Texture Streaming has been added to Modern Warfare and Warzone Season 1 on PC, along with new Texture Packs for consoles that reduce the size of the game by at least 25 GB.
As updates arrived for the Call of Duty reboot, the already large game file size continued to grow, especially on the PC. To combat this, mode-specific uninstall options were added in October, which allowed players to select which Modern Warfare modes they wish to install – to accommodate the growing size of Warzone.
Now, other changes have been made to reduce the considerable game files on your hard drive. Texture Streaming was “developed to reduce the overall package size of the game, removing certain textures rarely used or found by players”.
With Warzone set to stay ‘front and center’ for the Call of Duty franchise for a long time, there’s a good chance that players will always need space for the Battle Royale shooter and the latest CoD title.
How to Reduce PC File Size for Modern Warfare & Warzone
Instead of having Texture Packs installed, high resolution textures in Operators and Weapons will now be transmitted to your PC’s cache as needed. By transmitting textures instead of installing them, the game’s file size will be reduced.
Players can control bandwidth usage and set a daily limit via the Modern Warfare Options menu. Activision says that “even with this flexibility, you should not notice any effect on bandwidth with texture streaming enabled”.
If the graphics are set to High, the high resolution textures in Weapons and Operators will be transmitted, while players in the Low and Medium settings will not be affected.
You also don’t need to have Texture Streaming enabled, you can turn it off in the Options menu. If you have disabled Texture Streaming, but are running high quality graphics, “you will still see high resolution textures in other features of the game”.
How to reduce the console file size for Modern Warfare & Warzone
Texture streaming is not compatible with consoles, so Activision has given console players new texture packs. This was designed to have the same result as Texture Streaming, removing rare textures to reduce the file size.
Modern Warfare & Warzone – PS4 Pro and Xbox One
If you are a Playstation Pro or Xbox One X user, you will be asked to download the DLC the first time you log into the game. After accepting, you will be directed to the game installation menu, where you can download the texture pack. If you refuse, you can find the download in the Game Installations menu.
PS4 and Xbox One users will not be prompted, so they should find the download in the Game Installation menu and follow the steps there.
Modern Warfare & Warzone – PS5 and Xbox Series X
These Texture Packs are also available on current generation consoles. Similar to PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, a prompt will offer the High Resolution Texture Pack at first login.
These packages should help boost the performance of Modern Warfare & Warzone and also reduce the space they occupy on their respective platforms.
Image credits: Activision