GamingCall of Duty

Black Ops 4 update 1.03 drops – October 19 patch notes and file size

Ross Deason

When Treyarch promise something, they usually deliver. That point was hammered home on October 19 when they dropped the ‘substantial update’ that was teased the day before.

Call of Duty Black Ops 4 was released on October 12 as one of the most anticipated games in the history of the franchise, and although there was an abundance of praise, it was clear that there were a number of issues that needed to be addressed.

Thankfully we’re in the age where patches can be downloaded over the internet, and developers Treyarch have been working behind the scenes all week to make changes.

This major update has addressed a variety of aspects of the game’s three major modes – Multiplayer, Zombies, and Blackout. 

For the Multiplayer, the spawns, perks, and scorestreaks have been adjusted, and certain Specialists have been nerfed or buffed, depending on their respective issues

Major issues with stability in Zombies, as well as weapon camos and custom mutations, have also been addressed. For Blackout, some of the performance issues have been fixed and the Awareness perk has been modified. 

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The full patch notes have finally been released and can be viewed below. The massive update comes in at a whopping 11.5GB on Xbox One and 8.9GB on PS4, while on PC it’s only 4GB.

It’s here. Our biggest update to Black Ops 4 since launch is now live, as well as our first 2XP weekend event! There’s a lot to celebrate with this update, so let’s jump straight into what’s new.

First, we’ve made a ton of improvements and tweaks across all modes with today’s update. This includes several changes that were informed through community feedback, as well as an abundance of gameplay improvements and bug fixes that we’d been targeting since launch. Your input and reports have been integral to the impact of this and future game updates, so please keep your feedback (and patience while we work on the next one) coming. See below for the full list of changes.

Community Update – Operation: First Strike, 2XP/2X Nebulium, and Free Halloween Event

Starting today for PS4 players, the Black Market is back! In Black Ops 4, we’re giving players more choices than ever before with the Contraband progression path to earn free cosmetic items as you play, including new Tags, Gestures, Outfits, Calling Cards, Stickers, Blackout characters, Signature Weapons, and more. As you unlock these cosmetics by playing the game, you’ll earn more ways to express yourself than ever in both Multiplayer and Blackout.

Operation: First Strike kicks off the first season of Contraband content in the Black Market on PS4 today. Also, starting tomorrow on PS4, players will get access to a free Halloween-themed Special Event stream with even more seasonal gear to earn! Both the first season of Contraband content in the Black Market and the Halloween Event will begin on other platforms one week later.

Note: While start and end dates may vary by platform, limited-time Special Events like the Halloween Event will all run for the same duration for all platforms – this will allow all players the same amount of time to experience the content. Timing on updates to the game including bug fixes and other improvements will not be affected. Get more details on what the Black Market includes and how it works at the blog here.

We’re also starting the weekend right with our first 2XP event, giving players on all platforms 2XP in Multiplayer and 2X Nebulium Plasma in Zombies through 10AM PT on Monday, October 22nd. Hope you’ve cleared your calendar.

Now, let’s get into the details. We’ve made the following updates to the game today (Global):

