Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

This page is for the original 2009 release. For the 2020 campaign remaster, see Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered. For the sequel to the 2019 reboot, see Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Developers
	Infinity Ward
macOS (OS X)	Aspyr Media
Publishers
	Activision
OS X	Aspyr Media
Japan	Square Enix
Engines
	IW 4.0
Release dates
Windows	November 10, 2009
macOS (OS X)	May 20, 2014
Reception
Metacritic	86
IGDB	85
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, FPS, Shooter
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Europe, South America, Contemporary
Series	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Subseries of Call of Duty
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare	2007
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2	2009
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3	2011
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered	2016
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2019
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered	2020
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II	2022
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III	2023

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) release of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action, FPS and shooter game in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty series.

General information

Official Call of Duty series site

CallofDutyMaps - A detailed Website for all included multiplayer maps.

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		2 DVDs.
Microsoft Store		Does not cross-play with Steam or Xbox.
Steam
Amazon.com (unavailable)
(unavailable)

Various security vulnerabilities have been found in the Steam versions of all Call of Duty games from Modern Warfare 2 (2009) to Advanced Warfare. Connecting to the online gamemodes is highly discouraged as it may allow hackers to remotely access, control and execute code on computers of others.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Stimulus Package + Resurgence Pack	Incloudes both Stimulus Package and Resurgence Pack. Available only for the Microsoft Store version.
Stimulus Package	Adds three new maps (Bailout, Storm, Salvage) and two maps from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Crash, Overgrown).
Resurgence Pack	Adds three new maps (Carnival, Fuel, Trailer Park) and two maps from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Strike, Vacant).

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Edit config file
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open config.cfg. Change seta intro "1" to seta intro "0". Save the file.

Skip logo

Delete/rename image file[citation needed]
Go to <path-to-game>. Delete or rename splash.bmp.

IW4X

An easy-to-install replacement launcher using dedicated servers for the game's online modes. Fixes the security vulnerabilities while also adding several enhancements.

• Aiming down sights (ADS) sensitivity.
• Controller support.
• Ultra-wide monitor support.
• FOV unlocker.
• FPS unlocker.
• Clan tags support.
• Custom texture and camo support.
• Mod support.
• Discord rich presence.
• Support for playing against bots using mods.

IW4X-SP

A singleplayer client for Modern Warfare 2 that adds enhanced functionality as: Console commands, FOV changing, modding tools, and more

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\players\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/10180/pfx/

Singleplayer configuration settings are saved in <path-to-game>\players\config.cfg.

Multiplayer configuration settings are saved in <path-to-game>\players\config_mp.cfg.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\players\save\ <path-to-game>\players\settings_c.zip.iw4 <path-to-game>\players\settings_s.zip.iw4
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/10180/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud		Syncs only multiplayer progress.

Video

Video Settings

Advanced Video Settings

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			See the WSGF entry or use Widescreen Fixer.
Ultra-widescreen			See the WSGF entry or use Widescreen Fixer.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Default is 65° vertical. See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed		Toggle using Alt+↵ Enter or change seta r_fullscreen "0" to "1" in config.cfg.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See Anisotropic filtering (AF).
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Off and up to 4x MSAA options. 16x SSAA or MSAA can be forced in config.cfg with "r_aaSamples" "16".
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Labeled as Sync Every Frame. Yes and No options. Having it enabled will cap the FPS to monitor Hz.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Capped to 60 in menu. Unlocked in Singleplayer. Frame rate in Multiplayer is capped at 91. Use MW2 FPS Unlocker or BetterCOD. For Multiplayer after the 2023 update, use Market by PierroD AKA: LINDRA.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Ray tracing (RT)
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Field of view (FOV)

For multiplayer after the 2023 update use Market by PierroD AKA: LINDRA.

Infinity Ward does not treat FOV adjustment as cheating.

For campaign and special ops use Call of Duty: SCZ FoV Changer, or the fix below.

Edit config.cfg

Open <path-to-game>\players\config.cfg with a text-editing tool. Find the line seta monkeytoy and change its value from "1" to "0". Add the following lines: seta thereisacow "1337" bind w "+forward;cg_fov 80;cg_fovScale 1.125" Save it. Once in game, press W (as it's already done to walk forward; just rebind it to another key if preferred) and the FOV will be changed. Notes cg_fov adjusts the base hipfire FOV, while cg_fovScale is a multiplier for all FOV levels (including hipfire FOV and the weapon-specific aim down sights FOV levels). Both can be adjusted to the desired values. Starting a new level will reset the FOV to default but reaching a checkpoint will save the changed FOV, including if saving, quitting and resuming that same level. Weapon models are affected by changes in FOV. Warning: There has been several tweak suggestions online for adding sv_cheats "1" into the config file to enable the console menu. While this has been true for the previous game, Modern Warfare 2 had a stricter stance on cheating thereby adding sv_cheats may well crash the game on startup and even delete the config file afterwards. Make sure to backup the config file if risking to add the line. That said, the FOV tweak mentioned will work fine.

