What does the Cold War error code zed 398 swift clover mean and can you fix it?

old War error code zed 398 clover — (Image credit: Activision)

While the first Black Ops Cold War season brings new things to Call of Duty and Warzone, error code zed 398 swift clover is causing problems for some. The issue doesn't seem to be limited to any one platform (although it does seem to potentially be affecting PC players more) and prevents players from joining a match after matchmaking.

Cold War error code zed 398 swift clover explained

The Cold War error code zed 398 swift clover seems to be a Cold War Season 1 problem and currently doesn't look like it's affecting Warzone. Players are reporting an inability to join multiplayer matches. The effects seem to vary a little with some people unable to play at all, but a few are finding themselves appearing in maps didn't pick. Older maps seem to be 'safer', for example. However the most common problem seems to be people being able to join matchmaking but getting kicked out as soon as the game begins.

"an error occurred zed 398 swift clover" from r/blackopscoldwar

There's no fix yet but Treyarch has responded to numerous reddit posts on the problem confirming that it's "aware of this issue and investigating". The zed 398 swift clover error code is also currently at the top of the studio's Trello board for "Multiplayer known issues" marked as "Investigating" and "monitoring", with a statement that "We are investigating the error listed above which prevents players from finding matches."

black ops cold war error codes — (Image credit: Activision)

Treyarch has tweeted that it's disabling crossplay while it looks into the issue while it investigates the issue. Given the high number of PC players affected it looks like some sort of cross play integration might be causing it.

We are aware of the current “Zed 398 Swift Clover” error when attempting to play Season One content on PC, and our partners at @BeenoxTeam are actively investigating.To keep lobbies healthy and full, crossplay has been temporarily disabled on PC while a fix is investigated.December 16, 2020

At the moment there's little that you can do to fix the issue yourself. Players have tried the scan and repair option on PC which can occasionally solve problems with the game, but it's not helping here. Some players are also reporting that creating a playlist of only old maps has let them play but with a lot of lag, and varying degrees of success.

At the moment the only thing to do is wait and see what the solution is for the Cold War error code zed 398 swift clover. The timing of the Treyarch Trello board suggests the the error was added more or less as soon as the update went live so hopefully the studio will have a hotfix soon to get everyone playing again.