Black Screen with system lock-up on launch

[Tzitzi]

When I try to launch the game, either through steam or through ck2.exe I get a black screen and my system hard locks. I have updated my video and sound drivers, run the known issue installs of vcredist_x86.exe and Direct X setup. I even tossed in vcredist_x64 for good measure. My system specs meet the minimum requirements without issue and I have no similar issues with any other games I've played.

View attachment DxDiag.txt

Attached is my dxdiag.txt

I've tried running the game with forced resolutions and as administrator with no success. I do run crossfire usually, but I've tried this game both with and without with the same result. I've done a steam integrity check which also passed flawlessly.

I'm a pretty competent user, and I'm just stumped... I don't often see a reliablly hard locking crash, they make it very hard to troubleshoot.

 

[Tegus]

Try this:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...g-to-start&p=13439812&viewfull=1#post13439812

 

[Tzitzi]

I tried that, forcing the resolution or any other resolution still leads to a black system lock up

Thanks, but so far no luck still.

 

[AndrewT]

Can you try running the game as the Win7 admin user?

 

[Tzitzi]

"I've tried running the game with forced resolutions and as administrator with no success."

Neither of the above worked for me. I don't get any errors or CTD's, just a hard lockup.

 

[AndrewT]

Can we see your settings.txt, system.log and errors.log please? You'll need to change their .log extensions to .txt to upload. Also open up setup.log and search for "checksum", post that line only from that file in here please.

 

[Tzitzi]

I don't have them, there's no folder in my documents for Paradox. I assumed these logs and settings files were created on the first run. Since I haven't been able to run the game, I assumed that's why it didn't exist. If I'm incorrect, I'd be happy to try and do something else.

 

[Tegus]

I don't have them, there's no folder in my documents for Paradox. I assumed these logs and settings files were created on the first run. Since I haven't been able to run the game, I assumed that's why it didn't exist. If I'm incorrect, I'd be happy to try and do something else.

Try this:

Create a file called userdir.txt beside the .exe file(i.e. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\crusader kings ii)

Edit the file and write something like "C:\MyCK2Dir"(without the quotes), and then save the file. Restart the game. Is anything written to C:\MyCK2Dir?

 

[Tzitzi]

Negative, it didn't even create the folder. I launched it through steam and noticed it still tries to install Visual C runtimes still. I tried to run it out of the CK2 folder though and get the "newer version" notice however.

Thanks again for the help so far.

 

[CSchweinzer]

I also had this black screen.
I installed GG version of CK2. I installed the patch. I launched the game.
I accessed instore game. I chose reinstall for coat of arms DLC. After download OK I quit the game.
Trying to restart the game resulted in a black screen (my monitor beeped = sign for no video signal). I had to hard reset the computer.
Restarting the computer resulted in freeze. Powering off the computer and again on brought windows back to life.
After restarting win7 a deselected the coat of arms DLC in the launcher before starting CK2. The program started normally.
Entering ingame store I selected Mongol DLC ans "reinstalled". After download OK I quit the game.
I started the game with both DLC selected. Before the loading screen with the blue emblem showed, the screen went black and my monitor beeped, which is a sign that it receives no video signal. A few moments afterward video came back and everything seemed OK.
During play video was lost again for a short few moments.
Quitting the game and checking the system log of windows 7 showed that the graphics driver had failed and had been restarted.
My guess for the black screen is, that the graphic card driver is failing. Windows 7 mostly seeems to be able to recover the driver. If it cannot the system freezes with a black screen. When that happens a simple hard reset does not always seem to be able to re-initialize the graphics card.
I am using a NVIDIA GTX580 with driver 295.51.
Currently I have no other games in use that also cause this driver fails and display restarts (eg. Mass Effect 2, Witcher 2 work OK). I guess there is some problem between the nvidia driver and CK2.
UAC is off. Game is installed outside programs- folder.

 

[jeg54]

I too am having black screen freezing problems using an NVIDA card and driver.

 

[Erdobelli]

I am encountering black screen problem as well in my desktop with specs well beyond the required (2 nvidia GTX580s in SLI, windows 7 64 bit). After the loading screen, the main menu does not pop up. I have to return to desktop and click CK2 tab in order for the main menu to appear. After couple of minutes into the game, system crashes and my monitor goes to sleep and I have to restart.

I installed the game in my laptop (vista 32 bit, nvidia 8700M GT) as well. The map does not show the borders and everytime I move the mouse cursor, the borders (sea and land) flicker.

 

[Tegus]

I installed the game in my laptop (vista 32 bit, nvidia 8700M GT) as well. The map does not show the borders and everytime I move the mouse cursor, the borders (sea and land) flicker.

This is most likely due to using Nvidia BETA drivers and/or setting multisample to 8

 

[Tzitzi]

Well the issue shouldn't be entirely an Nvidia thing, as great as it would be to have a path to start digging into. I have an AMD/ATI video system and am having the same issue.

(I know Tegus is referring to the flickering and not black screen, I'm referring to CSchweinzer's post.)