Hey folks,
Can someone help me sort out this issue or track down the root cause?
I've been experiencing the black screen w/GC3 mouse cursor and sounds issue on my Acer Predator 15 2016 for at least a couple of weeks. I only started gaming on it again recently and ran into this issue. The last time I had played GC3 on (Pre-Intrige and Pre Win10 1803), the game played great on my laptop.
Specs:
- i7 6770HQ
- 16GB DDR4 2133
- 256GB SSD (OS and a few games)
- 1TB HDD (data and games, where GC3 lives)
- Windows 10 x64 Home updated to 1803
- Intel HD530 iGPU + NVidia GTX980M 4GB
As it stands I am forced to use my Intel HD530 iGPU to play the game on low settings with lower FPS, especially nearing turn-200 in the current game. If I use the NV GPU (980M 4GB). I've done a number of things to try to resolve the issue, including everything listed and suggested in the Steam thread I created. I have no issues with other games on that laptop, just GC3.
I can sometimes use ALT+ENTER (around 12-20 times) and will end up seeing the GC3 game itself and be able to play using the NV GPU, but then the game locks up when I exit. Most times I cannot do this though, and the performance on the iGPU sucks at low on 1080, dropping to the teens fairly frequently. If it could maintain over 25FPS I'd probably complain a bit less about it. The NV issue exists whether full screen or windowed. I've tried old drivers new drivers, old versions of GC3 pre-Intrigue, without Intrigue checked in Steam, etc. Nothing seems to change it. I've wiped out my NV configs, Intel GPU configs, everything GC3 related multiple times. I've gone through SFC, DISM and in-place upgrades as OS repair methods to ensure the system files and image were in good condition (no issues found, in-place upgrade is similar to the OS Refresh in this style of usage). I've tried full screen, windows, different resolutions (I normally run 1080), so far nothing seems to resolve the issue.
I have a gaming rig with a 4790K, 16GB DDR3, GTX980Ti, Win 10 x64 Pro 1803 that does not exhibit this issue at all...runs perfect.
I've submitted a help request thread over on the Steam forums which I started in late May, and created a ticket with SD support that was closed about 12 hours later telling me to come here to ask for help instead. So here I am asking for help.
Here's my Steam thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/226860/discussions/4/1696048426809967658/
Thanks in advance!
EDIT:
The ultimate fix was with the Intel iGPU drivers.
- Download latest Intel GPU drivers for HD530.
- Open Device Manger, uninstall HD530 and check the box to delete drivers.
- Reboot.
- Install Intel GPU drivers, reboot again.
- Play GC3.