5 Ways to Fix the Hogwarts Legacy Black Screen Startup Bug on a Windows PC

The Hogwarts Legacy black screen bug is an issue many players have reported. When this issue arises, Hogwarts Legacy gets stuck on a black screen after a seizure warning message when players start that game. Then the game doesn’t get going, with its music still playing in the background. Many HL players say this black screen bug arises after graphics driver or patch updates, and they can’t play the game because of this issue. This is how you can fix the Hogwarts Legacy black screen issue on a Windows PC.

Read also: 8 Ways to Fix Hogwarts Legacy Not Launching on a Windows PC

Wait for 10-20 Minutes

First, try waiting 10-20 minutes for the game to load. Some players have reported they’ve needed to wait quite a few minutes (even up to 20) for the Hogwarts Legacy black screen to clear before a preparing shaders bar appears. If the game doesn’t get going after a 20-minute wait, proceed to apply the resolutions below.

Disable Ray Tracing and Shader Pipeline

Many players say they’ve fixed the Hogwarts Legacy black screen issue by disabling the shader pipeline and ray tracing settings. You can adjust those settings via a GameUserSettings.ini configuration file for the game as follows.

1. Start Run (accessible with a Windows logo + R keyboard shortcut) and input %localappdata% into its Open box.
2. Press the OK button in Run to bring up a Local data folder.
3. Open the Hogwarts Legacy > Saved > Config > WindowsNoEditor folder.
   
   

   The GameUserSettings file

4. Right-click the GameUserFile file to select Open with and the Notepad text editor.
5. Find the bEnableRayTracingShadows=True, bEnableRayTracingReflections=True, and bEnableRayTracingA0=True settings in the configuration file. Change those settings to bEnableRayTracingShadows=False, bEnableRayTracingReflections=False, and bEnableRayTracingA0=False.
   

   Ray tracing text settings in the GamerUserSettings file

6. Find [ShaderPipelineCachce.CacheFile] in the GameUserSettings.ini configuration file.
7. Input r.ShaderPipelineCache.Enabled = 0 under the Lastopened=Phoenix text, as shown in the snapshot directly below.
   

   The r.ShaderPipelineCache.Enabled = 0 setting

8. To save the edited GameUserSettings file, press Notepad’s Ctrl + S hotkey.

Clear Out the DirectX Shader Cache

A very full DirectX Shader Cache is a possible cause for the Hogwarts Legacy black screen bug. Clearing out the DirectX Shader Cache will erase data stored in it, which can speed up software loading times. This is how you can clear that cache via the Settings app.

1. To access the file finder tool, click the search box or magnifying glass button within the Windows 11/10 taskbar.
2. Next, input storage settings into the file search box.
3. Select Storage settings in the search results.
4. Click Temporary files to view further options.
5. Select the DirectX Shader Cache checkbox.
   
   

   The DirectX Shader Cache checkbox

6. Click Remove files to clear the selected cache.

Disable GeForce Experience, AMD, or Steam Overlays

Players also confirm disabling GeForce Experience, AMD, and Steam overlays can resolve the Hogwarts Legacy black screen issue. Most players will probably have at least one of those overlays enabled. You can disable those overlay features like this.

GeForce Experience

1. Right-click the NVIDIA icon in the system tray part of the taskbar and select the GeForce Experience context menu option.
2. Click on the Settings (cog) button near your username.
3. Toggle off GeForce Experience’s In-game overlay setting.
   
   

   The In-Game Overlay option in GeForce Experience

AMD

1. Use the Alt + R hotkey to open AMD Radeon Software, or you can right-click the Windows desktop to select that app.
2. Click AMD Radeon’s Settings button near the top-right corner of its window.
3. Select General in the tab bar.
4. Set the In-Game overlay option to Disabled.

Steam

1. Run your Steam gaming client and click on Library.
2. Right-click Hogwarts Legacy in the game sidebar area and select Properties.
3. Click the toggle switch for the Enable the Steam Overlay option to disable that setting on the General tab.
   
   

   The Enable the Steam Overlay option

Disable Full-Screen Optimizations

Full-screen optimization is supposed to enhance gaming performance at fullscreen. However, some players say disabling that feature fixed the Hogwarts Legacy black screen issue for them. This is how you can select to turn off full-screen optimizations for Hogwarts Legacy.

1. Activate File Explorer by clicking its taskbar shortcut and navigate to the Hogwarts Legacy installation folder.
2. Next, right-click the HogwartsLegacy EXE file and select Properties on its context menu.
3. Select the checkbox for Disable fullscreen optimizations inside the Compatibility tab.
   
   

   The Disable full-screen optimization option

4. Press Apply to save the selected settings.
5. Close the HogwartsLegacy Properties window by clicking OK.

Other Possible Ways to Fix the Hogwarts Legacy Black Screen Issue

If the Hogwarts Legacy black screen issue isn’t fixed after applying the five resolutions above, there are still a few other possible remedies you can try. Here are some other suggestions for resolving that issue:

• Scan your PC’s system files with the sfc /scannow command, as covered on this Microsoft page.
• Run a verify (repair) scan for Hogwarts Legacy with Steam or Epic Games Launcher. Check out these Epic Games help and Steam support webpages for further details about how to do that.
• Undo any GPU or CPU overclocking applied by restoring system defaults.
• Close unneeded background apps and processes with Task Manager before starting Hogwarts Legacy.

The resolutions covered in this guide have fixed the Hogwarts Legacy black screen bug for lots of players. So, there’s a fair chance one will resolve the same gaming issue on your Windows PC, enabling you to play Hogwarts Legacy again. You can also contact the game’s support service from this Portkey page if further potential fixes for this issue are required.