When you try to launch Counter-Strike 2, it throws you an error: “This application requires DirectX 11. No valid device found.”
If you try to Google the solution or ask for help, in most cases, you will receive the same copy-pasted answer: update your video drivers or reinstall DirectX. Updating video drivers for new video cards is good advice, but for older video cards that are no longer supported, it’s useless. In any case, it won’t solve this particular problem.
As for reinstalling DirectX, Counter-Strike 2 runs only on Windows 10 and Windows 11. It is impossible to install or reinstall DirectX in these operating systems because DirectX is built into them. Some sources may also claim that your video card doesn’t support DirectX 11. However, since the latest version of DirectX is DirectX 12 and has been around for quite a while, it’s rare to find a GPU that doesn’t support at least DirectX 11, which is the minimum requirement for the game. In fact, Counter-Strike 2 doesn’t even require DirectX 12—it runs just fine on the older DirectX 11.
The fix for this error is actually quite simple. Open the launch options for Counter-Strike 2. You probably have quite a few launch options there, some specifying a specific DirectX version, such as DirectX 9. Many of these are deprecated and were intended for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), not Counter-Strike 2.
Since the beta version of Counter-Strike 2 launches through CS:GO, the options meant for CS:GO are passed to Counter-Strike 2, which may have different launch parameters. This is what causes the issue. To resolve it, simply remove all launch options, and Counter-Strike 2 should launch without problems.