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.

Oman 1
DUST - Oman

Oman 3
DUST - Oman

Oman 2DUST - Oman

Karkand 1
DUST - Karkand

Karkand 2
DUST - Karkand

Factory 1
DUST - Factory

Abandoned Town 1
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.

screen091
DUST - T90

screen085
DUST - T90

M1a1 1
DUST - M1A1

screen108
DUST - M1A1

LAV25 1
DUST - LAV25

LAV25 2
DUST - LAV25

F18
DUST - F18

screen191
DUST - F18

AH1Z
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.
Sound Settings

Download Dust 3.1 HERE

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Dust 3.1 - Combined Arms

Just a quick update to let you know that Dust 3.1 is currently in the beta testing phase and, all being well, will be released by the end of this month.
Feedback from the beta testers has been very positive so far.

Al JannaAbove: Al Janna


In brief, Dust 3.1 Combined Arms will include:

  • Twelve redux maps, including upgraded versions of the six maps that I previously released for Dust 3.0
  • Three new high definition aircraft, flying from bigger and more detailed airbases.
  • New land vehicles for both factions
  • New handheld weapons and unlocks for the Claw faction
  • New visual and audio effects
  • Numerous other enhancements and upgrades.

Al Janna 2Above: F18 over Al Janna


BlackhawkAbove: Blackhawk


UH60Above: Upgraded UH60 cockpit


SharqiAbove: Sharqi Peninsula


I'll post more detailed information on release, including tutorials that will help you get the most out of Dust 3.1.

Whilst you're waiting for Dust 3.1 you can download 3.0 here: Dust 3.0 Download

You can find information and tutorials for Dust 3.0 here: Dust 3.0 Summary

F18 Development

F18 Development

News 5 comments

The exterior model of the F18 is now complete. Here's a series of images showing how I developed it.

DUST 3.1 Development Update

DUST 3.1 Development Update

News 18 comments

It'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

Dust 3.1 Dev Update September 2023

News 12 comments

Read the latest news about the development of Dust 3.1.

Redux BTR90 for Dust

Redux BTR90 for Dust

Feature 15 comments

After several weeks of work, the DUST BTR90 is finally nearing completion!

Add file RSS Files
Dust 3.1 - Combined Arms

Dust 3.1 - Combined Arms

Full Version 44 comments

DUST 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

Factory - Outdated - Download Dust 3.1

Singleplayer Map 11 comments

Fight for control of a factory which is being used to manufacture IEDs.

Dust - Janat Alqanaas  - Outdated - Download Dust 3.1

Dust - Janat Alqanaas - Outdated - Download Dust 3.1

Singleplayer Map 5 comments

A '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

DUST - Sharqi Peninsula - Outdated - Download Dust 3.1

Singleplayer Map 1 comment

Here'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

DUST - Jalalabad - Outdated - Download Dust 3.1

Singleplayer Map 3 comments

Welcome 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

DUST - BF2 - Outdated - Download Dust 3.1

Full Version 48 comments

DUST 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...

Post comment Comments  (0 - 10 of 169)
Guest
Guest - - 693,827 comments

This comment is currently awaiting admin approval, join now to view.

jaggernaut_
jaggernaut_ - - 1 comments

Bro, we are waiting for update 3.1 with the whole family, we really liked the mod, I wish you good luck!

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Gattobuono Creator
Gattobuono - - 702 comments

Thanks for your comment. Dust 3.1 is now live. :-)

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kyottinhoo
kyottinhoo - - 3 comments

is now out!

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Guest
Guest - - 693,827 comments

How to fix crashing?

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Gattobuono Creator
Gattobuono - - 702 comments

Unless you give me some specific information I can't do anything to help you.

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Guest
Guest - - 693,827 comments

when I press the start button in the weapon menu the game crashes

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Gattobuono Creator
Gattobuono - - 702 comments

Did you check the recommended requirements?

Have you downloaded Dust, or just one of the addon maps?
The maps will not work without Dust: Moddb.com

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.

If you have followed the above, Dust will not crash unless you have a problem with your PC.

Reply Good karma+1 vote
Guest
Guest - - 693,827 comments

Bro, when is the update?

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Gattobuono Creator
Gattobuono - - 702 comments

The new version of Dust will be released by this weekend.
But you need to find out why your game is crashing.

Do you have an unmodified copy of Battlefield 2 with all patches and DLC's?

If 3.0 crashes then so will 3.1 because the core of the mod is virtually the same. Both my old mod, which had been downloaded 5,176 times and my new mod, have been extensively tested, are very stable. They will not crash unless you haven't followed the requirement or have problems with your PC.

Are you running any other BF2 mods without crashes?

Please describe for me exactly at what point your game crashes.

The other thing that you can try is to run my mod in debug mode to find out what the error is.
You could also try re-downloading Dust just in case your files got corrupted.

I'm sure the problem is at your end because Dust has been out for 14 months now and I've had enough user feedback to know that it is a very stable mod.

Let me know how you get on. And don't send me three messages at a time, just one clear and concise message will be more helpful, ok?

:-)

Reply Good karma+1 vote
Wetwer
Wetwer - - 7 comments

ok, I can upload a video of the moment when my game crashes, where should I upload it? (and yes, I have an unmodified version of Battlefield 2 and other mods like aek971, second assault work)

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Gattobuono Creator
Gattobuono - - 702 comments

If you have Google Drive or similar you can upload it there then send me the link.

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Wetwer
Wetwer - - 7 comments

Bro, everything is work, in short, it was necessary to install more bots

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Gattobuono Creator
Gattobuono - - 702 comments

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean by "it was necessary to install more bots".

Adding more bots won't solve a CTD.

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Wetwer
Wetwer - - 7 comments

when I added more bots the game stopped crashing

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Gattobuono Creator
Gattobuono - - 702 comments

Very strange, I've never heard of that before!

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