Rules

Community maintained rulesets for Call of Duty: Zombies

Full gameplay is MANDATORY. Small amounts of missing footage because of a stream cutting out is fine - as long as no crucial moments in the game are missed.

Tip

You can avoid missing footage by recording at the same time.

#footage
Covering ANY hud element with any sort of overlays on the stream/recording is NOT ALLOWED.
#footage
Reading otherwise inaccessible information or changing the behavior of the game via patching, plugins or memory reading/writing is NOT ALLOWED unless a specific feature is widely understood as quality of life without providing significant advantage or is explicity allowed.
Editor note

This rule is very broad, but it applies whenever you cannot find an information about something specific. In some categories, you'll find rules that are essentially a duplication of this one, but for something specific, this means, the community discussed that one specific thing.

#tool
Using tools that write to game memory (like Cheat Engine) is NOT ALLOWED.
#tool
Emulators and virtual machines are NOT ALLOWED.
Requires further discussion

Emulator definition ambiguity

This rule technically makes playing on Linux unlegit, because the game is ran through an emulation layer. This has never been enforced, but the rule has not been updated either.

#system
Multiple actions bound to a single key/button, otherwise known as macros, are NOT ALLOWED.

BO1 explicitly voted in:

#config #gameplay #tool
Setting the sv_cheats DVAR to 1 is NOT ALLOWED unless otherwise specified.
#gameplay
Changing all settings available from unmodded game UI is ALLOWED unless there is a specific rule restricting it.
#config #system

Substituting a player in a coop game is NOT ALLOWED.

Note

Substituting a player means a different person joining for another session within the same game, the same set of players need to play throughout the entire game.

#gameplay

Opening doors is NOT ALLOWED.
#gameplay
Out of bounds glitches are NOT ALLOWED.
#gameplay #glitch
Split screen is ALLOWED for console runs.
#gameplay #system

Fast Knife exploit is ALLOWED.

Tip

Fast knifing is holding the fire button and then knifing rapidly

#gameplay #glitch
Fast ray exploit is NOT ALLOWED. In effect since Oct 13, 2020
Fast ray exploit showcase

Voted in:

#gameplay #glitch
Rapid fire is NOT ALLOWED In effect since Oct 13, 2020

Voted in:

What is Rapid Fire
#gameplay

Abusing fast nades glitch is NOT ALLOWED

Important

Fast nades is when due to pressing the nade button in a very specific interval nades are thrown at a faster rate. This is unavoidable in normal games, this just prevents abuse using external software.

In effect since Oct 13, 2020

Voted in:

#gameplay #glitch

Platform Rule
Steam NOT ALLOWED
Plutonium REQUIRED FOR PC
Redacted NOT ALLOWED
Xbox 360 / One / Series ALLOWED
PS3 ALLOWED
PS4 / PS5 ALLOWED
WiiU ALLOWED
#system
Full gameplay is REQUIRED to be publicly available and attached either to the game public montage, clip or directly linked to an entry on a leaderboard. Public playlist on the players publicly known channel on Twitch/YouTube is also sufficient. In effect since Mar 19, 2026

Voted in:

Editor note

This rule purposefully opens many ways to satisfy this requirement, it's not about dictating how player is suppose to share their gameplay, but to ensure they do it and it's possible to find.

#footage
Effect audio is REQUIRED to be audible in the gameplay footage. For co-op games, only host player is affected by this rule. In effect since Mar 19, 2026

Voted in:

#system

Plutonium is REQUIRED for runs on PC. You MUST be on a most recent version. Versions older than the most recent one become invalid when both of these conditions are true relative to the time the game begin:

  • A version is a month old or older
  • Newer version was released 72+ hours ago
Note

This was done to prevent cheating and for further enforcement of the rules.

In effect since Mar 16, 2026

Voted in:

Editor note

When the rule was drafted, one scenario was not fully covered. In case of an update that happens after more than a month, with that wording the player had 0 buffer. If they started a game 15 minutes after Plutonium updated but didn't run the updater, it would have been a reason to disqualify it. Because of this, the rule listed here is slightly adjusted to give players a buffer and prevent a situation where their game is DQ'd because of factors outside of their control.

#plutonium #system
Plutonium test/staging builds are NOT ALLOWED. In effect since Mar 19, 2026

Voted in:

#plutonium #system
Plugins are NOT ALLOWED unless otherwise specified.
#tool
Loading a mod from the main menu or any kind of fastfile is NOT ALLOWED.
#tool

The B2FR community patch is REQUIRED for runs on PC. You MUST be on a most recent version. Versions older than the most recent one become invalid when both of these conditions are true relative to the time the game begin:

  • A version is a month old or older
  • Newer version was released 72+ hours ago
In effect since Mar 16, 2026

Voted in:

Currently valid versions
B2FR Patch GitHub
Download latest B2FR HUD
Editor note

When the rule was drafted, one scenario was not fully covered. In case of an update that happens after more than a month, with that wording the player had 0 buffer. If they started a game 15 minutes after B2FR updated but didn't check for updates or run the updater, it would have been a reason to disqualify it. Because of this, the rule listed here is slightly adjusted to give players a buffer and prevent a situation where their game is DQ'd because of factors outside of their control.

