How to Fix COD Modern Warfare ‘Dev Error 6178’

The ‘Fatal Error Dev Error 6178‘ appears after Call of Duty Modern Warfare crashes during the loading of a map on PC. It’s also possible for the crash to happen when the camera returns to the player after death. This issue makes the game unplayable for most affected users.

What’s causing the Dev Error 6178 on COD Modern Warfare?

Method 1: Disabling In-Game Overlay & Nvidia Highlights

Several players that were encountering this problem with Nvidia GPU cards have finally managed to get the problem resolved by disabling a couple of options from Nvidia Experience. As it turns out, there are two major causes that will cause these issues with Nvidia GPUs:

• Enabled In-Game Overlay
• Enabled Nvidia Highlights

If one of the two options is enabled on your PC configuration, you should ensure that they’re disabled and see if the Dev Error 6178 is still occurring.  Here’s a quick guide on how to do this:

1. With the game turned off, open up GeForce Experience. Once you’re inside, go to the General tab from the left-hand section. Next, move over to the right-hand side and ensure that the toggle associated with In-Game overlay is Disabled.

   

2. Save the current configuration, then close Nvidia Experience and open Call of Duty Modern Warfare again.
3. Once you’re inside the game, go to Options > Graphics, then scroll down to Nvidia Highlights and set it to Disabled before saving the changes.

   

4. Restart the game and see if the issue is now resolved.

If you’re still encountering the same Dev Error 6178, move down to the next method below.

Method 2: Update all GPU drivers

As it turns out, another potential scenario that might end up triggering the Dev Error 6178 is an improper GPU driver that ends up affecting the stability of the game. Several affected users have confirmed that in their case, the issue was resolved once they followed the instructions appropriated to updating the GPU drivers to the latest version available.

Some affected users are speculating that the problem is mostly happening due to the fact that the physics module is not updated to handle the graphics used by the game. If this scenario is applicable to your current situation, here’s a quick guide on updating the GPU drivers in order to fix the Dev Error 6178:

1. Open up a Run dialogue box by pressing Windows key +R. Next, type ‘devmgmt.msc’ inside the text box and press Enter to open up Device Manager.

   

2. Inside Device Manager, scroll down through the list of installed devices and expand the drop-down menu associated with Display Adapters.
3. Next, right-click on the GPU that you want to update and choose Update Driver from the newly appeared context menu.

   

   Note: If you see this error on a laptop, you’ll need to update the driver of your dedicated GPU, since that’s the one that’s being used during resource-demanding activities.

4. Once you find your way inside the next screen, click on Search Automatically for updated driver software. Next, wait for the scan to complete, then follow the on-screen instructions to install the latest GPU version that was identified.

   

5. Once the newest driver is installed, restart your machine and launch the game at the next system startup to see if the Dev Error 6178 has been resolved.
   Note: It’s recommended that you also try to update your GPU drivers using the proprietary software associated with your GPU manufacturer. Here’s a list of proprietary software that will update all your GPU drivers automatically:
   GeForce Experience – Nvidia
   Adrenalin – AMD
   Intel Driver – Intel

If the same problem is still occurring even after you updated your GPU drivers, move down to the next method below.

Method 3: Starting the game with admin privileges

As it turns out, this problem can also occur due to insufficient admin privileges. As some users have reported, this problem can cause problems with the initialization process. If you’re encountering the Dev Error 6178 as soon as you try to launch the game, it’s likely that you’re dealing with a permission issue.

In this case, the easier way to fix the problem is to launch the main game executable with admin access. Here’s a quick guide on doing this:

1. Right-click on the Call of Duty Modern Warfare executable and choose Run as Administrator from the newly appeared context menu.

   

2. When you see the UAC (User Account Control) prompt, click yes to grant admin access.
3. Wait for the game to launch and see if you encounter the same problem.
   Note: If the issue doesn’t occur anymore and you confirm that the problem was previously happening due to the lack of admin access, you can ensure that admin rights are enforced on every executable startup by following the instructions below.
4. Right-click on the executable again and choose Properties from the context menu.