  • General
    • Leaderboards are now available for Multiplayer, Blackout, and Zombies. For Multiplayer and Blackout, players will start ranking on Leaderboards after playing 25 games.
    • Addressed an issue where player-created paintjobs may appear corrupted or stretched when placed on weapons. Previously created paintjobs may appear shifted or skewed as a result and may need to be readjusted.
    • As a result of significant architectural changes between updates, previous Theater files can no longer be viewed. While this is an unfortunate side effect of live game development, we will make every effort to keep instances of incompatibility to an absolute minimum.
    • General stability improvements across Multiplayer, Blackout, and Zombies.
  • Multiplayer
    • General
      • Improved spawn points on various maps in Free For All and Domination.
      • Added “Sprint Cancels Reload” to Options in the Controls category. When enabled, this allows players to cancel their weapon reload by starting a sprint. This will not prevent sprinting or reloading if players are already sprinting and perform a reload.
      • Addressed several issues with mantling and other first-person combat animations.
    • Specialists
      • Fixed an exploit where a player could use Crash’s TAK-5 for the duration of the match.
      • Addressed an issue where Ruin’s Grapple Gun would appear to float from the player’s hand.
      • Addressed an issue where Nomad’s Vision Pulse visuals would remain on enemies after respawning and during Best Play.
      • Improved pathfinding for Prophet’s Seeker on various maps.
      • Corrected an issue with voiceover lines occasionally playing at incorrect times.
    • Weapons & Attachments
      • Addressed issues with weapon Camos appearing on unintended portions of weapons.
      • Addressed an issue where some Reactive Camos were not displaying correctly.
      • Addressed an issue where friendly Players, Equipment, and Scorestreaks would display thermal visuals in the NVIR Optic.
    • Maps
      • Militia
      • Additional spawns added for various game modes.
      • Payload
      • Extended the silo catwalk Control zone into the missile area to provide additional cover when attacking and defending.
    • Perks
      • Addressed an issue with Engineer that allowed highlighted Equipment to occasionally obscure enemy players.
    • Scorestreaks
      • Addressed an issue where the Gunship’s thermal visuals could remain on enemy Players.
      • Addressed an issue where the Mantis could not be controlled after calling in a Strike Team.
    • Equipment
      • Team kills with the Sensor Dart in Hardcore no longer count toward Scorestreak progress.
  • Zombies
    • General:
      • We’ve improved stability in Easter Egg quests and high-round play, and are currently working on addressing more crashes.
      • Addressed an issue where in-game XP notifications were appearing in Zombies. The XP earn rate across all Zombies modes has been verified and is unchanged.
      • Improved pathing for enemy Zombies.
      • Addressed instances of Zombies Challenges displaying incorrect completion requirements.
      • Addressed an issue causing a delay before players could activate consecutive Special Weapon melee attacks.
      • Addressed an issue causing a slight delay before players could pick up a Power-Up.
    • Weapon Camos
      • Addressed issues with Camos not properly applying to weapons.
      • Addressed issues with several Camo Challenges not displaying the correct unlock requirements.
      • Addressed instances of Pack-a-Punch Camos not appearing on specific weapons.
    • IX
      • Addressed an issue where the second part of the boss battle occasionally wouldn’t trigger properly.
      • Addressed multiple issues with overlapping voiceover lines.
    • Custom Mutations:
      • Addressed an issue where players were not earning Nebulium Plasma in Custom Mutations.
      • Addressed several stability issues when using different Custom Mutation options.
    • Inspection:
      • Addressed an issue where Zombies characters were displaying incorrectly in the Inspection menu.
  • Blackout
    • General:
      • Addressed issues with Splitscreen stability in the Staging Area.
    • Challenges:
      • Addressed an issue with Challenges incorrectly tracking wins in Duos and Quads.
    • Awareness Perk:
      • Maximum player footstep volume while active has been lowered.
      • Material sounds are now more audible over larger distances while active.

We’ve also made the following additional updates specific to PC:

  • General
    • Fixed a crash related to equipping a Hellion Salvo with any Camo and the Fast Lock Attachment.
    • Addressed an issue where right-clicking in the Scoreboard could prevent mouse functionality.
    • Addressed an issue in the Paintshop where the paintjob preview wasn’t rendering properly.
    • General stability improvements.
  • Performance
    • Fixed an issue that should improve performance for players reporting stuttering. The Beenox team will continue to monitor performance closely for future updates.
    • Improved network connection stability when using voice chat.
  • Zombies
    • Fixed an occasional crash during higher rounds on IX.
  • Blackout
    • Players can now report other users after viewing the Killcam.
    • Addressed an issue where FOV didn’t properly reset after using a Gesture.

As always, please follow /u/TreyarchPC additional PC updates not listed here.

We’re also currently tracking the following recent topics to address in future updates:

  • International Lobby Populations
    • To our players experiencing trouble starting full Blackout and MP matches in certain areas at specific times of the day (parts of South America, South Africa, Australia, Asia, and the Middle East): we hear you. We are investigating multiple options to give everyone the best possible experience by connecting players to the closest well-populated server with without negatively impacting other players on that server. Please stay tuned as we roll out updates to help alleviate this issue.
  • Zombies Weapon Camos
    • Gold, Diamond, and Dark Matter camos will be coming to Zombies in a future update. We hear you loud and clear.
  • Hosts Exiting Zombies
    • We are aware of players’ games ending when the host exits. We’re working on a solution and will update you with further details soon.

Remember… we’re just getting started. Time to grind!

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