Here’s a quick guide on fixing some of the most common issues in Call of Duty Black Ops 3 for PC.
Crashes
Of course, you want to make sure you meet the minimum requirements. This time, requirements lean towards PlayStation 4 and Xbox One than last gen.
- OS: Windows 7 64-Bit / Windows 8 64-Bit / Windows 8.1 64-Bit
- Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-530 @ 2.93 GHz / AMD Phenom™ II X4 810 @ 2.60 GHz
- Memory: 6 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 470 @ 1GB / ATI® Radeon™ HD 6970 @ 1GB
- DirectX: Version 11
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Hard Drive: 60 GB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
You will want to keep your drivers up to date. For gaming cards, Nvidia made Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Game Ready drivers, while AMD released their Catalyst 15.11 beta drivers. Your mileage may vary based on what graphics card you have, and of course Windows have their own drivers you’ll need to keep tabs on.
If you are missing DLL files, you can use this DLL fixer tool. If these don’t work, you will want to check configuration fixes, which we go into detail below.
Disk Write Error
Enter the directory you have downloaded your Steam games (SteamApps>common). From there, delete all the empty file folders, and then restart Steam. Steam will then redownload these missing files properly.
Audio Fix
Go to Control panel > Hardware and sound > Sound > Speakers/Headphones > Configure. From here, set audio to stereo, or 5.1, and click apply.
Black Screen Fix
This will require some back end coding. First, go here: Steam > steamapps > common > Call of Duty Black Ops III > players
Then, you will want to make a config.ini file. Open Notepad, copy paste this text below, and then save as config.ini, to the abovementioned folder.
.//
//Gameplay////Frame rate cap (0 for none)MaxFPS = “60” // 0 to 1000//Show current framerate on screenDrawFPS = “0” // 0 or 1//Toggle framerate smoothingSmoothFramerate = “0” // 0 or 1//Horizontal field of view in degrees assuming 16:9 aspect ratioFOV = “80” // 65 to 120SplitscreenOrientation = “0” // 0 or 1//Enable network voice chatVoiceChat = “1” // 0 or 1//Enable occlusion of sound behind solid surfacesSoundOcclusion = “1” // 0 or 1//Mouse smoothing amountMouseFilter = “0” // 0 to 10MouseAcceleration = “0” // 0 to 1MouseSensitivity = “2” // 0.1 to 30//Mouse vertical sensitivityMouseVerticalSensitivity = “0.022” // -1 to 1//Enable vertical look with the mouseMouseVerticalLook = “1” // 0 or 1//Maximum number of simultaneous human corpsesCorpseCount = “32” // 1 to 32//Number of frames the driver is allowed to enqueue, a lower value improves input latency but may decrease performance. Set it to 0 to use the system default, usually 3.MaxFrameLatency = “0” // 0 to 4////Setup////Set to zero to force auto-detect to run at startupAutoDetectHasRun = “1” // 0 or 1//Thread count for handling the job queueWorkerThreads = “2” // 2 to 4//Clear to check driver against recommendedLastDriverNvidia = “35887” // 0 or bigger//Clear to check driver against recommendedLastDriverAMD = “0” // 0 or bigger//Fraction of video memory usage to targetVideoMemory = “0.95” // 0.75 to 1////Display//// 0 – Windowed, 1 – Fullscreen, 2 – Fullscreen WindowFullScreenMode = “2” // 0 to 2//Window X positionWindowX = “0” // -8192 to 8192//Window Y positionWindowY = “0” // -8192 to 8192WindowSize = “800×600” // any textRefreshRate = “59.95” // 1 to 240//Monitor index to use for fullscreenMonitor = “1” // 0 to 8//Vsync only applies in fullscreenVsync = “0” // 0 or 1//Percentage of window resolution that the 3D scene renders atResolutionPercent = “100” // 50 to 200//Color spaces for monitor outputDisplayGamma = “sRGB” // sRGB, rec.709, or rec.709 – Limited//Set to 3 to enable triple buffering, useful to prevent large framerate drops when vsync is enabledBackbufferCount = “2” // 2 to 3////Graphics////LOD’s to drop on models, lower numbers are higher qualityMeshQuality = “1” // 0 to 8//0 – Force 2x anisotropic filtering, 1 – Per material, 2 – Force 16x anisotropic filteringTextureFilter = “1” // 0 to 2//Number of mips to drop on streamed textures, lower numbers are higher qualityTextureQuality = “2” // 0 to 3//Number of mips to drop on effects and dynamic decals, lower numbers are higher qualityTextureQualityFX = “2” // 0 to 15//Number of mips to drop on reflections, lower numbers are higher qualityTextureQualityProbes = “1” // 0 to 16//Number of mips to drop on sun shadows, lower numbers are higher qualityTextureQualityBakedSunShadows = “1” // 0 to 2//Force lowest mips to stay loaded instead of streamingTextureLowDetailResident = “0” // 0 or 1DisableDynamicLightShadows = “1” // 0 or 1DisableDynamicSunShadows = “1” // 0 or 1//Resolution of spot light shadowsSpotShadowTextureSize = “1024” // 128 to 8192//Resolution of omni (point) light shadowsOmniShadowTextureSize = “256” // 128 to 2048//Enable multi-sampled soft shadowsShadowFiltering = “1” // 0 or 1//Number of lights with otherwise static shadows to force characters shadows onActorShadows = “0” // 0 to 16//Enable volumetric sun and light shaftsVolumetricLightingEnabled = “1” // 0 or 1//Number of raymarch samples for sunlightVolumetricLightingMaxSunSamples = “8” // 1 to 256//Number of raymarch samples for local lightsVolumetricLightingMaxLightSamples = “40” // 1 to 256//Skip every other sample if color is constantVolumetricLightingSkipSunSamples = “1” // 0 or 1//Skip every other sample if color is constantVolumetricLightingSkipLightSamples = “1” // 0 or 1//Enabled order-independent transparencyOIT = “1” // 0 or 1//Maximum number of overlapping transparency layersOITLayers = “8” // 8, 9, 12, or 16//Screen-space ambient occlusion methodSSAOTechnique = “GTAO Medium Quality” // Disabled, HEMIAO, GTAO Low Quality, GTAO Medium Quality, GTAO High Quality, or GTAO Ultra Quality//Anti-aliasing techniqueAATechnique = “Filmic SMAA T2x” // None, FXAA, SMAA 1x, Filmic SMAA 1x, SMAA T2x, or Filmic SMAA T2x//Per-object motion blurMotionBlur = “Auto” // Off, Auto, or OnMotionBlurQuality = “Medium” // Low, Medium, or High//Better lighting for skinSubsurfaceScattering = “0” // 0 or 1
If you’re hitting 30 FPS or below, disable dynamic shadows. If that doesn’t work, you can also try opening the config.ini file and changing WorkThread value from 4 to 2.
Game Types Grayed Out And Cannot be Selected
You will have to reinstall the game files via Steam completely.
Nvidia Card Stuttering Graphics
Reaccess the config.ini file you made above, or look for the one the game made in the abovementioned location. Find VideoMemory, and replace the code there with this:
//Fraction of video memory usage to target
VideoMemory = “0.75” // 0.75 to 1
If that doesn’t work, you can also try opening the config.ini file and changing WorkThread value from 4 to 2.
Mouse Input Lag
You have to lower FPS to a framerate consistently lower than your monitor’s refresh rate. For example, if your monitor outputs at 60Hz, you need to set a framerate below 60FPS, such as 58FPS. Whatever that framerate is, your PC must be able to hit it all the time. If your monitor outputs at 1204 to 144Hz, test around for a framerate your PC can hit all the time.
Multiplayer Lag
Try turning off your antivirus. If that doesn’t work, use this tool.