How I fixed MW2 Call of Duty from crashing

[BreakingDad]

May be of interest to someone I wrote up my bug fix that was driving me more insane than I already am.


The quick possible way (5 min to complete):
Download and install the latestStudio Driver for me this was 528.49, install as clean and play.

If this doesn't work:
The long complicated method (90min+ to complete) (below).

Bios:
Download and install latest bios for motherboard, reset cmos, set everything to auto, no XMP, DOCP or EXPO timings, no overclocks. Remove unused devices, for example onboard graphics, network card if using wifi, wifi if using network card etc. If asus board make sure to have armoury crate (yuck) disabled in tools.

Windows:
Ideally fresh install, fully update with latest updates and current motherboard chipset drivers from website. No Bloatware utilities from Motherboard manufacturer.
Set Power Options in control panel to “high performance”.
Set Windows to NOT download driver updates (important):
Type Advanced System Settings in search box on taskbar, select hardware tab, click “device installation settings” – Tick “NO” (your device might not work as expected)
If you have Logitech Hub installed, use Revo Uninstaller, using moderate settings after uninstall to clear everything that is brought up from the registry. (since running all this fix I have now added this back with zero issues, so I think Logitech Hub is ok to run)

Nvidia:
Download the latest Studio Driver for me this was 528.49, place on desktop
Download DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller)
Restart PC, by holding down “shift” while clicking restart in the start menu.
Wait for PC to boot, and then on the next menu after boot go to troubleshoot, advanced options, select startup settings, reboot.
The computer will restart bringing you to a new menu, selectf4 (or4) to enable safe mode, reboot again.
Now you are in safe mode.
While in safemode run DDU that you downloaded previously, untickeverything to do with Intel and AMD, you want to keep those settings, tick everything to do with Nvidia, select GPU uninstall NVIDIA (NOT AUDIO) and finally click clean and reboot.
Now you are back in windows Run the Nvidia Studio Driver youdownloaded previously.
Do not touch any settings in the Nvidia Control Panel (yet)except resolution and refresh rate for your screen.
Under (System>Display>Graphics>Default GraphicsSettings (in windows turn off Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling and also turnoff Variable Refresh Rate.

Call of Duty:
Download MW2 with either steam or battlenet
Follow this guide to rename the install:

Follow this guide to run as admin and edit the config

but do not run as admin if using windows 11 (it wont work, only run as admin onwindows 10) Also while changing compatibility settings, Tick “Disable FullScreen Optimisations” and “High DPI Scaling Override” then proceed to edit thecod config as per the video (“RendererWorkerCount” and “VideoMemoryScale”) Then proceed to the videos startup settings.
Finally open the game, set video settings to Full ScreenExclusive, Set General Graphics Settings to Performance on Install, Turn off Parallax Effects , Change Video Memory Scale to 50%, Change Keybinds and AudioLevels.
Play the actual game.I have now played two nights in a row with zerocrashes, one 2 hour session and a 4.5hour session last night, with two friends in group (although my friend crashed twice !!)

Closing Notes:
While this stopped the crashes for me, it is not guaranteedto stop the crashes for you, I am not sure which of these settings helped the most, I suspect the studio driver and Video Memory Scale mainly.
If all is well after running all this, I would then performa full system backup using “Rescuezilla” so you can return to the point whereit was all working.
You can then gradually add back your other tweaks,perhaps one or two at a time, noting what you have changed so you can revert ifthe crashes return.
For example, adding back things such as digital vibrance, and other settings of your choice inNvidia Control Panel (Max performance, Refresh Rate, VSync off etc etc) andtrying out higher graphics levels in game settings if you prefer. (Leave theparallax off and VMS on 50 though!)
Good Luck, and hope this helps the community:

My system:
Asus A670E-F
AMD 7700x
Corsair Dominator 32GB 6000 (running on stock JDEC)
MSI Trio 3700 Gaming X


Since writing this there is a new nvidia driver, that claims to have fixed cod stability, it may or may not also work, I have not tested as it is running fine for me now using the long method. If anyone has tested the new driver, especially on 3000 series nvidias it would be of interest to me.
I have also now run for about 8 days crash free, and have also updated nvidia settings, bringing back digital vibrance, turning off vsync etc with no ill effects. I do plan to up the memory in expo at some point, but as I say, if it aint broke, leave it alone !



