Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 has been released into the wild and players are beginning to rack up the wins on Al Mazrah. The launch of such a massive and anticipated free to play title is not going to be without its issues, however, even when there are more than a dozen support studios putting all hands-on deck. Infinity Ward and Raven Software, the lead studios on Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0’s development and maintenance, have been fairly snappy with updates and hotfixes but there’s still plenty of issues cropping up. Here’s the list of known bugs and issues currently hexing Warzone 2.0 players, as well as any workarounds we can find.
List of known bugs in Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0
Dev error 356
The Dev Error 356 issue began cropping up with the release of Season 1 content for Modern Warfare 2 (2022) and the launch of Warzone 2.0. This bug causes a dialog box to pop up and prevent players from getting past either game’s initial loading screen.
The workaround: There’s no permanent fix for this particular issue from the development team, yet, though some PC players have had luck with repairing or verifying game files through their respective launchers. Similarly, enabling the Shader Cache Optimization through the game’s settings menu has also helped curb this particular bug.
To restart shaders optimization:
- Open the Call of Duty HQ hub settings menu
- Select the Graphics tab
- Select the Display tab
- Click Restart Shaders Optimization
Social kicking back to menu
Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 is a social experience meant to be played with a squad of up to four people working together to eliminate enemy squads. For many playing on Xbox and PC, however, the social tab of the game was horribly broken on launch. Any effort to interact with the game’s interior social tabs would kick the player back to the main menu. This affected joining parties, sending invites, adding friends, and sending whispers.
The fix: This was patched as part of a hotfix on Nov. 17.
The workaround: While this has been fixed for now, issues like these have a way of rearing their ugly heads once again later down the road. Should you find yourself unable to access the game’s social tabs once again, we found a bit of a convoluted workaround.
To work around the social tab:
- Open the party menu by selecting the headphone icon
- Find the box for your party and right click to open a menu
- Select Invite to Party from the menu
- Select the players you want to invite from the available list, then click Invite to Party once more. Your friend(s) can then accept the invite to join up.
Skipping Downed Phase bug
In Warzone being bested by another player is not an automatic out, and instead players are downed or “knocked” to an incapacitated state on the ground. Should the rest of your squad be able to take out the enemies you can be revived by them, or you can use a self-revive if there is one in your stash. Warzone 2.0 even added a revive pistol as a field upgrade that can be used on teammates and oneself. None of these revive methods matter, however, if you are automatically eliminated and skip the downed phase. This bug, while only occurring in Battle Royale playlists, has no fix yet and is currently being investigated by Raven Software.
Inconsistent After Action Report bug
If you’ve had a successful match in Warzone 2.0 and managed to avoid all other issues you may want to check out your After Action Report. Surprise, there’s a bug here, too. After Action Reports are at risk of being inconsistent on Xbox and PC. There is not yet a fix for this, but Raven Software is investigating the issue according to the Trello board for Warzone 2.0. Despite the inconsistent AAR, players can rest assured they are receiving accurate XP payouts.
Disappearing backpacks in DMZ
Players on Xbox and PC may eliminate a player and then go looking for their dropped backpack for that sweet, sweet loot only to find it has evaporated into thin air. A bug is causing player backpacks to disappear if the scorned combatant disconnects from Warzone 2.0 after being eliminated. This prevents the victorious team from scavenging any loot. Raven Software is currently investigating this issue.
Purchase Modern Warfare 2 for Access error
Some players are reporting that they receive an error message while playing Warzone 2.0 instructing them to purchase Modern Warfare 2 in order to ‘Access Everything”, even if they already own Modern Warfare 2. There’s currently no acknowledgement of this bug from Raven Software.
The workaround: Restarting your Call of Duty HQ client seems to resolve the issue for most players. In worst case scenarios, you may need to reboot your console or verify for your game files on PC.
Operator Executions issue
Players on all platforms have stated that they are having issues equipping default executions when customizing their playable Operators. Raven Software acknowledges this as a game-wide issue on the Warzone 2.0 Trello board, and they are currently investigating.
Play Again disabled
If you’ve had a successful match in Warzone 2.0 and want to play again with your squad, you may find that there is no option to do so at this time. Due to other issues with the Play Again button, the option has been completely disabled while Raven Software investigates.
The workaround: If you’re currently playing in a party the good news is that the party leader can back out and choose Leave Game With Party to pull the team with them following the end of a match. Returning to the menu lets you search for a new match so you can drop in again with your squad.
Stalled in a pre-game lobby
Before each match of Warzone, players are placed in a pre-game lobby where they can adjust their loadouts and duke it out against other players. During this time, the lobby is supposed to fill any missing spots and then a countdown timer will appear to indicate how long until the match officially begins. Players are experiencing limbo lobbies where the countdown timer never kicks into action. In other instances, the timer doesn’t begin until the player count is below a certain threshold (less than 50% of an available lobby, even). There is no acknowledgement of this issue on the Trello board.
The workaround: Unfortunately, there is not much players can do about this issue besides simply backing out of the existing pre-game lobby and trying to search for a new match. If the issue is persistent, promoting another member of your squad as the party leader can help as can restarting the Call of Duty HQ client.
Growing pains
Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 is a huge step toward the future of the franchise and is intended to be a permanent foundation for which all future Call of Duty titles are developed. It’s inevitable that there will be growing pains during this time. Thankfully, even if Warzone 2.0 is giving you troubles you can still get your Call of Duty fix by jumping into Modern Warfare 2 (2022) multiplayer as many of the maps are small slices of Al Mazrah. Before jumping into multiplayer, however, you may want to check our list of known issues for Modern Warfare 2, as well. If you’re completely new to Call of Duty, consider checking out our beginner’s guide to Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer or guide on the best beginner weapon loadouts. If you haven’t even picked up Modern Warfare 2 yet our buyer’s guide can help you decide which edition to pick up.
