how i fixed my "could not load OpenGL subsystem" problem

[aphex.]

I know lots of people had/have this problem, and I got sick and tired of the same old go-nowhere answers so I eventually looked in to it and figured out what was going on (at least for me).

The problem as I had it is that RTCW is quirky about setting video modes - set them wrong, e.g. to an incompatible setting and RTCW will crap out and remain crapped out. For me, what worked was forcing RTCW to open in a lower mode that will allow the game to successfully start.

To do this, find wolfconfig.cfg (typically in Steam\SteamApps\common]\Return To Castle Wolfenstein\Main. Edit the file in Notepad or something else, and there's only one value I had to change:

seta r_mode

I set this to 3, which is a lower resolution that cleared up all the OpenGL initialization problems. I'm running it on a 17" HP Pavilion, so some modes crashed the game and gave me the OpenGL problem all over again. If this happens to you, do what I did - go back to the .cfg file, reset r_mode to "3" and keep tweaking until you find the best mode that works.

Hope this helps.

[>M@tEo$<]

The default value is 4, 1024x768 if I'm not wrong :)

To check the default value of a cvar, bring up the console and type /command without any argument.

[Bad Luck Bootsy]

Thanks for posting this fix! I used it for Q3 Arena and it fixed the problem :D

[jw14]

seta r_mode "3"

That was the fix for me. Thank you so much for posting this!

[IronArcher08]

i was able to get away with 4... this was a life saver thank you

[Ra!ser]

If anyone wants to play comp RTCW 6v6 let me know discord server is https://discord.gg/zXDZ5CM

[Edmund]

Thanks,
I found it easier to uninstall the game and then delete the folder and reinstall.