Black Screens when starting heists

[Nick]

Hello,

I've had this issue for a long time, and it's so inconsistent and hard to test. I have gone weeks without this issue just for it to pop up again and happen all of the time.

Basically, seemingly at random, the heist will sometimes start with a black screen and stay like that. It happens in holdout, crime spree, regular heists, safe house, private games with friends, etc.

I have tried:
- adjusting video settings in-game like resolution, window mode, etc to try and fix the issue when it happens (doesn't work). I haven't properly tested every setting, because when this happens I am usually in a public game so I can't really test anything properly, and this issue is so impossible to replicate that I doubt I'll get the chance to try everything out soon.
- refresh rate and resolution in renderer_settings.xml (maybe I formatted some of the parameters wrong but I don't think I did)
- verifying game files
- testing different mod combinations to see if it's caused by a specific mod that I have installed (hasn't worked so far)
- google (useless)

Currently, I have SuperBLT moved out of my Payday folder, so no mods should be activated, but I will have to see if that even fixes this issue. One of my friends got this black screen issue on almost every single heist when him and I were playing together, and he has not a single mod installed. My other friend has tons of mods installed and doesn't get this problem ever.

I'm making this post to see if anyone else has this issue, or knows how to fix it.

The only consistency is that this black screen bug has happened more frequently when playing with my friends;
My friend with no mods black-screened almost every heist, but I didn't once.
My friend with mods doesn't black screen at all, but I do on about half of the heists when we play together.
I've never had them both in the same lobby before so I haven't used them like little lab rats (yet), but it happens in public games as well so who knows. It's stupid.

[andole]

If you have any mod_overrides mods, try removing them as well.

Also, see if the issue occurs if you host.

[Nick]

Originally posted by andole:

If you have any mod_overrides mods, try removing them as well.

Also, see if the issue occurs if you host.

I have black-screened when entering my own safehouse before, so I assume hosting won't fix anything.

Also, I removed the WSOCK32.dll file so does it matter if the files are still located inside my game folder?

[andole]

Originally posted by cookiequeef:

Originally posted by andole:

If you have any mod_overrides mods, try removing them as well.

Also, see if the issue occurs if you host.

I have black-screened when entering my own safehouse before, so I assume hosting won't fix anything.

Also, I removed the WSOCK32.dll file so does it matter if the files are still located inside my game folder?

There is another type of mods which is mod_overrides. They are located in PAYDAY 2\assets\mod_overrides and they are supported by the game itself, so they will still work without WSOCK32.dll. Check if you have anything in PAYDAY 2\assets\mod_overrides.

[Nick]

Originally posted by andole:

Originally posted by cookiequeef:

I have black-screened when entering my own safehouse before, so I assume hosting won't fix anything.

Also, I removed the WSOCK32.dll file so does it matter if the files are still located inside my game folder?

There is another type of mods which is mod_overrides. They are located in PAYDAY 2\assets\mod_overrides and they are supported by the game itself, so they will still work without WSOCK32.dll. Check if you have anything in PAYDAY 2\assets\mod_overrides.

I removed them too just to make sure. I haven't had any black screen issues since I removed WSOCK so we'll see.

I read on the Payday subreddit that apparently the issue is caused from the intro dialogue being skipped too quickly, which would make sense given modded huds have the auto skip option.
It would also explain why I get a black screen more frequently when playing with my friend, and why my other friend had a black screen every heist.