Black Ops’ Patch Lands

If you fire up Call Of Duty: Black Ops today on either the Xbox 360 or PS3 you’ll find an update waiting for you. The patch fixes a whole host of issues that have been affecting the game, not least its online connectivity, matchmaking and lag. A PC patch should also land sometime later this week.

Title Update 4 for the Xbox 360 Issues Addressed:

• Resolved several issues with parties getting disbanded unexpectedly.
• Updated handling for UPnP-enabled routers to improve matchmaking conditions where users had strict or moderate NAT types. Also added in-game communications so that all players are aware of their NAT type in the Player Match party lobby.
• Addressed issue that prevented the “Load MP by Default” option from saving when other specific option combinations were set.
• Prevention of exploit that allowed players to keep custom classes and killstreaks after prestige.
• Addressed an issue where Flak Jacket Pro would not always protect against ground fires left by Napalm Strikes.
• Prevention of users losing their killstreak reward when switching classes at the start of a new round in round-based game modes.
• Addressed an issue where the incorrect perks would appear when spectating another player under certain circumstances.
• Added round start explosive delay to China Lake grenade launcher to give it the same round start limitations as other explosives.
• Contracts will now reset when the player Prestiges.
• Prevention of Valkyrie rocket exploding upon release under rare conditions.
• Prevention of Gunship and Chopper Gunner failing to give player full control under rare conditions.
• Prevention of an issue where a player will get teleported outside the map boundaries under very specific circumstances.
• Additional security measures to enhance detection and banning capabilities.

Gameplay Tuning:

• Limit the ability to re-roll supply drops using Hardline Pro to Care Packages only, no other killstreak drops.
• Added a negative influencer to all spawn points to decrease the chances of spawning near an enemy. This will further improve spawning protection on top of previous updates.
• Additional sound mix tuning for Ninja Pro users – increased ranges and volume of enemy footsteps, and removed player footstep sounds on concrete material types.
• Increased headshot multipliers for sniper rifles. Sniper rifles with suppressors equipped will now always be ensured one-shot kill headshots.
• Subtle increase in sniper rifle accuracy when scoping in.
• Added a render delay to the red diamond player indicators that appear when controlling the Gunship, Valkyrie Rocket and Chopper Gunner. When a player first spawns, this will not appear for a period of time.
• Additional minor reductions in knife lunge.

In addition to these, there is also the continual stream of live fixes which are patched in during your console’s initial sync procedure which fix even more issues, you can read about those in full on the Black Ops Xbox 360 forums.

Patch 1.04 on the PS3 Issues Addressed:

• Resolved several issues with parties getting disbanded unexpectedly.
• Additional measures to prevent the “Transmission error” and other disconnects. This was most likely to occur with large parties where party members had mixed NAT types.
• Updated handling for UPnP-enabled routers to improve matchmaking conditions where users had strict or moderate NAT types. Also added in-game communications so that all players are aware of their NAT type in the Player Match party lobby.
• Addressed an issue with VOIP icons not appearing when USB headsets were plugged in prior to game launch.
• Prevention of exploit that allowed players to keep custom classes and killstreaks after prestige.
• Addressed an issue where Flak Jacket Pro would not always protect against ground fires left by Napalm Strikes.
• Prevention of users losing their killstreak reward when switching classes at the start of a new round in round-based game modes.
• Addressed an issue where the incorrect perks would appear when spectating another player under certain circumstances.
• Added round start explosive delay to China Lake grenade launcher to give it the same round start limitations as other explosives.
• Contracts will now reset when the player Prestiges.
• Prevention of Valkyrie rocket exploding upon release under rare conditions.
• Prevention of Gunship and Chopper Gunner failing to give player full control under rare conditions.
• Prevention of an issue where a player will get teleported outside the map boundaries under very specific circumstances.
• Additional security measures to enhance detection and banning capabilities.

Gameplay Tuning:

• Limit the ability to re-roll supply drops using Hardline Pro to Care Packages only, no other killstreak drops.
• Added a negative influencer to all spawn points to decrease the chances of spawning near an enemy. This will further improve spawning protection on top of previous updates.
• Additional sound mix tuning for Ninja Pro users – increased ranges and volume of enemy footsteps, and removed player footstep sounds on concrete material types.
• Increased headshot multipliers for sniper rifles. Sniper rifles with suppressors equipped will now always be ensured one-shot kill headshots.
• Subtle increase in sniper rifle accuracy when scoping in.
• Added a render delay to the red diamond player indicators that appear when controlling the Gunship, Valkyrie Rocket and Chopper Gunner. When a player first spawns, this will not appear for a period of time.
• Additional minor reductions in knife lunge.

Again, there is a whole host of ‘live fixes’ which are applied on an almost daily basis which can be found on the Black Ops PS3 forums.