Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Fixes and Tweaks for Crashes, Errors, Freezing, Poor FPS, Lag

First things first, make sure you can run Call of Duty: Black Ops 2! Here are the minimum system requirements:

Black Ops 2 Minimum System Requirements

• OS: Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7
• Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E8200 2.66 GHz or AMD Phenom X3 8750 2.4 GHz
• Memory: 2 GB for 32-bit OS or 4 GB for 64-bit OS
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 8800GT 512 MB or ATI Radeon HD 3870 512 MB
• DirectX®: 9.0c
• Hard Drive: 16 GB HD space
• Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible
• Additional: Broadband connection required for activation and multiplayer gameplay

How to find the Black Ops 2 config file

Unfortunately the config file has been encrypted by Treyarch this time. Usually, you can track down the config files for an IW engine game from Steam in the steamapps/common/[Game Name]/players folder. They seem to be there this time, too, but editing them with a basic text editor like Notepad finds the files locked up tight. While it’s likely the community might find a way to crack into the files and make them adjustable in the future, for right now, it seems most of us will be stuck with what Treyarch allows us to change.

Black Ops 2 keeps crashing and freezing with black screens

If you’ve ensured that your PC can handle Black Ops 2, go through the following troubleshooting steps to prevent Black Ops 2 crashes. More intricate solutions and tweaks are posted after this.

1. Update your nVidia / ATI graphics drivers. Check our References page for proper and official download links.
2. Turn off SLI / Crossfire then start the game. See if it stabilizes Black Ops 2 performance.
3. Turn off your anti-virus software before launching the Black Ops 2, but make sure you turn it back on after playing. Make sure Windows Defender is also disabled.
4. Try using only one GPU first (turn the other one off via your nVidia / ATI graphics control panel)
5. Try running the game in Windowed Mode (frequently works for low-end PCs)
6. Disable anti-aliasing and filtering, restart Black Ops 2
7. Disable V-sync, restart Black Ops 2
8. Disable background apps, and turn off your anti-virus software
9. In Windows 7 right-click the Black Ops 2 exe file, go to the ‘Compatibility Mode’ tab and check ‘Disable Desktop Composition’

Black Ops 2 Steam Connection Lost

This is a server load issue which the devs are currently fixing. very similar to the issues encountered in the first Black Ops installment and should be fixed very soon.

Hitting 100% system resources usage when playing Black Ops 2

A very apparent bug, but can be fixed by following these workaround steps:

1. Run Steam in Offline mode
2. Start Black Ops
3. End the steam.exe process

Obviously and unfortunately, this cannot apply to multiplayer mode. For multiplayer try our other optimization solutions below.

Black Ops 2 Error: Game Unavailable – Steam

Restart Steam and try again.

COD Black Ops 2 can’t join multiplayer games or stuck at loading screen

Again a server load issue, please be patient.

Known bugs in Black Ops 2 that will be addressed through a patch:

• Steam Goes Offline – While Joining Multiplayer Games in Black Ops 2
• Black Ops 2 crashes after changing resolution

How to change FOV in Black Ops 2

You can change it from the menu, or via the console e.g., /cg_fov 80

No Sound in Black Ops 2

First ensure that your volume is set properly, then try one or more of the following solutions:

• Go to Control Panel> Hardware and Sound> Sound > Click on Communications Tab and select “Do Nothing”. Try running Black Ops 2.
• Right click on the speaker, select playback devices, highlight sound device you use, click Properties, and then Advanced Tab and select 16bit, 48000hz(DVD quality).
• Another thing you could try is to reinstall DirectX. Go into the installation folder > redist > Directx folder and run DXsetup.
• Force the game to run in compatibility mode. To do this, look for the Black Ops 2 exe file in the Steam folder, right-click it and select Run in compatibility mode for XP. This forces your PC to use DX9 and sound should now work.

Black Ops 2 Won’t Start

If your Black Ops 2 simply won’t launch, try the following:

1. Try to run Black Ops 2 directly from the installation directory.
2. Verify the integrity of your Steam game cache for Black Ops 2

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 keeps freezing in-game

Go to your config file (check top of page for instructions on how to access it), and search for the line r_fullscreen 1 and change it to 0.

