Black screen at game startup

[RandomPixie]

Today I went to start Vanguard, and after I hit the PLAY button, my screen went black. I could see my cursor but nothing else. I know the desktop is there because my cursor changes whenever I roll over something, but everything is invisible. I've tried restarting and doing it... shut down the processes I didn't need (and before you ask, I did not touch the explorer.exe process...), etc. So it baffles me. I can't get back to the desktop or make it show up or anything when the black screen happens. I have to switch the PC off. I've tried this like 3 times now. It was working fine earlier until it crashed.

[Nil]

Originally Posted by RandomPixie

Today I went to start Vanguard, and after I hit the PLAY button, my screen went black. I could see my cursor but nothing else. I know the desktop is there because my cursor changes whenever I roll over something, but everything is invisible. I've tried restarting and doing it... shut down the processes I didn't need (and before you ask, I did not touch the explorer.exe process...), etc. So it baffles me. I can't get back to the desktop or make it show up or anything when the black screen happens. I have to switch the PC off. I've tried this like 3 times now. It was working fine earlier until it crashed.

Are you still using the 9700? Did you get your PSU situation taken care of?

Does it still work properly in other 3d aps?

[RandomPixie]

I will be able to get my cable tomorrow morning - finally. So for now yes I am still using the 9700. Well, so far I've only done some internet browsing and obviously it works fine there. I haven't tried it in other games because Vanguard is the only game installed on my PC. My DVD ROM / CD writer (must get a new DVD writer soon) does not show up as a drive currently so I can't install a game to test. Maybe it's the Omega driver?

[Nil]

Originally Posted by RandomPixie

I will be able to get my cable tomorrow morning - finally. So for now yes I am still using the 9700. Well, so far I've only done some internet browsing and obviously it works fine there. I haven't tried it in other games because Vanguard is the only game installed on my PC. My DVD ROM / CD writer (must get a new DVD writer soon) does not show up as a drive currently so I can't install a game to test. Maybe it's the Omega driver?

I suppose it's possible. Go into Catalyst and run the artifact tester. Does it explode?

[RandomPixie]

Which tab is that under? I can't find the artifact tester...

[Nil]

Originally Posted by RandomPixie

Which tab is that under? I can't find the artifact tester...

Er, it looks like he took the Artifact Tester out of the Omega package.

You can use ATI Tool.

[RandomPixie]

Okay thanks. I d/l it and an the test for nearly 3 minutes. There were no errors.

[Nil]

Originally Posted by RandomPixie

Okay thanks. I d/l it and an the test for nearly 3 minutes. There were no errors.

Er. Hmm. It might be a power thing. A new driver is worth a try, though.

[jdawgcurtis]

I am having a similar problem right now. On the 16th I installed Vista on my computer. I have an AMD64 3700, 2GB ram, 7900GS. The game played fine that day and the next. I left on vacation and didn't play from the 18th through the 25th. When I got back on the 25th, the game updated with the latest patch. I hit the Play button and got a blank flickering screen. I tried it multiple times and sometimes I would get a few elements from the character selection screen to appear, but still flickering. The odd thing is that I can run the games in windowed mode by changing the ini. It sucks though because it doesn't run as good in windowed mode.

[Nil]

Originally Posted by jdawgcurtis

I am having a similar problem right now. On the 16th I installed Vista on my computer. I have an AMD64 3700, 2GB ram, 7900GS. The game played fine that day and the next. I left on vacation and didn't play from the 18th through the 25th. When I got back on the 25th, the game updated with the latest patch. I hit the Play button and got a blank flickering screen. I tried it multiple times and sometimes I would get a few elements from the character selection screen to appear, but still flickering. The odd thing is that I can run the games in windowed mode by changing the ini. It sucks though because it doesn't run as good in windowed mode.

What resolution do you play at? Have you set that as the default resolution in the .ini for fullscreen mode?

I had a similar problem to what you describe because it kept defaulting my resolution to some really bizarre resolution that caused lots of blackness and window issues. When I updated the .ini, they all went away.