[Windows] Unable to start game, hangs on black screen

[John5hade]

The first time that I ran the game it worked fine, and there were no issues for 2 hours of play. I changed settings to Full Screen mode because the windowed mode was so high resolution it crossed over into my second monitor. Every time I've tried to start the game since then it hangs on a black screen and I often have to log out to kill the program because it won't let me click on task manager. I have attached an output log and a save game from before the issue. 

 

Save game on Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/334jgv4c8p7nhnd/Deimos%20%282a9114b6-e8bc-46c4-845f-3b80163d3a5b%29%20quicksave.savegame?dl=0 

output_log.txt

[BuddhaBubba]

Similar issue here on Windows 7. I first streamed the game from my Windows 7 box to my Mac and it showed the game interface (got to the part where it asked me to download the "CriticalRole" dlc). The resolution was way too small and the mouse clicks weren't showing up in the right place. So I tried running it directly from the Windows 7 box. When I launched it there, I heard the music and the game *tried* to launch. I think it was running because I saw a ribbon of the game interface at the top of the screen but nothing else. Funny thing is that is works perfectly on my Linux box but all my POE1 saves are in windows so I would like to get the windows version working.

 

Things I will try tomorrow:

-Verifying game integrity

-Updating display drivers

 

Should I update Windows 7? (I only update when things break)

Is Windows 10 recommended?

 

Edit: SOLVED!

 

Here's what I did:

-Updated my Geforce drivers

-Restarted

-Disabled steam overlay for the game

-Launched the game, it started in 4K but for some reason only showed the top left of the screen

-Pressed Alt + Enter and that rescaled the screen so I could see everything

-I changed the resolution to 1920 X 1080, which is what I like

-Good to go!

 

(As a sidenote: was also able to stream to my Mac AND import my completed game from POE1 )

Edited May 10, 2018 by BuddhaBubba

[Cdiaz]

Hey John5hade,

 

We had worked a bit through Discord, and I will attach your files to the issue we have open.

 

Thanks!

 

-Caleb

[Siylvat]

I'm having the same issue except I haven't been able to get past the black screen at all, not even once.  I can see the mouse cursor and hear the music but that's it, nothing works and I have to alt+tab to use task manager and end the program.

[Cdiaz]

Hey Siylvat,

 

Is this happening every time you run the game? Have you tried Verifying your Integrity on Steam?

 

You can do this by Right Clicking PoE 2 in steam, then going to Properties > Local Files > Verify Integrity of Game Files

[Siylvat]

Yeah, this happens everytime.  I did verify the integrity already as well as uninstall and reinstall and it still does the same thing.  The game launches with a black screen, the music kicks in and the mouse cursor is the gauntlet, and then the Steam Shift+Tab menu pops up in the bottom right and when it goes to minimize it leaves a trail on the black screen like in the screenshot I attached.  I tried launching the game from the install folder directly instead of going through Steam but the same thing happens minus the Shift+Tab menu part.  Also, when it's sitting there I can click something that brings up a link to the Steam Store page for DLC or something so it's loading everything in the background but not displaying it properly.  I've also made sure my display drivers are fully up to date so that's not the issue either, as well as doing a restart just in case.  Thanks.

[Scrapulous]

I'm having the same problem. I was also able to run the game fine the first time, but subsequent loads all fail to the black screen. I get out of that with ctrl+alt+del and then bringing up the task manager, but I can't interact with the task manager or the rest of my desktop using the mouse at all: my mouse cursor is still the pillars gauntlet cursor, and clicks I presume are going to the game process instead of my desktop despite the fact that the game is minimized (or at least not visible aside from the mouse cursor) at this point. So I have to reboot by using the ctrl+alt+del screen, where the mouse works fine.

[Scrapulous]

Interestingly, verifying integrity of the game files in Steam worked for me. I was able to launch the game successfully afterward.

[Shadout]

When starting the game I just get black screen (using Steam). I can hear the the music, and if I click I can hear that the game is registering clicks on menu buttons as well. But screen is black. If I alt+F4 or ctrl+alt+delete, then everything stops responding, and I cant do anything other than powering off the PC to restart. It appears like everything is working except for no picture. I can alt-tab to steam and also hear it recognizing inputs.

 

Sometimes, like maybe 1% of the attempts at launching, the game recognizes Alt+Enter (for switching between full screen and window mode) and the game finally appears. But then if I tab away, or try to switch to windowed mode in settings (or to full screen mode for that matter), it goes black again. But if I am extremely lucky, the game keeps running, and I can play until next time I have to launch the game.

 

All in all, really annoying.

 

I have reinstalled the game, I have reinstalled graphics drivers (Nvidia card btw, and Windows 10). No change.

 

Edit: Completely unable to make the game appear today. Is there no config file or similar somewhere? Would like to see if changing windowed mode or resolution before starting the game might do something.

 

Edit2: Btw, I do NOT have multiple monitors.

 

Edit3: Some people in this thread mentions they can see the mouse cursor. I cant. Screen is completely dark, as if it is not getting any signal whatsoever. As mentioned ctrl+alt+delete does nothing. Or rather it probably does, Just cant see it. Alt+F4 works sometimes, and when it works, the game closes down and Im back in steam/desktop. Other times, nothing happens and turning off the PC is the only solution after that.

output_log.txt

Edited May 9, 2018 by Shadout

[luciuszephyr]

Same problem, 

Black screen during start-up, i have the gauntlet cursor that i can move around while music plays in the background. 

if i click in the middle i am sent to a Obsidian Page where it has said to purchase game  (" https://eternity.obsidian.net/buy ") 

nothing happens if i click else where. 

