The dreaded Packet Burst error is back in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. It doesn’t seem to matter which developer handles the latest COD project, you can bet Packet Loss occurrences are guaranteed, but perhaps not if you utilize some of our top tips to cure it.
Even if your internet connection is rock-solid, you can still be prone to the exhausting disruption of Packet Burst. The technical term simply means your server connection isn’t stable, what you’re seeing play out on screen isn’t necessarily what’s happening in real time, and it leads to inconsistent matches.
Black Ops 6 players are being affected by Packet Loss from match to match, so I’ve put together a handy list of solutions you can use in an attempt to alleviate the issue.
How to fix Packet Loss in Black Ops 6
The main thing you need to do is check your internet connection and consider all possibilities that could be harming your overall connection between your internet and Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 servers. Some solutions are more straightforward and obvious than others, but trying each one might just be the golden ticket.
Do a routine investigation of your connection
Let’s start simple: Check your router. Have a good rummage to see if its power light is on, make sure the light is a positive color to indicate it’s connected to the internet and rule out the possibility the router is the root (no pun intended) cause of Packet Loss.
Restart your router
Following up on my last tip, I recommend restarting your router—even if you don’t think it’s the problem. It doesn’t hurt, it’s not an overly long or complicated exercise, and you never know, it could work. Stranger things have happened!
Reboot Black Ops 6
No, I don’t mean make a game similar to Black Ops 6, I’m saying to close down Black Ops 6, return to your home screen, and boot up the FPS again. Falling under the “sure, why not” category again, technology is a fickle beast, and an unexplainable nightmare, so reset Black Ops 6, head into matchmaking, and see if it does the trick. If not, we move on to more technical solutions.
Check the Black Ops 6 servers
Activision doesn’t have an official server status page, as many companies do; however, I have faith in Down Detector to deliver the goods in this department. The free-to-use site has an official domain dedicated to Call of Duty—although it’s more CoD in general instead of exclusively targeting Black Ops 6—which is continually updated, and gives you an idea of any outages.
Additionally, keep tabs on the official Call of Duty X page for any major reports of instability, as well as social media in general.
On-Demand Texture Streaming
Under Black Ops 6’s graphic settings, you can adjust many different visual outputs: HDR, Motion Blur, FOV, and On-Demand Texture Streaming. The latter of these is the focus here as On-Demand Texture Streaming improves the fidelity of BLOPS 6 by downloading additional textures through an internet connection.
While having crisper textures is a plus, it comes at the expense of sapping more internet away from your match connection and impacting the stability of your gameplay. Consider keeping On-Demand Texture Streaming to “Minimal” to reduce the unnecessary strain on your internet.
Restart Shaders on PC
This is a PC-specific solution (sorry PlayStation and Xbox users) many players tend to overlook. If you pre-load shaders, it bloats your system’s cache, and ultimately your VRAM. As with On-Demand Texture Streaming, go into the graphics settings sub-menu, navigate to “Display,” and choose “Restart Shader Pre-Loading” to free up space.
Use an Ethernet Connection
Depending on your platform of choice, and where it is physically in relation to the router, I would definitely suggest getting an Ethernet cable and using an Ethernet Connection to join your gaming system directly to the router. I do this with my PS5 and our fiber optic internet and I have next-to-no issues with online multiplayer, ever.
Turn crossplay off
Crossplay is amazing for so many reasons: It speeds up matchmaking, it can improve the quality of matchmaking, and it allows you to play with friends across different platforms. But if you’re looking for a final quick fix to quell the wrath of Packet Loss, you can try disabling crossplay in an attempt to keep the internet connection restricted to the same consoles/computers.
The Black Ops 6 content train keeps rolling with our complete Safehouse Puzzle guide to open the safe, as well as an explainer of how to unlock the Liberty Falls Vault. If you want more general gaming news and guides, subscribing to our weekly newsletter gives you the latest, weekly insights into the gaming world.
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