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Edit config

Go to <path-to-game>\players\. For singleplayer, edit config.cfg For multiplayer, edit config_mp.cfg Find a line seta r_texFilterAnisoMin "1" and change the value to either "2", "8" or "16" (max). Find a line seta r_texFilterAnisoMax "4" and change the value to either "2", "8" or "16" (max). Notes To bypass the game automatically adjusting settings of anisotropic, set both r_texFilterAnisoMax and r_texFilterAnisoMin to the same value.

Input

Controls Look Settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Movement, Actions and Look groups.
Mouse sensitivity		From 1 to 30. Default is 5.
Mouse acceleration		Yes and No options. Default is No. Enabled will change only seta m_filter in config.cfg. See Mouse acceleration to enable seta cl_mouseAccel.
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Yes and No options. Default is No.
Controller
Controller support

• 

  Controls Actions Settings

• 

  Controls Movement Settings

Mouse acceleration

Mouse acceleration is disabled by default. It can be manually enabled by editing a config file.

Edit config file
Go to <path-to-game>\players\. Edit config.cfg (single player) or config_mp.cfg (multiplayer). Change seta cl_mouseAccel "0" to seta cl_mouseAccel "1" to enable mouse acceleration.

Audio

Audio Settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Only Volume. From 0 to 0.8 in config.cfg.From 0 to 40 in game. Default is 40. Cinematic volume can be adjusted in config.cfg with seta snd_cinematicVolumeScale. Default is 0.5.
Surround sound		Only 5.1 can be selected. Although with "Windows Default" it can produce 7.1 if selected in the Windows speaker configuration.
Subtitles		Enabled and Disabled options.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Fan - 1 2
French
German
Hungarian				Fan translation, link #1, link #2.
Italian
Japanese
Polish
Russian
Spanish
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation by GameVicio; download.
Slovak				Fan translation.
Turkish				Fan Translation.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play		18
Asynchronous multiplayer

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	28960(MP), 28961 (Spec-Ops)
UDP	28960(MP), 28961 (Spec-Ops)

This game supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D, Z3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Devices
3RD Space Gaming Vest

Issues unresolved

Cannot install the game from retail DVDs

Use Phoenix extractor

Extract the game files from the DVDs using this tutorial. Start downloading the game in Steam (redeem the code from the back of the manual for a new copy). Place the extracted files in the game's Steamapps folder chosen during its installation. Verify integrity of game files in Properties>Local game files clicking RMB on the game. After verification, downloading of additional few gigabytes will start.

Crash to desktop in the Microsoft Store version

The issues seems to happen due to the game's friendslist being unable to show more than 48 profiles, to the point of the game crashing.

Workarounds
Lower the amount of friends on the Xbox account used.

Issues fixed

OBS Studio Game Capture can't hook game

Activate Capture third-party overlays (such as steam) from Properties

Can not load image falloff_linear

This issue may appear because of IW4x Client.

Delete Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
Go to <path-to-game> and delete Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. Verify integrity of game files through Steam.

Ambient Occlusion issues on Nvidia GPUs

Ambient Occlusion set to Performance.

Ambient Occlusion set to off.

iw4sp.exe is for Singleplayer, iw4mp.exe is for Multiplayer.

Disable Ambient Occlusion inside NVIDIA Control Panel
Open the Nvidia Control Panel. Go to 3D Settings > Manage 3D settings > Program Settings. Click Add, Browse and select iw4sp.exe or iw4mp.exe inside <path-to-game>. Set Ambient Occlusion to Off.

Singleplayer hangs on launch with black screen and mouse cursor moving

Download DSOAL or other DirectSound wrapper, and put it into <path-to-game>[citation needed]

Multiplayer hangs on launch/startup with splash screen

Delete mp_playlist_dlc2.ff[citation needed]
Navigate to C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2\zone\english\. Notes For some users, deleting mp_playlists_dlc1.ff or/and mp_playlists.ff might help as well.

Mouse stuttering/skipping

Lower mouse Hz to 125 or 250

Alternatively, enable "Smooth Mouse" in settings menu.

Stuck in the Gulag level

Playing at high FPS results in being stuck in the Gulag level.^{[citation needed]}

Enable Vsync in the options game and set monitor to 60 Hz.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)			32-bit only.

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System
Cutscenes	Bink Video

Mods

High(er) Resolution Textures

Upscales the Textures to a minimum of 1024 pixels.

HD Blood decals

This replaces the game's default 128x128 blood decals with newer and higher resolution (2048x2048) ones.

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz AMD Athlon 64 3200+		Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB		2 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	12 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible		Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT ATI Radeon X1800
Sound (audio device)	Direct X 9.0c compatibility

Hosting co-op or multiplayer matches also recommends CPU speeds of at least 2 GHz.

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.9.2		10.12
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i3 2.2 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	13 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 4850 Nvidia GeForce 640M Intel Iris 512 MB of VRAM

The following chipsets are unsupported by the OS X version: ATI Radeon HD 2000 series, ATI Radeon HD 6490M, 6630M, 3870, Nvidia GeForce 9000 series, Nvidia GeForce 320M, 330M, Intel HD 3000, 4000, 5000.

Hard drive volumes formatted as Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive) are not supported.

Modern Warfare 2 for Mac may not be accessible to users in Russia, Poland, and Japan.