Bringing BF3 back on PC — starting a proper community (PS3 refugees welcome)

Two of us used to play BF3 on PS3 back in the day — full servers, real squads, the kind of matches you don't forget. Servers went quiet years ago, but the game never stopped being good. So we're doing something about it. Setting up a PC community from scratch — proper structure, active moderation, no chaos. Server's still being configured, but the Discord is live and growing. If you were there the first time, or you just missed out and want in on something that's actually being run seriously — come say hi.

Quick heads up — the Discord is live and growing, but the actual BF3 server itself is still being set up (config, RCON, hosting). We'll post here again once it's up and running. For now, join the Discord to stay in the loop and connect with others who want in.

Have you guys tried the Venice unleashed servers?

Not yet, but it's on our radar — my friend's handling the server infrastructure side and we're looking into the best setup, VU included. I'll have more concrete details soon. Appreciate the pointer though, good to know that's what people are expecting.

Lower players than base PC player count from what I’ve seen. I don’t know how you’d be able to grow in VU’s environment. Even if they have more features.

Fair point, and that's part of why we're being careful about this before committing. The plan isn't just to spin up a server and hope people show up — it's to build the community first (which is what this post and the Discord are for), so there's already a group ready to play together once the server's live, regardless of which platform it ends up on.

If VU ends up being the way to go, having an active Discord behind it should help offset that smaller base.

Just a heads up there is already a badass server doing this. Poppin discord. And great moderation. Great community. Check out the oldies station. It’s a good time. Best of luck to you otherwise

Appreciate the heads up, genuinely. Not trying to compete with anyone or split the community — if there's already a solid spot with good moderation doing this well, that's great, more places for people to play is a win either way. We're just building this because it's something we wanted to create ourselves, and we'll let it grow at its own pace. No rush, no rivalry. Might even check out that server myself.

First sentence is AI lol

That sounds like a good time. More power to you. I’ll def pop in when you guys get running. See you on the field soldier. 🫡

Heading offline for tonight (EU timezone) — but I'll keep replying and updating this thread as we lock down more details.

Full transparency: this is our first time doing something like this, so we're learning as we go. No pretending we've got it all figured out — just working to make it as good as we can, one step at a time. If there's already a solid community out there, that's great for BF3 as a whole. We just wanted to build our own thing too.

Discord's the best place to stay in the loop in the meantime.

Ha, fair catch — English isn't my first language, so I lean on AI to help me phrase things clearly sometimes. The ideas and the project are 100% real and ours though, just making sure the wording comes across right. Appreciate you calling it out rather than just assuming, though.

Appreciate it, see you out there when we're up and running 🫡

Do Xbox não são? 🤣🤣🤣

I get it. My first thought was if they are lazily using AI for this I don't have much hope for the community to thrive. I wish you well though good sir!