Good Luck - BreakingDad , saving the world, one thread at a time, or is that 16 threads?

 

[Paliv]

I love when the fix for a game is a long list of switches to flip that the average user doesn’t understand and could have major detrimental impacts for all other games they play. Good grief. Never tried a studio driver as a fix before. But, the crashing in this game is a bit much still. It has gotten better for me, but I’m about done with it anyway. I’m an old school TDM only player. And those maps have gotten stale.

 

[BreakingDad]

I love when the fix for a game is a long list of switches to flip that the average user doesn’t understand and could have major detrimental impacts for all other games they play. Good grief. Never tried a studio driver as a fix before. But, the crashing in this game is a bit much still. It has gotten better for me, but I’m about done with it anyway. I’m an old school TDM only player. And those maps have gotten stale.

I've been running crash free since all this, that said I had one crash last night. I think the game is inherently bugged as one of my friends also crashed. Still I am happy to only crash once a fortnite, and will continue to test as I enjoy the pain and ectasy, makes me feel alive D

Yeh the studio drivers are basically the same driver, but a lot more stable and less messed about with from what I can tell.

 

[follower]

May be of interest to someone I wrote up my bug fix that was driving me more insane than I already am.


The quick possible way (5 min to complete):
Download and install the latestStudio Driver for me this was 528.49, install as clean and play.

If this doesn't work:
The long complicated method (90min+ to complete) (below).

Bios:
Download and install latest bios for motherboard, reset cmos, set everything to auto, no XMP, DOCP or EXPO timings, no overclocks. Remove unused devices, for example onboard graphics, network card if using wifi, wifi if using network card etc. If asus board make sure to have armoury crate (yuck) disabled in tools.

Windows:
Ideally fresh install, fully update with latest updates and current motherboard chipset drivers from website. No Bloatware utilities from Motherboard manufacturer.
Set Power Options in control panel to “high performance”.
Set Windows to NOT download driver updates (important):
Type Advanced System Settings in search box on taskbar, select hardware tab, click “device installation settings” – Tick “NO” (your device might not work as expected)
If you have Logitech Hub installed, use Revo Uninstaller, using moderate settings after uninstall to clear everything that is brought up from the registry. (since running all this fix I have now added this back with zero issues, so I think Logitech Hub is ok to run)

Nvidia:
Download the latest Studio Driver for me this was 528.49, place on desktop
Download DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller)
Restart PC, by holding down “shift” while clicking restart in the start menu.
Wait for PC to boot, and then on the next menu after boot go to troubleshoot, advanced options, select startup settings, reboot.
The computer will restart bringing you to a new menu, selectf4 (or4) to enable safe mode, reboot again.
Now you are in safe mode.
While in safemode run DDU that you downloaded previously, untickeverything to do with Intel and AMD, you want to keep those settings, tick everything to do with Nvidia, select GPU uninstall NVIDIA (NOT AUDIO) and finally click clean and reboot.
Now you are back in windows Run the Nvidia Studio Driver youdownloaded previously.
Do not touch any settings in the Nvidia Control Panel (yet)except resolution and refresh rate for your screen.
Under (System>Display>Graphics>Default GraphicsSettings (in windows turn off Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling and also turnoff Variable Refresh Rate.

