Like other recent Call of Duty titles, Black Ops Cold War is full of graphic settings that you can change. Allowing you to fine tune your gameplay and get the exact look you want. However there are some general settings that you can alter to make seeing enemies easier on Cold War.
Game Settings
Cold War has several settings that you can change to improve visibility in multiplayer. Optimising the game will make it easier to play, and make enemies stand out from the background better.
Brightness
With every Call of Duty title there is a brightness slider that you use to configure your game toning to your screen. In previous titles it was common for players to boost their brightness past the recommended guides. In newer games like Modern Warfare and Cold War this makes the game look flat and foggy.
To better see the players around you it’s recommended to set your brightness settings appropriately to the guide. Having the brightness slightly higher than the guide can make seeing in shadowed areas slightly easier.
Motion Blur
Whether you’re a fan of motion blur or not, it can be the difference between seeing an enemy, or missing them completely. Motion blur causes pixels and surroundings to become distorted, making it easy to miss what’s around you. To ensure crystal clear vision when moving it is best to turn off motion blur.
Field of View
Field of view determines how much of the map is rendered around you. Increasing the field of view increases your vision radius, and can help you see when a player is to the side of you. A draw back from increasing your FOV is that things look smaller. Increasing your view radius by too much can make distant players look small, allowing them to go unnoticed.
Finding the right field of view is dependent on personal preference, and the display you play on. If you game on a larger display then maxing your FOV might not be a problem for you. However on smaller screens, like 24” monitors, this may be an issue. Setting your field of view above 100 can help in closer combat areas, and is especially useful for checking corners.
Dynamic Shadows
Dynamic shadows add a shadow to players, including yourself. While the self shadows aren’t necessary, the addition of enemy shadows is highly beneficial. Enemy shadows make enemies stand out more, and allows you to see them coming around some corners.
Higher Frame Rate
Your FPS or frame rate can help you see players quicker as they come around a corner, or peak from behind cover. A higher FPS also helps you react faster to small movements. Console players are reasonably restricted when it comes to frame rate. However you will want to ensure your monitor refresh rate is the same, or higher than your console FPS.
PC players have a greater benefit from optimizing their frame rate. On PC you have a higher FPS limit, only restricted by your components and monitor. You want to ensure that your Cold War FPS setting is equal to, or above the refresh rate of your monitor.
Having a 144Hz or 240Hz monitor is recommended to maximise your advantage in Cold War, as well as other games.
Lowering your in game settings to medium or low can help increase your in game frame rate. If you are looking to increase your frames per second, then we recommend lowering your texture quality, model quality, special effects quality, volumetric lighting and shadow quality. Setting the Anti-Aliasing and Ambient inclusion to low can also help increase your FPS.
Particle Shadows
It is recommended that you turn off particle shadows. The extra detail isn’t needed and could hinder your ability to see other players. Turning off particle shadows can also slightly increase your FPS.
ADS Field of View
In Cold War you have the option to change how your weapon reacts when aiming down sight. You can pick between Independent and Affected. With Independent ADS your game will zoom all the way in. This makes players appear larger, and at their intended size.
The Affected ADS will adjust your zoom value to match your FOV settings. For people with their Field of View above 100, this may make it harder to see enemies.
Nvidia Freestyle Game Filters
If you’re on PC and have a Nvidia graphics card, then you can make use of the game filter feature. To use game filters you will need GeForce Experience software. With the software installed you can add a freestyle game filter to supported games. Filters are completely customisable, and allows you to add effects to increase visibility.
You can add a game filter by opening the shadowplay interface using the Alt + Z keyboard shortcut.
Choose a number in the top left corner of your screen. This is where you can create game filter presets.
Click on the drop menu then add a brightness and contrast layer, and a details layer. You may also add a colors layer to make Cold War more colorful.
Open the filter settings by clicking on the layer titles.
Our recommended game filter settings are:
Exposure: -14
Contrast: 50
Highlights: -16
Shadows: -62
Gamma: 38
Sharpen: 32
Clarity: 31
HDR Toning: 45
Bloom: 0
Feel free to make adjustments to the settings to best suit your display and preference.
Screen Settings
For gamers playing on console or using another branded graphics card, you may want to adjust your screen settings. Most modern displays have color and graphic settings that you can change. Playing with the screen settings can help improve visibility in game.
Typically when you’re making color alterations for visibility, you want to increase vision in dark areas. Adjusting the contrast, brightness and gamma typically helps in these areas. Increasing vibrance or saturation may also help make players stand out from the background, by adding more color.
Esports monitors will often have a decent amount of options for customizing your screen’s color and appearance. Popular BenQ monitors also have a black eQualizer feature, which greatly improves visibility in dark areas.
Nvidia Control Panel
Computers with a Nvidia graphics card have a specialised control panel for controlling their graphic and application settings. The display options give you the ability to change color settings for each monitor individually.
Right click on your desktop and choose to open the Nvidia control panel.
Select “Adjust desktop color settings” unde the Display heading on the left.
If you have multiple monitors you will need to select the one you use for playing Cold War.
Enable the Nvidia Settings.
Every monitor is different, because of this there aren’t global settings that you should be using. To best optimise visibility in dark areas, you may want to increase the gamma and contrast. You can edit the values by moving the sliders left and right.
Audio Settings
Audio is important when it comes to first person shooters, and Call of Duty is no exception. Having the right audio settings can be the difference between getting an elimination or not.
Cold War gives you the choice between multiple different audio mixes; Treyarch Mix, Flat, Headphones, Vocal Clarity, Quiet, High Boost, Bass Boost, and Super Bass Boost. It is recommended that you try each mix to see which option allows you to hear footsteps the best. The headphones and bass boost options are often preferred for making footsteps easier to hear.
When testing the audio mixes you want to listen for any sound that other players make. These will be reference points, and allow you to visualise where surrounding players are.
Conclusion
Seeing enemies in Cold War can be quite difficult, especially in dark areas and shadows. Fortunately there are some adjustments that you can make to increase your visibility and make enemies stand out. Changing your color options, adding filters and optimising the game all help you see enemies better. These graphical changes help make it easier to spot enemies and can give you a significant advantage in Cold War.
