Launch Week Patch Notes
Thank you to the millions of players who’ve already jumped online with us for the worldwide release of Black Ops Cold War! With launch weekend behind us and mountains of gameplay data at our fingertips, the team is focused on improving the gameplay experience even further and preparing for next week’s launch of Nuketown ’84 on November 24th.
Game stability and player experience are our top priorities at launch, and we’ve been working with our partners at PlayStation and Xbox to track and squash bugs and crashes across the board. Since launch, we’ve added several gameplay improvements and fixes for key issues in Multiplayer and Zombies, implemented weapon and Scorestreak tuning, made various stability fixes across all modes, and much more – see below for the full list.
Trello Board Now Live
To help everyone stay up to date, we’ve launched our new Trello board as a one-stop destination for the latest in issue tracking, patch notes, and game news!
While this won’t serve as a comprehensive list of known issues (several of which are listed below), we'll do our best to track the bigger issues of specific interest for the community here. You can also come here for details on how to report bugs on your specific platform, where to contact Player Support, and when to expect specific fixes to be released.
Free Nuketown Weapon Bundle
Speaking of Nuketown, don’t forget to redeem your free Nuketown Weapon Bundle before December 3rd, including a new Epic Weapon Blueprint, six Weapon Charms, and Nuketown-themed Calling Card, Sticker, and Emblem! Get all the details here.
Before we dive into our launch week updates, one topic of discussion that we wanted to clear up is how Season Levels work. This is a new progression system for Call of Duty, and it’s important to understand what happens after earning your first Prestige.
Season Leveling: How it Works
Once you complete Military Ranks 1-55 and reach Prestige 1, you’ll enter Season Levels. These levels represent the new Prestige progression journey, and rather than scaling with progressively higher XP requirements like Military Ranks, each Season Level requires the same amount of XP to complete.
In the current Pre-Season, the maximum available level is Prestige 3 at Season Level 100. After Season One begins, players will have up to 1,000 Season Levels to complete each season, with new Prestige Levels to earn as well as Prestige Master at level 200. The Prestige Shop will also become available to players who’ve earned their first Prestige Key, which will allow players to unlock Legacy Prestige Icons from previous games.
As a reminder, this system will carry over to Warzone and Modern Warfare with Season One for a unified progression journey across all three games! Learn more at our Player Progression blog.
Note: There is currently a known issue where your Season Level will display properly in the upper-right corner of the screen between matches, but your level displayed in the After-Action Report will be inaccurate. We’re fixing this in a future update.
Let’s get into the latest updates since launch:
MULTIPLAYER
Weapons
- Assault Rifles
- FFAR1
- Increased recoil.
- Slightly reduced max damage by 3.5% (28 to 27).
- Reduced max damage range by 34% (38m to 25m).
- FFAR1
- Submachine Guns
- Submachine Gun Alpha
- Reduced base effective damage range by 33% (15.24m to 10.16m).
- Added more character to initial recoil by tweaking several bullet trajectories. (While this doesn’t affect the vertical/horizontal control stats in Gunsmith, this change makes it more difficult to stay on target by adjusting the trajectories of several bullets in the initial firing experience.)
- Submachine Gun Alpha
- Tactical Rifles
- M16
- Reduced max damage range by 15% (25.4m to 21.59m).
- Increased sprint to fire time.
- Slightly slowed move speed while firing.
- Slightly increased delay between bursts.
- Rebalanced fire rate bonuses on barrel attachments.
- Slightly reduced effectiveness of laser attachments.
- Tactical Rifle Charlie
- Reduced max damage range by 20% (38.1m to 30.48m).
- Increased sprint to fire time.
- Slightly slowed move speed while firing.
- Slightly increased delay between bursts.
- Rebalanced fire rate bonuses on barrel attachments.
- Slightly reduced effectiveness of laser attachments.
- Type 63
- Slightly increased fire rate.
- Rebalanced fire rate bonuses on barrel attachments.
- DMR 14
- Slightly increased fire rate.
- Rebalanced fire rate bonuses on barrel attachments.
- M16
- Light Machine Guns
- M60
- Improved max damage ranges.
- Improved movement speeds.
- M60
- Sniper Rifles (All)
- Adjusted Sprint to Fire times to account for early blend/interruption allowed via animation system.
