Black screen upon loading the game, can still bring up Steam overlay, no coherent ui in task manager

As of about a week ago whenever I try and load PA I simply get a black screen and yet I can access the Steam overlay and move my mouse around, click etc. and the game doesn't crash. I opened up task manager and PA.exe is running but there aren't any coherent ui programs running. Is there a fix for this? Thanks in advance.

No coherent ui programs means that the UI has crashed somehow. You could try to disable the Steam overlay and see if that helps. Otherwise, could you create a DxDiag.txt and upload it here? Press <WinKey>+R, type "dxdiag", press "Save All Information..." and upload the resulting file here using the Upload a File button on this forum.

Alrighty, I uploaded the file. Thanks for helping me out.

Yeah, that looks pretty good. The only thing I see that might cause trouble is the low amount of memory. You could try increasing the amount of virtual memory to see if that helps. Maybe to 12 GB or something.

And another thing you can try is checking the list of known troublesome software:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/233250/discussions/2/558751813508748383/
Do you have any software from that list installed? If so, can you disable it and try again?

I don't have any of that software installed. I'll try increasing my virtual memory and report back later.

Yeah that hasn't done anything, I still get a black screen. Thanks for trying to help me out though, I appreciate it.

Strange. I'm not sure why it wouldn't work for you... You can try a clean boot to rule out any software not on the list from interfering. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135/en-us

Otherwise, could you try running the game with --software-ui? You should be able to enter that parameter somewhere in Steam by right-clicking on the game.

Another option is to try it outside of Steam altogether using the UberLauncher, which you can get here: https://store.uberent.com/download/pa

Sorry the game is being so stubborn for you... It must be pretty annoying.

A Friend of mine also has the same issue! A Black screen on start up. He does have sound, and hears the sound of buttons when he hover over them (allthough hè cannot see offcourse!). He could play in the past, but hè Is not an active player! He's drivers are up -to-date and disabling steam community overlay did not help aswell! He does have win 8.1 could that be related? Thx anyway!

Could you get him to make a DxDiag.txt as well? See second post in this thread on how to do that. Also, which suggestions in this thread have you tried? All of them?

Hey thanks for the Quick reply! I will supply the requested file ASAP! Concerning things we tried, it's limited to only disabling the steam overlay. My Friend does not have A lot of software, and it didn't change in the past Few months, he Is also not eager to change settings. So in fact as the game used to work, and now it doesnt hè blames the recent patch. This Is supported by the fact that the game does run, hè does hear sounds when apparently hovering buttons, it seems the ui does not initiatie. I'll get back to you ASAP! -T-

Has he tried disabling all mods and seeing of that works?

I tried all of the suggestions except disabling mods and nothing has worked so far... Let's hope disabling mods does something

A DxDiag would be helpful as some computers will say your drivers are up to date when they're really not. Has he gone to the manufacturer's website directly to check for the latest graphic card driver?

I suggest using --nomods for that as it even prevents PA from reading the mods.

Still nothing... Thanks for helping me out, I owe you a Beer. Unless you don't like Beer - some Wine, perhaps?

I've contacted Uber too so hopefully we'll find a solution.

Yeah, I hope so. I have one more suggestion, which probably won't work, but what happens when you resize the window? Does it stay black? Or switching between full screen and windowed mode using <Alt>+<Enter>?

By the way, do you play PA with a Street Fighter IV FightStick TE (Arcade Stick)? (just noticed that in your DxDiag.txt)

Oh lol, I forgot I had that plugged in at the time! Maybe I should organise an "inappropriate controllers/peripherals" tournament and have people play PA with light-guns and dance mats. Nothing happened when I tried to enter windowed mode, the game stayed black and fullscreen.

Ha, yeah, that would be neat.

Anyway, I hope @mkrater and the Uber team will find a solution to your black screen soon... I'm out of ideas anyway. It may also be a CoherentLabs things who wrote the UI engine that Uber uses. In which case, @billyv may want to check this thread out. I hear this month is bugfix month for Uber, so that's good.

You could always try dualbooting into Linux of course.

Is this still an issue for you?

I'm sorry, I haven't played the game since April as I have been traveling and I won't be able to play it until the middle of September. I will update this thread when I can.