   

5. Inside the properties screen, select the Compatibility tab from the list of available options. Then, move over to the Settings section and ensure that the checkbox associated with Run this program as administrator.
6. Click Apply to save the changes. Once you do this, you can launch the COD executable normally – the game will be opened with admin access every time.

If the game was already opening with admin access or you forced this and the same Dev Error 6178 problem is still occurring, move down to the next method below.

Method 4: Increasing the graphics textures

As weird as this might sound, a lot of users have managed to fix this problem by boosting the graphics to Medium or High. After analyzing dozens of user reports, it’s clear that most of the instability reports are happening with Graphic settings that are set to Low (specifically Textures).

Several affected users have confirmed that in their case, the Dev Error 6178 crashes stopped occurring altogether after boosted the general Graphic settings to High (or Medium). If your system is not strong enough to play the game on the highest video settings, it should be enough to boost just the textures to Medium.

Here’s a quick guide on how to do this:

1. Open Call of Duty Modern Warfare and access the options screen by going to Settings.
2. Next, once you’re inside the Settings screen, select the Graphics tab from the list of options at the top.
3. Then, navigate down to the Details & Textures section and change the Texture Resolution to Normal.

   

   Note: If your computer configuration can take it, you can boost other video settings until you fill up your VRAM usage. As we mentioned above, instability seems to occur with low-tier video settings options.

If you followed the instructions above and you’re still encountering the same problem, move down to the next potential fix.

Method 5: Disable G-Sync from Control Panel (if applicable)

As it turns out, G-Sync can also be responsible for the apparition of the Dev Error 6178 error. G-sync is a proprietary adaptive sync technology that’s used by Nvidia to eliminate screen tearing and the need for software alternatives such as Vsync.

However, according to user reports, this technology has the potential of causing instability periods with COD Modern Warfare that can ultimately cause the Dev Error 6178. Several affected users that blamed G-sync for the fact that their game is unplayable have reported that they’re finally able to play normally after they disabled the G-Sync feature via the Nvidia Control Panel menu

Keep in mind that if you’re using an Nvidia video card and you end up disabling G-Sync, you’ll see a lot more screen tearing. But it’s still better than not playing the game due to frequent crashes.

Here’s a quick guide on how to disable the G-sync feature via Control Panel:

1. On your desktop, right-click anywhere on an empty space and choose Nvidia Control Panel from the newly appeared context menu.

   

2. Once you’re inside Nvidia Control panel, turn your attention to the left-hand side and click on Manage 3D settings. Next, move over to the right-hand side, select the Program Settings tab and click on Add.

   

3. From the next menu, browse to the Call of Duty Modern Warfare executable and select it to add it inside the Manage 3D Settings.
4. With the correct executable selected, scroll down through the list of custom video settings and set the Vertical sync to Off.

   

5. Save the changes, then launch the game again now that G-Sync is disabled to see if the problem is now resolved.

If you’re still encountering the Dev Error 6178, move down to the final method below.

Method 6: Enabling or Enlarging the Windows Pagefile

As it turns out, another scenario in which this problem will occur is an instance in which the user has previously disabled the Windows Pagefile or the Pagefile is already enabled but space it’s working with is not enough.

Several affected users that we’re encountering the Dev Error 6178 crash several minutes after playing the game (consistently) have reported that the problem was finally resolved after they enabled or enlarged the default Windows Pagefile.

Here’s a quick guide on doing this on Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10:

1. Press Windows key + R to open up a Run dialogue box. Then, type “sysdm.cpl’ inside the text box and press Enter to open up the System properties screen.

   

2. Once you’re inside the System Properties window, select the Advanced tab from the list of options and click on the Settings button associated with Performance.
3. When you’re inside the Performance Options window, go to the Advanced tab again and click the Change button associated with Virtual memory.
4. After you manage to get inside the Virtual Memory screen, start by unchecking the box associated with Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.
5. Next, proceed by selecting Custom size and boost the values of Initial size and Maximum size. The ideal way is to opt for as much space as possible without leaving your system with too little storage space to work with. Just remember to press the Set button once you are finished with adjusting the values.
6. Click Apply to save the changes, then reboot your computer. After the next startup is complete, launch the game again and see if you’re still experiencing the same Dev Error 6178 crash.