Black Screen w/ Cursor, Sound, and Flashing on start, no video or input

[BrockaliBeastDP]

Hello,

I just purchased GW2 today hoping to play with my friends, but for some odd reason the game will not work for me. When I launch the game, the in-game cursor appears and there is game sound, but the entire screen flashes white a few times and the window stays smaller, not full screen (like its appearing to try to do). The screen also stays black and doesn't seem to be taking any of my input (other than the in-game mouse cursor moving. I can leave the game running like this for (seemingly) forever and all I get is a black screen with sound.

Upon researching, I know other PC users faced an extremely similar problem with Star Wars: Battlefront when the game first launched and the solution there was to create a user.cfg file and fill it with the following lines:
Thread.ProcessorCount 4
Thread.MinFreeProcessorCount -2

I tried this and it did not work. I also tried updating all of my drivers, restarted my computer about 5 times, and also ran a clean boot on my PC (which was also suggested when people ran into a similar problem. I have also reinstalled Origin and repaired the game through origin but none of this has been working, almost bringing me to the point of wanting a refund for my purchase.

Any help is incredibly appreciated!

My system specifications are:

Intel Core i7-4500 CPU @ 1.80GHz 2.40 GHz
8 GB of Ram
64 Bit Windows 10 Home
(touch screen if that is relevant)

GeForce GT 745M
1920 x 1080, 60hz
Driver version 364.72

[WootCandy]

Try forcing the game to Borderless mode.

C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\PVZ Garden Warfare 2\settings\PROF_SAVE_profile

Borderless:
GstRender.FullscreenMode 2

GstRender.FullscreenScreen 1

I'm pretty sure those are the settings for borderless.

---------------

Make sure the game is using the GT745m and not the HD4400

http://imgur.com/a/6KJBH#87BGUaE   (sub BF:HL for PvZ, same difference)
nVidia Control Panel -> 3D Settings -> Program Settings -> Add Program (PvZ:GW2) -> High Performance Processor

[BrockaliBeastDP]

Hello,

Thank you for the reply! I tried this and it didn't fix the problem. It did make the game immediately go fullscreen, but the screen still remained black with the in-game cursor present. I've included a capture of what the file looked like exactly when I changed it as it was formatted a little bit different then what you posted.

[WootCandy]

Do you have any overlay programs running?  Like  Fraps, RiviaTuner, Overwolf, MSI gaming app or things like that?

Overlay programs and Origin in Game cause weird issues when used together.

*Since you did a clean boot it's unlikely this is the case*

Try going to nVidia Control Panel's 3D settings and Default them.

Then re-do the forcing High Performance Processor for PvZ2.exe

[BrockaliBeastDP]

This didn't work either unfortunately. I reset nvidia settings to default in the nvidia control panel and forced the game to run with that graphics processor, but all I got was a black screen still.

[BrockaliBeastDP]

Also, none of those services were running in the background.

[WootCandy]

Maybe try disabling the nVidia card by either using that 3D setting to force the Intel or just straight up disabling the nVidia card.

I'm curious if this would cause a different issue (i.e. error message about Intel Graphics) or if it would present itself in the same way.

If it presents itself in the same exact way with the nVidia card disabled, this would lead me to believe the nVidia card isn't actually doing it's job (i.e. Optimus isn't switching correctly).

If that's the case (optimus isn't switching on the nvidia)  uninstalling the drivers (intel and/or nvidia) and clean wiping them with DDU can often bring them back up to working correctly.

My post here should cover it.

http://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Problem-with-Intel-Driver-update/m-p/5277678#U5277678

Sorry it isn't exact steps.  Getting a non-working Optimus to work right is always a bit of trial and error but wiping drivers and starting over usually is a step in the right direction.

--

If when you disable the nVidia and get a different error or it starts working, then we at least know to point the finger at the nVidia.  In that case wiping with DDU is probably the step I'd take anyways though.

--

Sorry for the incoherent ramblings.  I'm heading to bed but I'll check back tomorrow morning.

If you want, you can post your DXDiag.  Maybe something will jump out.   Maybe it's something silly like Windows DPI settings not being 100%.

[BrockaliBeastDP]

I will try this the next chance I get. I do recall trying with Intel which produced the same result. I will try again after these changes to see if anything is different.

Also, I looked more closely on the minimum system requirements for the game, and it appears that my CPU doesn't wanna cut it. I looked in to this with one of those "can I run it?" Websites and it said that my computer wouldn't be able to run it at minimum settings. I dug a little deeper into this. The minimum GPU suggested for this game is a 3 year old i5 Intel. However, my i7 Intel, after looking up, is newer and should be more powerful than it. The i5 reccomended did have a higher GHz however, and I am unsure whether or not it is a quad core (mine is a dual).

Do you think that this could be the main cause of this issue?
My machine can run games like skyrim and far cry 3 just fine at average to higher settings, which this website said I shouldn't even be able to run.

[BrockaliBeastDP]

Here is the DxDiag:

[WootCandy]

If it happens the exact same way when the Intel card is "forced" to be the one working, I'd fall back to suggestion looking at the drivers.

First try just updating the Intel drivers *edit* Yes it seems there are drivers from 3/8/2016

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/

If that doesn't do it, then I'd start wiping them, cleaning the remaining traces with DDU and starting over.  From that thread above I linked should have the details about DDU etc.

----

You can try adding the right-click menu to Windows to force launch apps with the nVdia.

Described in this article at the bottom:

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/ht051526

You would need to have Origin open and logged in.  Then you should be able to find the game's EXE (or shortcut) and do the right-click force launch.

---

Yeah it's below requirements (rare for games to list mobile anything for requirements).  I think it should still at least launch and display on the screen.  I mean there are youtube videos of people with only HD4400 and they have it running (very low resolution with some framerate hiccups but it "works").

Your CPU is a dual core with 4 threads thanks to Hyperthreading.  That's the same as the minimum requirement Intel chip i5 650.  Depending on which benchmarking software you use they trade winner scores (i.e. some software/benches take advantage of the newer instructions the 4500 can handle).

In my opinion it should at bare minimum be able to launch the game and display it.  How playable it is after that could be up for debate.

----

Back to Optimus...

Windows 10 makes it easy to reinstall.

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html

If you select the right option you won't loose data but Windows will be defaulted like it was fresh installed.  Games won't technically be installed anymore but if you point Origin to the game's files, it won't need to download them again, it'll just jump straight to installing.

I wouldn't do this unless you've exhausted all other methods of trying to get nVidia Optimus to act right.