Black screen upon launch.

Oldbeefy · May 2020

Had this problem since I started ESO. After I press "play" from the launcher, I just get a black screen. Can still hear sound. Happens randomly. Can't alt+tab or ctrl+alt+delete. There's no command on the keyboard that works. I have to restart my pc every time. It's getting really annoying. Can't be good for my pc to power off everytime this happens.

Please help, if you can.

MilkJugg24 · May 2020

@Oldbeefy

Sorry you're having this issue. That's strange how your PC is still making sounds, but shows no output on the screen.

It sounds like you're using a desktop. Have you tried un-plugging your display cable from your GPU and plugging it back in when this happens? I have a feeling that this may be an issue regarding your display adapter drivers.

Have you tried updating your GPU's drivers recently? Does this issue still happen if you try a different output such as DVI-D, DisplayPort or HDMI?

I think the command for toggling windowed-mode and exclusive fullscreen in ESO is ALT+ENTER. If you're playing in exclusive Fullscreen mode, that's probably a trigger for this issue.

Here's a support knowledge base article I found, which seems be related to your issue. https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/32493/kw/black screen launch

Please let us know if anything here works. If not, you can create a support ticket here: https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/incident?fresh
Please be aware that you might be waiting a week or longer for a response from ZeniMax.

Oldbeefy · May 2020

Thanks for the reply.

I've tried the unplugging.

I updated the drivers.

Same thing happens whether it's HDMI to my television or Display port to my monitor.

I've switched between windowed mode, fullscreen windowed and fullscreen... same thing.

I searched google and someone with the same problem suggests to go to device manager. If you have 2 display adapers. eg. Intel HD Graphics, Radeon RX Vega. Disable the Intel Graphics and restart.

After 4 consecutive black screens and restarts, I tried the above and logged in first time. Could have just been luck because as i said, it is very random. Ill check back in a few days if i can consistantly login with no issues.

MilkJugg24 · May 2020

Thanks for the information @Oldbeefy . If you are still having issues later on, please leave a basic list of what components your PC is using.

As for myself, I'm using one of AMD's RX series cards that came out this year. I'm assuming you have a newer Intel CPU. I don't have experience with their Iris Pro graphics, but unless you're using the HDMI-out on the motherboard, the GPU should basically be disabled.

Sorry if this is a dumb and condescending question, but are all of your monitor outputs plugged into your graphics card, not your motherboard's I/O panel? I have had friends who've built their own PCs and still managed to plug their main monitor into their motherboard, completely bypassing their GPU and not realizing it. This was because their old PC was just a crappy laptop that barely worked, so they assumed it was fine. I just feel obligated to ask that question in this situation.