April 15 update Black screen

matzdaad · April 2021

After the Maintenance on 15 April 2021 I signed back in around 5PM...
Force Update, hit engage, connected to account server and then BLACK SCREEN with nothing but the Hourglass showing!
Waited over 10 minutes with still nothing happening... Anyone else get this? Anyone know why it is happening??

lashedtodeck · April 2021

Hi any news on this fix. My friend has the same issue. She logged into game, and is getting the same issue and it hangs on a blank screen. As this was posted hours ago there needs to be some kind of update for those effected. Guys what should she do?

matzdaad · April 2021

Kind of difficult to make further Event progress if it won't even go to the House Reborn loading screen...

matzdaad · April 2021

lashedtodeck#3095 wrote: »

Hi any news on this fix. My friend has the same issue. She logged into game, and is getting the same issue and it hangs on a blank screen. As this was posted hours ago there needs to be some kind of update for those effected. Guys what should she do?

Just got in, rechecked 'on demand patching' and re-tried. Have your friend check to see if on-demand is checked and try... if no go uncheck it and try then RE-check it and try again. Hope that helps.

leemwatson · April 2021

Folks, restart the game in Safe Mode in the Options Menu on the Launcher. You'll have to set your graphics up again, but that is the fix for this issue.

bigblackafrica · April 2021

I have been having this issue for about a week or 2 (tbh I don't remember when I first noticed it), but it doesn't happen consistently. I usually just kill the task in my task manager and then launch the game again and it loads correctly.

Is this happening every time you launch the game?

lashedtodeck · April 2021

OK my friend did none of these things, even after she shouted at me down the microphone into my poor ears for about 30 minutes. For some strange reason the issue fixed itself, which should not actually happen.

Restarting in safe mode only installs everything into the basic settings which can cause major problems when trying to get it back to what it is and is normally the LAST thing anybody should do.

First thing is, retry starting the game. If it locks up then you can try Ctrl+Alt+Del on keyboard to manually close the game. This will only close the process not everything. Things can still run in the background.

Have a look in hidden icons, normally shown where the time is on your computer, standard place Bottom Right of screen. Check to see if the STO tab is still them, if it is then close it.

You can try a computer restart, personally I would get the pc to shut down, wait 30 seconds and reboot. No it is not there to fix the issue, its there so you start fresh. Then try the game again. BUT wait before trying to play. Click on options and then Force Verify, by doing this it will check every file and anything which could be seen as corrupted will be replaced. This sometimes does happen but it does take time.

If this fails then your last choice is to go into safe mode. I say last choice because it will load basic drivers and basic graphics and then your going to have to log out before you are able to do anything game side. I mean unless you start meking changes just to find that it crashes again and your forced into safe mode again. Logging out and back in will see if its the game or something acting upon your system.

I am no expert, I hate software but which do you want to do, sit there all night screaming at the monitor/TV/view screen, or do you want to do something which could save you hours later on. Everybody has a view and nobody is wrong.

pegrimscrusade · April 2021

I have been having the same issue since last night and tonight... on both my PCs

Unknown · April 2021

This content has been removed.

leemwatson · April 2021

lashedtodeck#3095 wrote: »

OK my friend did none of these things, even after she shouted at me down the microphone into my poor ears for about 30 minutes. For some strange reason the issue fixed itself, which should not actually happen.

Restarting in safe mode only installs everything into the basic settings which can cause major problems when trying to get it back to what it is and is normally the LAST thing anybody should do.

First thing is, retry starting the game. If it locks up then you can try Ctrl+Alt+Del on keyboard to manually close the game. This will only close the process not everything. Things can still run in the background.

Have a look in hidden icons, normally shown where the time is on your computer, standard place Bottom Right of screen. Check to see if the STO tab is still them, if it is then close it.

You can try a computer restart, personally I would get the pc to shut down, wait 30 seconds and reboot. No it is not there to fix the issue, its there so you start fresh. Then try the game again. BUT wait before trying to play. Click on options and then Force Verify, by doing this it will check every file and anything which could be seen as corrupted will be replaced. This sometimes does happen but it does take time.

If this fails then your last choice is to go into safe mode. I say last choice because it will load basic drivers and basic graphics and then your going to have to log out before you are able to do anything game side. I mean unless you start meking changes just to find that it crashes again and your forced into safe mode again. Logging out and back in will see if its the game or something acting upon your system.

I am no expert, I hate software but which do you want to do, sit there all night screaming at the monitor/TV/view screen, or do you want to do something which could save you hours later on. Everybody has a view and nobody is wrong.

You have got 'Safe Mode' totally wrong. I'm not talking about the computer's safe mode, but the Safe Mode option of the game, which is in the options menu within the game's launcher.

lashedtodeck · April 2021

leemwatson wrote: »

lashedtodeck#3095 wrote: »

OK my friend did none of these things, even after she shouted at me down the microphone into my poor ears for about 30 minutes. For some strange reason the issue fixed itself, which should not actually happen.

Restarting in safe mode only installs everything into the basic settings which can cause major problems when trying to get it back to what it is and is normally the LAST thing anybody should do.

