How to Fix Colin McRae: Dirt 2 Crashes and Launch Issues

Mainstream Codemasters, Colin McRae: DiRT 2, Crashes, DiRT 2, Driving, Fix, Freezes, How to, Mainstream, Racing Calin December 11, 2009

How to Fix Colin McRae: Dirt 2 Crashes and Launch Issues

Colin Macre : Dirt 2

Dirt 2 might be the first game to offer support for DirectX 11, but this doesn’t mean (unfortunately) that it is an error-free game. Apparently most of the problems are related to the game crashing at startup or crashing/freezing right after the AMD logo appears. Below we will try to fix the crashing and freezing and not launching issues of Colin McRae: Dirt 2 and hope you’ll get the perfect experience out of it.

First thing you should do before trying anything else is to check out if your system meets the minimum system requirements for Dirt 2. If it does, read on and let’s try to find a solution.

Problem 1: Dirt 2 crashes at launch (Dirt 2 not launching)

Apparently, this is a problem caused by an incorrect installation of Games For Windows Live. According to the game’s community manager the fix here is quite simple:

1. Restart your computer.
2. Download and install again Games for Windows Live (click here to get it)
3. Restart the computer again and fire up the game!

Problem 2: Dirt 2 crashes or freezes when the AMD logo appears

There is no official confirmation of a fix for this problem, but you could try to force the game to run in DirectX 9 mode. In order to do so, you will have to:

Open with a text editor the file located at:
Documents/My Games/Dirt2/hardwaresettings/hardware_settings_config.xml

Find line and change it to

Game should run now without problems. Please let us know if you’re having any other problems or if you managed to find out other fixes for the crashes of this really cool racing game.

Tag Codemasters Colin McRae: DiRT 2 Crashes DiRT 2 Driving Fix Freezes How to Mainstream Racing

29 comments

Damndog December 15, 2009 12:03 am

It wonť help. After the intro with codemasters it will write the application error and i can just only click on dot’t send.
So, it is helples.Next one thing, reinstal game for windows live – helpless, some kind of crack?Useles. Nothing is helpful.

bazzakay December 15, 2009 5:13 pm

Hey, I’m glad I’m not the only one experiencing this issue! I’ve been in touch with codemasters tech support and they’re like asking me disable antivirus/firewalls/virtual CD/DVD drives (like daemon tools). A bit OTT me thinks! I don’t believe it’s anti virus/firewall.

I’ve found a temp workaround though. If it’s crashing after the AMD logo then restart steam (if you bought the game via steam). Booting up is normally successful after this but it is still prone to crashing with/without errors during gameplay. The closest error I’ve seen is related to ntdll.dll. The event viewer in XP reveals nothing.

I’m running the game on DX9C under XP SP3… Meh, this is going to be a pain to fix cause there’s no real pattern.

skolnieks December 18, 2009 11:52 pm

hey ! I have erro too, when i finish first race England rallycross game crashes he just stops. How can fix this ???

djuka December 22, 2009 2:03 pm

i play first race and when start second race i cant just freeze dirt 2.Can somebody help with this problem?

Attila December 28, 2009 1:55 am

Crash after first race.
any ideas?

Aladdin December 28, 2009 9:51 pm

same here crashes after first race

Yoshi January 29, 2010 2:16 pm

I have a problem in-game. Sometimes I can play normally and sometimes it crashes in middle of a race…

Tim January 29, 2010 6:21 pm

I got same problem it crash after first race..it just freezes..but the game runs smoothly so its not up whit my pc reguires or video card..:F so..does somebody had solution this problem..?

Viktor February 2, 2010 5:01 pm

After the AMD , and Intel

Andy February 7, 2010 11:25 pm

After going through the lengthy intro right up to the first rally several times (am unable to skip the intro), I get a message to say that Dirt2 Executable has stopped working. I hHave tried the repairing the programme as suggested above with no luck.
Any ideas on how to fix this and also how to skip the intro?

Bruno February 12, 2010 2:40 am

Hi, I´m today instaled CMR DIRT 2…MY PC: XP SP3, amd 64 athlon 2,3ghz,GeForce 8600GT (512 mb),2 GB RAM..
First race (london) run nice…I win this race, I get a new OFF roud but in an instant freeze game.I press ctrl+alt+delete and I must end this game :(
____________________________________________________
This problem I resolved with edit “workerMap” to:

I was glad that the game is working properly..BUT problem has been solved !!
Although I can go to caravan and select new race GAME FREEZE AGAIN!!
_________________________________________
PLS HELP MEEEE !!!

