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There is no single fix for an “Epic Games black screen.” The correct solution depends on what has gone black: the Epic Games Launcher, one game, the game window while audio continues, or the entire Windows display. Start by identifying the symptom, then apply the lowest-risk fix for that specific case.
If the whole Windows display has disappeared, press Windows + Ctrl + Shift + B to reset the graphics driver. If only the launcher is blank, clear its web cache. If one game is affected, verify its files and reset its display mode before changing drivers or reinstalling anything.
Identify which black-screen problem you have
| Symptom | Most likely area | First action |
|---|---|---|
| Epic Games Launcher is a blank or black window | Launcher cache, rendering, update, permissions, or an overlay | Exit Epic completely and clear its web cache |
| One game shows a black screen, but other Epic games work | Game files, graphics API, display mode, or game settings | Verify the game files and reset its display mode |
| Black screen with game audio | Fullscreen mode, HDR, overlay, graphics API, or GPU driver | Try Alt+Enter, then use borderless mode |
| Epic says the game is running, but no window appears | Game process, anti-cheat, permissions, or security software | Verify files and check anti-cheat |
| The entire Windows display goes black | Windows, the graphics driver, monitor, cable, or GPU | Press Windows + Ctrl + Shift + B |
| Black screen only after Alt+Tab or fullscreen switching | Fullscreen optimization, refresh rate, HDR, or driver interaction | Use borderless windowed mode |
Epic-specific steps cannot repair a disconnected monitor, incorrect input source, damaged display cable, failing GPU, or Windows-level crash. If every application loses its display signal, troubleshoot Windows and the hardware rather than repeatedly reinstalling Epic.
Try these low-risk checks first
- Restart the PC instead of only closing the game.
- Press
Alt+Tabto check whether the game is open behind another window. - Press
Alt+Enterto switch between fullscreen and windowed mode. This is a common compatibility test, not a universal Epic fix; some games do not support the shortcut. - Disconnect unnecessary monitors and confirm that the monitor is set to the correct input.
- Reseat or replace the display cable if the entire display signal disappears.
- Test another game or application. If only one game fails, do not immediately reinstall the Epic Games Launcher.
- After a game or graphics-driver update, wait briefly on the first launch. Shader compilation can temporarily make a game appear unresponsive.
Fix a black or blank Epic Games Launcher
Check Epic’s service status and update the launcher
First check the Epic Games Server Status page. An outage or degraded service cannot be repaired locally; wait for Epic to resolve it and try again.
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To check for a launcher update, open Epic Games Launcher, click your profile icon in the upper-right corner, choose Settings, and select Restart and Update if the button appears. Epic’s full launcher troubleshooting guidance also covers cache clearing, drivers, fullscreen optimization, background applications, and reinstalling the launcher.
See Epic’s launcher troubleshooting instructions.
Clear the launcher web cache on Windows
- Exit Epic Games Launcher.
- Open the hidden icons area in the Windows system tray, right-click the Epic icon, and choose Exit.
- Press
Windows + R, enter%localappdata%, and press Enter. - Open
EpicGamesLauncherSaved. - Delete any of these folders that exist:
webcache,webcache_4147, andwebcache_4430. - Reopen Epic Games Launcher.
Epic will rebuild the cache folders. Do not delete the entire EpicGamesLauncher folder; the official procedure targets only the listed cache folders.
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Clear the launcher cache on macOS
- Quit Epic Games Launcher.
- In Finder, choose Go → Go to Folder.
- Enter
~/Library/Caches/com.epicgames.EpicGamesLauncher. - Move the
webcachefolder to the Trash, then relaunch Epic.
Test fullscreen optimization and administrator access
On Windows, exit Epic and locate:
Epic GamesLauncherEngineBinariesWin64EpicGamesLauncher.exeRight-click the executable, choose Properties → Compatibility, check Disable fullscreen optimizations, then select Apply → OK. This is a reversible test, not a guaranteed improvement. Intel has documented cases involving fullscreen behavior and black screens, so borderless mode may be a better long-term workaround.
