Battlefield 2 won't start

[Flightsim]

Every time I try to start Battlefield 2, it briefly shows a splash screen with the Battlefield 2 logo and then the screen goes black for a second before crashing to the desktop. I have tried re-installing the game many times and upgrading to the latest patch with no success. I also tried disabling my firewall/antivirus services and changing the refresh rate of my screen after searching through some posts in another forum. I have the latest Nvidia drivers installed on my 7900GT. I don't know what else to do and would appreciate any other suggestions.

My setup:
A64 3800+
Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9
Nvidia 7900GT
1GB PC 3200
SoundBlaster Audigy
Windows XP Home SP2.

 

[pcmax]

I have the exact same problem. This is driving me nuts. Have uninstalled and reinstalled the game completely. I have a 7900GT also. Worked fine with my 7800GT. This is the first time I have tried it with my 7900. I also have the exact same motherboard as you but I think it something to do with the new video card. EA strikes again!

 

[pcmax]

Okay, try this. Change your monitor to a plug and play monitor in the display settings.

 

[Flightsim]

Originally posted by: pcmax
Okay, try this. Change your monitor to a plug and play monitor in the display settings.

Did this work for you? I couldn't figure out how to change my monitor to a plug and play device. Do I need to uninstall the monitor drivers?

 

[MrBaseball]

I had to reinstall my soundcard drivers to fix this problem.

 

[Injury]

ALL of your drivers must be up to date. Not just your video card drivers.

Also, make sure you are using the most recent version of DirectX.

 

[videogames101]

What the heck? i can't start either, all drivers up to date, any help? comp in sig.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: videogames101
What the heck? i can't start either, all drivers up to date, any help? comp in sig.

Update to the latest DirectX (9.0c, don't know revision number), double check windows update for drivers, ensure your BF2 is patched to 1.3

Are the people having this problem having it ONLY after the 1.3 patch, or first install?

If you've played recently, try deleting the battlefield 2 folder from "My Documents". You'll have to reset your settings. You could also try just renaming it, then copying the settings file over to it when it re-makes it.

 

[Flightsim]

Originally posted by: Injury

Update to the latest DirectX (9.0c, don't know revision number), double check windows update for drivers, ensure your BF2 is patched to 1.3

Are the people having this problem having it ONLY after the 1.3 patch, or first install?

If you've played recently, try deleting the battlefield 2 folder from "My Documents". You'll have to reset your settings. You could also try just renaming it, then copying the settings file over to it when it re-makes it.

I can't get the game to start with version 1.0 or 1.3. Since I have never played the game before, deleting the BF2 folder in My Documents doesn't make a difference. I also have DirectX 9.0c installed. Thanks for the suggestions though.

When I use the "EasyInfo"(located in the start menu) hardware diagnostic application that comes with the game, it doesn't seem to recognize my video card, video card drivers(84.21), or my sound card drivers. I know that these are the latest drivers for my video card, so would it help to use an older version? I'm not even sure if an older version would work with the 7900GT so I'm reluctant to do that. As for my sound card drivers, I have the original Audigy Gamer and I can't even find new drivers for it on Creative's website anymore so I use the retail ones. This setup has worked with many other games like FEAR, Far Cry, and Call of Duty 2. What makes BF2 so picky about drivers if this is really the problem?

 

[cougar78]

Ok guys I have the same issue. Here is the way it worked for me. Windows XP was installed connecting to a dvi to vga connection on a crt monitor. The game worked fine on it. Well then I tried to connect it directly on DVI and bam this exact problem.

So I tested this on my 6800GT (I have the 7900GT KO), same issue works great on VGA won't work on DVI.

So after wiping everything, I couldn't even get the game to install. So I had to delete the EA downloader and now the game installed and runs fine on VGA. I'm thinking only way I can run it on DVI is to reinstall windows while connected to DVI.

So I hope this helps and let me know if you have any other ideas on this.

 

[Flightsim]

cougar78- thats interesting because I also have the 7900GT KO. I installed windows XP using a DVI connection and BF2 has never worked for me. I haven't tried running it using a VGA connection yet, maybe i will. I should add that I'm using an LCD monitor.

Also, have you used the "EasyInfo" diagnostic application that is installed with the game? I would like to know if it recognizes your video card and video drivers since we have the same card. What drivers are you using for the 7900GT?

 

[Injury]

try the forums at bf2s.com.

There are some really helpful people there and they do better support than EA does for their own game.

