Black Screen when Launch

[campbellito]

Just bought Witcher 3 GOTY, I've installed and reinstalled and installed and now reinstalling again and I am just at a loss as to what is wrong with this game. The installation seems to go smoothly, I've run the Verification of the Integrity of the Game Files and everything checked out. Still, whenever I hit "Play", I am met with a completely black screen. Just nothing happens.

What to do, what to do. I'm running an Alienware 15 R3, GTX1070 so it should be all clocked out to run this game and it's actually the first game I'm running on this PC, but I've just been hitting my head against a brick wall.

[Beskar Bard]

same here black screen wont load

[EzRyder]

some things to check or try:

turn off programs
disable AntiVirus and turn off any extra programs (add exception if AV is the cause)
particularly programs like frapps, msi afterburner, obs, game overlay programs, streaming software, etc

graphics drivers
a new pc is shipped long before its sold to the end user so you should always update the gpu drivers on them

dependancies
reinstall all of the distributed dependancies found in the install folder here "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Witcher 3\_CommonRedist" be sure to install all 5 executables found in those subfolders (contrary to popular belief even the x86 ones may be needed on a 64bit OS)

[campbellito]

I have tried all you suggested and still nothing seems to work. Still a continuous black screen, no intro, loading screen, music, nothing.

[Songforged]

First game you're running on the PC?
Most likely your graphics drivers aren't up to date. Install the Nvidia Geforce drivers.
Also, sometimes your laptop may default to your Intel integrated GPU to save power. Go to the control panel power settings and change the mode to performance mode or plug in your adapter and give it a try (I don't know if this is the case for alienwares, I have no experience with them).

[campbellito]

I have had my adapter plugged in the whole time. Made the updates to the GTX 1070 drivers, still nothing. I hit "play", complete black screen and Task Manager says "The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt (Not Responding)"

[EzRyder]

try this

If you have installed the latest NVIDIA driver for your system and have slow performance issues with your games do the following:

Set the discrete card as the preferred graphics processor:

Right Click on your desktop
Click NVIDIA Control Panel
Click Manage 3D Settings on the left menu
Click on the Preferred graphics processor drop down menu under the Global Settings tab
Select High-performance NVIDIA processor from the list

Make sure your game has the right settings selected:

Right Click on your desktop
Click NVIDIA Control Panel
Click Manage 3D Settings on the left menu
Click on the Select a program to customize drop down menu under the Program Settings tab
Choose your game or application from the list

If your game does not show on the list uncheck Show only programs found on this computer
Click on the Select the preferred graphics processor for this program drop down menu
Select High-performance NVIDIA processor from the list

Repeat these steps for each of your games
Click Apply
Exit the NVIDIA Control Panel

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/sln146534/configuring-nvidia-optimus-and-amd-switchable-graphics-for-high-performance-on-your-alienware-system?lang=en

[PashaTr]

I also get the black screen on startup with certain mods. Not sure if this will help with your issue but I figured out that if I launch any other program like chrome, click to launch Witcher and right away click and hold the top of the chrome window like you are re-positioning it, keep holding down the mouse until Witcher launches, it goes to a black screen and a second after returns to windows with you still dragging the window. Then you can unclick, and click on Witcher in the taskbar. Works every time for me, if I don't do this it will never launch and just sits there on the black screen. But like I said I only have the black screen issue with mods, without mods mine works fine, but maybe this the same problem, so maybe this will help someone.

[Sveigyr]

I

Originally posted by EzRyder:

some things to check or try:

turn off programs
disable AntiVirus and turn off any extra programs (add exception if AV is the cause)
particularly programs like frapps, msi afterburner, obs, game overlay programs, streaming software, etc

graphics drivers
a new pc is shipped long before its sold to the end user so you should always update the gpu drivers on them

dependancies
reinstall all of the distributed dependancies found in the install folder here "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Witcher 3\_CommonRedist" be sure to install all 5 executables found in those subfolders (contrary to popular belief even the x86 ones may be needed on a 64bit OS)

Ty dude, turned of discord ingame overlay and it worked! <3

[Weather Man]

yep had the same problem and "it was" the DISCORD OVERLAY that caused the mental brake down of the game

[kazic284]

I just had the same problem, and this fixed it. Discord was the culprit. Thanks so much!

[JimmyTrunks]

How do your turn off overlay? The tutorials on google seem to be outdated