First thing is, retry starting the game. If it locks up then you can try Ctrl+Alt+Del on keyboard to manually close the game. This will only close the process not everything. Things can still run in the background.

Have a look in hidden icons, normally shown where the time is on your computer, standard place Bottom Right of screen. Check to see if the STO tab is still them, if it is then close it.

You can try a computer restart, personally I would get the pc to shut down, wait 30 seconds and reboot. No it is not there to fix the issue, its there so you start fresh. Then try the game again. BUT wait before trying to play. Click on options and then Force Verify, by doing this it will check every file and anything which could be seen as corrupted will be replaced. This sometimes does happen but it does take time.

If this fails then your last choice is to go into safe mode. I say last choice because it will load basic drivers and basic graphics and then your going to have to log out before you are able to do anything game side. I mean unless you start meking changes just to find that it crashes again and your forced into safe mode again. Logging out and back in will see if its the game or something acting upon your system.

I am no expert, I hate software but which do you want to do, sit there all night screaming at the monitor/TV/view screen, or do you want to do something which could save you hours later on. Everybody has a view and nobody is wrong.

You have got 'Safe Mode' totally wrong. I'm not talking about the computer's safe mode, but the Safe Mode option of the game, which is in the options menu within the game's launcher.

No I am not talking safe more for the computer, otherwise I would have said "Computer Safe Mode" Safe mode for the game will use safe settings, which usually are the minimum settings and safe drivers which go with those settings. It would not be called Safe Mode is it installed all of your maximum settings, which could crash the game still. So the point stands, the last thing you do is load the game in Safe mode because you'll have to set up everything again not knowing if it works.

This problem is down to a possible update error within the game or the Windows update which was just released.

rey · April 2021

Yesterday I could finally get in after using "Force Verify" but today I can't get on at all, I just get the black screen even if using "Force Verify" and using ctrl+Alt+Del does nothing at all other than showing the Activity thing down in the task bar but I can't actually open the Activity manager, nor can I close STO from the task bar, all I can do is restart the computer. This is getting OLD by now and I'm missing out on Dilithium progression from the event, along with progressing in general! There's no way in hell I'll start the game in safe mode, I've done it once and it just won't happen again because it was more than a mess to set things up again afterwards! As it is now, I'm seriously considering just uninstalling the game!

Yesterday I did not have any Windows Update installed, today Windows Update had me restart computer to install updates. So the issue was an issue BEFORE the Windows update, so to me it seems Cryptic messed up the patch, and that the stupid Windows Update made it even worse.

leemwatson · April 2021

rey#1619 wrote: »

Yesterday I could finally get in after using "Force Verify" but today I can't get on at all, I just get the black screen even if using "Force Verify" and using ctrl+Alt+Del does nothing at all other than showing the Activity thing down in the task bar but I can't actually open the Activity manager, nor can I close STO from the task bar, all I can do is restart the computer. This is getting OLD by now and I'm missing out on Dilithium progression from the event, along with progressing in general! There's no way in hell I'll start the game in safe mode, I've done it once and it just won't happen again because it was more than a mess to set things up again afterwards! As it is now, I'm seriously considering just uninstalling the game!

Yesterday I did not have any Windows Update installed, today Windows Update had me restart computer to install updates. So the issue was an issue BEFORE the Windows update, so to me it seems Cryptic messed up the patch, and that the stupid Windows Update made it even worse.

Again...start the game in Safe Mode via the Options menu in the Launcher if you get Black Screen. It's not Cryptic's fault if a Windows Update caused this. How can you expect they monitor millions of possible combinations of Hardware and Software updates?

matzdaad · April 2021

bigblackafrica wrote: »

I have been having this issue for about a week or 2 (tbh I don't remember when I first noticed it), but it doesn't happen consistently. I usually just kill the task in my task manager and then launch the game again and it loads correctly.

Is this happening every time you launch the game?

Yes, each time I start STO I get black screen, hit alt/ctrl/delete... close game.exe and restart and it works normally. Contrary to what someone posted I am NOT going to use safe mode when this simple work-around lets me keep my graphics settngs.

lashedtodeck · April 2021

matzdaad wrote: »

bigblackafrica wrote: »

I have been having this issue for about a week or 2 (tbh I don't remember when I first noticed it), but it doesn't happen consistently. I usually just kill the task in my task manager and then launch the game again and it loads correctly.

Is this happening every time you launch the game?

Yes, each time I start STO I get black screen, hit alt/ctrl/delete... close game.exe and restart and it works normally. Contrary to what someone posted I am NOT going to use safe mode when this simple work-around lets me keep my graphics settngs.

I am glad that you agree about using Safe Mode (Game Safe Mode). All that trouble for basically nothing. If its going to crash then it will. I know Rey and I have had more issues with STO in the past than she has ever had. When this happened I removed the game and did a full reinstall because of bad patching.