- The effective Sprint to Fire time is notably shorter than what is displayed in Gunsmith. We have plans to address the Gunsmith readout in a future update.
- Adjusted movement speed impact when firing to intended values to make each shot feel more powerful.
- Fine-tuned barrel attachments that improve idle sway to provide a unique feel on each gun.
- Adjusted Sprint to Fire times to account for early blend/interruption allowed via animation system.
- Pistols
- Magnum
- Slightly improved fire rate.
- Improved max damage range.
- Improved visibility while firing after the first shot.
- Magnum
- Shotguns
- Shotgun Bravo
- Slightly reduced damage between ranges from 5.8m to 7.7m.
- Shotgun Bravo
Game Modes
- Hardcore
- Friendly fire system now properly transitions to reflect damage after 3 team kills.
- Search & Destroy
- Addressed an issue where defusing the bomb could take longer than the intended 7.5 seconds.
- Free-For-All
- Adjusted several starting spawns that allowed players to have line of sight on another player before the match started.
- CDL Hardpoint
- Addressed an issue where players would spawn outside of the intended play space when playing CDL Hardpoint in Custom Games.
- Combined Arms
- Improved the interaction when using Stationary Turrets in Combined Arms.
- Spawns
- Adjusted various spawns in Multiplayer game modes that could result in the player spawning above the ground.
- Custom Games
- Added Scorestreak Cost Overrides to Custom Games.
Scorestreaks
- Combat Bow
- Reduced ammo from 5 to 4.
- Care Package
- Increased cost from 1,800 to 2,000.
- Sentry Turret
- Reduced cost from 2,000 to 1,800.
- Napalm Strike
- Increased cost from 2,100 to 2,500.
- Air Patrol
- Reduced cost from 3,200 to 2,700.
- Artillery
- Increased cost from 2,500 to 3,000.
- Cruise Missile
- Increased cost from 2,600 to 3,500.
- War Machine
- Increased cost from 3,500 to 4,000.
- Attack Helicopter
- Increased cost from 4,000 to 4,500.
- Increased damage from 50 to 75 per bullet.
- Increased health from 4,500 to 5,000.
- Decreased the duration of the screen shake from bullet impacts.
- Reduced the amount of time the helicopter will stay in one place before relocating.
- VTOL Escort
- Reduced cost from 8,500 to 8,000.
- Increased turret burst length and reduced cooldown time.
- Chopper Gunner
- Increased cost from 6,000 to 6,500.
- Reduced the movement on the gun when firing.
Maps
- Garrison
- Addressed an issue where a player in the crawlspace could collide with players above them.
Equipment
- Tomahawks can now be thrown immediately at round start.
Eliminations
- Extended time after damaging an enemy that will count toward an Elimination if that enemy is killed.
Finishing Moves
- Improved the ability to trigger a Finishing Move on misaligned surfaces.
- Addressed an issue where players would end up in an unintended pose if they were downed while being eliminated by Finishing Move.
Stability
- General
- Fixed a crash that could occur during intro sequences of a Multiplayer match.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when using Weapons/Ammo Caches.
- Fixed multiple rare crashes that could occur while the player was downed.
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur when pinging a downed friendly player.
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur when taking damage as the inflictor disconnected from the game.
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur when firing a locked-on missile.
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur in Search and Destroy.
- Added various stability fixes.
- Scorestreaks
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur when the player disconnected after their Care Package had landed.
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur if the owner of a VTOL Scorestreak disconnected from the server as they were taking control of the Scorestreak.
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur when using the Cruise Missile.
- Fixed a rare crash related to Scorestreak score aggregation.
- Progression
- Fixed a crash involving incorrect Challenge progress tracking.
- Vehicles
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur when vehicles were being respawned.
- Equipment
- Fixed a rare crash related to the Decoy Grenade.
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur if C4 was being detonated but it no longer existed.
- Field Upgrades
- Fixed a rare crash involving an incorrect volley count for the SAM Turret.
- Killcam
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur in limited-life modes when viewing the Killcam.
- Perks
- Fixed a very rare crash that could occur when the Forward Intel Perk attempted to adjust the player's mini-map range while the player was not alive at the time.