#provided-by-b2fr #tool
Loading any GSC scripts other than the community patch is NOT ALLOWED. In effect since Mar 19, 2026

Voted in:

#tool

Disabling Plutonium anticheat functionality is NOT ALLOWED. The following DVARs CANNOT be disabled:

  • cg_flashscripthashes
  • cg_drawidentifier
#config #provided-by-b2fr #provided-by-plutonium #system

Covering Plutonium anticheat output on the gameplay is NOT ALLOWED. The output is the text in the upper right corner on the screen, and list of checksums listed in the upper left part of the screen every few rounds.

Tip

Check your stream overlay alignment BEFORE starting the game, make sure it does not cover any of important information on the screen.

Important

These are the protected elements

image

Editor note

There is also a separate hash output on the right, underneath the watermark. Covering this does not disqualify your run at this time, but it's recommended to keep it visible, to avoid controversy in the future in case it becomes necessary to validate games.

#footage #plutonium

Changing any settings in a Custom Game menu is NOT ALLOWED.

Tip

Default options are:

Option Value
Starting round 1
Magic Enabled
Headshots only Disabled
Hellhounds Disabled
#gameplay
For Co-Op games, the host's POV is REQUIRED. In effect since Apr 7, 2023

Voted in:

#footage

Fixed Backspeed is NOT ALLOWED.

Tip

Fixing backspeed means changing the player_backspeedscale and player_strafespeedscale values

In effect since Apr 20, 2020

Voted in:

Revoted in:

Revoted again in:

#config #gameplay #provided-by-b2fr
Using a patch to award permaperks that are not otherwise banned or inaccessible at the beginning of the game ALLOWED.
#provided-by-b2fr #tool
Max FPS changes are ALLOWED in range of 20 to 250.
Requires further discussion

This is agreed on by the majority of active players, however we don't know of any recorded votes about this topic.

#config #gameplay
Changing corpse count is NOT ALLOWED.
#config #gameplay
External automatic game and round timers are ALLOWED as long as they don't write to memory.
#tool
Error trackers are ALLOWED.
#provided-by-plutonium #tool
Changing FOV is ALLOWED. In effect since Oct 13, 2020

Voted in:

#config #gameplay
Bypassing the 25 day Black Screen is NOT ALLOWED.
Requires further discussion

2 Black ops 2 votes that touched on this topic did not include First Room, the bypass is therefore still Not Allowed as per default ruling from years ago. In modern days it does not require any BIOS actions (it's built into Plutonium) therefore we think it should be discussed.

#gameplay #system
Solo-Op is ALLOWED as long as players don't abuse leaving mid round.
#gameplay

Custom camos are ALLOWED with the exception of following types of textures:

  • AI (eg. zombies, hellhounds, leapers)
  • Player models (except for hand textures, the hands cannot be very bright or just be covered with gradient color)
  • Boards and other objects that delay time of entrance of zombies into the map
In effect since Mar 19, 2026

Voted in:

#aesthetics
Custom sounds are NOT ALLOWED In effect since Mar 19, 2026

Voted in:

#aesthetics

The sound REF leak fix is ALLOWED.

Tip

This fix is automatically enabled as of Plutonium version R5260.

Explanation video
Editor note

This does nothing in the first room, as the error in question is not possible to reach with the emount of kills done in a first room game. The rule is put in here for completion.

#gameplay #provided-by-plutonium

The use of the pause_hard command is ALLOWED.

Caution

While being very helpful for World at War and Black Ops 1, we know of cases where it caused Black Ops 2 crash, we therefore recommend to not use it for the time being.

#gameplay #provided-by-plutonium
Removing the fog is NOT ALLOWED. In effect since Apr 7, 2023

Voted in:

#aesthetics #gameplay
Reading player health value is NOT ALLOWED. In effect since Mar 5, 2023
Editor note

This rule forbids the use of HealthBar app

Voted in:

Editor note

This was voted on in a general Black Ops 2 vote that didn't exclude First Room and therefore applies here. First Room players seem to agree with that decision.

#gameplay #tool
Duplication of weapons is NOT ALLOWED.
#gameplay #glitch
Removal of foliage, smoke effect, and fire is NOT ALLOWED.
#gameplay
Theater mode injections are NOT ALLOWED.
#tool

The spawn control startegy is NOT ALLOWED

Important

Spawn control strategy is abusing imperfect zoning to cause zombies to spawn from spawns that are not normally active during a First Room game

In effect since Apr 7, 2023

Voted in:

Editor note

The vote went over maps that were known to have this exploit at the time, however the overall sentiment was that this strategy is overall unacceptable.

#gameplay #glitch

Boarding strategy is ALLOWED.

Note

Boarding strategy means progressing the round by letting zombies bleed out behind windows when played don't do any additional actions to push the round, such as doing a horde up, forcing power ups or shotting windows

In effect since Mar 2, 2026

Voted in:

#gameplay #glitch

Abusing reconnecting to keep persistent Jug permaperk after round 14 is NOT ALLOWED.

Note

If a player joins back with the permaperk past round 15, a down won't take it away anymore due to missing game logic.

#gameplay #glitch
Off-host players retaining their perks between breaks with a help of the patch is ALLOWED In effect since Mar 2, 2026

Voted in:

#gameplay #provided-by-b2fr
Ray Gun wallbuy persistent perk (Nube) is NOT ALLOWED. In effect since Apr 7, 2023

Voted in:

#gameplay