Everyday people like Rey have major problems like this with the game and Safe Mode does not fix the issue it just drags it out longer.

matzdaad · April 2021

lashedtodeck#3095 wrote: »

I am glad that you agree about using Safe Mode (Game Safe Mode). All that trouble for basically nothing. If its going to crash then it will. I know Rey and I have had more issues with STO in the past than she has ever had. When this happened I removed the game and did a full reinstall because of bad patching.

Everyday people like Rey have major problems like this with the game and Safe Mode does not fix the issue it just drags it out longer.

Totally agree, much easier to hit alt/ctrl/delete and end gameclient.exe and restart than to go into game safe, return your graphics settings to normal again... every Tribble-ing day.

jslaters · April 2021

Running game in safe mode won't work either . I have to run the game from cryptic game launcher that is the only way to get it to run. The arc launcher won't work, so there is a error in communication between arc and cryptic. As for me its not windows or graphic driver issue.

cxeronockx · April 2021

Back in the day when I used ARC's launcher I also had occasional problems logging in, since I've only used the Cryptic launcher I haven't had any problems. How do you get it? C:\Program Files (x86)\Star Trek Online_en\Star Trek Online.exe , select it and click right, now choose make shortcut (on desktop) or copy to (choose desktop). Or else follow the link and click the red link in the top post to download the launcher. https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/71otsk/sto_without_arc_launcher/

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Unknown · April 2021

This content has been removed.

matzdaad · April 2021

New topic created, Faction is Federation.
This can be DELETED.

sthe91 · April 2021

matzdaad wrote: »

(Slightly) off-topic question:

After completing EVENTS, I chose Bonus Experience Pool.
It says Must complete tutorial before using , where the heck is the tutorial??
Any help will be appreciated.

What faction is your character on? Also, please make a new thread about this instead of adding it to the April 15 Update Black Screen thread. Thanks.

captaincelestial · April 2021

matzdaad wrote: »

bigblackafrica wrote: »

I have been having this issue for about a week or 2 (tbh I don't remember when I first noticed it), but it doesn't happen consistently. I usually just kill the task in my task manager and then launch the game again and it loads correctly.

Is this happening every time you launch the game?

Yes, each time I start STO I get black screen, hit alt/ctrl/delete... close game.exe and restart and it works normally. Contrary to what someone posted I am NOT going to use safe mode when this simple work-around lets me keep my graphics settngs.

I've had a second Black Screen of Death after having to hit the alt/ctrl/del buttons, twice since this problem started.

I've ended up using the blasted Safe Mode, and I've been having problems with lighting since then, let alone other problems because the game doesn't offer in-game optimization.

I made a post about this, and another player made a suggestion about deleting some files is supposed to trigger the optimization option that we get when first running the game after downloading it. But that option didn't pop up for me.

I really hope they get this fixed soon.

matzdaad · April 2021

You didn't hit alt/cntrl/delete twice did you? That restarts computer.
Once should bring up the program manager.

matzdaad · April 2021

Has it been fixed? I got right in just a while ago, did what I had to do and logged completely out of STO and ARC. Then logged on again and it worked both times without having to close game client and try again.

captaincelestial · April 2021

matzdaad wrote: »

Has it been fixed? I got right in just a while ago, did what I had to do and logged completely out of STO and ARC. Then logged on again and it worked both times without having to close game client and try again.

I just got two Black Screens of Death in a row. So I took one for the team.

matzdaad · April 2021

captaincelestial wrote: »

I just got two Black Screens of Death in a row. So I took one for the team.

Sorry to hear that, hopefully it is getting better, though slowly, and not just a freak occurrence.

Well, guess it was as the third time I went in it was back to killing Game client...

sumnerus · April 2021

Big update this morning, now the game refuses to load. attempted seven time before giving up. Lately it takes 2 to 3 attempts before finally kicking in but nope, this update has finally nailed the lid down. Safe mode just makes it even more buggy. Anyone else?

kaithan1975 · April 2021

matzdaad wrote: »

Has it been fixed? I got right in just a while ago, did what I had to do and logged completely out of STO and ARC. Then logged on again and it worked both times without having to close game client and try again.

STOP.USING.ARC! There is zero reason to use ARC, none, nada, zilch.

captaincelestial · April 2021

I was having an easier time to load the game since Thursday's update, until this morning at about 8:04 AM (ET).

joeybehr52 · April 2021

I am still having that issue with the black screen only...

wraithmeister · April 2021

I had this issue starting with the last patch last week. This issue occurs daily, usually on my first startup/login attempt per day.

After the Login/patcher dialog shows "Ready" and I click ENGAGE button.
At this point I SHOULD see the CRYPTIC logo screen with process indicator but instead see a black screen with blue circle mouse cursor...I can move the cursor but game is stuck on this screen.

I then use Windows task manager to kill GameClient.exe and repeat the above login process. On the retry after click Engage I do get the Cryptic logo screen and login proceeds.

This issue seems to affect the first login each day after machine startup, and always works on the retry.

FYI, I do not need to kill the ARC window which also launches at same time as STO when I do the first STO login attempt.

Only one day since last Thursday (or whenever the patch was) did my initial login for the day work without the black screen hang...no idea what I might have done differently that morning.

April 15 update Black screen

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