Black Screen at startup?

[Plinko]

Hello, I saw this game long ago and was very excited to play it. But when I start it up it shows the rainbow hexagon thing, and then after a while it says "Everything is loaded" but then the screen goes black and nothing happens. Is there any way to get past this? I really want to play!

EDIT: Should probably add some specs:
Geforce GTX 970
Intel Core i5 4460
Windows 10 64-bit OS
8 GB RAM

I also have it installed on an external hard drive. I'm gonna try installing to the normal one instead to see if that fixes it.

EDIT 2: It still doesn't work on the normal hard drive.

EDIT 3: Restarting Steam fixed it!

[damikyu]

Please let us know if moving it off of the external drive fixes this. Your specs are very similar to my development machine, so I wouldn't expect problems like this. You might also look in the game installation directory, there should be an output_log.txt file in Everything_Data that might contain error messages pointing out the problem.

[Plinko]

Moving it off my external drive unfortunately didn't fix it. Here's the contents of that log file though, hopefully it helps:

Initialize engine version: 5.5.2p1 (9360c5517afe)
GfxDevice: creating device client; threaded=1
Direct3D:
    Version:  Direct3D 11.0 [level 11.1]
    Renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (ID=0x13c2)
    Vendor:   NVIDIA
    VRAM:     3072 MB
    Driver:   21.21.13.7878
Begin MonoManager ReloadAssembly
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp-firstpass.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp-firstpass.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\Assembly-UnityScript.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\Assembly-UnityScript.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.UI.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.UI.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.Networking.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.Networking.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.PlaymodeTestsRunner.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.PlaymodeTestsRunner.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\AmplifyColor.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\AmplifyColor.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\AmplifyMotion.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\AmplifyMotion.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\SonyNP.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\SonyNP.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\SonyPS4CommonDialog.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\SonyPS4CommonDialog.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\DynamicText.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\DynamicText.dll into Unity Child Domain
- Completed reload, in  1.105 seconds
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\System.Core.dll (this message is harmless)
Platform assembly: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\System.dll (this message is harmless)
<RI> Initializing input.

<RI> Input initialized.

desktop: 1920x1080 60Hz; virtual: 1920x1080 at 0,0
<RI> Initialized touch support.

UnloadTime: 1.199034 ms
Setting up 1 worker threads for Enlighten.
  Thread -> id: 3a5c -> priority: 1 
Active Device is now Keyboard And Mouse
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Active Device is now Keyboard And Mouse
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Meta file path at C:/Users/Anon/AppData/LocalLow/David OReilly/Everything/Save Data/Meta
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Save file path at C:/Users/Anon/AppData/LocalLow/David OReilly/Everything/Save Data/Slot1
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Save file path at C:/Users/Anon/AppData/LocalLow/David OReilly/Everything/Save Data/Slot2
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Save file path at C:/Users/Anon/AppData/LocalLow/David OReilly/Everything/Save Data/Slot3
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

[Steamworks.NET] SteamAPI_Init() failed. Refer to Valve's documentation or the comment above this line for more information.
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Exception: SteamManager failed to initialize, see console for more information.
  at Coatsink.Common.Achievements.SubInit () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at Coatsink.Common.Achievements.Init (UnityEngine.MonoBehaviour updaterIn, System.String[] achNamesIn) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
UnityEngine.DebugLogHandler:Internal_LogException(Exception, Object)
UnityEngine.DebugLogHandler:LogException(Exception, Object)
UnityEngine.Logger:LogException(Exception, Object)
UnityEngine.Debug:LogException(Exception)
Coatsink.Common.Achievements:Init(MonoBehaviour, String[])
TrophySystem:Init(MonoBehaviour)
<Start>c__Iterator0:MoveNext()
UnityEngine.SetupCoroutine:InvokeMoveNext(IEnumerator, IntPtr)
 
(Filename:  Line: -1)

[Plinko]

Hello again, I want to let you know that restarting Steam has fixed the issue! Thanks for the help and I'll be sure to report any other issues I come across.

[orophor]

I had a similar black screen right after installing and starting the game. I'm on Windows 7 SP1 64-bit, and my specs are an Intel Core i7 6700K CPU, ASUS Nvidia GTX 780 w/2GB of VRAM, 32 GB of 3200 DDR4, a 128 GB SLC SSD main drive, and a 2 TB HDD secondary drive on a ASUS Maximus VIII mobo. I've got the latest drivers/patches/firmware as of 4/21/2017.

[Plinko]

Originally posted by orophor:

I had a similar black screen right after installing and starting the game. I'm on Windows 7 SP1 64-bit, and my specs are an Intel Core i7 6700K CPU, ASUS Nvidia GTX 780 w/2GB of VRAM, 32 GB of 3200 DDR4, a 128 GB SLC SSD main drive, and a 2 TB HDD secondary drive on a ASUS Maximus VIII mobo. I've got the latest drivers/patches/firmware as of 4/21/2017.

