How to fix crashes in Modern Warfare 2 campaign

There are a number of reasons why your copy of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 might be experiencing crashing issues, although it doesn't seem to be the developers' fault. Based on numerous posts on the internet and our own walkthroughs, the FPS game works quite well, as long as your computer can handle the settings you choose.

Crash Solutions for Modern Warfare 2 Campaign

If you're trying to troubleshoot Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 crashing issues, here are a few solutions that should help you determine what's causing the issues if the campaign crashes.

Lower your graphics settings

Sometimes the most obvious answer is the right one. While you may think your aging PC should be able to handle Modern Warfare 2 with ease, you may want to lower some settings if you're having trouble.

With over 500 individual graphics settings to choose from, we highly recommend choosing the lowest graphics setting if you experience crashing issues. This preset lowers all settings to the lowest possible setting to ensure a smooth game launch. However, we've also put together a handy guide to the best Modern Warfare 2 settings to help you get the game running without too much visual compromise.

If the crashing problems stopped after selecting the lowest preset, you can raise it to the next setting until you start having problems again. Once you have found the limits of your computer, you can change individual settings to ensure that the machine performs at its best. However, it's much easier to drop down to a preset that didn't cause any crash issues.

We can confirm from personal experience that this fix worked for us - the game ran smoothly on Ultra High graphics settings, but crashed from time to time. Reducing all settings to "Balanced" prevented crashes.

Enable Hi-Rez asset cache

This solution can also be chalked up to the fact that you've pushed your PC to its limits, but we must emphasize how important this single tweak is in preventing crashes. If you insist on using high-resolution assets, you will need to free up at least 32GB of hard drive space and enable the Hi-Rez Assets Cache feature in the settings. This creates a cache that is used to stream assets when you need them - if you don't enable this setting, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 may experience stuttering, freezes, and crashes.

Modern Warfare 2 Scan and Repair

Some of the game files you download may be corrupted, which may cause Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 to crash when downloading broken files. The easiest solution is to open the Battle.net app, select the gear next to the blue play button and click 'scan and repair'. This will allow you to view all the game files and determine which ones need to be replaced. This may cause Battle.net to download the entire game again, so if you have limited bandwidth you should be wary.

If you are in Steam, right-click on the game in the library, select properties, then local files, and select the option to verify the integrity of game files.

Here are some solutions you can try to stop the Modern Warfare 2 campaign from crashing.