Diagnostic Analysis and Remediation of “Unhandled Exception Caught” During Initialization in Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Missing, altered, or broken base files.
The "Unhandled Exception Caught" error in Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Steam sometimes fails to install the exact versions of Visual C++ that BO2 needs.
Here is a verified guide to fixing this error and getting back into the game. 1. Change Steam Beta Participation
Are you trying to launch ?
If you are in a beta, select . If you are not in a beta, some users found that switching to Steam Beta Update actually fixed the crash.
✅ This resolves ~80% of unhandled exception errors.
: This standard Steam fix checks for and replaces corrupt files that may trigger initialization exceptions. Right-click the game in your library, select Properties > Local Files , and click Verify Integrity of Game Files Disable Conflicting Overlays : Third-party monitoring software like MSI Afterburner are known to conflict with the game's startup process. Player Sentiment
How to Fix the Black Ops 2 "Unhandled Exception Caught" Error (Even After Verifying Files)