Apologies if this is redundant but have you tried restarting Steam? It fixed it for me at least.

[orophor]

Nope, post restart and I still get weird black screens. The game loads up splash screens and then on some scales its fine, but on menus, the cosmic scale and the planck scale, the display fades to black. I still hear audio, and when I get lucky and acend/decend to a better scale the display returns to normal.

I thought maybe the steam overlay was the cause, so I tried disabling that, and get the same results.

[Flerndip]

I'm having a similar issue. After loading it sticks on a black screen with a pulsating logo and music but then never does anything. Only option is hit escape, it offers a choice to close the app.

[orophor]

Still seeing this issue, from the other thread it was suggested we check the output_log.txt file for errors. This is the only thing I found that looked interesting:

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

nextThoughtTimer set to 2.5 minutes for 02_WhatIsReality_02
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

InvalidOperationException: HashSet have been modified while it was iterated over
  at System.Collections.Generic.HashSet`1+Enumerator[UnityEngine.UI.Text].CheckState () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at System.Collections.Generic.HashSet`1+Enumerator[UnityEngine.UI.Text].MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at UnityEngine.UI.FontUpdateTracker.RebuildForFont (UnityEngine.Font f) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at UnityEngine.Font.InvokeTextureRebuilt_Internal (UnityEngine.Font font) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:INTERNAL_CALL_Populate_Internal_cpp(TextGenerator, String, Font, Color&, Int32, Single, Single, FontStyle, Boolean, Boolean, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, Boolean, TextAnchor, Single, Single, Single, Single, Boolean, Boolean, UInt32&)
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:Populate_Internal_cpp(String, Font, Color, Int32, Single, Single, FontStyle, Boolean, Boolean, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, Boolean, TextAnchor, Single, Single, Single, Single, Boolean, Boolean, UInt32&)
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:Populate_Internal(String, Font, Color, Int32, Single, Single, FontStyle, Boolean, Boolean, Int32, Int32, VerticalWrapMode, HorizontalWrapMode, Boolean, TextAnchor, Vector2, Vector2, Boolean, Boolean, TextGenerationError&)
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:PopulateAlways(String, TextGenerationSettings)
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:PopulateWithError(String, TextGenerationSettings)
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:Populate(String, TextGenerationSettings)
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:GetPreferredHeight(String, TextGenerationSettings)
UnityEngine.UI.Text:get_preferredHeight()
UnityEngine.UI.LayoutUtility:<GetPreferredHeight>m__6(ILayoutElement)
UnityEngine.UI.LayoutUtility:GetLayoutProperty(RectTransform, Func`2, Single, ILayoutElement&)
UnityEngine.UI.LayoutUtility:GetLayoutProperty(RectTransform, Func`2, Single)
UnityEngine.UI.LayoutUtility:GetPreferredHeight(RectTransform)
StatusTerminal:SetMessagePositions()
StatusTerminal:Display(Status)
GameUI:ShowStatusMessage(String, MessageCanDismiss, Single, Single)
HelpOverlay:SetActiveCard(HelpCard, Single)
HelpOverlay:UpdateFromGUI()
GameUI:Update()
 
(Filename:  Line: -1)

[damikyu]

Originally posted by orophor:

Still seeing this issue, from the other thread it was suggested we check the output_log.txt file for errors. This is the only thing I found that looked interesting:

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

nextThoughtTimer set to 2.5 minutes for 02_WhatIsReality_02
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

InvalidOperationException: HashSet have been modified while it was iterated over
  at System.Collections.Generic.HashSet`1+Enumerator[UnityEngine.UI.Text].CheckState () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at System.Collections.Generic.HashSet`1+Enumerator[UnityEngine.UI.Text].MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at UnityEngine.UI.FontUpdateTracker.RebuildForFont (UnityEngine.Font f) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at UnityEngine.Font.InvokeTextureRebuilt_Internal (UnityEngine.Font font) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:INTERNAL_CALL_Populate_Internal_cpp(TextGenerator, String, Font, Color&, Int32, Single, Single, FontStyle, Boolean, Boolean, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, Boolean, TextAnchor, Single, Single, Single, Single, Boolean, Boolean, UInt32&)
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:Populate_Internal_cpp(String, Font, Color, Int32, Single, Single, FontStyle, Boolean, Boolean, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, Boolean, TextAnchor, Single, Single, Single, Single, Boolean, Boolean, UInt32&)
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:Populate_Internal(String, Font, Color, Int32, Single, Single, FontStyle, Boolean, Boolean, Int32, Int32, VerticalWrapMode, HorizontalWrapMode, Boolean, TextAnchor, Vector2, Vector2, Boolean, Boolean, TextGenerationError&)
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:PopulateAlways(String, TextGenerationSettings)
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:PopulateWithError(String, TextGenerationSettings)
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:Populate(String, TextGenerationSettings)
UnityEngine.TextGenerator:GetPreferredHeight(String, TextGenerationSettings)
UnityEngine.UI.Text:get_preferredHeight()
UnityEngine.UI.LayoutUtility:<GetPreferredHeight>m__6(ILayoutElement)
UnityEngine.UI.LayoutUtility:GetLayoutProperty(RectTransform, Func`2, Single, ILayoutElement&)
UnityEngine.UI.LayoutUtility:GetLayoutProperty(RectTransform, Func`2, Single)
UnityEngine.UI.LayoutUtility:GetPreferredHeight(RectTransform)
StatusTerminal:SetMessagePositions()
StatusTerminal:Display(Status)
GameUI:ShowStatusMessage(String, MessageCanDismiss, Single, Single)
HelpOverlay:SetActiveCard(HelpCard, Single)
HelpOverlay:UpdateFromGUI()
GameUI:Update()
 
