Call of Duty 2 Default.cfg Issue

[FSTargetDrone]

After buying CoD2 the other day new in the box but at a discount, I cannot get the game to even start.

I have the latest ATI drivers, plenty of RAM, etc, but when I try to run the game I get the following error:

CoD2 1.0 build win-x86 Oct 6 2005
----- FS_Startup -----
Current language: english
Current search path:
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\iw_10.iwd (1936 files)
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\iw_09.iwd (2142 files)
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\iw_08.iwd (2723 files)
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\iw_03.iwd (26 files)
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\iw_02.iwd (40 files)
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\iw_01.iwd (16 files)
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2/main
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2/raw
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2/raw_shared
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2/devraw
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2/devraw_shared
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\localized_english_iw10.iwd (414 files)
localized assets iwd file for english
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\localized_english_iw09.iwd (98 files)
localized assets iwd file for english
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\localized_english_iw08.iwd (8 files)
localized assets iwd file for english
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\localized_english_iw07.iwd (1014 files)
localized assets iwd file for english
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\localized_english_iw06.iwd (3110 files)
localized assets iwd file for english
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\localized_english_iw05.iwd (5310 files)
localized assets iwd file for english
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\localized_english_iw04.iwd (6240 files)
localized assets iwd file for english
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\localized_english_iw03.iwd (6580 files)
localized assets iwd file for english
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\localized_english_iw02.iwd (6404 files)
localized assets iwd file for english
C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\localized_english_iw01.iwd (5510 files)
localized assets iwd file for english

File Handles:
----------------------
41571 files in iwd files
Error during initialization:
Couldn't load default.cfg. Make sure Call of Duty is run from the correct folder.

The install itself was problematic, taking about 1 solid hour (even WoW doesn't take this long to install) from the 2 game DVDs. I tried dropping a blank "default.cfg' in the game's main and subfolders, to no avail. No "default.cfg" was written to the install directory during the install.

I've never had this sort of issue with an Activision game, and my machine can handle Doom 3 at 1024X 768 with most of the detail on high, so it's not a hardware issue, as far as I can tell. I'm guessing it's a problem with the CoD2 install itself? Bad CD's, corrupted files?

Any tips for this maddening default.cfg" issue? I tried looking elsewhere, but most of the forums I can find are more people with the same or similar problems, with no useful answers. And if Activision has a tech support forum, I cannot find it.

Any help appreciated...

[Arrow]

This looks like a corrupt install. The game shouldn't take an hour to install. My install was at most, ten minutes. Did you make sure the disks were clean, or were scratched? You might want to wipe them with a cloth, anyway - I've had one disk (one of Freespace 2 CDs) that looked clean, but wouldn't install, and wiping it down fixed it.

As long as you're not noticing any other corrupted files, its a problem with the DVDs, based on info you've provided.

[FSTargetDrone]

This looks like a corrupt install. The game shouldn't take an hour to install. My install was at most, ten minutes. Did you make sure the disks were clean, or were scratched? You might want to wipe them with a cloth, anyway - I've had one disk (one of Freespace 2 CDs) that looked clean, but wouldn't install, and wiping it down fixed it.

As long as you're not noticing any other corrupted files, its a problem with the DVDs, based on info you've provided.

Turns out it was the DVD writer itself. I'd recently bought it, and installed games and other programs with it, as well as burning CDs and DVDs with no issue. The other night I swapped out the DVD burner for an older DVD read only drive, and the CoD2 install went off without a hitch (under 10 minutes, as you reported for yours). I then removed the old DVD drive, and reinstalled the newer DVD burner, to see if I could run CoD2, and it does.

I then did a little experimenting, tried to re-install some other games such as Doom 3 with the new DVD burner, and it didn't work for Doom 3. However, it did install cleanly for FarCry and a few other things! Again though, removing the new DVD burner, re-installing the old DVD drive did let me re-install Doom 3.

So there's something wonky going on with the new DVD burner and some of my game discs, but not all.

[Arrow]

And you're using the same IDE cable on both?

[FSTargetDrone]

And you're using the same IDE cable on both?

No, I physically disconnected (and removed, because of lack of space--my tower is full of hard drives) one DVD drive when I used the other, and vice versa.

[Arrow]

And you're using the same IDE cable on both?

No, I physically disconnected (and removed, because of lack of space--my tower is full of hard drives) one DVD drive when I used the other, and vice versa.

You misunderstand, I'm not asking if you're making one the master and the other the slave, but if you're using the same cable to connect each drive (individually, as master) to the motherboard.

Edited because I didn't sleep well and can't type worth shit today...

[FSTargetDrone]

And you're using the same IDE cable on both?

No, I physically disconnected (and removed, because of lack of space--my tower is full of hard drives) one DVD drive when I used the other, and vice versa.

You misunderstand, I'm not asking if you're making one the master and the other the slave, but if you're using the same cable to connect each drive (individually, as master) to the motherboard.

Edited because I didn't sleep well and can't type worth shit today...

Sorry, for the delayed reply. My wireless router futzed out on me sometime yesterday, and I've had to drag out another router, but that's another issue...

Anyway, yes, I did misunderstand you. Initially I did use the same cable when swapping out the one DVD drive for the other, but then went back and made sure all the cables in the case were properly seated, as well as using a different cable between each of the drives and the MB. So yes, the same thing occurred, using a different cable.

The new DVD burner seems to install some things quite normally. But with others, it's literally dragging on, apparently not making clean installs. FarCry installs, but CoD2 and Doom3 do not, etc...

I am able to burn DVDs and CDs with this burner, and they are both readable on my laptop, and my stand alone DVD player conencted to the TV has no trouble reading DVDs burned with this new burner, either.

[Arrow]

Hmm, I wonder if its something your IDE configuration. I don't really have any other ideas, because the hardware sounds like it all works fine.