follow all of the steps in part 1. of this tutorial except that this time you can choose the 'conflicts_icon.ico' located in the root Conflicts folder.
If the mod that you are creating a shortcut for doesn't contain an icon you can use the default 'BF2.ico' which can be found in the root 'Battlefield 2' folder.
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Download Dust 3.1 here
Dust 3.1 - Combined Arms
News 16 commentsFourteen months after the release of Dust 3.0, Dust 3.1 - Combined Arms is almost ready for release.
F18 Development
News 5 commentsThe exterior model of the F18 is now complete. Here's a series of images showing how I developed it.
DUST 3.1 Development Update
News 18 commentsIt's been a while since my last update, but that's not because there's nothing new to share with you!
Dust 3.1 Dev Update September 2023
News 12 commentsRead the latest news about the development of Dust 3.1.
Files
Dust 3.1 - Combined Arms
Full Version 64 commentsDUST 3.1 – Combined Arms is the successor to Dust 3.0 which I released some 14 months ago. If you already have Dust 3.0 you can safely delete it and...
Factory - Outdated - Download Dust 3.1
Singleplayer Map 11 commentsFight for control of a factory which is being used to manufacture IEDs.
Dust - Janat Alqanaas - Outdated - Download Dust 3.1
Singleplayer Map 5 commentsA 'Dust' style remake of the classic BF2 map 'Mashtuur City'. With its numerous vantage points, Janat Alqanaas really is a sniper's paradise. Play on...
DUST - Sharqi Peninsula - Outdated - Download Dust 3.1
Singleplayer Map 1 commentHere's another redux BF2 map for DUST, the classic Sharqi Peninsula, with three new single player layouts and an atmospheric early evening light.
DUST - Jalalabad - Outdated - Download Dust 3.1
Singleplayer Map 3 commentsWelcome to Jalalabad! Here's the next of my redux BF2 maps with 3 different gameplay layouts for you to experience.
DUST - BF2 - Outdated - Download Dust 3.1
Full Version 48 commentsDUST is a single player only 'hardcore' modification for Battlefield 2 with a focus on tactical gameplay rather than run n' gun. It features a completely...
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Seems like it doesnt work for me as well, ran it like other mods with the bot changer launcher but it crashed when you load halfway through a map.
You can't use a global bot changer with Dust because it is set up in a different way and will cause conflicts.
You need to either run it from BF2 going through 'Community' - 'Custom Games', or create a desktop shortcut as I have described in my latest tutorial.
Also, as I specify in my mod description, you need to run Dust on an unmodified version of BF2 with all patches and DLCs.
If you're still having problems let me know, ok?
Ciao Gatto
Innanzitutto grazie per il mod, la cura che ci hai messo si vede e bene ( i.e. i sacchi di cemento con il tuo logo sono bellissimi).
La mia domanda è, uno, è possibile usare le mappe del mod in BF2? Due, è possibile usare gli altri kit (tipo EU )?
Grazie!
Ciao!
Grazie per il tuo commento gentilissimo, non sai quanto sono felice che hai notato piccoli dettagli come i sacchi di cemento. Infatti, molto spesso mentre facevo quei piccoli lavori mi dicevo: "probabilmente, nessuno noterà questo ... però lo faccio lo stesso per la mia soddisfazione personale!"
Per rispondere alle tue domande, uno: le mappe di Dust non funzioneranno con vanilla BF2 perché richiedono diverse risorse contenute negli archivi di Dust.
Due, se vuoi usare altri kit non è molto complicato. Te lo posso spiegare se vuoi in un messaggio privato.
A presto!
Ciao Gatto
Grazie per la disponibilità, quando vuoi/tempo, posta pure come modificare i kit, anche qui.
Cambiarli è come farlo in BF2?
Buon fine settimana Gatto 🐈
Ciao, per la modifica dei kit dipende esattamente da cosa vuoi fare.
Se volevi cambiare solo le armi che usano i soldati è abbastanza semplice. Ma cambiare tutta una fazione è troppo complicato in Dust.
Per le armi:
Vai a: Dust_3.1\Objects\Weapons.zip\Weapons\Handheld\
Questo è l'archivio dove devi mettere le armi nuove.
Poi servono gli icon che vanno messi qui: Dust_3.1\Objects\Weapons_icons.zip\HUD\Texture\Ingame\Weapons\Icons\Hud\
e qui: Dust_3.1\Objects\Weapons_icons.zip\HUD\Texture\Ingame\Weapons\Icons\Hud\Selection\
Fatto quello, devi inserire i nomi delle armi nuove nei kit che voi modificare.
Se hai problemi fammelo sapere, ok?
Caso mai, com'è il tuo inglese?
Io sono madre lingua inglese, ma ho la moglie italiana è abito in Italia da tanti anni.
Saluti!
is there any way to unlock a new weapons? in original bf2 you cant do it in single or without diesoft, and this is a singleplayer mod so...
In order to unlock weapons in Dust (or vanilla BF2) you need this modified .exe: Moddb.com
It's crush, what the solution?
You need to give me more information otherwise it's impossible for me to help you.