So, we are again with a new war on our Gaming consoles with yet another episode of Call of Duty, called Black Ops 3. Developed by Treyarch and published by Activision, Call of Duty Black Ops 3 is the first person shooter and one of the most popular Game series. This brand new installment brings you three different game modes together including Campaign, Multiplayer and Zombies making it one of the most deepest and ambitious Call of Duty game ever.
Since we all know, this series has been very heavy because of its graphics and detailed gameplay. So, it requires a proper system to work comfortably. Of course there used to be minimum and recommended system requirements but still some times it may give you problems, from installation to gameplay. Just like mine. I have a very good gaming rig, even more than what required by Black Ops 3 but I came across several problems. Fortunately managed to fixed them all by troubleshooting and so, thought to share with you guys since you may too face such issues.
So, if you are playing Call of Duty Black Ops 3 on Windows PCs, this Troubleshooting Guide may help you to get rid of errors, lagging, freezing, and more such problems. If yes, just go through the guide and play the game comfortably. First thing First. Make sure your system meets the following Game requirements:
Minimum System Requirements:
- Operating System: Windows 7 64bit
- CPU: Intel Core i3-530 2.9GHz OR AMD Phenom II X4 810
- Memory: 6 GB
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 OR AMD Radeon HD 6970
- DirectX: DirectX 11
- HDD Space: 60 GB
Recommended System Requirements:
- Operating System: Windows 7 64bit
- CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz OR AMD FX-8120
- Memory: 8 GB
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 Palit JetStream 4GB Edition OR AMD Radeon R9 270X Sapphire Dual-X 4GB OC Edition
- DirectX: DirectX 11
- HDD Space: 60 GB
If you are running the recommended system, probably you should not any problem but there could be some errors which are covered in this Guide. And of you are running the minimum requirements, then you surely need this guide because there are many problems you may face with such heavy games. Hope, you will be able to get rid of those and play the game comfortably. Good Luck!!
Black Ops 3 Crashes on Windows 10:
Although the game is optimized for latest Windows 10 operating system, but since Windows 10 is still improving, heavy games like Call of Duty might surely create problems. Just like many other gamers, the game crashed few times on my Windows 10 PC also, since it is set Insider preview builds.
But there is nothing much to do. You simply need to download and install “Microsoft Media Feature Pack for Windows 10” and the problem will be fixed.
Black Ops 3 Failed to Install:
Installation is the very first problem you may face. There could be many reasons for the same. It could be your security software, any other application conflicting with the game, faulty disk or corrupted ISO, etc. You will need to try one by one to get to the main issue. Here’s how:
- First of all, go to Control Panel and uninstall C++ from the system. Reboot and download the latest version of C++ again from Microsoft. Install it and reboot the system again. Now try installing the game again. It should work fine.
- If you are using any security programs or third party Firewall, try to disable the same for a moment. Disable it completely because most of the antivirus detects the game’s exe file as virus and blocks them. Specially Norton.
- Secondly, check your installation Disk. It happens sometimes you may receive faulty disk although it is bought officially from the store or ordered online. Check if the disk has any scratches. Try cleaning it with cotton and see if the installation works. If still no, try testing game disk on other computer and some other disk on your computer to figure out if the disk is really faulty or it is the DVD ROM not reading the disk properly.
- In case you have downloaded Digital Copy (ISO) and it fails to install, well, ISO could be corrupt too. You may require to download it again. Or you can test it on other computer as well to figure out the main issue.
Black Ops 3: Application failed to initialize properly Error
If you see this error with Black Ops 3, don’t worry. This too just requires a small fix. Simply Download and Install Microsoft Visual Runtime Libraries. Once done, Restart the computer and Run the game again. It will work fine.
Black Ops 3 : Slow frame rate and High VRAM usage
These are some more problems you may come across with Black Ops 3. From the main Menu screen itself, you may experience Slow Frame rate. This is because the game launches in Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR) resulting rendering the game at higher resolution which obviously effects the performance. So, the only solution for Slow Frame Rate is to disable the DSR.
Coming to High VRAM usage, you will need to edit the games Config.ini lowering the VideoMemory. The default VideoMemory will be default 0.95, change to lower value and save the file. You will find config.ini file in “players” folder.
Black Ops 3 : Crashes on launch OR just won’t launch
After such hard work you finally got the game installed successfully but now it either wont launch at all, or crashes on launch? Damn. Its surely annoying. Let’s fix it right away.
