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

Gameplay MUST BE publicly available (unlisted YouTube video is fine) at all times, and have good enough quality to be able to clearly make out all important visual aspects of the game.

#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

Split screen is ALLOWED for console runs.

#gameplay #system

Platform	Rule
PC - Steam / CD	NOT ALLOWED
PC - BGamer	NOT ALLOWED
PC - Plutonium	REQUIRED FOR PC
Xbox 360 / One / Series	ALLOWED
PS3	ALLOWED
PS4 / PS5	NOT ALLOWED
Wii	SEPARATE CATEGORY

#system

Plutonium is REQUIRED for runs on PC. You MUST be on a version of Plutonium released within the last month from the beginning of the game, or sooner. If no new updates took place, the current version is VALID.

Important

Players will need to change some menu options before playing, these will save after they have been set.

Navigate to the game's SETTINGS menu, and click on the GAME tab.
Set DRAW GAME IDENTIFIER to YES.
Set AUTO FLASH SCRIPT HASHES to ON. ALL is also fine, but not necessary.

This is what it should look like:

Note

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

In effect since Aug 15, 2026

Voted in

Currently valid versions

Plutonium

#plutonium #tool

Players are REQUIRED to click the FLASH SCRIPT HASHES NOW button right before the end of the game (i.e. right before reset, box error, or upon game over) in order for it to be valid.

Tip

You can find this button by going to the game's SETTINGS menu and clicking on the GAME tab.

The Competitive-T5 plugin will automatically do this throughout the game for you.

You can also do this manually by running the command flashScriptHashes from the console.

In effect since Aug 15, 2026

Voted in

#footage #provided-by-ct5

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.

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

In effect since Aug 15, 2026

Voted in:

#footage #plutonium

For Co-Op games, the host's POV is REQUIRED. In effect since Feb 8, 2026

Voted in

Editor note

This rule by itself is only enforced for TOP3 games, however lack of host POV is going to DQ the game based on other rules.

#footage

Disconnecting, reconnecting and pausing in Co-Op runs via Plutonium is ALLOWED. In effect since May 3, 2025

Voted in

#gameplay #provided-by-plutonium #system

External automatic game and round timers are ALLOWED as long as they don't write to memory.

#tool

The BoxAverageTracker tool is ALLOWED.

Tool page

#tool

The Competitive-T5 plugin is ALLOWED.

Plugin page

Plugin download

Download latest CT5

#tool

Error trackers are ALLOWED.

#provided-by-plutonium #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 FOV is ALLOWED.

Requires further discussion

Constraining the values was never properly discussed, so any value accepted by the engine is allowed. We recommend sticking to 65-90 effective FOV until that changes.

#config #gameplay

Changing Graphic Content is ALLOWED between games. Changing it mid game is NOT ALLOWED. In effect since Feb 8, 2026

Mid game toggling clarified in:

Voted in:

#gameplay

Canceling perk drinking animations is ALLOWED.

#gameplay #glitch

Out of bounds glitches for breaks/sleepers in Co-Op is ALLOWED. In effect since Jan 30, 2023

Voted in

#glitch

Solo-Op is ALLOWED via the following methods:

Connecting from multiple instances of the game from the same computer.
Two people physically controlling the game at the same time.

#gameplay

Custom Camos and Textures are ALLOWED, but MUST NOT change one or more of the following:

Zombie, hell hound or any AI type's textures.
Significant changes to the environment, such as entire walls, the ground, etc.
- Smaller things are fine, some examples include but are not limited to:
  - Paintings or chalk on the wall
  - The Earth on Moon
  - Ascension PHD Wall
  - Mystery Box
  - PAP/Perk Machines
  - Pipes on Ascension
Red screen and fire trap/electrical trap HUD textures.
The entire map, such as Snow Numa.
Transparent textures of any kind, except standard HUD elements, such as DPAD, score blood, etc.

Note

You may upscale disallowed textures to a higher quality, as they are almost the same texture.

In effect since Aug 15, 2026

Voted in

#aesthetics #gameplay

Fixed Backspeed is ALLOWED.

Important

This rule permits modification of player_backspeedscale and player_strafespeedscale dvars to a value of 1.0

This rule also permits loading up Dead Ops Arcade before a zombies map, which will achieve the same effect.

