Fix Modern Warfare 2 Crashing on PC [Updated 2023]

Now, we all know what COD releases have been like in the past. Filled with bugs and errors on the release day is something that is extremely common with Call of Duty games. Compared to the previous few titles, Modern Warfare 2 might not be that buggy. But it definitely has its fair share of errors.

A lot of PC players are complaining that Modern Warfare 2 is crashing and freezing a lot for them. And this is not surprising to me, as I have experienced plenty of crashes myself while playing the Campaign.

So, in this article, I will tell you what I did to fix the freezing and crashing issue in COD MW2, also some basic fixes that have worked for other PC users.

Note: Let me start by saying, that this guide is for those users, for whom the game is crashing mid-way during a match or a mission. But, if you are someone, for whom the game is straight up crashing at startup, and clicking on the ‘Play’ button does nothing for you, then you need to check out this guide.

Modern Warfare 2 is Crashing – How to fix

COD MW 2 crashed many times for me, actually, while I was doing the Campaign. In Multiplayer, I faced a crash just once, the first time I tried to play the game. I haven’t faced any crashing in the Multiplayer modes since. It is only some specific campaign missions.

The game completely froze and then crashed for me the first time during the Wetwork mission, when after dealing with all the soldiers on the docks I meet with Price, and he moves forward to barge inside the boat, and takes down all the soldiers inside. As soon as he opened the door of the boat, I faced my first crash.

The second time, I faced a crash during the El Sin Nombre mission when after taking care of Diego, I (Soap), take the keycard, reach the elevator, and reach the upper floor. As soon as the cutscene played, and Alejandro broke the door, MW2 crashed for me immediately.

The Error Code that I got after the crash was:

• Error Code 0x887A0005
  Executable: game_steam_ship.exe

When I faced a crash in Multiplayer, the error codes that I got was:

• Error Code 0xC0000005 (0) N

I faced the MP just once, and I fixed it using the method I have shown below. But for the El Sin Nombre crash or the Wetwork crash, here is what I did to fix them:

1. I noticed that before the crashing, I was getting an Indicator that said ‘Shader Warning’. With that, I figured out that it has something to do with Shader Caching.
2. So, I opened the Settings menu, and click on Graphics.
3. Selected the ‘Display’ tab.
4. Finally, I clicked on ‘Restart Shaders Optimization’.
   

The Restart Shaders Optimization setting will delete your shaders cache and reoptimized all shaders from the beginning. You will have to do this every time you update your driver.

I did this both times and managed to fix the crashing issue, in just one go. So give it a try. I also shot my weapon immediately as Price/Alejandro opened the doors. Not that it is going to change anything, I am just saying exactly what I did.

Now that the fixes that I have tested personally, let’s move towards the fixes that have been recommended by the community and the devs:

Downgrade or Upgrade your driver manually

Though Infinity Ward has listed Nvidia Game Ready Driver version 516.59, and AMD Adrenaline 22.9.1 as the recommended drivers for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, a lot of users are actually facing crashes on these drivers. Of course, these are not new drivers.

A lot of users on the official Reddit of Modern Warfare 2 2022 are claiming that they managed to fix their crashing by just changing their driver. It doesn’t matter whether you are downgrading or upgrading. Whatever GPU driver you are using at the moment, just uninstall it, and install a driver that is newer or older.

I myself have no idea how this helps, but if so many people are saying it, there is nothing wrong with trying.

Find out if any application or utility is crashing the game or not

Instead of trying a million fixes, you can actually figure out if any application is causing the crash or not. The first thing I would like you to try is:

1. Type “System Configuration” on the Windows Search Bar and open the System Configuration when it shows up on the results.
2. Click on the “Services” tab.
3. Tick the box “Hide all Microsoft services”, located on the bottom-left.
4. Now click on “Disable all”. Leave PC manufacturer-related programs checked.
5. Select “Apply” button.
6. Try playing Modern Warfare 2 now.
7. If the game still crashes, keep on reading.

So, every time Modern Warfare 2 crashes on your PC, it creates an Error log file. These log files can help you determine which programs are crashing the game.

Go this location : Local Disk (C:) > Users > My Username > AppData > Local > Activision > Call Of Duty > crash_reports

Inside the ‘crash_reports’ folder, you will see a bunch of compressed files. Sort everything by date and open the latest one using Winrar or 7-zip.

Inside the file, you will see a text file called dxdiag_oncrash.txt. Open it, and scroll down all the way to the “Diagnostics” section, inside the text file only.

Under the Diagnostics section, there will be something called “Problem Signature”. And under Problem Signature, you will be able to see which process or service caused the crash.

For me, it was actually the Armoury Crate Service. I use an Asus ROG Motherboard, and Armoury Crate is actually a mobo utility, that is used to control RGB, fan speeds, etc.

This application was not of any huge importance, so I uninstalled it. And let me tell you that I haven’t faced a single crash in Multiplayer after this.

I have actually made a video showing everything, you can check it out if you want:

I am not saying that what worked for me is going to work for you. That is why you need to check the crash reports on your PC and find out which program is causing the game to crash.

Turn off Texture Streaming

Apparently, the Texture Streaming setting, when enabled, is causing Modern Warfare 2 to crash a lot of users.

Try disabling it, because it is on by default for everyone who has a decent GPU. To turn off Texture Streaming:

1. Open Settings
2. Select Graphics
3. Click on the Quality tab
4. Scroll down until you find ‘On-Demand Texture Streaming’.
   
5. Disable it.
6. Now, scroll up and look for the setting ‘Video Memory Scale’.
7. It should be set to 85, by default. Set it to 90, and restart the game.

Start COD MW 2 in Safe Mode

After a crash, Modern Warfare 2 will always tell you that the game didn’t close properly last time, and whether you would like to open the game in safe mode or not.

Select ‘Yes’, and open the game in safe mode. Go straight to a multiplayer game, and see if the game is crashing or not. Safe Mode basically does nothing, but change a number of in-game settings. So don’t worry. Doing this won’t delete anything.