Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the latest entry in the franchise, is a great game. With next-gen graphics, boasting raytracing functionality, and a fresh return to the game’s pseudo-historical setting, it a strong AAA title. However, sometimes minor to huge issues may plague even the best of games. Fingers crossed the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 stays safe, right?
In the case of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, a UI (User Interface) issue is now becoming increasingly common. And it seems that no platform is particularly safe. Whether you play on a high-end PC or the PS5, it seems the common UI causes the same UI error.
The Black Ops Cold War UI Error leads to persistent, annoying in-menu notifications
According to the numerous reports from players across all platforms, the UI Error message appears when loading up a menu. It often comes with a complex code of specific numbers attached to it. Usually, you’ll see errors like UI Error 100002, or a similar number sequence.
The message often pops up in unexpected areas, but all agree on the highest incidence during the main menu loading. Other places where the text appears include the settings menu, game mode (multiplayer, campaign, etc) and sometimes even during loadout customization.
Clicking away from or exiting the message doesn’t usually prevent it from recurring every time a menu is entered again
Unfortunately, unlike generic system notifications like those for app crashes or Windows options, these don’t take No for an answer. If you think ignoring it once is enough, just know the Black Ops Cold War UI Error is not something that trivial.
In best cases, some may find luck exiting the message, and don’t see it return again. However, the increasing majority of players with the Black Ops Cold War UI Error experience persistent, annoying popups of the same message over and over. That means you may ignore it on the main menu once, but every time you enter a Multiplayer lobby it may reappear.
For this reason, we have taken the liberty of compiling a list of the best, most effective workarounds to defeat the Black Ops Cold War UI Error. Keep in mind that not all of these will remain effective, due to updates in firmware and the game’s build. In fact, players worldwide are counting on it; an official patch from Activision would seriously improve the UI error, hopefully. Now, let’s get into how to fix Black Ops Cold War UI errors.
1) Restart your game, by completely closing it and relaunching it
We hope you didn’t feel the need to groan over reading this, in which case we apologize. While ‘turn it off and then on again’ is one of the biggest IT/Tech jokes of all time, sometimes the basics work. By completely closing and relaunching Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the defective or buggy assets of the UI may be replaced.
To do this, you need total awareness of your platform’s settings and capabilities. For instance, console players (both previous-gen and current-gen), typically enter a suspended game mode when turning off the console. This sleep mode suspends the game right where you left off, which won’t reset the UI assets, unfortunately. So, we advise console players to fully exit Black Ops Cold War using either the main menu or the ‘exit/close game’ option.
For PC players, this requirement is practically a given. Anytime you exit a game to the desktop, it shuts down completely along with any associated services like Steam, for instance. That is, if you haven’t tampered with any system defaults. Regardless, you may still want to use Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) to force shut down a game running in the background.
2) Fully reset your console, or reboot your PC
Sometimes, especially in the case of PC, data from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War or the associated Battle.net service may persist even after the game is shut. While Task Manager lets you see and choose what processes to kill, sometimes certain processes related to the Black Ops Cold War UI Error may linger.
That’s why a complete shutdown and cold boot is necessary. This will kill any and all active processes, include a misbehaving game UI. On console, this means bypassing the conventional standby mode, and using the system settings to navigate to shut down the console. Then, after a few seconds, turn it back on (the longer than usual boot time is proof the system isn’t just resuming from a suspended state).
ON PC, nothing short of a shut down is recommended, because all active services then get closed. Once your computer is turned back on, you may now be free from the Black Ops Cold War UI Error. It’s definitely worth a shot!
3) Make sure your internet connection is secure
Sometimes, with more and more modern AAA titles growing increasingly online-dependent, a simple fix can include stabilizing the internet connection. That’s why even games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, a purely single-player game, may benefit from this.
This fix simply entails turning your WiFi Router off for 30 seconds, then turning it back on. Wait a few minutes, and then reconnect your console or PC to the WiFi. If you use a wired connection, simply unplug the Ethernet cable and insert it back in.
If this still doesn’t work, the issue may stem from poor server connection to Battle.net, the game’s proprietary launcher. Try to end that app process, and proceed to relaunch it. Alternatively, you can also check to see if the game is offline. If so, close it and run it again.
4) On PC, make sure your game drivers are up to date
For PC players, the brand of GPU you use also dictates the source of your drivers. For those unaware, drivers consist of software downloads that optimize the way specific games run on your hardware. For optimal performance, with fewer unresolved bugs, you should always keep the latest version. This may directly solve UI errors in Black Ops Cold War.
For instance, most users with Nvidia GPU’s may already know about the GeForce Experience app. This app contains regular updates of the latest game drivers and should be routinely checked. A driver update missing may lead to issues with menus loading in, resulting in the UI error.