[FIX] Call of Duty: Black Ops - Game Freeze / LAG FIX!

See if Punkbuster A svc is running. If it is kill it.

That fixed it for me.

[NitrousX]

Originally Posted by Kildar

See if Punkbuster A svc is running. If it is kill it.

That fixed it for me.

Black Ops uses VAC.

[wisertime]

I reset rate to 3000 for some reason (one of these other fix threads) thinking the server side must have been the 25000...I'm going to try swapping it back. I think that is what caused me to lag again. Thanks.

I can attest multi GPU makes things worse if you only have one. Again conflicting theories.

[WrghMoof]

Go here for a fix:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1573065

Originally Posted by NitrousX

Black Ops uses VAC.

YES BUT THE PROCESS IS STILL RUNNING ON ANY SYSTEM THAT HAS A GAME INSTALLED THAT USES PUNKBUSTER!!!!!!!

I have verified this on my system. Start Punkbuster....lag....stop punkbuster no lag!!!

[jou_moer]

This worked 100% for me. MP use to freeze within 5min from starting play. I tried what others suggested in the forums but they did not solve the problem.

I completely removed the GPU drivers and all its supporting software, restarted my PC and then installed the new version, restarted and tested.

The PC has not frozen up once since that, and that was 36 Hrs ago.

PC Spec: AMD Phenom 2 - 3.2Ghz, 4Gig DDR2 Dominators, Asus ATI 5850 1Gig DDR5 running Win 7 x64bit. ATI drivers 10.11.

[MoIIn]

same problem here, i m goin' crazy >.<

[Rugaal]

bump1

[Rugaal]

Not yet patched glitch with freezes ?

[M I C R O]

lol I didnt believe the whole multigpu and core command for a month, but i tried it 2 weeks ago and i havent crashed since.

Originally Posted by Rugaal

1. Open Console (`)
Type cl_maxpackets 100
Close Game.

2. Right click on Black Ops Multi in steam games
Go Properties -> Updates -> Untick Enable steam cloud sync.

If the above doesn't work try the following..

3. Steam > Settings > In Game > uncheck “Enable Steam Community In-Game”

*** Also could try another methods, like one of these:

Console Commands:
Draw your FPS on screen:
/cg_drawfps 1
Draw your Lagometer on screen:
/cg_drawlagometer 1
Max FPS command:
/com_maxfps 0

Others:
/cg_fov "80" (GAMEPLAY)*
/com_maxfps "125" (FPS)*
/snaps "30" (REGISTRY)*
/cl_maxpackets "100" (REGISTRY)*
/cl_packetdup "2" (REGISTRY)
/rate "25000" (REGISTRY)
/sm_enable 0 (FPS)*
/r_drawdecals 0 (FPS)*
/cg_drawFPS "Simple" (FPS)
/cg_brass "0" (FPS)
/r_multigpu "1" (FPS)
/r_cachemodellighting "1" (FPS)
/r_cacheSmodellighting "1" (FPS)
/cl_mouseaccel "0" (MOUSE)

Untested:
/r_rendererPreference "Shader model 2.0" (FPS)
/r_vsync "0" (FPS)
/r_smc_enable "0" (FPS)
/r_rendererPreference "0" (FPS)
/r_skincache "1" (FPS)
/cg_blood "0" (FPS)
/com_hunkmegs "512" (FPS)
/r_drawsun "0" (FPS)

Now Type In Console:
/vid_restart

Notes:
*CG FOV :: Field of view, where the value is the angle of the circular arc that is displayed
on your screen. High values will make the game appear "fisheyed".

*MAX FPS :: This command limits your maximum FPS. You may ask why you would want to do this,
and the answer is that it will help the server from having lag confusion when your frame rate
has a sudden rise or fall. Run a timedemo, collect your average FPS and use that as the limit
for when you play on-line.

*SNAPS :: This is possibly the most important setting for getting a good connection.
Snaps setting determines how many updates you recieve from the server. 20 to 30 for
56K connects in quake series 40 for high speed internet im sure the same for cod. (30 is fine).

*MAXPACKETS :: This setting puts a limit on the maximum amount of packets that can be sent to
the server via the client. This setting is useful for people with slower modems. Obviously we
all have high speed connects so set to at least 100. Lower maxpacket settings i.e 30 lowers ping
on screen but at the cost of registration.

*SM ENABLE :: Turns off unique Shadows ingame, it boosts FPS more than most commands.

*R DRAWDECALS :: Turns off details on walls and objects, however Punkbuster will kick you off for this at this time.

