The easiest way I have found to adjust the FOV in Black Ops is to bind it to a key in the config file. This is because certain parts of the game, especially the teleporter in zombie mode, often resets your FOV to the default, and it's very easy to then just hit the hotkey and change it again.

In your config file, which is in the players folder in your Steam/steamapps/common/call of duty black ops/player folder (or in the base game folder/player, if you aren't using Steam), add the following string on its own line somewhere in the binding section:


This binds the key "u" to change your FOV. You can change the key or the FOV amount to whatever you would like. Experiment with different FOV amounts to see what works best for your setup.

If the game resets or removed the line you added, you may have to change the config file to Read-only.