It’s been several successful months since the launch of the newest installment in the highly anticipated Call of Duty franchise. Although it may seem like hyperbole, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is one of the most well-received games in the series. Massively praised for its detailed, and complex narrative, millions received the game with enthusiasm and fervor.
In fact, the game has been ranked in the top twenty best-selling video games in the United States by lifetime dollar sales. If that isn’t enough to impress you, then consider the fact that the player base for the game has remained at healthy highs for longer than many other games to come out as of late.
Gameplay-wise, everything in the critically acclaimed shooting series feels innovative, spontaneous, and strategical. The story brings back fan-favorite characters from games as far back as the original Call of Duty: Black Ops. Whereas before, each character felt forced into the game, this issue in the series is different.
Going back to an older, more dated setting seems to be exactly the right move for the franchise. In previous titles, many fans felt perplexed and disillusioned by futuristic, science fiction settings; like Black Ops 4 and more. All in all, the move from a more futuristic setting to older, realistic depictions of warfare sets the stage for a wonderful and emotionally charged narrative. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War delivers that narrative extremely well. The same can’t be said of multiplayer, though.
The Black Ops Cold War Error on Xbox One causes several connectivity issues
To put things simply, the best that can be said of the multiplayer component is that it isn’t bad. It feels formulaic, often repetitive, and stale. Although, the series is renowned for its exceptionally good shooting mechanics. The word formulaic isn’t a criticism of the quality of gameplay. It just shows disappointment. It is pretty strange how the same ingenuity driving the campaign didn’t push the multiplayer far from the norm.
Then again, all these criticisms come from a pretty subjective place. For many people, the old game style works just fine. Considering the massive commercial success of the game, it might just come down to personal opinions. However, the worst problem with the multiplayer is not being able to connect to servers.
While it may seem like an unlikely scenario, users are reporting frequent outages in multiplayer services. These errors come in a plethora of forms, and we spend a lot of time trying to help users fix them. Our problem of the day is a new error, reported by several Twitter users recently. Let’s take a look into the problem and address how to fix it.
New Black Ops Cold War Xbox One error locks players out of lobbies
A new error is affecting many trying to play a quick match of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War online. The issue prevents people from connecting to lobbies, showing an error code that just doesn’t go away.
@ATVIAssist Cold War servers down on Xbox One??
Error code:
A.B.C.D. – .F.G.H.I.J.K.L.M.N.O. – .Q. – . – . – . – . V.W.X.Y.
Dog 433 Rightful Gator
— Thomas Rich (@ThomasRich__) March 11, 2021
Well, the tweet garnered interest, with one other user reporting they experienced the same type of error. However, this second user had a slightly different error code. Nonetheless, the thread was joined by the official Activision Support account, showing the matter was significant to merit a response. So we’ll give you a list of things you can do to fix the issue yourself.
Fixes for Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War error on Xbox One
1. Reinstall the game
The oldest trick in the book sometimes works best. If you can’t get the error to disappear yourself, the first option you should consider is deleting the entire game from your hard drive and reinstalling it. The reason this works is that sometimes during install, like after updates, data gets corrupted and can raise flags for servers, that might think your game data is altered, as in the case of hacking. This results in errors that can easily be fixed by removing the game and rebuilding data from scratch.
2. Configure the safety restrictions and priority settings on your router
First of all, in almost ninety-nine percent of cases, we wouldn’t recommend gaming over a wireless connection. But if you have to, then the settings on your router can sometimes cause issues. Begin by restarting your router and see if the error goes away.
If it doesn’t move on to the next step. We recommend contacting your ISP (internet service provider) and asking them for help changing some settings on your router, like enabling QoS (quality of service) and changing NAT from Strict to Moderate, allowing for easier connection during gameplay. QoS will try to give your game the best possible connection, even at the cost of other connections. This means your game will get all the bandwidth it needs, preventing any errors on that front.
3. Reset all skins to the default
A lot of errors can be caused because the game has trouble when processing data not part of the base game, as in the case of Downloadable Content (DLC). If you use any DLC skins on your character or on their loadout, then try this step. Revert all skins to the default, and then try to log back online. If that doesn’t work, then log out from your Activision account, close the game, power-cycle your console, and boot the game back up. This should wipe the memory clear for your game and flush out any bugs.
4. Adjust port forwarding
In your settings app, go to network settings. Open the network and connectivity tab. In there, choose ‘network settings’, and choose ‘test network connection’. This should tell you if there is an issue in the connection between your console and the internet. If the test returns with a message saying your console can’t connect to the internet, then you know the issue isn’t with your game, but with your game.
If the test comes back with no issues in the results, then you should go back to the ‘network settings’ list. Select port settings. Ports are part of how your game interfaces with the internet, so if there’s anything out of order in port settings, it’s bound to have a huge impact on your game. If your port settings are set to ‘automatic’, then select ‘manual’. Next, you will be offered a shortlist of different numbers that might confuse you.
However, each line on the list is a port. For Black Ops Cold War, use ports TCP: 3074,27014-27050 or UDP: 3074,3478,4379-4380,27000-27031,27036, as these are recommended by Activision. However, if this doesn’t show up, use any ports supported by your router. This should ensure there are no issues with the connection between your Xbox and the internet. Try the game out after a restart, just to be safe.