Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 PS4 players are using exploits to instantly reach max prestige, according to a new report.
According to reports from the community, the recently released PS4 versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 are already facing widespread multiplayer exploits, with players claiming that modified accounts and altered game data are allowing some users to instantly reach max prestige, bypass the normal progression system, and, in some cases, negatively affect other players’ accounts.
Players have reportedly begun encountering those who are already at Master Prestige despite the games only being available since 4 days. The more serious issues are plaguing the PS4 port of the original Black Ops, where certain modified save files can alter XP values during Domination matches. Because the game’s multiplayer relies on peer-to-peer networking, these modified settings can affect everyone connected to a lobby hosted by someone using the altered data. As a result, some players have experienced extreme XP gains from a single elimination, instantly boosting them to the highest rank and prestige level. While this doesn’t prevent them from continuing to play, it effectively skips the game’s entire multiplayer progression system.
To make matters worse, there are also reports that manipulated XP values can also work in the opposite direction, where affected players can receive an enormous amount of negative XP, causing their multiplayer rank to drop below the minimum playable level. This can leave accounts unable to access multiplayer unless the game is force-closed before the altered XP is fully applied, although there’s no guarantee this will revert back to the actual XP.
The exploit is apparently made possible via editable configuration data stored within the PS4 save file. Methods for modifying save data have existed for years, making the exploit relatively simple. The port appears to be based on an earlier build of the game, rather than a version that had addressed such vulnerabilities.
Things are less troublesome in Black Ops 2, as reports indicate that while players are still managing to create max-ranked and max-prestige accounts, the methods being used require significantly more specialized hardware, such as PlayStation 4 dev kits.
