[FIXED] Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War Crashes or Freezes

Is Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War crashing or freezing on you as well? 

When Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War crashes or freezes, you may see some error codes, like 887A0005, 0x0 (0xA2E8EF8F) N, or 0x0 (0x1AEC5F31) N.

According to COD’s Activation Support, the reason why Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War crashes or freezes is still under investigation.

But before they can suggest a new update patch, here are some common fixes that can fix the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War crashes or freezes problem.

You don’t need to follow the list in the exact order, just start from the one that you haven’t tried before and move forward:

1. Check that your computer supports the game
2. Check for Windows Update
3. Update your graphics drivers
4. Repair corrupted game files
5. Close all unnecessary apps
6. Run the game in DirectX 11
7. Turn off GeForce Experience overlay
8. Disable V-sync and in-game Ray Tracing
9. Turn off Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling

1. Check that your computer supports the game

If Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War crashes or freezes when the game launches, you need to make sure that your computer meets the minimum system requirements for COD: Black Ops War, or better yet, meets the recommended requirements.

Here’s a table of the requirements for your reference:

If your computer fulfills the minimum specs, read on to see what is causing Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War crashing or freezing problem. 

2. Check for Windows Update

If there are updates available for your operating system, update them to see if it resolves the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War crashing issue. Most of the time, an up-to-date version of Windows brings you better performance in gameplay.

To check for Windows Updates:

1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and the I key together. From the left panel, select Windows Update.
   
2. In the right section, click the Check for updates button. 
   
3. Once updated, restart your computer to see if the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War still crashes or freezes. 

3. Update your graphics drivers

When Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War crashes, one of the first things you should do is to update your graphics card driver since an up-to-date graphics driver always ensures the best gaming performance and fewer bugs.

To update your display card driver, here’s what you can do (please note that the following screenshots are taken on Windows 11, but the instructions work on Windows 10 as well):

1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
   
2. Double-click to expand the category Display adapters. Then right-click your graphic card driver and click Update driver (the name of the device can be different on your computer).
   
3. Then click Search automatically for updated driver software. 
   
4. Wait for Windows to find the latest driver available for you.
5. When the driver update is done, restart your computer for the change to take effect.
6. Then check and see if the problem is fixed. 

If Windows says that it’s already found the latest driver for you, so no newer drivers are found, then you should consider updating your graphics drivers in a different way with the help of Driver Techie.

Its ever-growing driver database allows you to always have access to the latest device drivers that you need. More importantly, Driver Techie simplifies the driver update process, so all it takes is just 3 clicks (for Pro users), and all your drivers are updated.

To use Driver Techie to find you the latest drivers:

1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
2. Click Scan Now. 
   
3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All. Then all your drivers will be updated automatically without you having to do anything else. 
   

Please note that Update All is available for Pro subscribers only, otherwise, you can only manually update the driver one at a time. To see how to manually update the drivers one by one, please check this post.

If you’re a Pro user of Driver Techie, and need our technical support to help with the game crashing problem, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>. 

4. Repair corrupted game files

Corrupted or missing game files can be another possible cause of the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War crashing issue. You can try using the built-in repair tool to restore these files. 

To do so:

1. Open the Battle.net launcher and select your game Call of Duty: BOCW.
   
   
2. Select Options and choose Scan and Repair.
   
   
3. Once finished, select Options again and choose Check for Updates.
   
   
4. Once finished, re-launch the game to see if it works properly. 

5. Close all unnecessary apps

When playing Call of Duty: BOCW, it’s highly recommended that you shut down any background applications, as they may interfere with your game and cause your game to crash or freeze.

To close unnecessary apps:

1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and the X key together, then select Task Manager.  
   
2. Under the Processes tab, right-click on any unnecessary task and click on End Task. 
   
3. Re-launch your game to see if it helps. 

6. Run the game in DirectX 11

DirectX 11 improves gaming performance and enables more efficient use of the PC resources. You can try running Call of Duty: BOCW in DirectX 11 mode to see if it resolves the crashing issue. 

First, please follow the steps below to check what DirectX version your graphic card supports:

1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and the R key together to launch the Run box. Type DXDiag and press the Enter key.
   
2. On the pop-up window, click on the Display tab and look for Feature Level on the upper right. If you see 11 or above in the Direct3D DDI or Feature Level line, it means your graphic card supports DirectX 11 and you’re able to play. If not, then your graphic card doesn’t support this version and you will have to skip to the next fix. 
   

Now, if you check that your computer supports DirectX 11, then please go through the following instructions to run your game in this mode. 

1. Open the Battle.net launcher and select your game Call of Duty: BOCW. 
   
2. Select Options and choose Game Settings. 
   
3. Under the Black Ops Cold War section, tick the Additional command line arguments checkbox. 
4. Type -d3d11 in the text field and and click Done to save changes.
   
5. Re-launch the game. 

Hopefully, your game will be running in DirectX 11 mode, which might resolve the crashing issue with your Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

But if the problem remains, please move on and see if the next method helps. 

7. Turn off Geforce Experience overlay

According to some users, the Geforce Experience overlay can be the culprit of the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War crashing or freezing issue.

If the overlay option is enabled, then consider turning it off and see if the problem persists. 

Here’s how you can disable the overlay:

1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and the S key together. Type Geforce and select the Geforce Experience app in the search results. 
2. Log in to your Nvidia account and click on the gear icon on the top right corner. 
   
3. From the General tab, toggle off In-game Overlay and exit. 
   
4. Re-launch the game to see if the problem persists. 

8. Disable V-sync and in-game Ray Tracing

V-sync, or vertical sync, is a graphics technology that synchronizes the frame rate of your game with the refresh rate of your monitor.

However, it cannot improve the resolution, colors, or brightness level like HDR. In some cases, it can also cause the Black Ops Cold War to crash.

Similarly, the in-game Ray Tracing feature can emulate the way light reflects and refracts, but not all GPUs can handle this technique. Therefore, it’s worth a try to disable these two features. 

To disable V-sync:

1. Click on the Settings button located at the bottom of your game.
   
2. Go to the Graphics tab and disable the Gameplay V-Sync and Menu V-Sync options.
   
3. Re-launch the game and check if the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War stops crashing or freezing.

To disable Ray Tracing:

1. Click on the Settings button located at the bottom of your game.
   
2. Go to the Graphics tab and turn off all three functions under the RAY TRACING section.
   
3. Re-launch the game and see if the problem is resolved.

9. Turn off Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling

Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling is an interesting feature introduced by Microsoft. It allows your graphic card to manage its own video memory rather than the operating system.

However, it can also cause Call of Duty: BOCW to crash or freezes. If you’re using this feature, please try turning it off and see if the issue is resolved. 

For Windows 10: 

1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and the I key together to open Settings. Once it opens, select System.
   
2. Select the Display tab. Locate Multiple Displays and click on Graphics Settings.
   
3. Select the Change Default Graphics Settings option. To disable this feature, toggle OFF the button next to the Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling.
   
4. Restart your computer to apply the changes.

For Windows 11:

1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and the I key together to open Settings. 
2. Select System from the left panel and select the Display tab.
   
3. Scroll down the right section of the page and select Graphics under Related settings.
   
4. Click on the Change Default Graphics Settings option.
5. To disable this feature, toggle OFF the button next to the Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling.
   
6. Restart your computer to apply the changes.

Another thing that is worth mentioning is that if you’re using AMD’s Smart Access Memory on your PC, you can try turning it off as well.

Hopefully, your Black Ops Cold War will be working fine. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below.