Modern Warfare 4 PC beta fixes "Update Restart" loop, adds shader preloading
Activision and Infinity Ward have been promoting the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Beta sessions quite heavily for a few weeks now. With days left to go before the weekend events start, we now finally have the system requirements for the PC beta as well as details on how it will run on the platform. It's pretty much all good news for PC gamers.
The Modern Warfare 4 minimum and recommended specifications can be seen below, revealing a rather optimized experience:
| Component | Minimum Specifications | Recommended Specifications |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 11 64-bit |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Intel Core i5-8400 |
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Intel Core i7-8700 |
| RAM | 12 GB | 16 GB |
| GPU |
AMD: Radeon RX 470 NVIDIA: GeForce GTX 970 / 1060 Intel: Arc A580 |
AMD: Radeon RX 6700 XT NVIDIA: GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Intel: Arc B580 |
| VRAM | 3 GB | 8 GB |
| Storage Space | SSD required | SSD required |
Interestingly, Shader Preloading will be a part of the beta on PC as well, letting players skip the first-launch wait time they need to go through. Infinity Ward says that a notification may appear on the Windows system tray saying “Shader Pre-Loading Will Start” to begin this process in the background. This can be disabled as well. If this beta implementation goes smoothly, it sounds like this preloading feature will be pushed to the full launch as well.
Next, Infinity Ward is also trying to resolve the multiple restarts headache that players must go through when they start up their Call of Duty games with "Update Requires Restart" messages.
The studio is making changes to require fewer restarts than ever before across all platforms, even when a data patch has gone through the game.
Meanwhile, the beta is coming in as a separate experience from the Call of Duty HQ launcher. This will let players jump straight into the beta with a separate download and launch system without going through another launcher. However, the full game will still use the Call of Duty launcher.
Keep in mind that PC players will need to make sure TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are enabled on their machines to play in the beta.
The beta's early access period will begin on August 21 and will run through August 25. Included here will be the multiplayer maps Rooftops, Silkworm, Transit 213, Cachette, Lotus, and Kill Block. Nine modes will be on rotation across these maps for players to jump into. Fans can enter this one by pre-ordering the game across PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.
The second weekend is kicking off on August 28 and ending on September 1, with Switch 2 players also being invited this time. Unlike the first beta, it will be open for anyone to download and play regardless of whether players have pre-purchased the game or not. For the first time, an entire campaign mission will be included in the beta for everyone to experience as well.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is set to launch on October 23, 2026, across PC (Steam, Xbox, Battle.net), Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and the Nintendo Switch 2.