Black Screen when full screen is enabled in Witcher 2 enhanced edition

Errr... don't know where the overclock thing came from but I have Witcher 2 (enhanced edition) and it ran just fine on i7-950 overclocked system. I'm currently running the Steam version on an i7-4770 quad core and Windows 8.1 and it's still running fine so I'm not sure where the quad core thing came from either...

That said, if you have the Steam edition it should automatically be patched to the latest version. If you've got the boxed version, make sure you have the latest patch installed. If you've got a hacked version, well.... expect issues.

sygnus21 said:

Errr... don't know where the overclock thing came from but I have Witcher 2 (enhanced edition) and it ran just fine on i7-950 overclocked system. I'm currently running the Steam version on an i7-4770 quad core and Windows 8.1 and it's still running fine so I'm not sure where the quad core thing came from either...

That said, if you have the Steam edition it should automatically be patched to the latest version. If you've got the boxed version, make sure you have the latest patch installed. If you've got a hacked version, well.... expect issues.

Just because it works on your overclocked system doesn't mean that it particularly likes overclocking. A lot of people have had problems with Witcher 2 because it doesn't agree with the overclocking they've done with their systems. It's notorious for not getting along well with overclocked hardware. You were lucky.

The quad core thing came from the fact that the OP has a Intel Extreme CPU, the majority of which are six core CPUs. No one said anything about the game not running well on a quad core. In fact, it was specifically stated that a quad core was optimal. OP's particular model of the Extreme series is a quad core.

Video games aren't made for six core processors so having a four core CPU is best for a gaming rig. Most games will run fine on a six core system, but only four cores are actually being used most of the time. A few games won't run or will have issues when you try to run them on a six core system, especially games that are picky about hardware like Witcher 2.

sygnus21 said:

Contrabardus said:

If you installed something that says it is supposed to make PhysX run, get rid of it. Even if it is legit it's an Nvidia driver and wouldn't be compatible with your card.

Some games, Metro 2033 for example, require PhysX to be installed or won't run, even if you don't have an NVidia card. Why this is, I don't know. You can check Programs & Feature, and if you've never owned or installed any NVidia products but see it there, there's a 100 percent chance a game installed it because it's required.

Just to double check this, I uninstalled it from my system, then attempted to run Metro 2033; The first thing the game did was install PhysX before running. This is the Steam version. I'd imagine if couldn't download it, it'd complain and wouldn't run until installed. So, yeah, some games require it.

Anyway I swore Witcher 2 also required it but... Anyway if it's needed the game will (should) install it. But if i's needed, and for some reason you don't have it, it can be gotten here - NVIDIA DRIVERS 9.13.0725 (PhysX Software)

Peace

I stand corrected. I've had it for so long I just forgot about it. Still, PhysX should not cause any problems unless your CPU is seriously underpowered. The Intel Extreme series CPUs are more than enough to handle PhysX on any game, especially with a 7970 GPU backing it up. If other games are running fine, there's no reason Witcher 2 should be running like it is on low settings.

At any rate, PhysX is not the cause of Witcher 2's issues. Witcher 2 does not use PhysX, it runs on Havoc. There's talk that Witcher 3 will use PhysX, but 2 is optimized for AMD cards. In fact, it was given away as one of the free games that came with an AMD card purchase not too long ago.

I suggest trying running an adware, malware, and virus scan. Adware or malware can both cause issues with games. You need some sort of anti-malware program aside from whatever your Virus protection is. Most Virus scanners don't get rid of adware and malware, just viruses. Even if yours does, it's a good idea to have a secondary program for it as one will often find things the other misses. I recommend Malwarebytes, it's free and works well for cleaning out adware and malware.

Also, try turning off background programs. Go to your system tray and turn off any extra programs running in the background. Try going through your Program Files and see if you've maybe picked up some extra toolbars or other junk programs that might be running in your background. It's a good idea to scan through them on occasion just in case something slipped past you when you were downloading something. Some programs like to dump extra little toolbars and trackers into their installers. It's never a good idea to just blow through an install as they'll often try to make these installs look like part of the program installation.

