Black screens & infinite loading screens

[UselessCasual]

Hello everyone

Earlier today I bought The Witcher 3 (game of the year edition) for PC, and I haven't been able to play at all because of multiple issues.

The very first time I booted the game up, I got stuck in the Homescreen, though without having the option to start a new game or anything.
I restarted the game, and each and every time after restarting the game I either got a black screen , the option to watch the intro cutscene again but getting a black screen after the intro had finished, or a black screen with the in-game cursor which I could move around.

I also got the main menu screen, though again without the HUD once or twice after my initial boot up.
I should also add that the soundtrack was playing during each boot up.


I did most of the basic stuff to try and fix these errors myself; updated my drivers, restarted my pc, repaired the game files twice (bought the game on Origin), and I even uninstalled the game.
I also underclocked my GPU, but nothing worked.

After taking a break from trying to fix the issue I realized I forgot turning off overlay apps, so after shutting those down I tried booting up again, and the game actually booted up and allowed me to start a new game.

However, after the cutscene I got stuck in an infinite loading screen (soundtrack worked fine, and the little tips at the bottom of the screen kept changing). I decided to exit the game and reboot, but I ran into the same issue.

After restarting the game a third time I got a black screen again, as soon as I booted up. Even after closing all of the overlay apps I had running, the game still didn't want to boot up.

I've read through multiple forums where people described similar problems, and tried different fixes, but nothing has worked for me, and I'm at my wits end...

Has anyone ever encountered a similar issue, and if so, how did you manage to fix it?

(Specs :
GPU RX 570
CPU Ryzen 5 2400
MOBO MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX)

 

[II_Ryan_II]

I can only tell you from modding.

THAT happens often to me. And it is quite random related to how the game was closed or what new game-files were loaded into the game.
Sometimes I have to restart the game 5 times.
NOW - I do have a heavy modded game with additional graphic files/re-shades & console commands etc.

But what always works is if you change a mod-/dlc- folder.
So what I do is - like putting an "X" in front of a folder in mod or dlc - start the game. End the game. Remove the X from the folder - start a game = runs.

You talk about a new game I assume. I can only tell you by modding experience that if you try to load a game and you are stuck in an endless loading screen it means that a quest-file is corrupt. It does not find what it is supposed to find.
But that has nothing to do if you start up.
That is related to the folder/file-structure.
Again - I do have this randomly. As I mod - test - close - start again - over and over and over - and sometimes I do run in this too, even if the mod is corrupted. So it can even load a corrupted mod or "not working" mod.
But the start-up issues - seem to have something to do with the content it tries to load.

I don't know if you got any mod folders etc. If not - I would even try it with some DLC content or whatever. Just rename a folder - fire up the game - close it - name the mod/dlc-folder to its original name & start all over. That's how I beat this, as YES - I sometimes try to test something - and I have to fire the game up more than 5 times, as I do have exactly what you describe: Blackscreen with a cursor or not starting at all.
And then suddenly it works.