(Filename:  Line: -1)

This is a known error and is not fatal.

[damikyu]

Originally posted by Plinko:

Moving it off my external drive unfortunately didn't fix it. Here's the contents of that log file though, hopefully it helps:

[Steamworks.NET] SteamAPI_Init() failed. Refer to Valve's documentation or the comment above this line for more information.

This is most likely the problem here. If SteamAPI_Init fails it could be that Steam wasn't able to get to the internet or is in some kind of bad state. I could see how restarting Steam might fix this, but we had a report in another thread that disabling anti-virus also fixed it.

In any event, it really shouldn't break the game like this if something goes wrong with Steam, so I'm going to look into this today and hopefully have a fix. Worst-case would mean continuing play without achievements.

[damikyu]

Originally posted by orophor:

Nope, post restart and I still get weird black screens. The game loads up splash screens and then on some scales its fine, but on menus, the cosmic scale and the planck scale, the display fades to black. I still hear audio, and when I get lucky and acend/decend to a better scale the display returns to normal.

I thought maybe the steam overlay was the cause, so I tried disabling that, and get the same results.

This is very strange, particularly since your computer specs sound totally fine. I'm curious what happens when you take a screenshot with Steam in this state - does it come out black as well?

If you would be so kind, could you play to the point where you wind up with a black screen like this and then go grab the entire output_log.txt and send it to our support email?

[orophor]

Here you go, right after loading, screen black, audio playing, controls sound responsive.

Initialize engine version: 5.5.2p1 (9360c5517afe)
GfxDevice: creating device client; threaded=1
Direct3D:
    Version:  Direct3D 11.0 [level 11.0]
    Renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 (ID=0x1004)
    Vendor:   NVIDIA
    VRAM:     3013 MB
    Driver:   22.21.13.8165
Begin MonoManager ReloadAssembly
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp-firstpass.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp-firstpass.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\Assembly-UnityScript.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\Assembly-UnityScript.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.UI.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.UI.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.Networking.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.Networking.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.PlaymodeTestsRunner.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.PlaymodeTestsRunner.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\AmplifyColor.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\AmplifyColor.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\AmplifyMotion.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\AmplifyMotion.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\SonyNP.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\SonyNP.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\SonyPS4CommonDialog.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\SonyPS4CommonDialog.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\DynamicText.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\DynamicText.dll into Unity Child Domain
- Completed reload, in  0.096 seconds
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\System.Core.dll (this message is harmless)
Platform assembly: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Everything\Everything_Data\Managed\System.dll (this message is harmless)
<RI> Initializing input.

<RI> Input initialized.

desktop: 1920x1200 59Hz; virtual: 1920x1200 at 0,0
<RI> Initialized touch support.

UnloadTime: 0.874523 ms
Setting up 2 worker threads for Enlighten.
  Thread -> id: 1724 -> priority: 1 
  Thread -> id: 11a0 -> priority: 1 
Active Device is now Keyboard And Mouse
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Active Device is now Keyboard And Mouse
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Meta file path at C:/Users/ben/AppData/LocalLow/David OReilly/Everything/Save Data/Meta
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Save file path at C:/Users/ben/AppData/LocalLow/David OReilly/Everything/Save Data/Slot1
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Save file path at C:/Users/ben/AppData/LocalLow/David OReilly/Everything/Save Data/Slot2
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Save file path at C:/Users/ben/AppData/LocalLow/David OReilly/Everything/Save Data/Slot3
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

Achievements begun SubSynchroniseAttainment
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)

nextThoughtTimer set to 2.5 minutes for 11_WeAsOrganism_02
 
(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/DebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 51)