You can also try [temporarily] disabling firewalls and antivirus. Either can interfere with games sometimes. You can add exceptions and get around it if either is causing the problem, but the easiest way to find out is to disable them and try running the game. Again, -do not leave them off even if they are causing the issue-. Just use the settings in either program to let the game through so it can work properly if it is the issue.

You can also try disabling scaling in the CCC settings if you have it turned on. I know it's weird but I've had scaling cause issues with some programs in the past. Probably not the case.

Another possible [but unlikely] fix is the AMD gaming Evolved app. You can get it from the AMD site and it does improve performance slightly for AMD GPUs. It is also free.

It opens a window and runs in the background, but it does optimize a lot of games to run better on AMD GPUs. It 'rewards' you for playing games with some sort of points system I've honestly not paid much attention too and if you like you can use it to enter a drawing for hardware or game giveaways if you want.

It's similar to the Steam Client in some ways and has some social features and a ranking system. It also keeps track of how long you play and lets you know how long you've been playing. I do kind of like having it tell me how long I've been playing when I close a game. That stuff is easily ignored if you're not interested and I only use it myself because it does actually optimize a lot of my games to run slightly better.

Not sure what else might help.

sygnus21 said:

If you actually read what I posted you'd see I'm trying to help by providing factual information - the game does run with quad core processors, and does run on over clocked systems. You might visit other forums to find that out for yourself instead of acting like I don't know what I'm talking about.

And it's not like I have no experience with troubleshooting Witcher 2 as well - Fixes for 2.1 and TW2EE Issues and 142 error or W2 stopped working Update 8/19/2013 - The Witcher board

In the end it's about providing help, not trying to be the king of the hill.

Later.

I did read it and you said you weren't sure where the topic quad core support came from. So I pointed it out. No one said that the game didn't run on quad core systems, but the way your post is worded about it makes it sound as if someone had previously suggested that the game did not run well with a quad core when in fact the opposite is true.

I also said that the game has a reputation for not running well, or sometimes at all, on overclocked systems, and it does. You were one of the fortunate ones who didn't have problems, but many who have had issues with the game have discovered that dialing back overclocking has fixed the problems. No one ever said that 'it never ever runs on an overclocked system' or 'you're lying and it couldn't have run on your system because it's overclocked'. I only suggested that dialing back overclocking is often found to be a fix for various issues with running Witcher 2, and it is.

I also provided factual information and none of it contradicts anything you said previously.

As I understand it, the reason Witcher 2 is such a system hog is because it runs on DX9 and doesn't have DX 11 support. The game does so much that it really should have used DX 11 and it runs hard even at low settings because of it. There are really too many effects in the game for DX 9 to be completely stable. That's why it's often unstable with overclocked systems.

Others who have overclock related problems have said that other games run fine on their OCed cards, but Witcher 2 often misbehaves. Usually framerate issues, but sometimes worse issues such as black screens and crash/freezing come up. It's also apparent that it's sometimes an issue even with factory overclocked cards. Sometimes dialing back from the factory overclock settings to the card's base clock settings will stabilize the game and run it properly.

I suggest going into the CCC and dropping the clock settings and see if there is any improvement. Especially if the GPU in question has factory overclocking.

I have the same card as OP in my system, not overclocked, and the game runs fine at max settings complete with ubersampling. I've got three of them actually, but I only use one most of the time. I usually kick on the second when I play Witcher 2 just to lighten the load, but it runs the game at a good framerate with the max settings on a single card as well.

Edit: I knocked it up to overclock settings of 1125 and 1575 [from the stock 925 and 1375] just to see, and my framerate in Witcher 2 dropped by about 40fps and movement became jerky along with audio skipping. I've little doubt that trying to play for a while will lead to crashing. Booted up Skyrim, Arkham Origins, and Max Payne 3 with no performance loss on the OCed card settings at all.

Every system is different so it likely isn't universal, but I've confirmed that OCing can make Witcher 2 unstable on some systems, including my own with the same GPU as OP. It also confirms that dialing back OC settings can make the game run stable again at a decent framerate.