I had tried several fixes as my BF2 would crash as soon as I started it. All I would see is a black screen on start then the crash. I tried all of the Alt-Tab fixes ect and nothing worked. Below is what I found in the BF2 forums and it worked for me and several other people. I will say I changed one thing...I changed the folder my BF2 installed to the normal Programs File rather than the X86...I am not sure if that matters but follow these steps:

 

part 1 - Removing bad installation of BF2. If you have not yet installed BF2 please move onto part 2.

 

To delete the save files:

 

1. Click the Start button on the Windows Taskbar.

 

2. Select My Documents.

 

3. Right-click the Battlefield 2 folder and select Delete.

 

To delete the game files (in the default location):

 

1. Click the Start button on the Windows Taskbar.

 

2. Select My Computer.

 

3. Double-click the C: drive.

 

4. Double-click the Program Files folder.

 

5. Double-click the EA GAMES folder.

 

6. Right-click the Battlefield 2 folder and choose Delete.

 

7. Close all open windows.

 

8. Right-click the Recycle Bin and choose Empty Recycle Bin.

 

To edit the registry and remove Battlefield 2:

 

1. Click the Start button on the Windows Taskbar.

 

2. Select Run.

 

3. Type regedit in the text field and click OK.

 

4. Click File and select Export.

 

5. Name the file "Backup" (without the quotation marks) and make sure the Export Range is set to All.

 

6. Click Save. (You will now be returned to the Registry Editor window.)

 

7. Click the plus (+) sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

 

8. Click the plus (+) sign next to Software.

 

9. Click the plus (+) sign next to DICE.

 

10. Right-click the Battlefield 2 folder and select Delete.

 

11. Right-click the Battlefield 2: Armored Fury folder (if applicable) and select Delete.

 

12. Click the plus (+) sign next to Electronic Arts.

 

13. Right-click any Battlefield 2 folders and select Delete.

 

14. Click the plus (+) sign next to Microsoft.

 

15. Click the plus (+) sign next to Windows.

 

16. Click the plus (+) sign next to CurrentVersion.

 

17. Click the plus (+) sign next to Uninstall.

 

18. Right-click the key named {04858915-9F49-4B2A-AED4-DC49A7DE6A7B} and select Delete.

 

19. A Confirm Key Delete window will appear; select Yes.

 

20. Close the Windows Registry Editor.

 

21. Go to the following folder: C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information.

 

* If you cannot find this folder you may have to go to Tools > Folder Settings and click the setting to "SHOW hidden folders."

 

22. Find the folders with the exact same values as the registry keys above and delete them.

 

23. Right-click the Recycle Bin and select Empty Recycle Bin.

 

Battlefield 2 should now be completely removed from your system.

 

Restart your computer after removing BF2!!!

 

--------------

 

Part 2 - Installing BF2

 

1. Disable UAC if on Vista/7 and reboot your PC.

 

2. Insert BF2 DVD, close anything that auto runs and then view contents of DVD, right click Setup.exe and select Run as Admin. Notice you do not get prompted to confirm Admin Rights as UAC is turned off.

 

3. Follow installation instructions to install BF2, if our installation appears to hang after setting up the VoIP settings and before the installation of Gamespy, open the task manager->processes, find BF2VoiceSetup.exe, right click and select end process - NOT END PROCESS TREE!

 

4. Reboot to finish installation of BF2.

 

5. Once restarted patch to version 1.41 by right clicking the patch and select run as admin. Do not restart after patching.

 

6. Insert BF2 - Special Forces DVD, close anything that auto runs, view DVD contents, right click setup.exe and select run as admin.

 

7. Once Special Forces is installed re-run patch 1.41 by right clicking it and selecting Run as Admin.

 

8. Once BF2 and Special Forces are patched to 1.41 then patch to 1.5 by right clicking patch 1.5 and select run as admin.

 

9. Once you have finished patching to 1.5 then right click the shortcut within the start menu for BF2 and select run as admin.

 

10. Download PBSetup.exe from punkbuster to manually update BF2.

 

11. Once everything is installed and patched and Punkbuster is also updated right click on the BF2 shortcut and select properties. Open compatibility tab and then select run as admin. Click Ok.

 

12. Hopefully if you have followed these instructions you can now play BF2 with Special Forces patched to version 1.5 and it will not crash to desktop!!!

Thanks StateCop for the share and the help/aid.

Egidio.

Yes, thanks for sharing the fix with us. I may have to do this when I get Windows 7 installed on Thursday.

Did you get the 64 bit? I am running it and LOVE it! I will never go back to the 32 bit stuff.

Did you get the 64 bit? I am running it and LOVE it! I will never go back to the 32 bit stuff.

Yes, I purchased my first 64-bit OS, and I also increased my memory to 8GB. I'm curious to see how well it works. I will also be running some programs in Windows XP virtual mode, so I am curious about that also.