Bruno February 12, 2010 2:43 am

I edit “workedmap.xml” from this w. site:
http://community.codemasters.com/forum/dirt-2-tech-support-1317/399195-problem-game-freezes-after-first-race-3.html

denis September 1, 2010 10:07 pm

—————————
dirt2_game.exe – System Error
—————————
The program can’t start because OpenAL32.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.
—————————
OK
—————————

tintin October 9, 2010 5:38 am

complete worthless try to install dirt2.
May be crash problem fixed by Dirt2 patches.
BTW codemaster game production sucks.

Samsick October 9, 2010 5:01 pm

Never Buy Dirt2 game,its piece of garbage which doesn’t install properly and codemaster’s patches doesn’t.I recommend never buy this game.ESRB rating is never support is game.

fillflame December 8, 2010 12:25 pm

I downloaded dirt 2 via Steam, and at first I did’nt got to play it either. It kept crashing during the main intro movie. The solution I found was to force the game to play in directx9 and then it played like a charm..until today: After completing the third xgames, I got an invite for 3 tribute races to colin mcrae, with a Ford someting something. As could’nt decline, I had to accept. After winning the 3 races, a tribute movie to Colin started playing. All of a sudon, the movie freezes, and I get a black screen. ctrl alt delete, the windows button on the keyboard, nothing worked. I had to reset my pc. As I tried again, the same scenario repeated itself and I can’t choose another race, and if I retire from the race, the tribute movie starts again..Anyone who could help me?

alex December 18, 2010 10:03 pm

I played dirt 2 for a while without my official drivers installed.it worked beautifully with high settings.now,after i have installed the drivers,i get like 3fps in the van and the loading time is enormous.but outside the van or during races,works beautifully.patches won’t work.i don’t know what to do.any ideas?

momo December 22, 2010 9:01 pm

hi,
I tried the solution above but it did not worked.. however,
this solution worked for me (dirt 2 crashed on AMD logo)

1. make a copy”backup” of your dirt2 installation folder (by default its located in C:\Program Files\Codemasters\DiRT2)
2. uninstall dirt 2
3. install it again
4. replace it using the backup that you have

Also if your dirt2 hangs-up during gameplay :

* if you are using windows vista/7, normally you will get an error from windows stating >> something like “your video driver has been recovered”

if this is the scenario (or maybe not), you may want to swap your memory (put it on another slot or disable the 128bit memory access “dual channel”)

In my case, i found out that if my memory is configured as “dual channel” dirt2 crashes before the race starts. And it got fixed by disabling 128bit access. -> i’m “guessing” that is a fault of the hypermemory access (AMD) and turbocache (nvidia) since this features gives your video card to use the “memory” of your computer.

william December 30, 2010 6:11 pm

for me I get lag only in the caravan (main menu) . 5-10 FPS and it crash >.< help?

Lina January 9, 2011 7:35 pm

I got the same problem

alex February 18, 2011 9:56 pm

update: i fixed the fps drop in the caravan!i renewed the GPU drivers.now it plays just fine….:)

louis February 19, 2011 4:06 pm

just change compatibility to Vista SP2 then the game will work. Just did that and the error went away

thedrs May 25, 2011 11:25 am

games hangs the computer (only computer reset helps) – the screen and computer get stuck right after the map scene when you see your racer red badge in the intro movie.

sapphire 5870 latest catalyst (11.5) latest bios
win 7/x64

zombienation May 25, 2011 11:29 am

the way to fix the crashes is as follows:

1) buy an xbox360
2) buy dirt 2 for xbox360

That’s it! No more crashes!

deep June 23, 2011 12:52 pm

same crash after the first race?is there any solution to it codemasters? my pc has sempron,ati radeon 3000.if this is the problem with dirt,than we better stick to nfs.

Chillios June 29, 2011 11:18 am

got the same prob.
4gb ram
hd 5850 ati
dual core E6800

first 10-20 races runned perfekt now my pc freezes after dirt 2 was running for 10 min

Manish Rathee July 5, 2011 9:28 am

hi…bro.u can play this game on win7 32bit/win xp3

Manish Rathee July 5, 2011 9:33 am

hi..
i have :
processor pentium R dual core e5700 3.0ghz
ram 2gb
hdd 500 gb
video card ati radeon hd 4350 1gb ddr2
after install how to play
this game show me some error after play