Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

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General information

Official Call of Duty series site

Steam Users' Forums

Call of Duty Wiki - A detailed wiki for every Call of Duty game made.

Availability

All versions require Steam, including retail.

Improvements

Utilities

• MW3 Configuration Utility - advanced mouse and graphics settings utility.
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Multiple Profiles - allows user to hack in the feature of multiple profiles (managed in a utility external to the game).

Game data

Save game location

config.cfg is for single player, config_mp.cfg is for multi-player

Video settings

Field of view (FOV)

• FOV Changer - Can adjust your field of view well beyond the game's default of 65. Thus far use has not resulted in a VAC ban for users.

Network Settings

Port 3074 (UDP) must be open to join and host multi-player games. Unlike Black Ops, the game does not support automatic port assignment through UPnP.

Users may opt to host their own dedicated, unranked multi-player servers as an alternative to the ranked matchmaking. This requires the hosting computer to have a sufficient processor and a minimum bandwidth, and the game to be installed. The server is launched from iw5mp_server.exe and can be configured with the play list recipes and server.cfg in the admin folder. In order to join dedicated servers, the option must be enabled from the in-game menu under the Dedicated Server category. You may list game servers using Steam's Server list function, and view the status of any server through the Join Game dialogue, or use the in-game server browser found under the Servers menu.

Issues fixed

A small tweak guide is available at PC Gamer

A collection of potential crash fixes are available at Crash Fixes

Black Screen on Start-up

With some users, a black screen will display on start-up, though game music can be heard in the background. This is caused by a collision with the Mumble voice client. Within Mumble, be sure to disable the in-game overlay, and this will solve the problem.

PC Crashing/Freezing in game

Instructions

or

Instructions

Game Freezes during the Intro Video

Verify the integrity of your Steam game cache. Update DirectX and GPU drivers. You can also try going to your MW3 installation folderTemplate:Where? and delete the file called: “ModernWarfare3.bik” as this is the video file that is causing most of the lock up during start-ups. Pretty straightforward, but this tip has already fixed the problem for many people.

Crash to Desktop

If you’re game randomly crashes upon launching the game, ensure or try the following: Update DirectX and GPU drivers. Turn off SLI / Crossfire. Try using only one GPU first (turn the other one off via your graphics control panel). Disable anti-aliasing and filtering. Disable V-sync. Disable background applications; turn off your anti-virus software. First, try setting your desktop to a resolution of 1024×768, 32 bit True Color. All background applications should be shut down prior to running the game. 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) In the Run window, type in msconfig and hit enter. Once the utility comes up, go to the Start-up tab and hit the Disable All button. Next go to the Services tab and check the “Hide All Microsoft Services” check-box and then hit the Disable All button. Hit the OK button and close the utility, and restart your computer when prompted to.

Windows XP:

Instructions

DirectX error while loading

Change texture quality to automatic in video settings.

Cannot Install

This is a Microsoft C++ bug so the quick fix is to uninstall your C++ files. If you see 2 instances of Microsoft C++, uninstall both of them; and don’t worry, they are easy to reinstall. There are also a couple workarounds online if you don’t want to uninstall them.

Failed to run install script

This is a common issue with Windows 7.

Instructions

Multiple monitor issues

A common problem when playing on multiple screens. For now, the solution is to unplug other monitors and play on single screen. If that doesn’t work, try playing in windowed mode.

Nvidia Optimus

Instructions

Low frame rate

Instructions

Alternatively, open the task manager, open processes, select the game’s respective exe file and set priority above normal or higher. You must do this every time you play the game.

Fuzzy Textures

Set Image Quality to "Native", as "Extra" up-scales the textures resulting in poor image quality.

Wide-screen Fix

• Widescreen Fixer - Modern Warfare 3 is reported to cooperate well with this application.

DirectX 9 Compatibility With Older Video Cards

Appended the game laucher with -dx9 to force DirectX 9 compatibility mode.

"seta rRendererPreference "Shader model 2.0"" in the player config for single player or multi-player respectively.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare 3\players2\config.cfg

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare 3\players2\config_mp.cfg

DirectX error while loading

Change texture quality to automatic.

Audio issues

Windows 7 and Windows Vista: Update sound card drivers; set volume to maximum.

Another tip you could try is to go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound > Communications Tab then select the Do Nothing radio button to permanently fix this issue.

Windows XP users: Reduce hardware acceleration, or set your speakers to Stereo.

DirectX

C:\Windows\system32\XAudio2_1.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error.

Type this command into Run:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" -install D:

Mouse problems

Shut down any software used for the mouse.

Also try a lower polling rate if the mouse has this function.

Controller

Game pad controllers are not supported by Modern Warfare 3. Please check our controller page for information about how to hack controller support into the game.

RELIABLE COMMAND BUFFER OVERFLOW

Go through the building on the right with the broken glass, and stay in there until the end of the offices, and it will auto save.

Rank problems

MW3 will soon restore them using their cloud backup. However you will lose all progress so far. The developers are working to stabilize this issue.

Steam Error – 55: This game is currently unavailable. Please try again at another time.

Restart Steam or the computer.

DLC content is required. Required map (map name) is missing or damaged.

Make sure both the single player and multi player versions of the game are installed, and do a file integrity check. If the problem persists, reinstall the game while the anti-virus is turned off.