Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Developers
	Treyarch
macOS (OS X)	Aspyr Media
Publishers
	Activision
Engines
	IW engine
Release dates
Windows	November 6, 2015
macOS (OS X)	April 4, 2019
Reception
Metacritic	73
OpenCritic	79
IGDB	77
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, FPS, Shooter
Vehicles	Flight
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	Call of Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty: Black Ops
Subseries of Call of Duty
Call of Duty: World at War	2008
Call of Duty: Black Ops	2010
Call of Duty: Black Ops II	2012
Call of Duty: Black Ops III	2015
Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII	2018
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War	2020

Key points

Features split-screen with multi-monitor support (one monitor per player).

Official modding tools and unranked dedicated servers available.

By default, some settings are restricted depending on graphics card, but a fix is available here.

There may be some performance issues, but a fix is available here.

General information

CallofDutyMaps - A detailed Website for all included multiplayer maps.

GeForce Graphics Guide

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Contains 6 DVDs.
Amazon.com		Digital Deluxe Edition.
Steam

All versions require Steam and Arxan Anti-Tamper DRM.

Version differences

Multiplayer Starter Pack: Starter edition, contains Multiplayer, no campaign and Zombies. Can be upgraded to Zombies Chronicles Edition or Zombies Deluxe.

Zombies Chronicles Edition: Basic edition, contains the base game and Zombies Chronicles.

Zombies Deluxe: Deluxe edition, contains the base game, the Season Pass, Zombies Chronicles and 3 personalization packs.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Season Pass
Awakening	Included in the Season Pass.
Descent	Included in the Season Pass.
Eclipse	Included in the Season Pass.
The Giant Zombies Map	Included in the Season Pass.
NUK3TOWN Bonus Map	Originally a pre-order bonus, later made free.
Salvation	Included in the Season Pass.
Zombies Chronicles

Essential improvements

All of the following tweaks are applicable also for Black Ops 4, and they may have similar names. This is due to the fact that in both games a relatively identical engine is used and it has been modified further for this game.

Skip intro videos

Delete BO3_Global_Logo_LogoSequence.mkv found in <path-to-game>\video

You can also delete other videos to reduce the waiting time between level changes.

Increased loading speed levels

Disabling FPS limit.

Edit config.ini[citation needed]

Go to the configuration file location. Open config.ini. Find the line MaxFPS and set the value to 0. Save your changes. Changing this option disables FPS limiting altogether, which increases the loading speed of the levels and also allows you to get a little more FPS than it was even at 1000. This also applies to other games, changing similar options also improves the speed of work, for example in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Make all settings available

Many graphics cards are able to handle high graphical settings, but by default the game hides/restricts some settings.

Edit config.ini
Go to the configuration file location. Open config.ini with your file editor of choice. Find the line RestrictGraphicsOptions and edit the value from 1 to 0. Save your changes. Notes If the game is installed in the default folder then you might need to run your file editor of choice as an administrator, or copy your config file to your desktop, make changes and replace original file.

Enable offline multiplayer with bots

By default it's not possible to start multiplayer matches with bots in offline mode.

Start the game in mod mode
Add +set fs_game offlinemp to the game's start parameters. "offlinemp" here is just chosen examplarily, any name will work. The game thereby creates a new mod directory under \players\mods\ with separate configuration files.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\players\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/311210/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\players\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/311210/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud		Some settings only.

Video

Video settings.

Advanced video settings.

Gameplay video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			HUD and menu is stretched.
Ultra-widescreen			HUD and menu is stretched. Attempting to change resolutions during gameplay will result in stretching/compression. Hub sections are stretched, but missions work fine.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		65-120° with 80º as default value.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Named as Texture Filtering in the options (Low = 2x, Medium = Per Material, and High = 16x)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		FXAA, SMAA (1x and Temporal 2x), Filmic SMAA (1x and Temporal 2x), and SSAA through Render Resolution option. SMAA T2X and Filmic SMAA options are disabled for SLI/Crossfire systems.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Double buffered. See here for triple buffering.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Multiplayer is capped at 60 FPS by default because VSync is enabled by default. Disabling VSync then allows you to increase the FPS cap up to 240 FPS max in Multiplayer using in-game menu. Cap can be unlimited by changing com_maxfps value to 0 in the config file or with in-game console while using any mod. Unlimited in Zombies and Single Player.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Ray tracing (RT)
Color blind mode

Triple buffering

Edit config.ini[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file location. Open config.ini. Find the line BackbufferCount and edit the value from 2 to 3. Save your changes.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Only presets.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Additional information
Button prompts		Natively supports both the Xbox One and the DualShock 4 (V1 only) controller without any 3rd party tools required.
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M		Aiming down sights using both causes camera to zoom in and out

• 

  Look Controls settings.

• 

  Move Controls settings.

• 

  Combat Controls settings.

• 

  Interact Controls settings.

• 

  Gamepad Controls settings.

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Master, Voice, Music, SFX Volume.
Surround sound		5.1
Subtitles		Subtitles option is available only when using English audio.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese				Users can't change the language to others.
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish				See Latin American Spanish audio mods

Latin American Spanish audio mods

Full Game: File replacement
Replacement of Castilian Spanish audio files with the Latin American Spanish audio files of the PlayStation 4 version, available through this guide, found on Steam Community. All game modes available. Has some minor sound bugs.

