Being a Super Citizen and defending the Super Earth can sometimes be challenging. No, I am not referring to your fights against the Terminids or the Automatons. Or about playing solo when your SOS Beacon isn’t working, and no one joins. The biggest issue haunting the players right now is the Black screen on startup when launching Helldivers 2, and they need a fix. So here is why you get it and some workarounds you can try in the meantime.
How to Fix the Helldivers 2 Black Screen on Startup Error
You are getting a Helldivers 2 black screen at launch, mainly because of server issues. As they can’t handle the overload of players, some can play while others aren’t. So, it will eventually be fixed for good when the developers resolve it. But for now, here is what you should do:
- Run the game as admin: Go to Steam and then to the game’s file directory. From here, you can right-click on the game’s launcher exe file and choose to run it as admin. Thanks to player Valinov on Steam Forums for sharing this fix. You can check their post here. If running the game as administrator works, go to the Compatibility tab from properties and check the “Run this program as an administrator” option. Apply the changes, and you won’t have to run it manually as an admin from now on.
- Change Compatibility mode: Similar to the above fix.
- Right-click on Helldivers 2 launcher and go to properties.
- Next, go to the compatibility tab.
- Here, check the option for “Run this game in compatibility mode for:”
- Next, from the dropdown, choose Windows 8.
- Apply the changes.
- Now run the game.
- Reinstall Microsoft Visual C++: Thanks to Reddit user u/kikibgd for this method; check out their comment here. Make sure you have the latest version of Visual C++ installed. Restart your computer, and now try playing Helldivers 2.
Try the above fixes, and you should be able to solve the Black Screen on the launch error. While you are here, I suggest you check out our Helldivers 2 section for more bug fixes and walkthroughs for this game.
