BF2042 Crash at launch

Hi,

I reinstalled BF2042 yesterday on Steam for the BF6 event. After launching the game and getting to the first loading screen, the moment I see the loading animation, the game shuts down and crashes.

I've tried several things to fix the issue below:

Fully updated Windows 11, GPU (Nvidia 581.08), CPU (AMD 25.8.1), Steam. 

Launching everything (anti-cheat, Steam, BF2042) with administrator privileges.

Verified Game Files through Steam → always re-downloads the same 3 files that fail to verify (preloader_l dll, EAAntiCheat.GameServiceLauncher dll, EAAntiCheat.GameServiceLauncher exe).

Repairing EA launcher and EA Anti-cheat.

Observed EA Anti-Cheat behavior in Event Viewer → it loads, then unloads, then the game crashes.

Uninstalled other Kernel level anti-cheats (Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) / EOS).

Turned off core isolation.

Tested different networks:

• The game was able to launch originally on my apartment WiFi after the first reinstall.
• It failed to launch at my partner’s apartment WiFi (mobile network also didn’t work).
• After reinstalling BF2042 at my partner’s → now fails to launch everywhere, including back at home.

I observed that after Steam verifies and reacquires the 3 files, and I launch BF2042, the game downloads a different version of those three files which have a date modification on 07/28/2025. I think the game downloads a newer version of EA anti-cheat (probably Javelin, blue logo) whenever it launches while Steam downloads an older version (anti-cheat with black logo) every time I try to verify file integrity.

Regardless, the game doesn't work anymore and I am lost on how to fix it. For now I completely uninstalled the game. Please let me know if there's any kind of fix to this. Thanks.