You can also right-click the launcher and choose Run as administrator as a temporary permissions test. Elevated access is not a general performance fix and should not be treated as one.
Read Intel’s fullscreen and black-screen guidance.
Fix a black screen in one Epic game
Verify the game files
Verification is the safest standard repair when one game fails, especially after an interrupted update or suspected disk error.
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- Open Epic Games Launcher and select Library.
- Find the affected game.
- Click its three-dot menu, or right-click the game, and choose Manage.
- Select Verify and wait for the process to finish.
- Launch the game again.
Epic says verification replaces files that are missing or different and does not affect saved data. It will not normally repair a graphics-driver problem, an incompatible display mode, a third-party overlay, a failing GPU, or a game bug introduced by a patch.
See Epic’s file-verification guidance.
Switch away from exclusive fullscreen
If the game has sound, responds to input, or appears to be running behind a black window, press Alt+Enter. If the image returns, open the game’s video settings and select Windowed, Borderless, or Windowed Fullscreen.
Use the monitor’s native resolution and a normal refresh rate. Temporarily disable HDR and variable-refresh features to test whether a display-mode transition is failing. Restart the game after changing these settings. Borderless mode is usually a safer reversible test than repeatedly switching exclusive fullscreen.
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Disable overlays and background applications
Temporarily close or disable the following:
- Discord overlay
- NVIDIA or AMD overlay
- Xbox Game Bar
- MSI Afterburner and RivaTuner Statistics Server
- RGB and peripheral utilities
- Screen-recording and capture software
- Third-party FPS counters
- Other launchers and browser windows using hardware acceleration
This is an isolation test, not a permanent requirement. Once the game works, re-enable programs one at a time to find the conflict.
Epic’s background-application troubleshooting guidance.
Check which GPU the game is using
On laptops and systems with integrated and dedicated graphics, a game can be assigned to the wrong GPU. Menu names vary by Windows version, driver, and laptop manufacturer.
For NVIDIA systems, Epic’s instructions use NVIDIA Control Panel → Manage 3D Settings → Program Settings. Select the game and choose the high-performance graphics processor.
For AMD systems, look for Switchable Graphics or Graphics Settings, select the game, and set it to High Performance. Windows may instead expose the setting under Settings → System → Display → Graphics.
Epic’s Fortnite graphics troubleshooting page includes GPU-selection guidance.
Update or roll back the graphics driver
Epic lists graphics-driver updates as a troubleshooting step, but installing the newest driver is not always the right answer. If the black screen began immediately after a driver update, test rolling back to the previous stable driver instead.
Laptop owners should also check the laptop manufacturer’s support page, particularly when a generic GPU driver causes instability. Reserve a clean driver installation for persistent or clearly driver-related cases. Intel has documented compatibility situations in which the Epic Games Launcher reports a graphics-card problem, showing why the driver stack can be involved even when the symptom appears inside Epic.
See Intel’s Epic Games Launcher graphics-card guidance.
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Fortnite-specific black-screen fixes
The following commands are for Fortnite, not every game installed through Epic. Remove custom arguments after testing if they do not help or prevent the game from launching.
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Lower Fortnite’s graphics settings
If Fortnite opens far enough to display its settings, open the main menu and choose Settings. Under Video, set Quality Presets to Low and 3D Resolution to 100%. Apply the settings and restart.
Test Fortnite Performance Mode
- Open Epic Games Launcher and click your profile icon.
- Choose Settings.
- Scroll to and expand Fortnite.
- Enable Additional Command Line Arguments.
- Enter
-d3d12 -es31. - Launch Fortnite.
Epic documents this as a possible workaround when DirectX 12 causes crashes, freezing, or black screens. It is not a universal command for other Epic games.
Force DirectX 11
Using the same Profile icon → Settings → Fortnite path, enable Additional Command Line Arguments and enter:
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Epic’s DirectX 11 instructions for Fortnite.
