South Park: The Fractured But Whole Black Screen Fixes

What’s a AAA PC game release without some day one technical problems? Some users have reported their PC copies of South Park: The Fractured But Whole launch to a black screen. If you’re running into this problem, we’ve got a few possible solutions for you.

There are four potential ways for you to fix this problem, and hopefully one will work for you. We’ll start with the most simple solutions and work up to the more complicated ones.

How to Fix the Black Screen Problem in The Fractured But Whole

Option 1 — Force Windowed Mode

This one’s easy enough, and for most, this seems to be the way to go. Simply follow these steps:

1. Launch The Fractured But Whole
2. Get to the black screen
3. Press Alt + Enter to force windowed mode
4. If the game switches to windowed mode, go to the game’s options
5. Set the resolution to your monitor’s resolution

It’s definitely possible that step 3 did not force the game to display. If you’ve tried this, it’s time to try the next possible solution.

Option 2 — Open the Game Directly

This is another simple solution and just an attempt to get the game to launch properly by opening it directly.

1. Right click on The Fractured But Whole in your Steam library
2. Click ‘Properties’
3. Click ‘Local Files’
4. Click ‘Browse Local Files’
5. Open the game via the ‘SouthPark_TFBW.exe’ file

Option 3 — Set the Game’s Priority to High

This is a little less straightforward than the two options above, but it works on some machines. Don’t be antsy about this one — it will in no way negatively impact your PC. Let’s go over how to do it.

1. Launch the game
2. Press Crtl + Alt + Del at the black screen
3. Bring up the Task Manager
4. Find the game in the Processes tab
5. Right click the game, then click on ‘Go to details’
6. Right click on the game’s already-highlighted listing
7. Click ‘High priority’ and switch back to the game

This one’s a bit of a stretch, but it’s less hassle than the last solution.

Option 4 — Reinstall Uplay

Exactly as it reads, your last option is to reinstall Uplay. As mundane as it seems, this solution has a fair success rate. If none of the above solutions work for you, this is the route you’re going to have to take. Luckily it’s easy and doesn’t take too long. That’s a plus!

No one likes getting a black screen on a game they paid $60 for on release day. Give these four potential solutions a shot, and hopefully one will work for you.

Looking for more tips, tricks, and strategies for TFBW? Make sure to check out our other South Park: The Fractured But Whole guides!