Zombies Maps: Workshop mods
Collection of audio mods in Latin American Spanish of all Zombies maps. It also includes subtitles in Latin American Spanish.

Network

Network settings.

Voice Chat settings.

Text Chat settings.

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		2	Co-op, Versus
LAN play		Must have an active internet connection regardless for DRM purposes
Online play		18	Co-op, Versus Co-op is limited to 4 Players

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated		For Ranked matches.
Self-hosting		Unranked only
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	27014-27050
UDP	3478, 4379-4380, 27000-27031, 27036

This game supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		Z3D Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Issues fixed

Stuttering

Remove outdated file library

Delete d3dcompiler_46.dll[citation needed]
Go to the folder with game. Remove d3dcompiler_46.dll. Deleting this file does not affect the stability of the launch of the game. However, it is clearly outdated and does not allow the game to gain access to a newer version of the library from the Windows system, and blocks access to it, since it is located next to the game execution file.

The game does not take advantage off the entire VRAM amount available.

Edit config.ini[citation needed]

Go to the configuration file location. Open config.ini. Find the line VideoMemory and edit the value from 0.75 or 0.90 to 1. Also check the parameter StreamMinResident and change its value if required from 1 to 0. Save your changes. Notes This setting helps to reduce the frequency of accessing the main RAM and allows the game to use all the video memory. It also reduces the frame time and increases the smoothness of the gameplay with a decrease in control response time. On some configurations, these options can have a negative effect on performance, and in this case it's worthwhile to specify these values in the reverse order. This is due to the fact that these parameters also affect the drawing distance.

Use Smooth Framerate.

Edit config.ini[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file location. Open config.ini. Find the line SmoothFramerate and set the value to 0 from 1. Save your changes. This setting helps to prevent a strong drop in frame rates at certain points and also increases the smoothness of the gameplay. May increase input lag and possibly performance degradation.

Use Triple Buffering and Prepared frames.

Edit config.ini[citation needed]

Go to the configuration file location. Open config.ini. Find the line MaxFrameLatency and set the value to 4 or 0. Save your changes. And use D3DOverrider to force triple buffering on. This greatly increases the smoothness and also greatly prevents a drop in the frame rate. Usually the use of triple buffering only works with vertical sync enabled. But instead of using vertical synchronization, you can use FastSync in the settings of the NVidia video card driver, as well as turn off vertical synchronization in the settings of the game itself. A similar option for amd owners is called as Enhanced Sync. This mode will not limit the FPS, but also allows you to activate triple buffering. The use of a larger number of prepared frames and the use of a triple buffer may increase input lags.

Also, the Game may unevenly load the processor on some configurations.

Edit config.ini[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file location. Open config.ini. Find the line SerializeRender and edit the value from 0 to 2. Save your changes. Perhaps this will cause a slight decrease in FPS, but will make it a stable and reduce the time frame, as will improve the responsiveness of management in general.

FPS Drops

This is for copies on the Steam version of the game.

Launching the game in offline mode
Open Steam and select the Steam menu in the top left. Select "Go Offline...". Select "ENTER OFFLINE MODE". Launch the game As the title suggests, you will be unable to use online services such as multiplayer, but in return you will receive tremendous performance boosts.

Game changes microphone gain at launch

Modify microphone gain ingame
Start up the game and open the menu, select OPTIONS and after select CHAT that has a headset icon. Change Voice Chat Record Level to your preferred microphone gain.

Game crashes on startup

Add anti-virus exclusion
If you have either AVG or Avast!, they are known to cause the game to crash. Add the entire installation folder to the exclusion list on either anti-virus to fix For better result, need uninstall antivirus and disable built-in Windows Defender.

Add exception for Actual Window Minimizer or Actual Window Manager
If you use either Actual Window Minimizer or Actual Window Manager, they will cause the game to crash. Add the main executable file to the exclusion list on either programme to fix.

The game causes the hang of the entire system and the computer itself completely before rebooting.

Move the paging file[citation needed]

Right Click Computer → Choose Properties. Click Advanced System Settings. Performance Tab → Click Settings. Advanced Settings Tab → Virtual Memory -> Click Change. Uncheck Automaticaly manage page file. Clicking on disk will allow you to set paging file on any disk, except system. Set System managed size. Save you changes and reboot Windows. In fact, this problem is mainly related to the use of a cheap and low-quality SSD disk based on the type of TLC memory or hard disk with errors.

Scoreboard and Pause Menu not working using controller

Click on the on-screen ≣ Menu button and then:
Select OPTIONS Tab and after select CONTROLS. Select Reset to Default.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11
Metal support

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7	8, 8.1
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i3-530 2.93 GHz AMD Phenom II X4 810 2.60 GHz
System memory (RAM)	6 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	100 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 AMD Radeon HD 6970 1 GB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible
Sound (audio device)	DirectX Compatible

A 64-bit operating system is required.

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.13.6
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i5 2.3 GHz Quad-Core
System memory (RAM)	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	150 GB
Video card (GPU)	AMD Radeon R9 M295X 2 GB of VRAM