Helldivers 2’s Mysterious Black Screen Issue Explained

A Helldiver looks at another Helldiver whose face is covered by a black screen.

Helldivers 2, the third-person co-op experience that’s surging in popularity on Steam and PS5, is a really good time in spite of a couple of technical hitches. One of the more common frustrations is a stubborn black screen that sometimes confronts players upon launching the game. While the screen may go away after a few minutes, some users report it taking way longer than it should.

It’s not clear exactly what’s causing the issue, but some folks have had success just waiting or editing the game’s configuration file on PC. Kotaku has reached out to Arrowhead Game Studios for more information regarding this technical hitch.

Here are a few things to try if you’re unable to actually get into Helldivers 2.

Got a black screen? Try patience

If you’ve fired up Helldivers 2 only to arrive at a black screen, try just waiting it out for as long as you deem appropriate. While I have not experienced the black screen on either a desktop PC or PS5, I did see it a few times on Steam Deck, and though it rarely lasted more than 10 or 15 seconds, it still felt like something had gone wrong.

If you’ve given up on waiting (say, if the screen lasts around five minutes), then you may want to try the following fixes on PC.

Verify game files or edit the config file

It can’t hurt to run a quick verification. To do this, simply right-click on Helldivers 2 in your Steam library, select “Properties,” navigate to “Installed Files” and click “Verify integrity of game files.”

If that doesn’t fix the issue, you can try tweaking your configuration file, titled “user-settings.config.” You’ll find this file by opening up a file explorer window, clicking on “View,” navigating to “Show” and making sure “Hidden items” is checked. Then navigate to C:Users[your username]AppDataRoamingArrowheadHelldivers2 and you’ll find the file in question.

Some users have found that opening this file up in Notepad and changing the “fullscreen” entry to “false” fixes it. You can otherwise delete the file to reset everything, but note that this will require you to go through the language settings at launch. It will also reset all of your graphics settings.

Finally, you can always try erasing and reinstalling the game completely if nothing else works.

Helldivers 2’s unexpected success has been somewhat complicated by a number of unfortunate technical snags. The black screen issue, unfortunately, can’t be dismissed by an orbital strike. But our tips might see you on your way to your next deployment.

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