Call of Duty Black Ops 3 PC Fixes Guide

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 screen DrawFPS = “0” // 0 or 1   //Toggle framerate smoothing SmoothFramerate = “0” // 0 or 1   //Horizontal field of view in degrees assuming 16:9 aspect ratio FOV = “80” // 65 to 120   SplitscreenOrientation = “0” // 0 or 1   //Enable network voice chat VoiceChat = “1” // 0 or 1   //Enable occlusion of sound behind solid surfaces SoundOcclusion = “1” // 0 or 1   //Mouse smoothing amount MouseFilter = “0” // 0 to 10   MouseAcceleration = “0” // 0 to 1   MouseSensitivity = “2” // 0.1 to 30   //Mouse vertical sensitivity MouseVerticalSensitivity = “0.022” // -1 to 1   //Enable vertical look with the mouse MouseVerticalLook = “1” // 0 or 1   //Maximum number of simultaneous human corpses CorpseCount = “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 startup AutoDetectHasRun = “1” // 0 or 1   //Thread count for handling the job queue WorkerThreads = “2” // 2 to 4   //Clear to check driver against recommended LastDriverNvidia = “35887” // 0 or bigger   //Clear to check driver against recommended LastDriverAMD = “0” // 0 or bigger   //Fraction of video memory usage to target VideoMemory = “0.95” // 0.75 to 1   // //Display //   // 0 – Windowed, 1 – Fullscreen, 2 – Fullscreen Window FullScreenMode = “2” // 0 to 2   //Window X position WindowX = “0” // -8192 to 8192   //Window Y position WindowY = “0” // -8192 to 8192   WindowSize = “800×600” // any text   RefreshRate = “59.95” // 1 to 240   //Monitor index to use for fullscreen Monitor = “1” // 0 to 8   //Vsync only applies in fullscreen Vsync = “0” // 0 or 1   //Percentage of window resolution that the 3D scene renders at ResolutionPercent = “100” // 50 to 200   //Color spaces for monitor output DisplayGamma = “sRGB” // sRGB, rec.709, or rec.709 – Limited   //Set to 3 to enable triple buffering, useful to prevent large framerate drops when vsync is enabled BackbufferCount = “2” // 2 to 3   // //Graphics //   //LOD’s to drop on models, lower numbers are higher quality MeshQuality = “1” // 0 to 8   //0 – Force 2x anisotropic filtering, 1 – Per material, 2 – Force 16x anisotropic filtering TextureFilter = “1” // 0 to 2   //Number of mips to drop on streamed textures, lower numbers are higher quality TextureQuality = “2” // 0 to 3   //Number of mips to drop on effects and dynamic decals, lower numbers are higher quality TextureQualityFX = “2” // 0 to 15   //Number of mips to drop on reflections, lower numbers are higher quality TextureQualityProbes = “1” // 0 to 16   //Number of mips to drop on sun shadows, lower numbers are higher quality TextureQualityBakedSunShadows = “1” // 0 to 2   //Force lowest mips to stay loaded instead of streaming TextureLowDetailResident = “0” // 0 or 1   DisableDynamicLightShadows = “1” // 0 or 1   DisableDynamicSunShadows = “1” // 0 or 1   //Resolution of spot light shadows SpotShadowTextureSize = “1024” // 128 to 8192   //Resolution of omni (point) light shadows OmniShadowTextureSize = “256” // 128 to 2048   //Enable multi-sampled soft shadows ShadowFiltering = “1” // 0 or 1   //Number of lights with otherwise static shadows to force characters shadows on ActorShadows = “0” // 0 to 16   //Enable volumetric sun and light shafts VolumetricLightingEnabled = “1” // 0 or 1   //Number of raymarch samples for sunlight VolumetricLightingMaxSunSamples = “8” // 1 to 256   //Number of raymarch samples for local lights VolumetricLightingMaxLightSamples = “40” // 1 to 256   //Skip every other sample if color is constant VolumetricLightingSkipSunSamples = “1” // 0 or 1   //Skip every other sample if color is constant VolumetricLightingSkipLightSamples = “1” // 0 or 1   //Enabled order-independent transparency OIT = “1” // 0 or 1   //Maximum number of overlapping transparency layers OITLayers = “8” // 8, 9, 12, or 16   //Screen-space ambient occlusion method SSAOTechnique = “GTAO Medium Quality” // Disabled, HEMIAO, GTAO Low Quality, GTAO Medium Quality, GTAO High Quality, or GTAO Ultra Quality   //Anti-aliasing technique AATechnique = “Filmic SMAA T2x” // None, FXAA, SMAA 1x, Filmic SMAA 1x, SMAA T2x, or Filmic SMAA T2x   //Per-object motion blur MotionBlur = “Auto” // Off, Auto, or On   MotionBlurQuality = “Medium” // Low, Medium, or High   //Better lighting for skin SubsurfaceScattering = “0” // 0 or 1

  Low FPS

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.