Call of Duty:
Download MW2 with either steam or battlenet
Follow this guide to rename the install:

Follow this guide to run as admin and edit the config

but do not run as admin if using windows 11 (it wont work, only run as admin onwindows 10) Also while changing compatibility settings, Tick “Disable FullScreen Optimisations” and “High DPI Scaling Override” then proceed to edit thecod config as per the video (“RendererWorkerCount” and “VideoMemoryScale”) Then proceed to the videos startup settings.
Finally open the game, set video settings to Full ScreenExclusive, Set General Graphics Settings to Performance on Install, Turn off Parallax Effects , Change Video Memory Scale to 50%, Change Keybinds and AudioLevels.
Play the actual game.I have now played two nights in a row with zerocrashes, one 2 hour session and a 4.5hour session last night, with two friends in group (although my friend crashed twice !!)

Closing Notes:
While this stopped the crashes for me, it is not guaranteedto stop the crashes for you, I am not sure which of these settings helped the most, I suspect the studio driver and Video Memory Scale mainly.
If all is well after running all this, I would then performa full system backup using “Rescuezilla” so you can return to the point whereit was all working.
You can then gradually add back your other tweaks,perhaps one or two at a time, noting what you have changed so you can revert ifthe crashes return.
For example, adding back things such as digital vibrance, and other settings of your choice inNvidia Control Panel (Max performance, Refresh Rate, VSync off etc etc) andtrying out higher graphics levels in game settings if you prefer. (Leave theparallax off and VMS on 50 though!)
Good Luck, and hope this helps the community:

My system:
Asus A670E-F
AMD 7700x
Corsair Dominator 32GB 6000 (running on stock JDEC)
MSI Trio 3700 Gaming X


Since writing this there is a new nvidia driver, that claims to have fixed cod stability, it may or may not also work, I have not tested as it is running fine for me now using the long method. If anyone has tested the new driver, especially on 3000 series nvidias it would be of interest to me.
I have also now run for about 8 days crash free, and have also updated nvidia settings, bringing back digital vibrance, turning off vsync etc with no ill effects. I do plan to up the memory in expo at some point, but as I say, if it aint broke, leave it alone !



Good Luck - BreakingDad , saving the world, one thread at a time, or is that 16 threads?

99% of those solutions which are widely spread on internet including Youtube don't work for MW2 crash and are not related in MW2 crash at all. MW2 crash is related in MW2 files, servers and Activision.

 

[BreakingDad]

still crash free, except 1 in two weeks., instead of 1 nearly every game before all this.

 

[sfx2000]

FYI on the most recent nVidia drivers (531.18)

Nvidia releases fix for GeForce driver causing CPU spikes

Some users are seeing CPU usage go up by 10-15% after closing games on the latest Nvidia driver.

www.pcworld.com

The company confirmed the problem with the latest driver update, 531.18, which was published on February 28th. An updated list of open issues (including some that didn’t make it into the full release notes) was posted to Nvidia’s support forum, and spotted by VideoCardz.com. Issue number 4007208 reads, “Higher CPU usage from NVIDIA Container may be observed after exiting a game.” Some users are showing CPU usage of up to 10-15 percent in these conditions — not enough to seriously hamper most gaming desktops, but more than enough to be an annoyance, especially if you use your PC for other intensive tasks. Like opening three Chrome tabs at once.

 

[follower]

still crash free, except 1 in two weeks., instead of 1 nearly every game before all this.

1 nearly every game: Your PC was ruined. They patched it with Season 2 and small patches. There were a lot of Crash issues when MW2 was released. Some players still may have crash issue with Mouse, Keyboard, Headset wares. Conflicts with other apps. Almost all of players got crash with every single match until end of JAN because of Chat overflow. They fixed it with limitation of chat amount.

 

[Paliv]

still crash free, except 1 in two weeks., instead of 1 nearly every game before all this.

Oh man that is a lot. I’ve only crashed maybe once a week since season 2. Even when first released I could go a couple hours and not crash some days (that’s the longest I ever play in one day/night).

 

[BreakingDad]

Oh man that is a lot. I’ve only crashed maybe once a week since season 2. Even when first released I could go a couple hours and not crash some days (that’s the longest I ever play in one day/night).

Yeh it was driving me mad, as it was a new machine, at first I thought it was a memory/cpu timing issue, but it wasn't.