Black screen at launch Windows LiS:BtS

[GérardMenvussa]

I finished the game 100% once but now I can't play it again. When I launch the game with steam, it opens normally but stays in black screen without sound. I tried to launch it in windowed mode or to reinstall it on another hard drive or not, to disable the firewall or windows defender, nothing changes. I'm now on another much more powerful pc and I reinstalled it in the hope to play it. Same problem, I'm under AMD and windows 10 (previously under nvidia and windows 8.1).

What I find strange is that everything was fine before, until the day I restart the game and nothing works anymore.

HELP

[Alex]

" Same problem, I'm under AMD and windows 10 (previously under nvidia and windows 8.1)." there is your problem and solution

[Highstriker]

Publicado originalmente por Max Caulfield:

" Same problem, I'm under AMD and windows 10 (previously under nvidia and windows 8.1)." there is your problem and solution

elaborate.

[Highstriker]

You could try this:
Right click on the game in your library, choose properties, under general chose Set Launch Options and add this:
-window-mode exclusive

[GérardMenvussa]

Publicado originalmente por Max Caulfield:

" Same problem, I'm under AMD and windows 10 (previously under nvidia and windows 8.1)." there is your problem and solution

no, because the problem didn't arise when I switched computers but when I was still on my old computer.

[GérardMenvussa]

Publicado originalmente por Highstriker:

You could try this:
Right click on the game in your library, choose properties, under general chose Set Launch Options and add this:
-window-mode exclusive

I've already tried that and I have the same problem, but I'm in window mode. I forgot to specify but my cursor is stuck in the center of the window, and I need alt+tab to unlock it.

[Highstriker]

okay one sec, something you can try...

[Highstriker]

Okay under Nvidia there is "Adjust Desktop Size and Position" Look for something like this under your AMD and try No Scaling, and then try Full Screen or Aspect Ratio. I know it doesn't help normally, but also try alt-enter when using these, it's similar to what problem people have with the window itself. I hope it helps, it has fixed similar things for me in the past.

Also if you are overscaling your monitors resolution, try taking it down to default.

[Nowhere Man]

Publicado originalmente por GérardMenvussa:

I've already tried that and I have the same problem, but I'm in window mode. I forgot to specify but my cursor is stuck in the center of the window, and I need alt+tab to unlock it.

Might be a GPU issue with the game. Did you get any driver uptades recently? If you did try to restore the previous version and see if the problem still persist.

[Alex]

Publicado originalmente por GérardMenvussa:

Publicado originalmente por Max Caulfield:

" Same problem, I'm under AMD and windows 10 (previously under nvidia and windows 8.1)." there is your problem and solution

no, because the problem didn't arise when I switched computers but when I was still on my old computer.

it meant it worked on win 8.1 and nvidia so why you changed it to 10 and amd? there is your problem. go back to old win and nvidia

[GérardMenvussa]

Publicado originalmente por Max Caulfield:

Publicado originalmente por GérardMenvussa:

no, because the problem didn't arise when I switched computers but when I was still on my old computer.

it meant it worked on win 8.1 and nvidia so why you changed it to 10 and amd? there is your problem. go back to old win and nvidia

(yes, hello 6 months later) Ok, I'll try to explain. I was on a computer (which is maybe 6 years old today) and I bought the game and played with it. The game worked perfectly and I finished it without any problems. A few months later I decided to reinstall the game on the same computer. I had a black screen problem. I didn't want to figure out how to fix it because I didn't have time, so I took the game off my computer.
Later, I bought a new computer, with better GPUs, CPUs, RAM ... and I thought it would be cool to play the game again. So I installed it thinking about the high quality graphics and BAM, the same problem. Black screen.
I tried all the things I said before on this new computer and on my old computer. They didn't work on either of them.

I have still both of them and I just tried again, nothing changed, blackscreen without sound, even with window-mod exclusive or alt-enter

[GérardMenvussa]

Publicado originalmente por Nowhere Man:

Publicado originalmente por GérardMenvussa:

I've already tried that and I have the same problem, but I'm in window mode. I forgot to specify but my cursor is stuck in the center of the window, and I need alt+tab to unlock it.

Might be a GPU issue with the game. Did you get any driver uptades recently? If you did try to restore the previous version and see if the problem still persist.

It's hard to tell because the moment when the problem came was more than 6 months without playing to this game. It doesn't work today too. I have all my driver up to date

[GérardMenvussa]

Publicado originalmente por Highstriker:

Okay under Nvidia there is "Adjust Desktop Size and Position" Look for something like this under your AMD and try No Scaling, and then try Full Screen or Aspect Ratio. I know it doesn't help normally, but also try alt-enter when using these, it's similar to what problem people have with the window itself. I hope it helps, it has fixed similar things for me in the past.

Also if you are overscaling your monitors resolution, try taking it down to default.

I've tried all this and nothing works. I still have a blackscreen without any sound :'(

[Qiana]

#2

https://steamcommunity.com/app/554620/discussions/0/2999926461251936687/

[GérardMenvussa]

Hello, I finally found the solution if someone here has the same problem. Anyway it worked for me. I found it in another topic but here it is:

1.) Navigate to "C:\Users\YourPseudo\AppData\LocalLow\Square Enix\Life is strange_ before the storm". This is where your backups are stored.

2.) Rename the whole folder, or move it somewhere else. This way, the game won't be able to detect your saves and won't try to load them, but will create new ones. But keep the folder you renamed/moved in a safe place so you don't lose them if you don't!

3.) Start the game. If it still doesn't work and you still get the black screen, your backups are not the problem. You can copy the renamed/moved folder to where you found it and return everything to normal.

[GérardMenvussa]

damn, 3 years later I want to play the game again, after multiples success and fails, and I am in the exact same position. Thanks to myself from the past, this could be the solution !

UPDATE: It worked again !! So if you have same issue: blackscreen, no sound, window mod does nothing except moving your cursor to the center, do this:
- In steam library, right click on the game, properties, no save on the cloud
- Navigate to "C:\Users\YourPseudo\AppData\LocalLow\Square Enix\Life is strange_ before the storm", remove it or cut past it somewhere else, as you want.
- try again
If it's not enough, good luck