Call of Duty 2 problems on Windows Vista 32-bit
September 05 2008, Friday
I found today that I was having problems launching Call of Duty 2 on Windows Vista. I could not start either the single or multiplayer: both would crash and the Vista "this program has stopped working" dialog box would pop up. A quick search on the Internets told me that this was definitely a common problem, and with the help of some pretty obscure forum posts, I finally figured it out. I'm going to summarize my solution here for future reference:
System environment:
- nVidia graphics card
- Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
- 2 GB RAM
- Integrated "HD" audio
The solution for me:
- Remember to set CoD2 to compatibility mode with Windows XP SP2! You can do this by right-clicking the shortcut and selecting "Properties", then opening the "Compatibility" tab at the top.
- First tried updating DirectX 9. Vista users should note that DirectX 9 and DirectX 10, while both coming pre-installed on Vista, are separate components. You should still update to the latest DirectX 9 even if you have DirectX 10. Unfortunately, while a good first step, this didn't work for me.
- Then, added "+set com_introplayed 1" to the end of the shortcuts. You can do this by opening the shortcut properties (see step 0) and adding those characters, without quotes, to the end of the "Target:" box, so that the full line looks like: "C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\cod2sp_s.exe" +set com_introplayed 1 This fixed the single-player for me, but I still could not open multiplayer.
- I found on NTcompatible.com a seemingly-ridiculous little proposition. The poster suggested that, to run CoD2 multiplayer, one should plug something in to the microphone jack. So, I did, and lo and behold, it worked! Rather a strange solution, I do say. It likely has something to do with the interaction between my integrated audio and the voice chat features of CoD2, so turning off voice chat might allow it to run without a microphone plugged in.
Anyways, that's how I got this game to work on Vista; hope it helps somebody else too!