Call Of Duty 2 Troubleshooting and FAQ

Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5053 Location: UK

This is just a little topic to help people having problems running Call of Duty 2.

1 - You get the "Your video card or driver does not support alpha blending " or "dynamic lighting" etc.. error message when trying the run the game.

This means that your graphics card drivers may need updating or that your graphics card needs upgrading.

2 - You get disk read errors or insert CD/DVD error messages when you try and run the game.

This can be caused by CD/DVD cloning software such as Alcohol 120%, Clone CD/DVD, Daemon tools etc.
Uninstall the cloning software or disable emulation in the cloning software and try again.

If that doesn't work try setting the transfer mode of the CD/DVD drive PIO only mode.

3 - The game crashes while your playing or crashes while loading single player/multiplayer.

This can be caused by numerous things.
Make sure that you have the latest drivers for your graphics card, sound card and motherboard.
Make sure all unnecessary background tasks have been closed.
Try setting the hardware acceleration for your sound card to Basic acceleration.
Try setting your desktop to 800x600 with 16bit high colour and running the game.

4 - The installation freezes.

This can also be caused by numerous things.
The CD/DVD may need cleaning or be damaged.
Make sure all unnecessary background tasks have been closed.
Run Disk Cleanup and delete all temporary files.
Run Chkdsk on your hard drive to fix any possible errors.
Try updating your ASPI layer via the Adaptec website.

5 - You get the "Error 1305. Error reading from file" error message.

The CD/DVD may need cleaning or it may be damaged.
Make sure all unnecessary background tasks have been closed.
Try changing the transfer mode of the CD/DVD drive to PIO mode only.
Try reinstalling the InstallShield software.

6 - You get the "DirectX encountered an unrecoverable error" when you try to run the game.

Make sure that you have the latest drivers for your graphics card, sound card and motherboard.
Make sure all unnecessary background tasks have been closed.
Try setting the hardware acceleration for your sound card to Basic acceleration.
Try downloading DirectX from the Microsoft site and reinstalling it.

7 - Performance problems.

Make sure that you have the latest drivers for your graphics card, sound card and motherboard.
Make sure all unnecessary background tasks have been closed.
Lower the resolution in the graphics options.
Turn off shadows, anti-aliasing, soften smoke edges and any other advanced effects.
Try setting the rendering method preference option to DirectX 7.

8 - Texture tearing problems

Make sure that you have the latest drivers for your graphics card, sound card and motherboard.
Turn on the "Sync Every Frame" graphics option.

9 - Stuttering sound problems.

Make sure your sound card drivers are up to date.
Turn off the Creative EAX option.
Lower the hardware acceleration level of your sound card to standard or below through DirectX Diagnostics.

10 - When trying to change the graphics options in the game the game exits with an unrecoverable DirectX error.

Reinstall DirectX 9 (which is available from the Microsoft website or on the game CD/DVD).
This error has also been known to be caused by XFire. If you have XFire installed try disabling it and then changing the graphics options. I know this sounds strange but it does work.

Joined: Dec 07, 2002 Posts: 5667

Does the updated driver from NVidia help solve any of these problems? I have downloaded it but haven't installed it as of yet. :hmm:

Joined: Dec 06, 2005 Posts: 4

Cleaning and updating Drivers doesn't work for this error. + You can't just simply uninstall/reinstall directx. I don't think this would be the catalyst of the problem anyway... it seems on many other forums relating to this issue, users are reporting no directx problems on all other games.

This is apparently an issue primarily associated with COD2 rather than the player machines (meeting the rec. specs for the game). IW/Activision offer no explanation or work around.

I'm still open to suggetions, but I've tried everything so far.

Joined: Oct 13, 2003 Posts: 8

TRY TYPING DXDIAG IN THE RUN BOV, BRINGS UP A DIRECT X DIAGNOSTIC PROGRAM

Joined: Dec 06, 2005 Posts: 4

Dxdiag reports no DX errors on my system. + All other DX9.0c games work fine and dandy.
Many people speculate that COD2 was primarily made for the xbox 360 and thus the PC version was simply ported across the platforms without rigorous testing on the PC. Me thinks this is true and this is where the problem lies... We'll have to wait for a patch from the coy people at IW... :whistling:

Joined: Dec 10, 2005 Posts: 1

I have a HP system sold exclusively at Costco. It runs Age of Empires III and Call of Duty United Offensive Demo just fine. The intergrated display driver is Intel® 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset. DXDIAG say everything with DirectX 9.0c no errors.

I get the same error message "Video card or driver doesn't support alpha blending" I don't mind upgrading to a newer card but hey if it works... Sounds like Activision and nVidia have a racket going :hmm:

What cards would be recommended for COD2? Perfer not breaking the bank. THX

Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5053 Location: UK

Hello gbandj and welcome to Lockergnome!

The Intel card isn't good enough to run the game and doesn't fully support all the features of DirectX 9 which is why your having the problem.

For a good all round experience and a bit of future proofing I would recommend nothing less than the Nvidia 6800 series or ATI equivalent (not had an ATI card in 5 years so can't really advise with them).