[SOLVED] Valorant Black Screen On Startup – 7 Fixes To Try

Seeing a Valorant black screen on startup can be frustrating, especially when the Riot Client launches normally, but the game opens to a black window or stops responding. If you’re encountering the same problem, don’t worry. Although the causes of this problem are wide-ranging, you can fix it easily with these proven methods.

Try these fixes for Valorant black screen:

Here are 7 fixes, starting with the simplest and most reversible solutions and moving to more advanced troubleshooting. You don’t have to try them all. Simply work your way down the list until you find the one that does the trick.

1. Restart your PC and Riot Client
2. Check the Riot Vanguard vgc service
3. Disable fullscreen optimizations
4. Update or roll back your graphics driver
5. Stop the Nahimic service
6. Disable overlays and conflicting background software
7. Stop overclocking

Fix 1 – Restart your PC and Riot Client

Start with a clean restart. This can clear temporary driver, Vanguard, and background-process issues without changing any system settings.

1. Close Valorant and the Riot Client.
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
3. If VALORANT-Win64-Shipping.exe, Riot Client, or related processes are still running, select them and click End task.
4. Restart your PC.
5. After Windows starts, open the Riot Client and launch Valorant again.

Check whether Valorant reaches the main menu instead of opening to a black screen. If the problem still appears, continue with the next fixes.

Fix 2 – Check the Riot Vanguard vgc service

Valorant relies on Riot Vanguard for its anti-cheat functionality. If the Vanguard service isn’t running correctly, the game may fail during startup.

1. Restart your PC and launch Valorant.
2. Press the Windows key + R on your keyboard to open the Run command. Type services.msc and press Enter.
   
3. Find vgc in the list.
4. If the service isn’t running, right-click it and click Start.
5. Right-click the vgc service and click Properties.
6. Select Automatic from the drop-down list next to Startup type. Then click OK.
   
   

Relaunch the game and test again. If you still see the black screen on launch, try the next method below.

Fix 3 – Disable fullscreen optimizations

Windows fullscreen optimizations can sometimes cause display or compatibility problems with games. Disabling them is worth trying if Valorant launches to a black screen but the process remains active.

1. Find the Valorant executable. The default location is usually at C:\Riot Games\VALORANT\live\ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64\.
2. Right-click VALORANT-Win64-Shipping.exe and select Properties.
3. Open the Compatibility tab. Check Disable fullscreen optimizations and also tick Run this program as an administrator. Then, click OK to apply the changes.
   

Launch Valorant to see how it runs now. If it still can’t get past the loading screen or main menu, check out the next fix.

Fix 4 – Update or roll back your graphics driver

Your graphics driver controls how Windows applications communicate with your GPU. A corrupted, outdated, or incompatible driver can prevent Valorant from rendering correctly during startup. To troubleshoot the Valorant black screen and gain the smoothest gaming experience, check for a graphics driver issue.

Try updating your graphics driver. If the Valorant black screen issue started after a recent driver update, you may need to install a previous driver version that’s more stable.

Option 1 – Download and install the driver manually

If you’re not using the most up-to-date graphics driver, you could visit the website of the graphics card manufacturer to get it:

• AMD
• NVIDIA
• Intel

Find and download the correct driver that corresponds to your specific flavor of Windows. Once done, double-click the downloaded file and follow the on-screen instructions to install the driver manually.

Option 2 – Automatically update your graphics driver

Want to update your drivers without hunting down downloads from different manufacturers? Let Driver Easy do the work for you.

Driver Easy detects your hardware and finds the appropriate drivers, so you can skip the hassle of searching through different manufacturers and installing the driver manually. You can also switch between available driver versions and manage your drivers – including backup, rollback, and uninstall – from one convenient place, and access handy tools such as Game Boost and System Clean.

1. Download and install Driver Easy.
2. Run Driver Easy and click the Scan Now button. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.
   
3. Click the Activate & Update button next to the flagged device to automatically download and install the correct version of this driver. Or click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system.
   
   You’ll be prompted to start a 7-day free trial or upgrade to Driver Easy Pro. Either option will automatically download and install the latest drivers for you. If you go Pro now, you’ll get a 50% OFF discount!
4. If you want to install another driver version, just click the ellipsis button next to the driver and select All available versions. You can try different versions until you find the one that works best for your system.
   

If your graphics driver is already up to date or rolled back to a previous version but the problem persists, other outdated or incompatible drivers may still interfere with Valorant. It’s recommended that you update chipset, audio, and network drivers as well.

Fix 5 – Stop the Nahimic service

Nahimic is an audio-enhancement component included with some gaming PCs and laptops. In certain configurations, its service can conflict with games or other software.

If your system has Nahimic installed, temporarily stop the service.

1. Press the Windows key + R.
2. Type services.msc and press Enter.
   
3. Look for the Nahimic service, NahimicService, or a similarly named Nahimic service. Right-click the service and select Stop.

Launch Valorant and check whether the black screen is gone. If this resolves the problem, you can leave the service stopped while gaming or try to update the Nahimic software.

Fix 6 – Disable overlays and conflicting background software

Some background applications add overlays, monitoring hooks, or other components to games. These can occasionally interfere with game startup or rendering.

Temporarily disable overlays and hardware-monitoring features from applications such as: NVIDIA App or GeForce Experience, AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition, Discord, MSI Afterburner / RivaTuner Statistics Server, Lenovo Vantage, MSI Center, Nahimic, or other audio-enhancement software.

You can also perform a clean boot if you suspect a third-party application is interfering with the game.

Launch Valorant before opening other gaming utilities. If the game works normally, re-enable your background applications one at a time to identify the conflicting program.

Fix 7 – Stop overclocking

Although you can overclock your hardware for a boost in graphics processing and better game performance, doing this may render your system unstable. To see if that’s the cause of the Valorant black screen, you could turn off overclocking utilities like MSI Afterburner and set the clock speed back to the default.

A Valorant black screen on startup is often related to the software surrounding the game rather than the game files themselves. Hopefully the list of fixes above helped you get back into the game. If you have any questions or suggestions, don’t hesitate to leave your comment below.

• Black Screen
• Games
• Valorant
• Windows 10
• Windows 11