★ How to fix black screen, lines and/or flickering screen

Reliable solutions to fix black lines, black screen or flickering screen issues when you launch CoH for the first time (or after reinstall).

➜ I try to keep this tutorial up-to-date and understandable for everyone. Feel free to submit any suggestion to improve readibility, especially from a neophyte's perspective.

➜ Make sure your graphics card (or CPU integrated graphics, if you don't have one) drivers are up-to-date.

➜ I'll assume that your computer is running Windows XP at the very least (or consider upgrading, seriously...)

Before anything else : Making sure your game installation is clean.

It might seems obvious, but if you have any other mod interfering with your game from previous installations or corrupted settings folder, I can't help you.

If this is a fresh install, you can skip this step.

• The best but slowest way : Reinstall your game entirely and properly by right clicking it in your Steam library, then uninstall. Now try to locate your game folder (usually " C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common" ) and delete any remaining folder called " Company of Heroes Relaunch ".
  
  
• The fast but clunky way : Right click your game in your Steam library, go to Properties > Local files > Verify integrity of game files.

In any case, I also suggest you to fully delete the folder named "Company of Heroes Relaunch" located in "C:\Users\yourname\Documents\My Games\" . If you don't find any, continue to the next step.

Fix #1. Try launching the game in "safe-mode"

• Navigate to your game folder from Steam by right clicking Company of Heroes > Properties > Game Files > Open game folder or through the Windows Explorer at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Company of Heroes Relaunch" (default).
  
  
• Find "RelicCOH.exe" and right click > properties > Compatibility : make sure everything is unchecked.
  
  
• Rename "RelicCOH.exe" to "RelicCOH -minvidmem 0.exe".
  Please be careful to not have .exe twice ( ex: "RelicCOH -minvidmem 0.exe.exe")
  
  
• Double click RelicCOH -minvidmem 0.exe. The game now should open with default video settings and a working display (even if performances are very poor: cursor lagging etc. You're not supposed to play like that).
  
  
• Navigate to video settings and change to your native resolution. Make sure to have every settings set on "HIGH" and not "ULTRA". Press "apply" and "OK" once the game asks you to.
  
  Now the game will use DX9 instead of DX10 and the problem should be gone.
  
  
• Leave the game.
  
  
• Go back to your game's folder and rename "RelicCOH -minvidmem 0.exe" to "RelicCOH.exe".
  
  ⓘ If you skip this step, Steam will consider the .exe to be missing and it will download the file again. Mods like Blitzkrieg will not start either.

Fix #2. Disable Fullscreen Optimizations

• Go back to "RelicCOH.exe" and right click > properties > Compatibility.
  
  
• Check "Disable Fullscreen Optimizations".
  
  
• Hit "save".

Fix #3. Change render API manually

• Launch the game at least once, then close it from task manager.
  
  
• Navigate to "C:\Users\yourname\Documents\My Games\Company of Heroes Relaunch" and open Local.ini file with notepad.
  
  
• Your file should look like this
  

  []
  background=5
  force_watch_movies=0
  playerprofile=yourname
  screendevice=DirectX10 rendering device
  

  
  Change the DirectX10 rendering device to DirectX9 rendering device. It should now look like this:
  
  

  []
  background=5
  force_watch_movies=0
  playerprofile=yourname
  screendevice=DirectX9 rendering device
  

• Save the file.

Fix #4. The last hope for black screens

ⓘ This is not a reliable fix and the game may act differently depending on the computer and other random factors. I cannot guarantee this will be possible in most cases.

• Launch your game normally.
  
  
• Press Alt + Enter , it should change it from fullscreen to windowed (usually a small window in the top left corner).
  
  
• Moving the game's window should let you see frames of the menu instead of a continuous black screen.
  
  
• Try to get to settings slowly and change every "Ultra" settings to "High". Once done, confirm. The game should display properly.

Congratulations! You're done!

IMPORTANT NOTE : Once your game is working properly, feel free to set your correct resolution under video settings* and don't forget to set any option to "High" instead of "Ultra". Damage model slider should be set to max.

*it might take a few tries to succesfully accept the new resolution. If it reloads with a wrong one when applying, just retry until it's fine. I advise you to change the resolution alone first, as it can be frustrating to change every options again if it doesn't work on the first attempt.

I hope this short tutorial saved you a few hours of free time and prevented an upcoming headache. Let me know if you have any other magic fix concerning black screen & flickering issues at launch or in game. Please rate and share my guide to help others find it! Long life to CoH1!

[Spectator]

Yup, that's the only ghetto tier fix I didn't mention because of how unreliable it is haha. DX10 is a broken mess on this game. However, I have a less clunky way to achieve this in Local.ini and I'm adding it asap.

You know what? I'm going to rework the whole tutorial and write every solution individually.

[Watts]

i found another possible fix. I had the issue and no other means was working so i decided to put it in window mode. When you move the window, i was able to get a brief moment to see the menu. I changed a few settings after a performance test (had full visual in test). When i saved my changes to t settings, the visuals came back. could be a good workaround

[Spectator]

Added :)

[Whiskey11]

Any tips for getting the sound to work? I just recently reinstalled the game and have NO sound in game, no cutscenes or intro videos (aside from the DIVX Logo) either. I can escape through them and get to the game itself. I can start a campaign but again, no sound at all.

Issue isn't with default sound device, it is set correctly, everywhere. I've reinstalled a few times and the tips you mentioned here don't work for the sound or cutscenes/intro videos.