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All Game Modes in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

How to Fix MW2 Shaders Optimization Taking Forever Bug

Quite the shady issue, if you ask me.

Few things in life are more guaranteed than video games having frustrating bugs. It may be endlessly frustrating, but one thing that can always be for certain is they’ll never go away. Modern Warfare 2 is no different and features all kinds of bugs including crashes, error codes, and even performance issues depending on some hardware. One such issue, which can happen upon the first launch, involves the classic Shader Optimization not functioning. Here’s how to fix the Shader Optimization taking forever bug in MW2.

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How to Stop Shader Optimization From Taking Forever in MW2

There are a few fixes you can try, ranging from inconvenient to incredibly frustrating. Thankfully, the first is also the one that tends to see the most success. To do it, you want to restart your game. Once you get to a menu where you can access Options, go there and head over to Display. Scroll down until you see “Restart Shader Optimization” and click on that. Once you let it run for a few minutes, it should go through and your shaders should be optimized.

Related: Does MW2 Have Zombies? – Answered

The above fix doesn’t always work, which is when things get just a bit more complicated. One other fix you can try involves simply restarting your router, as internet problems could lead to the process failing for one reason or another. How you go about that will simply just involve unplugging the router, waiting 30 seconds, then plugging it back in. Another thing you can try is verifying the game files if you’re playing the game on Steam. This is done by right-clicking the game in your library, clicking on Properties, going to Local Files, then clicking “Verify integrity of game files.”

If all else fails, then sadly the brute-force option of reinstalling the game may be necessary. It’s painful but is all you have left to fix the issue.


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Author
Image of Shawn Robinson
Shawn Robinson
Shawn is a freelance gaming journalist who's been with Prima Games for a year and a half, writing mainly about FPS games and RPGs. He even brings several years of experience at other sites like The Nerd Stash to the table. While he doesn't bring a fancy degree to the table, he brings immense attention to detail with his guides, reviews, and news, leveraging his decade and a half of gaming knowledge. If he isn't writing about games, he's likely getting zero kills in his favorite FPS or yelling at the game when it was 100% his fault that he died.