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Fixes

How to Fix Black Screen or Won't Launch in How to Fish

Reported as a freeze before the menu, a grey screen at launch, or a black screen when entering the lobby.

Patches 1.0.4 and 1.0.5 addressed these, so the first thing to check is that you are actually updated. If you are current and it still happens, work through the steps below in order.

  1. Verify the game files through Steam — right-click the game, Properties, Installed Files.
  2. Press Alt + Enter while the black screen is showing. It often renders fine, just not in the mode it picked.
  3. Force windowed mode. Steam, Properties, Launch Options, add -windowed.
  4. Update your GPU drivers, then reboot rather than just relaunching.

Compiled from published troubleshooting guides and the patch notes they cite. Not yet verified on our own hardware. If this stops working after a patch, or you solved it differently, tell us.

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