- The very first thing that plays important role in crashing the games, are the Drivers. Hence, every time you install new game, always update the system drivers including GPU, Sound driver, Motherboard, etc Also, instead of updating them through Windows update, better get it from the original Manufacturer’s website. As far as Graphic Driver is concerned, simply visit here for nVidia card drivers and here for AMD / ATI card drivers
- Secondly, make sure you have the latest or the recommended DirectX installed. It is very important. Since the Black Ops 3 requires DX11, if you are running older one, get the correct one right away from here. Before installing the new DirectX, always uninstall the older one and reboot. Even after installing the new DX, reboot again and then try to launch the game.
- Most of the time, it could be your UAC (User Account Control) also that blocks the game launch and result in crash. So, if you are using Windows 7, 8/8.1 or Windows 10, you must disable UAC, atleast you playing the game. You can do it easily by typing UAC in search box, press enter. In the opened Account Control Settings, pull down the slider at bottom. Press Ok. Reboot the computer and play the game. It should work fine.
- If still the game crashes, then delete the desktop shortcut of the game and go to installation folder. Right click the games respectively .exe file > click properties > Compatibility Mode tab > check mark the box for ‘Disable Desktop Composition > Reboot. Now launch the game from this .exe file.
Furthermore, you can also try disabling Steam Overlay and make sure no digital video recorder running in background.
Black Ops 3 : Lagging, Low FPS and Freezing problems:
These issues are obvious with games like Black Ops 3, even if you are running Recommended requirements. There are various factors that could result in freezing, lagging or decreasing the FPS. Let’s figure out and fix them all one by one:
- Any of these problem may occur if the game is not getting enough resources to run comfortably. Now, on such high end Rig, where are all those resources going? Well, it is your unwanted backgrounds apps and services eating up the resources, unnecessarily. So, you must always disable the background process before running the game. To do the same, go to Task Manager > click Process tab and right click > Kill all not required process. It is better to block them from Startup program itself. You can do this by typing MSCONFIG in RUN box > Enter > Startup Tab > uncheck unwanted stuffs > OK. Block and End Task every unwanted process but make sure you leave the GPU processes and reboot.
- If still the issues occur, open Graphic Card Control Panel and lower the settings by disabling Vsync and Antialiasing. Furthermore, if required, you can also run the game on triple buffering and V-sync using the D3DOverrider software. But remember, you must know how to use D3DOverrider.
- In rarest situation, you may still face any of those problem. If yes, then run the game first, and Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del. Go to Processes Tab and right click the respective game process > click Select Priority > set it High or RealTime. That’s it. Enjoy the game comfortably.
My problem was fixed after doing some of these troubleshoots. But if in your case, still the game lags, freezes or not getting proper FPS, you might need to backup the intro video file and then delete them. It is a file named “bo3-global_logo_logosequence.mkv”. If you don’t feel deleting safe, don’t delete but simply rename it to something else. In worst case, if still you facing the problems, simply open the game’s config.ini file and change the number 4 to 2 in the following code.
//Thread count for handling the job queue
WorkerThreads = “4” // 2 to 4
Black Ops 3: Black Screen Issue:
There are many but two main reasons for getting Black Screen in video games. It could be wrong Graphics Settings or Outdated drivers. Let’s try fixing them:
- Make sure all system drivers are updated to latest version
- Disable Antivirus, third party Firewall and other security programs.
- Lower down the graphics settings from Graphic Control Panel. Specially, I mean, disabling VSync, anti-aliasing, filtering as well as multi-sampling.
- Free up the resources by disabling background process from Task Manager and Startup Programs.
Doing those stuffs should fix the Black Screen issue of Black Ops 3. But in worst case, if still you see Black Screen, then you will manually need to adjust the resolution of your screen in the game’s config.ini file. If you don’t know how to do that, Steam has it ready for you. Simply copy this config file from Steam and save the changes.
Black Ops 3 Error: Lobby is not joinable:
If you are not able to connect the Treyarch’s Lobby to play online, something would be blocking the connection from your computer. Make sure any third party firewall is disabled, as well as the game is allowed from the Windows firewall. Also check all ports/NAT.
Black Ops 3 Error : Display Drivers has Stopped Working:
The solution for this error is in the error itself. It is your driver. Make sure you are running the latest drivers for your system hardware, specially the Graphics Driver.
I Hope you find above Guide useful for your Black Ops 3. If in case you want Save Game or Trainer (Cheat)for this game, we do have the same in separate articles. There is also a 100% completed Save file you may need if stuck somewhere. Download and extract it proper Save Location.