Fix black screens in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

If you keep getting black screens, change to your native resolution and run the game again. So far this is the only working solution we’ve seen, let us know in the comments if you have other suggestions.

Black Ops 2 Multiplayer Port Forwarding

Here are the ports you need to forward for smooth online play in Black Ops 2. We’ve also included console version for everyone’s reference:

1. PC – TCP [3074] UDP [3074]
2. Nintendo Wii – TCP [443, 3074] UDP [3074, 3075]
3. PlayStation 3 – TCP [80, 81, 443, 3074, 5223] UDP [3074, 3075, 3478]
4. Xbox 360 – TCP [80] UDP [88, 3074, 22728, 33233]

Black Ops 2 keeps stuttering

Try changing your core settings to resolve any stuttering issues. Here’s how to do this:

1. Open task manager
2. Right click on Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 process
3. Set Affinity and select one (1) CPU or Core 0
4. Some users recommend to do this as well to your Steam process

“DirectX encountered an unrecoverable error. Check the readme for possible solutions.”

Update your Direct X and try running Black Ops 2 again. If you have other suggestions here, please post them in the comments!

Servers Issues in Black Ops 2

If you get server issues like “Server to Busy – Install Disk Fix” or “Steam Server Currently To Busy To Handle Request” try this:

1. Open Steam.
2. Click the Steam tab in upper left corner.
3. Open Settings.
4. Click the download/cloud tab.
5. Select US as the country in the download region bar.
6. Reboot Steam.

Black Ops 2 menu crash or freeze

This is a possible config error. Try deleting the user cgp files in:

steam\steamapps\common\call of duty black ops 2\players

This will force Black Ops 2 to re-download the proper cgp file, allowing you to play the game.

Fix Lag in Black Ops 2

If you keep experiencing lag or stuttering, try the following tweaks and solutions:

Solution #1

1. Open Console (`)
2. Type cl_maxpackets 100
3. Close Game.

Solution #2

1. Right click on Black Ops 2 Multiplayer in Steam games
2. Go Properties -> Updates -> Untick Enable steam cloud sync.

Solution #3

1. If it still doesn’t help you can try the following.
2. Go to Steam > Settings > In Game > uncheck “Enable Steam Community In-Game”. Load game and see if it works.

Solution #4

Turn off the in-Game Game Shadows.

Solution #5

1. Start Black Ops Multiplayer
2. Оpen your Ctrl+Alt+Delete and get in Task Manager! (Ctrl+Shift+Esc as shortcut).
3. Go to processes tab, then select Steam.exe
4. Go down to Set priority and set to Low
5. You can do the same to BlackOps2MP.exe but rather set it to High – that bit is up to you.
6. Switch back to Game

Solution #6

Try the following tweaks via console:

• r_blur_allowed 0
• r_distortion 0
• r_dof_enable 0
• r_glow_allowed 0
• cg_brass 0
• r_cachemodellighting 1
• r_cacheSmodellighting 1
• If you do not have a multi-GPU – r_multiGpu 0

EXE_CANNOT_FIND_ZONE

If you get this error, verify the integrity of the game cache and make sure you have set the correct zone for yourself. Select UK only if you are in UK etc. Or start Singleplayer once and see if that helps the cause. If you attempted to decrypt your pre-load, it means the decryption failed. Delete Black Ops 2, and delete any associated NCF files in:

/steam/steamapps

Also Black Ops 2 folder in:

steam/steamapps/common

and try again.

Black Ops 2 Multiplayer won’t work

Run the game in single player, exit, then run multiplayer.

Black Ops 2 connection interrupted

Disable downloading in-game by going to Settings > Multiplayer > Allow Downloading > OFF.