Other way is to change your config_mp.cfg in your C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\call of duty black ops\players\config_mp.cfg and change values for these settings:

r_multiGpu

This should only be enabled if you have multiple graphics cards or a graphics card with multiple GPUs. If you don't have multiple GPUs, don't know what this means, or are having issues with your MultiGPU solution, please set this to "0".

r_multithreaded_device

This setting should be enabled for EVERYBODY as the minimum requirements for Black Ops clearly states that you need a multithreaded (multicore) CPU to run the game. However, some people have noticed that by setting this to "0" some of the skipping lag is relieved. Test this out only as a last resort.

r_vsync

VSync prevents screen tearing. If you don't know what that is, just set it to "0" because you probably don't care anyway. Otherwise, VSync usually doesn't have any negative performance issues with today's graphics cards. However, there may be a few performance issues linked to VSync with the current release of Black Ops. Try setting this to "0" for compatibility.

r_blur_allowed

This setting enables Blur shader effects. If you have a strong shader card, this setting may be negligible. Otherwise, just go ahead and set this to "0".

r_distortion

This setting enables Distortion shader effects. If you have a strong shader card, this setting may be negligible. Otherwise, just go ahead and set this to "0".

r_dof_enable

This setting enables Depth of Field shader effects. If you have a strong shader card, this setting may be negligible. Otherwise, just go ahead and set this to "0".

r_glow_allowed

This setting enables Glow (HDR?) shader effects. Normally, this should have a negligible performance impact. HOWEVER, this setting seems to be buggy! Performance improved DRAMATICALLY when I set this option to "0".

rate

Rate is the rate at which the client sends packets to the server. If you set this too low, below 10000 or so, you run the risk of sending insufficient data to the server and lagging out. Set this too high, above 50000 or so, and you run the risk of flooding your connection to the server. This setting should be adjusted according to your connection speed and may take some fine tuning.

cl_maxpackets

This setting controls how many packets the client will hold to ensure packet transmission. If you set this setting to low, below 20 or so, then you run the risk of being disconnected prematurely. If you set this setting too high, above 150 or so, then you run the risk of continually resending redundant data and lowering your ping (or worse, getting choked). This setting is very hard to tune because it depends on so many factors beyond your own connection. Most people have found setting this to 100 is a good compromise for most servers.


Some further technical notes:

It seems that the issues plaguing PC Multiplayer are two fold.

First of all, poor CPU management is causing bottlenecks, especially with what seems to be thread context switching. This causes the system to hang intermentently as data is switched between the cores of your CPU.

Next is poor management of the netcode. The netcode must be shared with the game engine in such a way that when the CPU hangs, no data is being transmitted to or received from the server, causing packets to timeout in both directions and LOADS of redundant data being transferred between all players.

So fixing the lag on your computer should help to alleviate the load for everybody else on the server and give all around better game play.

Also note that the above is just observation and speculation from an experienced programmer. I have, obviously, not seen the source to Black Ops, but because of how the application behaves, these are my most educated guesses.

Try what I mentioned above and let me know if you find anything else that is of importance to the current state of multiplayer performance.

Good Luck and Good Fragging!

This is by far the most indepth and thought provoking 'help' thread for fixing lag/stutter in Black Ops PC. I appreciate you taking the time to not only post your results but for also shedding some insight as to what is actually causing this lag.

For me, the game ran fine from launch (11/09/10) up until the release of the 12/14 patch. The 12/14 patch was the one that removed 16xCSAA and was the first to truly optimize performance for dual core machines. After this patch, I started experiencing the lag/stutter.

It took me over 3 weeks to find the solution but for me, the right answer was in changing the mipmap settings in config_mp.cfg. I still do have some annoying graphical glitches in this game that I still deal with, however the stuttering is completely gone. Like on the map "Nuketown", the large patch of grass in the backyard of both houses has a black but opaque grid-like look with yellow flashing hues embedded. The only thing that helped was disabling AAA in ATi CCC. Do you know what this is?

Here's an example:
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...n/Misc/wtf.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1.../Misc/wtf2.jpg

Anyway, thanks again!

[Rugaal]

Originally Posted by dade_kash_xD

This is by far the most indepth and thought provoking 'help' thread for fixing lag/stutter in Black Ops PC. I appreciate you taking the time to not only post your results but for also shedding some insight as to what is actually causing this lag.

For me, the game ran fine from launch (11/09/10) up until the release of the 12/14 patch. The 12/14 patch was the one that removed 16xCSAA and was the first to truly optimize performance for dual core machines. After this patch, I started experiencing the lag/stutter.

It took me over 3 weeks to find the solution but for me, the right answer was in changing the mipmap settings in config_mp.cfg. I still do have some annoying graphical glitches in this game that I still deal with, however the stuttering is completely gone. Like on the map "Nuketown", the large patch of grass in the backyard of both houses has a black but opaque grid-like look with yellow flashing hues embedded. The only thing that helped was disabling AAA in ATi CCC. Do you know what this is?

Here's an example:
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...n/Misc/wtf.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1.../Misc/wtf2.jpg

Anyway, thanks again!

yeah, that should work too

[Rugaal]

updated.

[Rugaal]

updated 19.04.

[Rugaal]

updated as of 24th August