#gameplay #glitch #provided-by-ct5

Rebinding the interaction button on controller to the keyboard binding to hit the Mystery Box at the same speed as Keyboard & Mouse is ALLOWED.

Important

Modifying the g_useholdtime DVAR is NOT the same thing as this. The correct way of doing it is by pasting all of these commands into the console:

seta gpad_buttonsConfig "buttons_custom"

bind BUTTON_X "+reload"

bind2 BUTTON_X "+activate"

You can also use an external tool such as AntiMicroX to map the appropriate buttons.

In effect since Jan 30, 2023

Voted in

#gameplay

Fast Knife exploit is ALLOWED.

Tip

Fast knifing is holding the fire button and then knifing rapidly

#gameplay #glitch

Bypassing the 25 day Black Screen is ALLOWED.

Tip

BIOS method is allowed, but it can be done with the following command:

fade 0 0 0 0 0

In effect since Feb 8, 2026

Voted in

#gameplay #provided-by-plutonium #system

Checking the initial box location at the start of the game using the noclip or setviewpos commands is ALLOWED.

Important

This requires the use of sv_cheats 1 and is the only instance where this command is allowed.

When fast restarting, you must structure your bind like this to disable sv_cheats, otherwise your game may become invalid:

bind KEY "sv_cheats 0; fast_restart"

Tip

The Competitive-T5 plugin automatically disables sv_cheats for you.

#gameplay #tool

The use of the pause_hard command is ALLOWED.

Tip

This command freezes your game to prevent certain things from crashing it, and allows for Co-Op pausing without leaving the game.

#gameplay #provided-by-plutonium

Disabling Mule Kick is ALLOWED for both Solo and Co-Op.

Tip

You can toggle the perk on and off in the main menu by going to SETTINGS and clicking on the GAME tab and changing the ENABLE MULE KICK option.

In effect since Aug 15, 2026

Voted in:

Re-voted in

#gameplay #provided-by-plutonium

Automatic trap timers are ALLOWED. In effect since Jan 30, 2023

Voted in:

#provided-by-ct5 #tool

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

cg_flashscripthashes
cg_drawidentifier

#config #provided-by-plutonium #system

Loading a mod from the main menu or any kind of fastfile is NOT ALLOWED.

#tool

Renaming or deleting vanilla fastfiles so that the game does not load them is NOT ALLOWED.

#tool

Fast ray exploit is NOT ALLOWED.

Fast ray exploit showcase

#gameplay #glitch

Removing the fog is NOT ALLOWED. In effect since Jan 30, 2023

Voted in:

#aesthetics #gameplay

Reading player health value is NOT ALLOWED. In effect since Jan 30, 2023

Editor note

This rule forbids the use of HealthBar app

Voted in:

#gameplay #tool

Setting corpse count value to any option that's not exposed by the in-game options menu is NOT ALLOWED.

#config #gameplay

Duplication of weapons is NOT ALLOWED.

#gameplay #glitch

Plugins are NOT ALLOWED unless otherwise specified.

#tool

Twitch Integration Mod (TIM) is NOT ALLOWED. In effect since Aug 15, 2026

Voted in:

#tool

Modifying the Damage Icon Duration is NOT ALLOWED. In effect since Jan 30, 2023

Voted in:

#gameplay

Disabling ragdolls is NOT ALLOWED.

#gameplay

Canceling roof spawns is NOT ALLOWED.

Voted in:

Re-voted in:

#gameplay #glitch

Campaign difficulty exploit is NOT ALLOWED.

Note

Difficulty settings can carry over between campaign and zombies, which changes player statistics. Zombies is meant to be played on "Regular" by default.

Players do not need to do anything unless they loaded a mission beforehand, in which case just restart the game on PC, for console however you will need to load a campaign mission on the "Regular" difficulty, as it will save to your config.

#gameplay #glitch

Plutonium test/staging builds are NOT ALLOWED. In effect since Aug 15, 2026

Voted in

#plutonium #system

Event tracker is NOT ALLOWED

Note

Number of events is showing when the player is going to get an action failure, eg. TGun fail

In effect since Feb 8, 2026

Voted in:

#gameplay #tool

Players are ALLOWED to give the Hacker Device to off-host players in order to obtain longer reset times. In effect since May 3, 2025

Voted in

#gameplay

Trapping the Cosmonaut in Tunnel 11 is ALLOWED.