Clear Fortnite’s shader cache only as an advanced step
If Fortnite repeatedly has DirectX 12 rendering problems, Epic documents clearing relevant DirectX shader-cache files. Close Fortnite and Epic Games Launcher, press Windows + R, enter %appdata%, then navigate back to AppDataLocal. Depending on your GPU vendor, remove files in the relevant NVIDIA DXCache or AMD DxCache folders. Ignore files Windows says are in use.
Shader caches rebuild automatically. The first launch afterward may stutter while shaders are compiled again, so this is not an early fix for every black screen.
Epic’s Fortnite DirectX 12 shader-cache guidance.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsCheck Fortnite’s graphics configuration file
If Fortnite will not save its graphics mode, open:
%localappdata%FortniteGameSavedConfigWindowsClientRight-click GameUserSettings.ini, choose Properties, and ensure Read-only is unchecked.
When Epic says the game is running but no window appears
Start with file verification. For Fortnite, Epic also recommends repairing Easy Anti-Cheat. Security software can sometimes interfere with the game process, but do not permanently disable antivirus, Windows Defender, firewall protection, or anti-cheat.
As a temporary diagnostic test, you may add the official game folder to a targeted Windows Security exclusion if Epic’s instructions call for it. This lowers protection. Use it only with a game obtained from an official source, remove the exclusion afterward if it does not solve the problem, and avoid broad exclusions such as an entire drive.
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For games with a separate publisher launcher, Epic documents a separate test:
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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →- Open Epic Games Launcher and choose Profile icon → Settings.
- Expand the affected game.
- Enable Additional Command Line Arguments.
- Enter
-skip_launcher. - Return to the game’s store page and launch it.
This generally applies only to games that use their own publisher launcher. Remove the argument if it stops the game from starting.
Epic’s guidance for games that show as running but do not open · Epic’s -skip_launcher guidance
If Windows or the entire monitor goes black
Stop treating this as an Epic-only problem. First press Windows + Ctrl + Shift + B. Windows should reset the graphics driver; you may hear a beep or see the display briefly flicker.
Then check the monitor’s power and input source, reseat the display cable, test another cable or port if available, disconnect extra monitors, and restart the PC. If the issue continues outside Epic, use Windows display troubleshooting, restart explorer.exe if the desktop shell is missing, and use Safe Mode or Startup Settings for deeper driver failures.
Microsoft’s blank-screen troubleshooting guide
Last resorts
Before reinstalling anything, remove unsupported launch arguments, mods, ReShade, DLL injectors, and overlays. Reinstall the affected game only after checking save locations and cloud-save behavior. Reinstalling the Epic Games Launcher should be a late step: Epic warns that its process can remove installed titles, so make sure you understand the consequences before proceeding.
If only one game remains broken, contact that game’s publisher as well as Epic. If multiple games and other applications fail, contact the GPU, laptop, monitor, or system manufacturer instead.
Prepare useful information for support
Reproduce the black screen once, then collect the information while the failure is fresh:
- Game title and whether the issue affects one game or all Epic games
- Windows or macOS version
- GPU model and driver version
- CPU and RAM
- Whether game audio continues
- Whether Epic reports the game as “Running”
- The exact trigger, such as launch, Alt+Tab, HDR, or a recent update
- The time the problem occurred
For Epic launcher logs on Windows, open the profile icon, select Settings, enable Debug Logging, choose Enable Now, reproduce the problem, return to Settings, and select Show Logs. Attach the latest EpicGamesLauncher log, then disable debug logging.
Also run dxdiag and choose Save All Information. For a broader Windows report, run msinfo32. Fortnite logs are stored at:
%localappdata%FortniteGameSavedLogsCollect logs immediately after reproducing the issue so they contain the relevant errors.
Epic launcher debug-log instructions · Epic’s DxDiag, MSInfo, and Fortnite log instructions
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