Official crash fixes from Treyarch

Here are solutions from Activision support for the first installment that may also be applied to Black Ops 2:

Solution #1: Disable Unnecessary Services

1. Go to the Start bar and select Run. (If you are on Vista or Windows 7, hit the Windows key and the R key at the same time)
2. In the Run window, type in msconfig and hit enter.
3. Once the utility comes up, go to the Startup tab and hit the Disable All button.
4. Next go to the Services tab and check the “Hide All Microsoft Services” checkbox and then hit the Disable All button.
5. Hit the OK button and close the utility, and restart your computer when prompted to.

Solution #2: Windows XP Sound Acceleration Fix

1. Click the Start button > Settings > Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Sounds and Audio Devices icon.
3. Click the Volume tab.
4. Under Speaker settings, click the Advanced button.
5. Click the Performance tab.
6. Reduce the Hardware acceleration to Basic, the 2nd notch from the left.
7. Click Apply and then OK 2 times. Run the game now. Don’t forget to turn the acceleration back up to restore the high-end features for your sound card when using other applications.

Solution #3: Force a disc install of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

1. Launch Steam and click the ‘My Game’ Tab.
2. Right click on Call of Duty: Black Ops and click ‘Delete local content’. The non-installed information will appear next to the game.
3. Insert Disk 1 into your DVD drive and close Steam (File, Exit).
4. Go to Start > Run
5. In the window Run box enter the following: c:\program files\steam\steam.exe -install E:
6. If your CD/DVD drive is not E: please change it accordingly. If Steam is not installed within c:\program files\steam, change the path accordingly.
7. Press OK, Steam should now start the installation from the Disk 1 and will ask for Disk 2 a bit later on.
8. At the end of the installation process, Steam will connect on Internet to download a small update which should take no more than few minutes.

Solution #4: Delete all files in the Windows/Temp directory

• Windows XP

1. Click the Start button > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup.
2. Select the drive you want to cleanup such as the C: drive.
3. Click the Clean up button.

• Windows Vista\Windows 7

1. Click the Start button > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup.
2. Select the drive you want to cleanup such as the C: drive.
3. Click the Clean up button.

If you have multiple drives capable of reading the disc then try installing from your other drive(s).

Solution #5: Check for Nuketown

If you are getting a crash while in the lobby, then make sure that you check that it has Nuketown in it or not. If you have pre-ordered the game, you will be fine otherwise, join some other lobby.

Solution #6: Sound drivers conflict

Make sure that your on-board sound device and PCI sound card aren’t enabled at the same time (disable one). The crash can also occur due to sound drivers conflict so make sure that you are using the up-to-date drivers.

Solution #7: Resolution and streaming

Your game can crash if you try to change resolution while live streaming.

Solution #8: Game settings have changed – relaunch

If you get a team error after selecting update when prompted with a “Game Settings Have Changed” message. Launching the game again will resolve this.

Solution #9: Manual installers

You may also want to runs some installers manually to avoid random crashes. Exit Steam and run the following installers:

• ..\Steamapps\Common\Call of Duty Black Ops II\redist\vcredist_x86.exe
• …\Steamapps\Common\Call of Duty Black Ops II\redist\DirectX\dxsetup.exe

Error – “Steam Must be Running to Play the Game”

Make sure you have Steam running before you start Black Ops 2. If steam is causing the 100% resource usage, you can kill the Steam process after you have launched the game.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Stuttering Fix

If Black Ops 2 keeps stuttering or chopping in game, try the following solutions and tweaks:

1. Try disabling Steam Cloud and In-Game Community
2. Make steam.exe use 1 core and set priority to low by going to the task manager and right-clicking on the steam.exe process

Corrupt File Errors in Black Ops 2

Verify the integrity of the game cache in Steam. Right click on the Black Ops 2 shortcut in Steam Library, go to Properties, then Local Files, then click Verify the Integrity of Game Cache.

Cannot see other multiplayer game modes

This is a possible config error. Try deleting the user cgp files in:

steam\steamapps\common\call of duty black ops 2\players

This will force Black Ops 2 to re-download the proper cgp file, allowing you to see the other game modes.

Cannot find Servers

Reset the server filters