Helldivers 2 has been an incredibly fun experience for those that can get past the server capacity, but other players have been suffering with black screens when trying to launch the game. Here are some potential fixes for those who are stuck in black screen limbo.
How to Fix Black Screen on Launch in Helldivers 2
Players who are stuck with a black screen at launch means that none of the game’s logos pop up, the intro movie does not play, and players cannot press any keys to get to the main menu. It’s just a black screen. Some may have to simply wait a few minutes longer than expected for the game to finally start up due to the server issues, but other can try these methods to fix the issue:
Verify Helldivers 2 Steam Game Files
Players can try this quick method of having Steam check for missing or corrupted files before diving into their computer’s file system themselves. This can be done by right-clicking Helldivers 2 in the Steam library and selecting Properties.
Click on Installed Files on the left sidebar in the new menu, then choose the option to Verify integrity of game files. Steam will check for any potential problems, and should take a few minutes.
Launch Helldivers 2 in Borderless Window Mode
Some players have found that the game launching into fullscreen mode can cause this issue. Despite being unable to change the graphics setting within the game, it is possible to change to borderless fullscreen outside of it with the configuration file.
The default location for the user-settings.config file is C:\Users\User-Name\AppData\Roaming\Arrowhead\Helldivers2. Players must enable Hidden Items from the View menu to see the AppData folder.
Open the user-settings.config file in Notepad or another text editing program. Find the fullscreen option in the list and change the value from true to false. Make sure to save before exiting.
For more on Helldivers 2 issues, check out our guide on how to fix “Failed to Join Game Lobby” error when actually in the game.
