Modern Warfare 3: Fix Game Won’t Launch

MW3 Won’t Launch: If you’ve landed here, you probably are facing issues while trying to launch the newly released Modern Warfare 3. You’re not alone; there are many reports from players facing the same issues. I also had the same problem, and fixing it took me a while.

In this article, I have written a few tweaks that will address your problem.

Fix MW3 Not Launching

Let’s start off with looking at the system requirements:

Minimum:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows® 10 64 Bit (latest update)
• Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-6600 or AMD Ryzen™ 5 1400
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960 / GTX 1650 or AMD Radeon™ RX 470
• DirectX: Version 12

Recommended:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows® 10 64 Bit (latest update) or Windows® 11 64 Bit (latest update)
• Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-6700K or AMD Ryzen™ 5 1600X
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080Ti / RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon™ RX 6600XT

The system requirements have been going up year after year. However, there are no significant graphical changes in this version. It is also being taunted from previous MW games to MW3 as a mere port. Which is good for performance (maybe?).

Download Latest Nvidia Driver

Nvidia has already released the game-ready driver for the game. You can open Geforce Experience and download it right away. The driver version is 546.01. Here’s the download link for the same.

For AMD users, Adrenalin 23.11.1 is the latest driver with day-1 support for MW3; you can download it from here.

Whitelist MW3 Exe File in Windows Firewall

This is another traditional tweak that works most of the time.

One of the most common reasons for crashes is antivirus or firewall program interference. These programs are designed to protect your computer from harmful programs but can also block legitimate programs from running correctly.

If your game is frequently crashing, it may be due to antivirus or firewall interference. To fix this, you must add the game to your antivirus or firewall program’s list of exceptions. This will allow the game to run without interference and should help to fix the problem.

Click on Allow Access when you launch the game for the first time.

Disable Overclocking & Other Performance Enhancing Programs

Overclocking is the root cause of instability in most of the games. When launching the game, ensure your CPU and GPU are running on their default clocks.

Also, shutting down applications like iCUE, Razer Synapse, and Armory Crate can help. Many of these apps interact with the game to display RGB effects so they can interfere with the program. I have had issues with multiple times with the Razer Synapse software.

Last Resort: Repair Game Files

For Battle.net Users

Modern Warfare 3 is also available via the Battle.net Launcher. To verify the game, follow the steps given below:

1. Click on the Modern Warfare Icon
2. Locate the Gear Button located right next to “Play.”
3. Now, click “Scan and Repair” and then click “Begin Scan.”
4. The launcher will now start looking for any broken or corrupted files.

For Steam Users:

1. Open Steam and click on the Library tab.
2. Right-click on Modern Warfare 3 and select Properties.
3. Click on the Local Files tab > the Verify Integrity of Game Files… button.
4. Steam will start verifying the game files and fix any corrupted ones.

These few traditional tweaks helped me fix my game not launching problem. If you still have problems, comment below with your PC hardware config and the error you get, and I will try to help you.