 

ALT + ENTER was tried 

Verifying Integrity of game files was also tried.

uninstall and re-install also tried but no results

 

i can alt+ tab but when i go back in it is the same. 

and i can ALT +F4 as well (closes the game no problem.) 

 

need some assistance. 

[Siylvat]

I've tried everything that I hadn't tried yet that was posted here such as Alt+Enter and things like that but nothing is working still.  I feel a little better knowing this isn't an isolated issue so hopefully a fix can be found soon.  Thanks.

[Mafti]

Hi, having the same issue.

 

- alt+enter does not work.

- alt+tab or ctrl-alt-del does not work.

- fiddling with the reg-entries did not work

 

one thing that worked was deleting the registry of Pillars all together

[Siylvat]

Can you tell me where the registries for Pillars 2 are in regedit?  I can try deleting those.  Do you need to reinstall after?

[mattiusm]

I was having a black screen when starting with sound working and a cursor. What finally worked for me was setting turning my resolution down from 1920x1080 to the next highest one. Then loaded the game and it worked!

[Siylvat]

Changing the resolution down one from 1920x1080 worked for me as well, thanks!  Hopefully this issue can get patched eventually but I'm just happy it worked for now.  Thanks!

[luciuszephyr]

Same.

Changing the resolution solved the issue.

Game finally starting.

Thank you kindly.

[syphonhail]

I hit this issue twice in about 6-7 launches.

First time both my Monitors went black and my computers was hung. Had to reboot my computer to recover. 

Second Time only my Left Monitor went black but I could see the Game Cursor and it would change to a red locked Icon on a certain spot of the game.

My guess is the game isn't closing properly when you choose exit to Windows. So it acts up when you launch it again later on.

[Morrydwen]

Yeah, this happens everytime.  I did verify the integrity already as well as uninstall and reinstall and it still does the same thing.  The game launches with a black screen, the music kicks in and the mouse cursor is the gauntlet, and then the Steam Shift+Tab menu pops up in the bottom right and when it goes to minimize it leaves a trail on the black screen like in the screenshot I attached.  I tried launching the game from the install folder directly instead of going through Steam but the same thing happens minus the Shift+Tab menu part.  Also, when it's sitting there I can click something that brings up a link to the Steam Store page for DLC or something so it's loading everything in the background but not displaying it properly.  I've also made sure my display drivers are fully up to date so that's not the issue either, as well as doing a restart just in case.  Thanks.

I have the very same issue with the gog version of the game. Black screen while I hear the background music playing.

 

Windows 10 Home

Intel® Core i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50 GHz

16 GB RAM

[Mafti]

Can you tell me where the registries for Pillars 2 are in regedit?  I can try deleting those.  Do you need to reinstall after?

 

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Obsidian Entertainment\Pillars of Eternity II

 

and no, just delete them and you can start the game without a problem.

[Mafti]

I turned off VSync in the settings after I deleted the registry for Pillars, started the game and quickly turned off VSync.

 

for now this seems to work and can start the game everytime *fingers crossed*

 

Nope,

 

Next day and again black screen..

getting slightly annoyed now

Edited May 10, 2018 by Mafti

[captainfish]

Running Win7x64.  I have 3 monitors. all same resolution - 1600x900 (not max resolution for 2 of them).

GPU is Nvidia gtx 1080

Game initially started taking up the right half of left-hand monitor, all of middle monitor, and left half of right-hand monitor.  It looked like it was expecting there to be 3 more monitors below mine.  I got that closed. Started again. This time, monitors flicked between black screen, desktop, a very low-res version of windows 7 desktop (without my icons) and black screen again.  Game never appeared and no music.

Then I came here and learned I'm not only one having problems and saw the trick for Alt-Enter.  

Started game again and tried it.  No luck after about 5-7 seconds.  Then about 10-12 seconds in I keyed it in again and this time the game screen came up.  But this time, as before, it was spread over half of left monitor, all of middle, and half of right monitor.  But this time it was not descending down to where I couldn't click on anything.  So, I changed resolution to 1600x900x59hz.  This works for me and my set up.

 

However... good lord.. .takes 50 seconds after clicking the PoE2 shortcut to get to the actual game screen.  50 seconds of dark monitors (all 3 monitors).  But game only plays on the center - as I want it too.  I play fullscreen. Sometimes the game loads and the 2 side monitors are dark. Sometimes they aren't and show desktop.

 

Playing in windowed mode at 1366x768 brings up the Game Window..... but the window stays complete white and my mouse goes in to circle mode.  Again, it takes 50 seconds before the game comes up to Obsidian game logo. ... oh and while in windowed mode,.. I can't minimize the window.  I click on the dash of the window for minimize and it thinks I've clicked in the game window.  Thus, I have to close game every time I need access to my desktop.

Edited May 10, 2018 by captainfish

[BuddhaBubba]

Did you update your graphics drivers and restart? That seemed to improve load times for me (although it never took 50 seconds, maybe your video card is just toooooo powerful!   )

 

However... good lord.. .takes 50 seconds after clicking the PoE2 shortcut to get to the actual game screen.  50 seconds of dark monitors (all 3 monitors).  But game only plays on the center - as I want it too.  I play fullscreen. Sometimes the game loads and the 2 side monitors are dark. Sometimes they aren't and show desktop.