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Common problemHelldivers 2Windows PC
Helldivers 2 black screen on startup
Black screen while the intro audio plays
The game opens to a black screen while you still hear the opening cinematic. Arrowhead's fix changes which graphics adapter the game uses.
Fix it
How to fix it
Press Windows + R, type %appdata% and open Arrowhead > Helldivers2.
Open user_settings.config in a text editor such as Notepad.
Find adapter_index and change 1 to 0, or 0 to 1.
Save the file and start the game again.
If the screen stays black, send a ticket to Arrowhead support.
From Helldivers 2's help pages: arrowhead.zendesk.com, in our words. Checked on 11 November 2026. If the steps do not help, Helldivers 2's own support is the next stop.
More
More Helldivers 2 errors and common problems
- Crashes on launchGame fails to start since the Easy Anti-Cheat switch
- Low FPSPoor performance or broken textures on PC
- Problems on PS5Crashes and connection trouble on the console
- Audio problemsNo sound or poor headset audio
- Items or Super Credits missingContent gone after Steam Family Sharing ended
- 0xc0000142Windows startup failure, often GameGuard leftovers
- 0x44415441Out of date files, usually from old mods
All Helldivers 2 errors and common problemsLive Helldivers 2 status