#gameplay #glitch

Glitching the Cosmonaut is NOT ALLOWED.

What this means:

When taking the jump pads in the Biodome while the Cosmonaut spawns in, it will glitch him out and put him in an idle state for the rest of the game.

#glitch

Shortening the rounds down to 24 zombies using the teleporter is NOT ALLOWED.

#glitch

Recent changes

Review status

Votes

Voting period: Jul 10, 2026 – Aug 15, 2026

Participation

Received: 87
Eligible: 48
Excluded: 39

General

Should Plutonium be REQUIRED for competitive games on PC going forward?

Result: ✅ Required

Choice	Votes	Percent
✅ Required	33	51.56%
❌ Not Required	21	32.81%
😐 No Opinion	10	15.63%

If Plutonium is required, should there be a constraint on the versions people can use for competitive games?

Result: ✅ Yes, constrain the version as proposed above

Choice	Votes	Percent
✅ Yes, constrain the version as proposed above	27	42.19%
😐 No Opinion	22	34.38%
❌ No, do not constrain the version (R5278+ will remain the requirement going forward until further notice)	15	23.44%

Should we disallow playing on Plutonium test builds?

Result: ✅ Yes, disallow playing on test (staging) builds

Choice	Votes	Percent
✅ Yes, disallow playing on test (staging) builds	35	54.69%
😐 No Opinion	25	39.06%
❌ No, using testing (staging) builds should remain as an option for competitive games	4	6.25%

If Plutonium is required, should the Competitive-T5 plugin be required alongside it?

Result: ❌ Not Required

Choice	Votes	Percent
❌ Not Required	33	51.56%
✅ Required	21	32.81%
😐 No Opinion	10	15.63%

If Competitive-T5 is required, should there be a constraint on the versions people can use for competitive games?

Result: 😐 No Opinion

Choice	Votes	Percent
😐 No Opinion	28	43.75%
✅ Yes, constrain the version as proposed above	21	32.81%
❌ No, do not constrain the version	15	23.44%

If something is not explicitly allowed, should it automatically be disallowed?

Result: ❌ No, do not automatically disallow everything that is not stated as allowed

Choice	Votes	Percent
❌ No, do not automatically disallow everything that is not stated as allowed	33	51.56%
✅ Yes, automatically disallow everything that is not stated as allowed	22	34.38%
😐 No Opinion	9	14.06%

Should we constrain Custom Textures to prevent the use of textures that give an advantage?

Result: ✅ Yes, constrain custom textures with the proposed solution

Choice	Votes	Percent
✅ Yes, constrain custom textures with the proposed solution	33	51.56%
❌ No, do not constrain custom textures at all	25	39.06%
😐 No Opinion	6	9.38%

Should removing Mule Kick be allowed in Co-Ops?

Result: ✅ Yes, allow removing Mule Kick in Co-Ops

Choice	Votes	Percent
✅ Yes, allow removing Mule Kick in Co-Ops	36	56.25%
❌ No, do not allow removing Mule Kick in Co-Ops	19	29.69%
😐 No Opinion	9	14.06%

Should TIM (Twitch Integration Mod) still be allowed?

Result: ❌ No, do not continue allowing TIM

Choice	Votes	Percent
❌ No, do not continue allowing TIM	34	53.13%
✅ Yes, continue allowing TIM	19	29.69%
😐 No Opinion	11	17.19%

If allowed globally, should TIM (Twitch Integration Mod) be disallowed on Call of The Dead only, due to the George Max feature?

Result: 😐 No Opinion

Choice	Votes	Percent
😐 No Opinion	26	40.63%
❌ No, do not disallow TIM on Call of The Dead only	19	29.69%
✅ Yes, disallow TIM on Call of The Dead only	19	29.69%

Should BGamer still be allowed?

Result: ❌ No, do not continue allowing BGamer

Choice	Votes	Percent
❌ No, do not continue allowing BGamer	36	56.25%
😐 No Opinion	18	28.13%
✅ Yes, continue allowing BGamer	10	15.63%

Should the PS4/PS5 ports of Black Ops 1 be disallowed until we know what's different?

