The "Unhandled Exception Caught" error in Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Recent user reports indicate that changes to Steam's architecture (moving from 32-bit to 64-bit) have caused launch issues for older titles. Many players have found that joining the Steam Beta fixes the error immediately. Open Steam and go to Settings. Select Interface.

This forces the game to use DirectX 9, which is more stable for older COD titles.

If you are seeing this error, work through these common fixes:

Windows 10 and 11 sometimes struggle with the game's original initialization scripts. Setting the game to run as if it were on an older OS can bypass the exception.

Once you’ve applied the video file rename and sound format change, Black Ops II should start without the unhandled exception. Good luck, and enjoy the game.