When it comes to remakes, players always have high expectations in terms of overall improvement and playability. However, the Resident Evil 2 Remake black screen issue that’s been plaguing the game since it first came out in 2019 is still being encountered by many players who want to sit down, relax, and play a classic zombie game that will put them in the mood for Halloween. If you’re running into the same problem with your copy of the RE2 remake on PC/Steam, here’s a quick guide on what you can do to resolve it.
How to Fix Resident Evil 2 Remake Black Screen Issue (2023)
Most gamers who ran into this problem reported that it usually occurred during cutscenes. Although the dialogue between characters can be heard in the background, the display only shows a black screen. On the other hand, some reported that they couldn’t even boot the game properly before the issue started acting up.
At first, you’d think your system may be at fault. However, given that many players have encountered Resident Evil 2 Remake’s black screen issue, the problem seems to lie with the game itself.
the beauty of resident evil 2 remake pic.twitter.com/UEzIgpU310
— ashton 👻 (@CloudedAshes) October 15, 2023
Players have been facing this issue for over four years now. Despite being released in 2019, Capcom still hasn’t released a proper fix for it, leading gamers to take matters into their own hands to try and fix the black screen issue in the Resident Evil 2 Remake.
Here are some methods you can try to resolve this issue depending on how you encounter the black screen:
“I can still hear the audio/dialogue, but there is no display.”
If you can hear dialogue or audio in the Resident Evil 2 Remake, the game’s rendering is the most probable culprit for the black screen issue.
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- To fix this, exit the game and go to your Steam Library. From there, look for the Resident Evil 2 Remake and right-click on it to bring up a menu.
- Click on Properties, then Betas. Check if the “dx11_non-rt” is available and download it.
- Once you have it, you can change the game’s renderer in the options to DX11 instead.
This may not be the solution for everyone, so if you’re still running into problems, try the other fixes below.
“I launch the Resident Evil 2 Remake, get a black screen, and then it crashes.”
If this is the issue showing up, there are a few things you can try.
- Change the configuration to DirectX 11 through the program file. You can also change it to DirectX 12 if you are currently using DX 11 for the game.
- This is a similar fix to the one above, so if you’ve tried it out and the black screen issue in the Resident Evil 2 Remake still persists, try the other methods below.
- Perform a clean install of your video drivers. This will usually solve problems with displaying and rendering games or other programs you run.
- For Windows 10 users, you can try disabling Hyper-V.
- If you have an ASUS motherboard, you can try uninstalling the Sonic suite of applications.
Resident Evil 2 Remake! IMO still one of the BEST games in the series! pic.twitter.com/TnUTAViepZ
— 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 (@RuleTimeSpace) October 11, 2023
“I successfully launched the game, but I’m stuck on a black screen.”
For players who are able to launch the game, they encounter a black screen in the middle of playing. This can make things frustrating fast as the momentum has died down, and you’re stuck staring at complete darkness. Here are some fixes from other players who ran into the same problem. Some can also be found on Resident Evil 2 Remake’s PC Gaming Wiki page.
- Try unplugging unnecessary USB connections to your PC.
- If you are using a controller or a joystick, try unplugging this as well and see if it resolves the black screen issue.
- You can also try installing the Media Feature Pack for whatever version of Windows you are currently running.
For players with an Intel CPU, go to your BIOS settings and make sure to disable the Intel CPU Virtualization setting. Then, look for the re2_config.ini file found in the game’s installation folder and apply the following changes:
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- TargetPlatform=DirectX12
- Use DirectX11 if DX12 isn’t running.
- UseVendorExtention=Disable
- UseOptimizeShader=Disable
- Wait for a while and then re-launch the game to see if it’s fixed the black screen issue for you.
- TargetPlatform=DirectX12
We hope these fixes were enough to resolve the Resident Evil 2 Remake black screen issue. Let us know if any of the fixes worked by commenting down below. If the problem persists, you can try re-installing the game to have fresh files when you launch it again. Unfortunately, it’s up to the devs to release a fix for the RE engine, as gamers with different specs all encounter the same issue.