Result: ✅ Yes, disallow until we know what's different

Choice	Votes	Percent
✅ Yes, disallow until we know what's different	31	48.44%
❌ No, do not disallow at all	21	32.81%
😐 No Opinion	12	18.75%

Voting period: Mar 6, 2026 – Mar 19, 2026

Participation

Received: 45
Eligible: 31
Excluded: 14

General

Should Roof Spawn Canceling be allowed on Moon?

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes	Percent
Not Allowed	8	47.06%
Allowed	7	41.18%
No Opinion	2	11.76%

Should Roof Spawn Canceling be allowed on Shangri-La?

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes	Percent
Allowed	8	61.54%
Not Allowed	5	38.46%
No Opinion	0	0%

Should Roof Spawn Canceling be allowed on Call of The Dead in SOLO?

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes	Percent
Not Allowed	3	100%
Allowed	0	0%
No Opinion	0	0%

Should Roof Spawn Canceling be allowed on Call of The Dead in COOP?

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes	Percent
Allowed	10	71.43%
Not Allowed	4	28.57%
No Opinion	0	0%

Should glitching the Nova Spawns on Kino Der Toten be allowed?

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes	Percent
Allowed	4	100%
Not Allowed	0	0%
No Opinion	0	0%

Voting period: Jan 24, 2026 – Feb 8, 2026

Participation

Received: 81
Eligible: 81
Excluded: 0

General

Should the Campaign Difficulty exploit be allowed?

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes	Percent
Not Allowed	60	75%
Allowed	16	20%
No Opinion	4	5%

If disallowed, should runs played with it before this vote be removed from the leaderboards?

Result: Yes

Choice	Votes	Percent
Yes	38	47.5%
No	26	32.5%
No Opinion	16	20%

Should toggling Graphic Content mid-game be allowed?

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes	Percent
Not Allowed	60	75%
Allowed	15	18.75%
No Opinion	5	6.25%

If disallowed, should runs played with it before this vote be removed from the leaderboards?

Result: Yes

Choice	Votes	Percent
Yes	39	48.75%
No	25	31.25%
No Opinion	16	20%

Should Roof Spawn Cancelling be allowed?

Result: Separate category for Fixing Roof Spawn Cancelling

Choice	Votes	Percent
Separate category for Fixing Roof Spawn Cancelling	21	26.25%
Allowed	20	25%
No Opinion	20	25%
Not Allowed	19	23.75%

Should bypassing the 25 Day Black Screen be allowed via Config/Command/BIOS?

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes	Percent
Allowed	64	80%
No Opinion	10	12.5%
Not Allowed	6	7.5%

Should the Event Tracker be allowed?

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes	Percent
Not Allowed	40	50%
Allowed	24	30%
No Opinion	16	20%

Should the Host POV be Required for the Top 3 Coop games?

Result: Required

Choice	Votes	Percent
Required	68	85%
No Opinion	9	11.25%
Not Required	3	3.75%

Voting period: Apr 25, 2025 – May 3, 2025

Participation

Received: 174
Eligible: 91
Excluded: 83

General

Should Plutonium's co-op pausing feature be allowed?

Result: ✅ Allow

Choice	Votes	Percent
✅ Allow	75	82.42%
🚫 Ban	13	14.29%
🤷‍♂️ No opinion	3	3.3%

Should reduced graphic content in co-op be allowed?

Result: ✅ Allow

Choice	Votes	Percent
✅ Allow	43	47.25%
🚫 Ban	28	30.77%
🤷‍♂️ No opinion	20	21.98%

Should Mule Kick Removal in Co-Op be allowed?

Result: 🚫 Ban

Choice	Votes	Percent
🚫 Ban	37	40.66%
✅ Allow	30	32.97%
🤷‍♂️ No opinion	24	26.37%

Should players be allowed to use Monkey Bombs after reconnecting to a game on Nacht Der Untoten and Verrückt ?

Result: ✅ Allow

Choice	Votes	Percent
✅ Allow	28	30.77%
🚫 Ban	24	26.37%
🤷‍♂️ No opinion	20	21.98%
🔎 Only the amount a player had before leaving the game (harder to check for game legitimacy)	19	20.88%

Should we allow players to give the hacker to players that aren't the host to get a longer reset?