 

[cougar78]

Originally posted by: Flightsim
cougar78- thats interesting because I also have the 7900GT KO. I installed windows XP using a DVI connection and BF2 has never worked for me. I haven't tried running it using a VGA connection yet, maybe i will. I should add that I'm using an LCD monitor.

Also, have you used the "EasyInfo" diagnostic application that is installed with the game? I would like to know if it recognizes your video card and video drivers since we have the same card. What drivers are you using for the 7900GT?

I use an LCD too, 2007FPW. Here is the latest one I just did hosted on my site.

 

[pcmax]

Originally posted by: Flightsim

Originally posted by: pcmax
Okay, try this. Change your monitor to a plug and play monitor in the display settings.

Did this work for you? I couldn't figure out how to change my monitor to a plug and play device. Do I need to uninstall the monitor drivers?

Yes, this worked for me. Go to control panel -> Display -> Settings Tab -> Advanced Button -> Monitor Tab - Properties Button -> Driver Tab -> Update Driver Button -> Choose No Not at this time -> Install from a list or specific location -> Don't search I will choose the driver to install -> Make sure Show compatible hardware is checked -> Highlight Plug & Play monitor and click Next and so on.

 

[mazex]

I found a solution!

I had similar problems like a lot of others here seem to have had. I bought a Viewsonic VX922 monitor yesterday (great monitor!) and finally left my old trusty 19' CRT after years of witing for the moment to go LCD... I tried starting BF2 and got the same problem as the rest of you - splash screen and then some black swiching screens and then back to desktop. To make it worse I had patched BF to 1.3 without playing it after that and switched to the latest Catalyst 6.5 drivers since the last round of BF2 too. I've had BF2 installed since the day it hit the market and I have never had any problems before.

So, initially I thought it had something to do with the 1.3 patch as all my other games worked great but after reading this thread about former CRT users with problems I realized that it must be trying to run at my old 85Hz settings with no success. I have the Catalyst set to force 60Hz for all games but that does not seem to work... Switching to default plug and play driver for the display felt like a surrender (and it didn't work for me either ). So here's how I fixed it - it hopefully works for all users that have switched from CRT to LCD:

Go to your profiles folder, the default location is "C:\My Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles". It may be tempting to fiddle around in the actual game directory but thats not the right place. Go to My Documents instead. First go down into the sub folder "C:\My Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles\Default" and edit the file "Video.con" in a text editor of choice. In mine this row was present:

VideoSettings.setResolution 1280x960@85Hz

That won't work on my VX922 so I edited it to:

VideoSettings.setResolution 1280x1024@60Hz

Now go down into all the other profile folders ("F:\My Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles\0001", "F:\My Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles\0002" etc) and edit the "Video.con" files there in the same way.

Try starting the game - it worked perfectly for me at least!

Good luck /Mazex

 

[AlphaCrewchief]

I'm going to piggyback on what mazez said. With the VX922, which is what I have, the default windows drivers allow for a max refresh of 75Hz, which BF2 will allow. After a Windows Update, the NEW VX922 drivers will only allow 60Hz, which was what was causing my BF2 crash. Changing it from 75Hz to 60Hz worked great, so just double check what your monitor can handle for refresh and edit the video.con file. Great info guys.

 

[Gooberlx2]

I have also had BF2 die on me, exactly as ya'll have been describing it, when I tried screwing with the video.con files to try some additional widescreen hacks for field of view....I cannot believe that, after so many patches, BF2 still doesn't natively/properly support widescreen resolutions.

 

[AlphaCrewchief]

Also one more thing incase this issue comes up. Changing the video.con file to reflect my new refresh was only half the solution. The game loaded no problem until the sign in screen. As soon as it tried to login, it would crash to desktop. Rolling back the monitor driver to the default WinXP/Win2K driver cured that issue as well. Just thought I would share.

 

[Munners96]

-----------------------------
Go to your profiles folder, the default location is "C:\My Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles". It may be tempting to fiddle around in the actual game directory but thats not the right place. Go to My Documents instead. First go down into the sub folder "C:\My Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles\Default" and edit the file "Video.con" in a text editor of choice. In mine this row was present:

VideoSettings.setResolution 1280x960@85Hz

That won't work on my VX922 so I edited it to:

VideoSettings.setResolution 1280x1024@60Hz

Now go down into all the other profile folders ("F:\My Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles\0001", "F:\My Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles\0002" etc) and edit the "Video.con" files there in the same way.

Try starting the game - it worked perfectly for me at least!

Good luck /Mazex

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Thanks...this worked for me

Went from CRT to VIEWSONIC VP2030 LCD (using DVI)