Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is arguably one of the best PC ports of this generation and a feature-rich entry in the long-running first-person shooter series. From advanced options like downsampling (the ability to render games in 4K and then project them at 1080p for a higher-quality image) to options to adjust textures and lighting, there are plenty of ways you can enhance your experience.
However, about a month after launch, developer Treyarch removed the ability for users with graphics cards with 2GB of VRAM or less to select options above and above medium settings. This is a strange move considering that newer cards like Nvidia’s GTX 960 can easily manage high settings even with 2GB of VRAM. While the developers have been mum on the reasons for the change, the Call of Duty community believes the change is to ensure cards with less memory aren’t running the game at settings that could adversely affect performance.
(See also: The PC version of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is better than expected)
While you can spend money on more powerful graphics cards like the AMD R9 Fury or Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti, there’s another cost-effective way to bring back high-end and ultra options. Here’s how.
(See also: Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Review)
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Find your Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 profile. It is usually located in the config.ini in the Steam folder Steam\steamapps\common\Call of Duty Black Ops III\players
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Open config.ini using notepad or any text editor.
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Look for “RestrictGraphicsOptions = “1””. Change 1 to 0. It should look like RestrictGraphicsOptions = “0”.
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Save the file and close it.
When you launch the game, you should be able to select the High and Ultra options using a graphics card with 2GB VRAM or less. How do you optimize your Call of Duty experience on PC? Let us know in the comments.
