4 Ways to Fix the Fallout 76 Black Screen Issue on Windows PCs

Many players have reported a black screen startup issue for the Fallout 76 game. One player describes that issue on Steam’s forum like this: “Just downloaded the game (F76) and launched it for the first time. Black screen only but the intro and menu audio plays in the background.” Consequently, players can’t play Fallout 76 because they can’t see anything other than a black screen when the game starts. This is how you can fix the Fallout 76 black screen bug on Windows 11/10 PCs.

Set a 60 Hz Monitor Refresh Rate

Players confirm setting a 60 Hz monitor refresh rate can fix the Fallout 76 black screen issue. This highlights playing Fallout 76 at higher VDU refresh rates can cause display issues on some PCs. You can set a 60 Hz monitor refresh rate in Windows 11/10 like this.

1. Click the magnifying glass or Type here to search box on your taskbar.
2. Enter advanced display in the search box.
3. Click View advanced display info inside the search results.
4. Select 60 Hz for the Choose a refresh rate option or on the Refresh rate drop-down menu.
   
   

   The Refresh Rate drop-down menu

Disable V-Sync

Some players say they’ve fixed the Fallout 76 black screen issue by disabling V-Sync. You can do that outside the game by changing a configuration setting in the FallOut76Prefs.ini file. This is how you can disable V-Sync by editing that file.

1. Activate File Explorer’s window by clicking its pinned library folder taskbar shortcut.
2. Next, go to This PC > Documents > My Games > Fallout 76 in File Explorer.
   
   

   The FallOut76Prefs.ini file

3. Right-click the FallOut76Prefs.ini file and select Open with > Notepad.
4. Find the iPresentInterval setting in Notepad.
5. Change the iPresentInterval=1 setting to iPresentInterval=0.
   
   

   The iPresentInterval V-Sync setting

6. Press Ctrl + S (or click File > Save) to apply the changes.

Alternatively, try disabling V-Sync via the NVIDIA Control Panel or AMD Radeon to fix the Fallout 76 black screen bug. Look through the graphics settings in those apps to find a Vertical Sync setting. You can find that option in the NVIDIA Control Panel by clicking Manage 3D Settings > Global Settings.

Delete the Fallout 76 Data Folder

Corrupted files in the Fallout 76 data folder can cause startup issues. So, try deleting the Fallout 76 folder to clear corrupted data. You can erase that folder like this.

1. Bring up the My Games folder as instructed for the first two steps of the previous resolution.
2. Click the Fallout 76 folder with the right button on your mouse and select Delete.
   
   

   The Fallout 76 folder

3. Restart Windows after deleting the Fallout 76 folder.

Update the Video Driver for Your GPU

An old or faulty graphics card driver on your PC could be causing Fallout 76 black screen display issues. So, I recommend updating the driver for your graphics card if other potential resolutions don’t work on your PC. These are the steps for installing a new NVIDIA or AMD graphics driver.

1. Open the DirectX Diagnostic Tool by clicking the taskbar search button or box, entering dxdiag into the file finder tool, and pressing Enter. Select the Display tab to view graphics card details for your PC.
2. Start your browser and go to the NVIDIA or AMD page for graphics card drivers.
3. Select your graphics card model and Windows 11/10 platform and click the Search or Submit.
   
   

   The AMD driver download page

4. Click Download for the graphics driver compatible with your GPU.
   
   

   The Download option for an AMD driver

5. Open up whatever folder your graphics driver downloaded in.
6. Double-click the graphics driver file to open a setup (installation ) wizard, and select to install from there.

The resolutions in this guide will usually fix the Fallout 76 black screen issue. However, I can’t promise they’ll resolve that bug for all players. Send a Fallout 76 support ticket from this Bethesda page if you need more potential fixes for the black screen bug.