Error messages and invasive bugs are nothing new to gamers, but they’re still immensely irritating when they stop players from being able to game how they want. Warzone’s DMZ mode has long been suffering from ‘Dev Error 7186’, prematurely ending matches. Here’s what we know about solutions and how to fix.
Dev Error 7186 Problem Explained
The problems first became noticeable in Season 4 Reloaded. They’re specifically affecting players visiting two locations in DMZ: Building 21 and the Koschei Complex.
When heading to these POIs, players report their game abruptly freezing and ending. They’re forced to restart and load back in. The error message is, without fail, dev error 7186.
One player said: “Literally every game I load into B21, half the lobby gets disconnected immediately. The killfeed is full of (player) timed out. At least 4 players every time.”
Despite its prevalence for a number of weeks now, a cause has not surfaced, nor have the developers addressed the problem publicly. There’s also no mention of it on the official Warzone 2 Trello Board, which tracks issues and updates players on the progress of fixes.
Dev Error 7186 Fixes, Solutions & Workarounds
There is speculation over a cause. Specifically, it seems that some affected players’ drivers have been out of date – especially the GPU driver. It’s worth checking if you’re on PC and have experienced this particular problem.
It’s also worth ensuring that all game files are up to date, because another suspected cause is players’ game files being outdated and more prone to the error as a result.
We’ve detailed all the known fixes, solutions and workarounds below, especially given there is not yet a silver bullet fix to eradicate dev error 7186.
Restart Your Game and Console / PC
This is the first thing you should do if affected. It’s annoying to have to do a manual reset, especially if all you want to do is game. Either way, it’s well worth doing because some affected players have reported that they did not experience the issue again after a simple game restart.
Check Your Game Is Fully Updated
There could well be small patches and hot fixes pushed out that you’ve not downloaded and have managed to bypass. If you’re on console, press the Options button on the application and then ‘Check For Update’. On PC, right-click the Warzone or Modern Warfare 2 file and do the same.
Re-Verify Game Files’ Integrity
Another solution is to re-verify game files. Like checking that your game is fully updated, this will ensure none of the game’s installed files are corrupted or have failed to install correctly. Right-click the relevant application, go to ‘Properties’ and then ‘Local Files’. Once there, select ‘Verify integrity of game files’. Let the computer run its test.
Report the Problem
Activision will want as much information on emergent issues as they can get. It allows them to identify causes and implement fixes as rapidly as possible. You can do so via Activision’s official support site.
Those are the best things to do to solve and fix dev error 7186 in Warzone DMZ. We’re hopeful of a fix when Season 5 drops on August 2. Naturally, we’ll have to wait for full patch notes before we can say for certain.
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