Fix: Call of Duty Warzone 2 Keeps Crashing on Startup on PC

“Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, the eagerly anticipated free-to-play battle royale video game, was released on November 16, 2022. Serving as a sequel to the highly successful 2020 Call of Duty: Warzone, this new iteration has become available across various platforms, including PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Building on the monumental success of Warzone 1.0, Activision has unified efforts across all its development teams to deliver Warzone 2.0 to an expectant public.

However, since its release, several PC gamers have reported experiencing crashing issues when attempting to launch the game. This tutorial specifically addresses and resolves these crashing problems, ensuring a smooth gaming experience for Call of Duty Warzone 2 on your PC.”

Why Is Warzone 2 Keeps Crashing?

The COD Warzone 2 players often encounter startup crashing or game not launching issues on the PC. Some players are getting the “Application Has Unexpectedly Stopped Working” error, which affects the gameplay experience badly. If you can take a quick look at the r/Warzone subreddit forum, Steam asks to verify the game files on the PC after throwing the particular error notice.

But affected players may not find out what’s going on. In that case, it’s better to take a quick look at the listed reasons below that can come in handy before following the guide.

• Compatibility issues with the PC specification
• An outdated game version
• An outdated game launcher
• Outdated graphics drivers
• DirectX version issues
• Unnecessary background running tasks
• Antivirus or firewall software blocking
• Startup app issues
• Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables issues,
• Overclocked CPU/GPU
• Overlay apps issues

Now, if you’re also facing the same issue or just getting the crashing issue while launching the game on the PC, then don’t worry. Luckily, we’ve mentioned some possible workarounds that should help you out. The chances are high that incompatible Nvidia graphics settings, corrupted or missing game files, high shader quality, outdated graphics drivers, an outdated game patch version, and more can be one of the reasons behind it.

Fix: Warzone 2 Keeps Crashing on Startup on PC

Make sure to follow all the troubleshooting methods until the problem gets fixed. It’s recommended not to skip any method because even a basic workaround can fix the issue for you that might not come in handy to others. Now, without further ado, let’s jump into it.

1. Run Warzone 2 as an Administrator

First, you should run the game exe application file on your PC as an administrator to grant the user account control access. It’ll allow the system to run the program file properly, preventing the crashing or not launching issues. You can follow the steps below to do so:

• Right-click on the COD: Warzone 2 exe file on your PC.
• Select Properties > Click on the Compatibility tab.

• Make sure to click on the Run this program as an administrator checkbox to checkmark it.
• Click on Apply and select OK to save changes.
• Now, run the game to launch it.

Please Note: If in case, you’re one of the Battle.net client or Steam client users to run the Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 game then make sure to follow the same steps for the specific game launcher too.

2. Update GPU Drivers

Checking for the graphics driver update on the PC is highly recommended by following the steps below. By doing so, you’ll be able to install the latest update which will fix several graphical issues with the program. To do so:

• Right-click on the Start Menu to open up the Quick Access Menu.
• Click on Device Manager from the list to open it.
• Double-click on Display adapters to expand it.

• Right-click on the dedicated graphics card that you’re using.
• Click on Update driver > Choose Search automatically for drivers.
• The system will automatically check for the available update.
• An update will automatically download and install the latest version if available.
• Once done, ensure to restart your PC to apply the changes.

If there is no update available on the PC, then make sure to visit the official manufacturer website of the graphics card and manually grab the latest version. Search for the particular graphics card model by the following links.

• Nvidia GPU
• AMD GPU
• Intel GPU

3. Update Call of Duty: Warzone 2

Checking for the game updates on your PC is highly suggested by following the steps below to ensure no outdated game version is present. Sometimes issues with the outdated game patch version might cause several conflicts at your end that can affect the game launching or gameplay experience badly. To do that:

For Battle.net:

• Open the Battle.net (Blizzard) launcher > Click on the Blizzard logo from the top left corner.
• Go to Settings > Click on Game Install/Update.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page > Click on Apply latest updates and download future patch data for recently played games. to enable it.
• Now, click on Done to save changes > Restart the Battle.net launcher to apply changes.
• It should automatically update the game to the available version.

For Steam:

• Open Steam and go to Library.
• Click on COD: Warzone 2 from the left pane.
• Steam will automatically search for the available update.
• If there is an update available, click on Update.
• Make sure to wait for some time until the update completes.
• Once done, ensure to reboot the PC to apply changes.

4. Play Warzone 2 in Windowed Mode

The chances are high that somehow you’re playing your Warzone 2 game in the fullscreen window mode on the PC, which might consume higher system resources and may trigger graphical glitches in most cases. It’s better to play Warzone 2 in the windowed mode to avoid crashing issues. To do so:

• Launch the COD: Warzone 2.0  game > Click on Options at the bottom of the screen.
• Switch to the Graphics tab > Search for the Display Mode option.
• Make sure to select Windowed from the list.
• Once done, save the changes, then restart the PC to apply changes.

5. Verify and Repair Game Files

If in case missing or corrupted game files on the PC may trouble players a lot. You can follow the steps below to verify and repair game files on the computer so the game can run properly.

For Battle.net:

• Open the Battle.net client on your PC.
• Click on the Call of Duty: Warzone 2 game.
• Now, click on OPTIONS (Gear icon) > Click on Scan and Repair.
• Choose Begin Scan and wait for the process to complete.
• Once done, close the Battle.net launcher, and restart your PC.

For Steam:

• Launch the Steam client > Click on Library.
• Right-click on COD: Warzone 2 from the list.
• Click on Properties > Go to Local Files.
• Click on Verify Integrity of Game Files.
• This process may take some time to get completed. So, have some patience.
• Once done, make sure to reboot the PC to apply changes.

6. Disable NVIDIA Reflex and On-Demand Texture Streaming

NVIDIA Reflex and On-Demand Texture Streaming feature allow the game to optimize so the players can enjoy a seamless gaming experience. Sometimes these two features may also cause several issues with the game launching. So, you can try disabling these two options from the in-game settings menu.

7. Set Shader Quality to Low

You should also adjust the Shader Quality on the Warzone 2 game to make it more optimized for the gameplay. Several players have found that turning down the Shader Quality to Low fixed the crashing issue in some cases.

That’s it, guys. We assume this guide was helpful to you. For further queries, you can comment below.