Windows 8, 10, and 11 handle full-screen optimization and scaling differently than Windows 7 (the OS BO2 was built for).
How to Fix the Black Ops 2 "Unhandled Exception Caught" Error (Even After Verifying Files) Windows 8, 10, and 11 handle full-screen optimization
✅ This resolves ~80% of unhandled exception errors. Right-click the file, select , and go to
Steam → Properties → Installed Files → Verify integrity. Player Sentiment The most prevalent cause is a
Right-click the file, select , and go to the Compatibility tab.
: This standard Steam fix checks for and replaces corrupt files that may trigger initialization exceptions. Right-click the game in your library, select Properties > Local Files , and click Verify Integrity of Game Files Disable Conflicting Overlays : Third-party monitoring software like MSI Afterburner are known to conflict with the game's startup process. Player Sentiment
The most prevalent cause is a mismatch in Anti-Aliasing settings. The game engine defaults to 4x or 8x Multi-Sample Anti-Aliasing (MSAA) upon first launch. Modern graphics cards (NVIDIA GeForce RTX series, AMD Radeon RX series) utilize drivers optimized for DirectX 11 and 12. When the legacy DirectX 9 renderer attempts to negotiate high-level MSAA with a modern driver, the driver may reject the instruction or fail to allocate the necessary resources, throwing an unhandled exception.