Band-Aid Fix for Black Screen Launch Freeze/Crash

[Shiri the Raccoon]

Hey fellow mailmen.

Ever since I bought this game about a week ago I have spent hours trying to troubleshoot this horrible port. 99% of the time, I simply can not get the game to launch. It will get stuck on "Sony Entertainment Presents" or the black screen after it and will stay there until I force the game to close. The only other time I could get the game to launch and actually play it was by launching it offline, but that kinda defeats the purpose of half of the game. Also, that method only worked 2/30 times, so clearly that doesn't work as a consistent fix.

So here's the troubleshooting steps I tried:
Updated Graphics Card Drivers
Updated Windows
Downloaded additional .dll files
Updated VC Redistributable x64 and x86
Moved the install folder
Validated files
Adjusted config settings in Windows Explorer to adjust resolution
Shut down background services
Launched the game offline
Changed the game's CPU affinity in Task Manager
Set the game as "High Priority"
Allowed access through firewall and Windows Defender
Launched the game with administrator privileges
Tried to use Steam's launch options to launch in dx11 / windowed

However, none of these consistently got the game to launch correctly.
Now, a sane person would probably give up here and just get the refund. I got mine, as I had bought my copy off Fanatical, which also meant I got to keep the broken game (keep in mind that I think they only refunded me because I explained how thorough I was with troubleshooting). Despite the refund, I still had not given up on poor old Death Stranding, so I tried one more thing...

Back in the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 launch days, that game ran like hot garbage (still does for a lot of people). I found my fix for that game to be the RAZER CORTEX Game Booster software. Helped make the game run buttery smooth. So I thought "♥♥♥♥ it", downloaded the software again, and used it to launch Death Stranding. And...

IT WORKED! The game booster shut down all the background services automatically and allowed the game to launch properly. I was finally able to consistently get the game to launch. However, it came at the cost of basically shutting down every other aspect of my machine. Video playback on my second monitor is stuttery, external audio (Spotify, etc) is buggy, Discord is absolutely ♥♥♥♥ed, but I was playing the game. Also, the software itself is a bit buggy.

So here's the TL;DR:
I launched the game with RAZER CORTEX GAME BOOSTER which is a free download I'll provide a link for. I can't guarantee it'll fix everything for everyone, but if you've got a decent machine but the game just won't launch, maybe try this. It'll cost you some of the functionality of your PC while you use it, but if you're focused on the game that won't be a problem...probably. Lemme know if this helped you guys and feel free to try the other troubleshooting options I tried, but know I had little to no success with those.

Razer Game Booster [www.razer.com]