Last Updated on November 12, 2020
How to Fix Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (BOCW) Safe Mode Bug – Call of Duty is one of the most anticipated titles of this year, the game is expected to do really well for Activision similar to every COD title. The game has finally released, along with the release we’ve encountered a huge number of bugs that are running the gaming experience for everyone.
Similar to every AAA title, Black Ops Cold War also suffers from performance related issues. People have started complaining about the same on the forums and Reddit threads. Developers are actively looking into the issues and should be pushing out patches to fix them shortly. Until then, you can use this article to fix your problems for a while.
Fix Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War Safe Mode Bug

What is the Safe Mode Bug in Black Ops Cold War?
Your game did not shut down properly during your last session, would you like to start in Safe Mode?
Note: Safe mode will change you Graphics Settings
The game launches in Safe mode when it crashes without a reason, the safe mode is made to make sure that the recommended settings are applied. However, some users are getting the Safe Mode message again and again.
Below are a few tweaks that you can apply to fix your issues:
Tone Down Game Settings
The general rule of thumb for every game is if you are lagging it is always recommended to tone down the settings. Play around a little bit with the settings, turn down shadows and textures, this should help.
Disable Safe Mode
To do so:
- Launch your game
- Select “No” if you want to keep your settings
- Go to Options > Graphics
- Change Display Mode to “Fullscreen”
- Now Set Render Resolution to 100
- Click on Apply Settings
Continue reading this article if you are still facing the issue.
Update Device Drivers
Whenever a new game makes it’s arrival, especially when it’s a AAA title, Nvidia is known for pushing their optimized updates for the best performance with their graphic cards. I am not sure about AMD because I’ve never used an AMD card. Below are the links for downloading the latest drivers.
Since this is a AAA title, I am sure Nvidia will be pushing an update with compatibility for this game. Make sure to keep an eye on your device driver updates.
Repair Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War
If you still haven’t been able to successfully fix your game, the last resort would be repairing or reinstalling the game. To repair the game, follow the steps given below:
- Launch Battle.net Launcher
- Select Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
- Click on the Options Gear
- Select “Scan and Repair”
- Let the launcher do it’s job, if something’s missing or broken, the launcher will download and fix it
Launch the game and your issue should be fixed.
Disable Full-Screen Optimization & High DPI in Windows 10
Full-screen optimization and DPI settings come pre-configured with Windows 10. These are known for causing trouble with games leading to several issues. To disable:
- Locate the game installation
- Find the .exe file of the game
- Right-click > Properties > Compatibility Tab
- Tick the “Disable Full-Screen Optimizations” tab
- Now, click the “Change high DPI settings” button
- Tick “Override high DPI scaling behaviour” and select “Application” from the drop-down menu
- Save Settings.
Update Windows
The recent couple updates were weird and broke a lot of games, to fix those issues, Windows has already pushed out hotfixes and you can download them right away. If you are running an older version of Windows, I’d recommend you to download the updated version.
There was also an update that caused windows to use up a lot of RAM for its search bar’s function called Cortana. This also has been fixed, you just have to update.
The tweaks given above should be able to fix your issue, but if for some reason you are still having problems head here and report it to the devs.