Misc. Fixes
- UI
- Addressed an issue where the player would receive a UI error when they returned to the lobby post-match.
- Addressed an issue where, if a player respawned or joined in progress while their teammate was downed, their revive UI would be missing.
- Addressed a rare occurrence where players would receive a UI error at the end of the exfil cinematic.
- Progression
- Addressed an issue where the Woods Operator Unlock Challenge would not progress correctly if different weapons were used during a killstreak.
- Gunsmith
- Addressed an issue where the player would lose functionality within the Pause menu if the Gunsmith menu remained open after the intro cutscene.
- Vehicles
ZOMBIES
Gameplay
- Improved general zombie pathing.
- Enemies will now use their out-of-bounds attacks against players in more unintended locations.
- Closed various exploitable locations where the player could leave the intended play space.
Stability
- Fixed a crash that could occur when Perks did not properly match up with the player’s upgraded Perk Skills.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when picking up Perk cans.
- Added various stability fixes.
Bug Fixes
- Perks
- Addressed an issue that allowed obtaining multiple versions of the same Perk.
- Addressed an issue that prevented purchasing the Elemental Pop Perk from one side of the machine.
- Field Upgrades
- Addressed an issue where the Tier III Aether Shroud could occasionally place the player under the floor.
- Weapons
- Addressed an issue that prevented attachments from applying to certain weapons.
- Addressed an issue that caused certain weapons, such as the Ray Gun, to be lost when being revived.
- Addressed an issue where Support rarity would display as the same rarity as the player’s weapon instead of the rarity it was on the ground.
- Addressed an issue that caused Set Showcase Weapon not to function properly in Create-a-Class.
- Corrected the Ray Gun ammo cost to 10,000 to properly match the rest of the Ultra weapon class.
- Progression
- Addressed an issue with the incorrect icon displaying when reaching Prestige 1.
- Addressed an issue that caused weapon XP to be earned on weapons used by teammates.
- Addressed an issue that allowed players to earn progress toward Dark Ops Challenges erroneously by joining a match in progress.
- Addressed an issue that caused multiple inaccurate XP notifications to appear at the end of a co-op match.
- HUD
- Addressed an issue that caused the player’s health bar on the HUD to not properly display as empty when dying under specific circumstances.
- Addressed an issue where only two of the remaining players’ names were visible after one of four players dropped out of the match.
- Addressed an issue that caused incorrect player colors to appear on the HUD after death.
- Visuals
- Addressed an issue that caused enemy models to sometimes appear low quality.
- Addressed an issue causing visual effects from Aether Shroud to continuously play after spectating.
- Loot
- Addressed an issue that sometimes prevented obtaining item drops.
- Host Migration
- Addressed various issues which sometimes caused host migration to fail.
- Addressed an issue where players would get a UI error while attempting to open their scoreboard while migrating hosts.
- Gunsmith
- Addressed an issue that caused loss of functionality using the Gunsmith menu during the start of a match.
- Mystery Box
- Addressed an issue that prevented the weapon name from properly appearing after using the Mystery Box.
- Addressed a rare issue that caused the Mystery Box to remain open after use.
- Equipment
- Addressed an issue that sometimes prevented the Decoy from being deactivated when thrown out of the play space.
- Sensitivity
- Addressed an issue that caused the player’s controller sensitivity to be altered by the jump scare.
- Dead Ops Arcade 3
- Addressed an issue where the Arcade Machine pickup could cause a break in game progression.
- Addressed an issue that caused enemies to spawn on top of players.
- Addressed an issue where the player would see placeholder text before the opening cutscene played.
- Onslaught
GLOBAL
Settings
- Aim Response Curve Type options added to Settings.
Stability
- Fixed a rare crash related to playing voiceover audio.
- Fixed a rare crash related to player footstep effects.
Bug Fixes
- Progression
- Addressed an issue that made weapon camo and Challenge progress appear to reset after resuming from a suspended state.
- Addressed an issue where Medals earned in-game were not displayed in the Barracks tab.
- Addressed an issue where a Challenge's description could overlap with other text.
- Camos
- Addressed an issue with Mastery camos always appearing as locked in the Gunsmith but usable in Custom Games.