Result: ✅ Allow

Choice	Votes	Percent
🤷‍♂️ No opinion	41	45.05%
✅ Allow	32	35.16%
🚫 Ban	13	14.29%
🔎 Force the host to hold it for the reset time divided by the amount of players (harder to check for game legitimacy)	5	5.49%

Should 2 players shifts in 3-4 player coop games remain allowed?

Result: ✅ Allow

Choice	Votes	Percent
✅ Allow	59	64.84%
🚫 Ban	20	21.98%
🤷‍♂️ No opinion	12	13.19%

Should we allow the use of a patch to get perma-perks in local play?

Result: ✅ Allow

Choice	Votes	Percent
✅ Allow	45	49.45%
🤷‍♂️ No opinion	34	37.36%
🚫 Ban	12	13.19%

Should we allow the generator strategy for no power games?

Result: ✅ Allow

Choice	Votes	Percent
✅ Allow	39	42.86%
🤷‍♂️ No opinion	36	39.56%
🚫 Ban	16	17.58%

Voting period: Dec 9, 2022 – Jan 30, 2023

Participation

Received: 140

General

TIM

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	53
Not Allowed	9
No Opinion	9

Health Bar

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	4
Not Allowed	57
No Opinion	10

Custom .ff Files

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	8
Not Allowed	52
No Opinion	11

Coop Backspeed

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	56
Not Allowed	5
No Opinion	10

Auto Timer

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	69
Not Allowed	0
No Opinion	2

Auto Trap Timer

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	32
Not Allowed	24
No Opinion	15

No Fog

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	16
Not Allowed	37
No Opinion	18

Fullbright

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	18
Not Allowed	26
No Opinion	27

Damage Icon Duration

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	13
Not Allowed	34
No Opinion	23

Godmode for Sleepers on Coop

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	12
Not Allowed	50
No Opinion	9

Controller Action Bind

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	47
Not Allowed	8
No Opinion	16

Multiple Binds on one Key (Macro)

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	26
Not Allowed	30
No Opinion	15

Fast Ray

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	9
Not Allowed	49
No Opinion	13

Transparent Textures

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	10
Not Allowed	50
No Opinion	11

High Contrast Camos

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	29
Not Allowed	25
No Opinion	17

Muted Voicelines

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	49
Not Allowed	5
No Opinion	17

Out of Bounds Sleeper Glitches on Coop

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	33
Not Allowed	22
No Opinion	16

Free Sally's on Five

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	22
Not Allowed	18
No Opinion	31

Immunity to lightning CotD

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	53
Not Allowed	6
No Opinion	12

Disabling Roof Spawns

Result: Not Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	14
Not Allowed	38
No Opinion	19

Glitched Nova Spawn Kino

Result: Allowed

Choice	Votes
Allowed	17
Not Allowed	17
No Opinion	37

Why?

Historically, the rules established by players were sometimes not accurately represented by entities running leaderboards. That, combined with the fact that we as a community have a hard time talking about rules and compromising on them, can create a bizarre environment where barely anyone knows what the standards actually are. By providing a platform where rules are more than just a sentence and community voice and decisions are addressed swiftly, I hope creating a coherent competitive ruleset for each category is possible.

How?

If the community agrees on something via any trackable means, the ruleset is updated. If a rule is added or removed because the community naturally starts to do something, B2 reflects that and tries to spark a conversation to make it formal. If the site shows something inaccurately, the team is going to fix that, and just maybe that rule can be improved, so nobody gets confused by it again. Everyone has different opinions, but a lack of rules or rules that can be interpreted in many ways are the absolute worst.

What categories do we support?

B2 is only going to host categories that the team is able to reliably maintain, either via talking to representatives of that category or having them on board to do it directly. If players of a specific category want to hop on board to use this system to display and maintain their ruleset, B2 is open to that.

How are you different?

I do not think I can really say anything to convince anyone outright. The team is just going to maintain the quality and accuracy of presented rules and work towards the goals described above. Nobody agrees with all of the rules, and that is okay. B2 is going to reflect the common ground the community agrees on, and by doing that I believe it can be of service.

Rules

Global These rules apply to all categories (scopes) listed in the currently opened rulebook. Other categories may or may not follow this specific ruling, B2 cannot guarantee that.

Emulator definition ambiguity

BO1 explicitly voted in:

High Round

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Voted in

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Plugin download

Mid game toggling clarified in:

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MOON

Voted in

What this means: