How To Fix Helldivers 2 Black Screen On Startup

Helldivers 2 has been seeing a lot of success, both on PC and PlayStation 5. Players are loving it so much that it has already passed Palworld in weekly sales, a feat that not many games could accomplish. However, not all is perfect, as many players have reported tons of technical problems with the game. 

These problems range from the server constantly being dead, to the one we’re about to dive in more today, which is when the game just gives a static black screen on startup. Alternatively, some players reportedly have their entire game crash instead of seeing a black screen, and since both issues are more or less the same, we’ll be adding that to the equation too.

So, if you’ve been struggling with the Helldiver 2 black screen on startup issue, then keep reading because we have you covered.

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Helldivers 2 Black Screen on Startup Causes

Now, while nothing has been officially confirmed by the Helldivers 2 developers of what might potentially be causing the game to show a black screen at launch, we might have some reasons. After all, this isn’t the first time a game would get stuck with a black screen.

Server Issue

If you’ve been playing Helldiver 2 for a while now, then you likely already know about the infamous server issue. It seems as though the developers weren’t expecting the game to garner as much attention as it did, and as such, their servers didn’t have the capacity to handle the high number of players pouring in, especially during the weekends.

Because of this, several players have reportedly faced a handful of different issues. While most make it to the title screen before getting an error telling them that the game’s servers are dead, others aren’t as fortunate. Case in point, the black screen on startup problem we’re talking about right now.

If it’s the first time you’re getting this particular black screen on startup or crashing at launch problem, then we recommend closing the game and trying again after a couple of hours. Who knows, it might fix itself as soon as the servers come alive again.

AMD-Exclusive Settings Fix

If you’re playing Helldivers 2 on a PC with an AMD GPU, then some players have reportedly found a workaround to get their game to work as intended, though it requires you to actually load into the game first.

When you’re able to, go to the Helldivers 2 pause menu and then navigate to settings. From there, scroll down to “Graphics,“ and turn the following two settings off:

• Screen-Space Global Illumination
• Anti-Aliasing

With this done, you should hopefully be able to play the game without any black screens or crashes. If the problems persist, move on to the next step.

Controller Issues

Hey, we were as surprised as you when we heard this, but apparently, some players have reported that they only encountered the Helldivers 2 black screen on startup issue when they tried booting it with their controller plugged in.

In particular, both the PS4 and PS5 controllers are reported to cause the most issues. Therefore, if you’ve been struggling with your Helldivers 2 game crashing constantly or showing a black screen, then it might be a good idea to first disconnect any controller you might be using and then try again. Who knows, it might be just what the doctor ordered.

Support Ticket

If nothing you have done thus far worked, then it might be worth sending a support ticket to the developers informing them of your problem. When writing the ticket, try to be as detailed as possible to ensure the person reading your email perfectly understands what you’re referring to. Then, well, cross your fingers and hope you get a reply.

Alternatively, it might also be a good idea to join the developer Discord server to communicate with other players going through the same issue as you. There’s a chance that someone might have figured out a workaround to the Helldivers 2 black screen on startup bug, and if so, will likely be more than happy to share it with you.

Wait For An Update

If all else fails and you aren’t able to do anything at all to fix the bug, then the only thing you can do is wait for an update or patch that fixes the issue. After all, with a game as successful as this, the developers likely already have wind of the Helldivers 2 black screen on startup bug, and are hopefully working on a fix.

Helldivers 2 System Requirements

If you’re playing Helldivers 2 on your PC, then it might be worth checking out the system requirements to ensure you meet them. If you don’t, then your PC not being good enough or being incompatible might be leading to this issue.

One quick note is that an SSD is recommended to play Helldivers 2, as using an HDD might cause the game some issues like a slow startup.

This concludes everything you need to know about the Helldivers 2 black screen on startup bug. We hope you were able to fix it thanks to this guide, and if you weren’t, then we hope the developers put out an update or patch soon to ensure no one has to go through this again. For more technical fixes by GamingFlaws, check out Palworld Dungeon Crash Error Fix And Dungeon Locations.

Hannan Mundia

From the lush land of Hyrule to the underwater city of Rapture, Hannan has spent countless hours in all sorts of video game worlds. When he isn’t playing a game, he’s writing about one, and when he isn’t writing about one, he’s definitely thinking about playing something.