- Addressed an issue where the “Equipped” icon was not showing correctly on the selected camo upon returning to the camo menu.
- Addressed an issue that would allow players to equip any weapon camo in Custom Games.
- Calling Cards
- Addressed an issue where Calling Cards could revert to default or previously selected Calling Cards.
- Attachments
- Addressed an issue where optic reticles could appear unlocked despite the player not meeting the requirements.
- Addressed an issue where attachments always showed as unlocked when swapping Weapon Blueprints.
- Addressed an issue that would unlock all optic reticles on Weapon Blueprints.
- Reticles
- Addressed an issue where reticles could appear upside-down.
- Cosmetics
- Addressed an issue where Stickers would not appear on weapons when selected in certain slots.
- Operators
- Addressed an issue where the CIA logo displayed for all Operators, regardless of affiliation.
- UI
PC
Bug Fixes
- Progression
- Addressed an issue that displayed 0 XP earned in the After-Action Report when reaching Prestige 1.
- Main Menu
- Addressed an issue where the player could access the Multiplayer menu without having the Multiplayer Pack installed.
- Settings
- Addressed an issue where the option to enable Ray Tracing was displayed when not supported.
- Addressed an issue where the Screen Space Reflections setting was stuck on Low Quality.
- Updated the description of "Field of View" options in the Settings menu.
- Friends List
- Addressed an error notification when bringing the party back to the main menu.
- Fireteam: Dirty Bomb
- Addressed an issue with team names showing up incorrectly in the After-Action report of a Fireteam: Dirty Bomb match.
- Addressed an issue where Battle.net friends would not display the rich presence of a friend playing Fireteam: Dirty Bomb.
- Removed an unnecessary notification when joining Fireteam: Dirty Bomb playlists.
- Aspect Ratio
KNOWN ISSUES
Note: The list below is not comprehensive and is intended to give everyone a general idea of some of the larger issues that we’re tracking at the moment. For additional details, check out our Trello board and Activision Support’s known issues list.
Multiplatform
- Controllers
- DualShock 4 may disconnect intermittently on PlayStation 4 system running on outdated system software. Update your PS4’s system software to 8.01 to resolve.
- Progression
- After reaching Prestige 1, the player’s Season Level number in the upper-right corner of the screen displays the correct level, but the level number displayed in the After-Action Report is currently inaccurate.
- Some visual issues can occur during the level-up sequence.
- Friends' level icons are not displayed until the player accesses the menu of any game mode.
- Splitscreen
- Visual issues can occur in splitscreen in Multiplayer.
- Splitscreen is currently unavailable in Zombies.
- Combat Record
- "Elite Eliminations" in Zombies are not currently being tracked in the Combat Record.
- Fireteam: Dirty Bomb
- Team names in the After-Action Report scoreboard are currently incorrect for Fireteam: Dirty Bomb matches.
- In rare cases, "Detonating Dirty Bomb" may stay on the player's HUD longer than intended.
- Parties / Friend List
- Party leaders may receive "You left the party" after bringing their party back out to the main menu.
- Players are able to “Quick Join” a player that is marked as Offline.
- Scorestreaks
- Chopper Gunner path on Crossroad Strike takes the player farther outside of the play space than intended.
- Chat
- The recipient's name is missing from the chat box when whispered from the Scoreboard.
PC
- Various stability issues currently being investigated.
- The Multiplayer menu currently shows up as "Partially Installed" when the Multiplayer package isn't installed.
- The Connection pop-up overlaps currently with the account creation screen. Interacting with the error pop-up will allow the player to complete the sign-up process.
- The camera in Theater cannot be rotated with the mouse.
Keyboard and Mouse
- The Confirm button at the Change Display Name screen may stay locked even if the player enters text in the Edit box.
- Quickly navigating through long scrolling lists using a mouse can currently cause stability issues.
UPDATE: This page was updated at 4pm/PT on Nov. 20th.
-Treyarch
* GAME FEATURES DESCRIBED ABOVE ARE BASED ON CURRENT IN-DEVELOPMENT FEATURES THAT ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE BASED ON FINAL DEVELOPMENT CHANGES AND/OR GAME TUNING OR UPDATES THAT MAY REMOVE OR MODIFY SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE FEATURES.