A netcode analysis shows that some game modes in the Open Beta ran with a tick rate of only 20 Hz and on non-dedicated servers.
During the beta of Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War, technical problems occurred repeatedly. Especially annoying: hits were often not evaluated correctly. Many players complained, for example, that they noticed much too late when they were fired upon.
The expert Battle(non)sense, known as reliable, analyzed the netcode of Cold War and showed that some modes were running on surprisingly slow servers. He shared his results in a video that you can find above.
What did he find out?
Two new modes run at only 20 Hz: According to his findings, both Dirty Bomb and Combined Arms run on servers with a tick rate of just 20 Hz. Smaller modes like Domination run at 59 Hz. For comparison: Battlefield 5 used servers with 60 Hz. Already Black Ops 4 caused a debate about low tick rates:
Mix of dedicated and P2P servers:Battle(non)sense shows in its beta analysis that smaller game modes partly run on non-dedicated servers. This concerns for example 6-vs-6 Custom Matches. Modes with more players, however, rely on dedicated servers, for example Combined Arms: Assault.
What does this mean in concrete terms? If a server is running at a tick rate of 20 Hz, the game client is only updated 20 times per second. The slow transmission can for example cause you to get hit even though you have already taken cover.
Players are worried
Many CoD players now have concerns about whether the problems will be fixed by the launch or whether Cold War will continue to suffer from slow servers and lags. The connection problems were one of the biggest criticisms of the beta:
The data of Battle(non)sense only refers to the Open Beta so far. He thinks it’s quite possible that there will be some improvements until the launch – of course we’ll keep you informed.
It’s not the only front Cold War has to fight on: Already during the test phase, the first cheaters and hackers came along. The final release is scheduled for November 13, 2020.
