Automobilista only shows a black screen and I have no idea how to solve it.

berheavedtripod8 · Jan 14, 2018

A while back, Automobilista broke for me and I have not been able to fix it since.
Since a video says more than some words, here is a youtube video showing the problem:

If for whatever reason the video does not show, here is a direct link.
If that still doesn't work, basically the first splash screen pops up, showing the game logo. After that things break. All I get is a black screen, whatever I do.

Things I've already tried, and didn't help (not in any particular order):

Reinstalled the game
Reinstalled Steam
Installed the Beta version of the game
Verify integrity of game files
Run game without DynHud
Run game in windowed mode
Run game as administrator
Disabled Steam overlay
Removed Automobilista folder from My Documents
Removed d3d9.dll
Disabled Oculus VR services
Reinstalled NVidia display drivers
Run game using Logitech G29 beta
Disable Dynamic Super Resolution
Disable Geforce Experience overlay
Disable Discord Overlay
Turned of antivirus
Shut down any program that may show an overlay (discord, GeForce Experience, NZXT CAM, etc)
Reinstalled Logitech Gaming Software
Installed an older version of Logitech Gaming Software
Run game from different types of hard drives (SSD/HDD)
Run the game in various compatibility modes (e.g. Windows 7, Windows 8)

My hardware

Windows 10
Intel i7 6700K
NVidia GTX 980 (G1 Gaming edition from Gigabyte)
4x 4GB Kingston HyperX Fury RAM
Logitech G29

I've also run the game using -trace=2, which did not generate any log file. There are other log files in the directories, but most are empty or contain a single line except for the DynHud log file. The contents from this log file are posted below.

Code:

Process-ID: 32188
Windows version: 6.1.7601
Using parent d3d9.dll "D:\GameShield\AMS Steam\Src\d3d9_2.dll".
Game resolution: 1920x1080
Doing Handshake from D3D side...
    Successfully created a pointer to a PAGEFILE Memory Mapped File.
    Found outdated memory.
First part of Handshake successful.
Doing Handshake from Plugin side...
    Successfully created a pointer to a PAGEFILE Memory Mapped File.
    Found first part of handshake. Doing second part...
Second part of Handshake successful. Handshake complete.
Starting up DynHUD Plugin (D3D part)...
Doing a sanity check...
Sanity check passed.
Initializing DirectInput...
Successfully initialized DirectInput.
Using Java from folder "D:\GameShield\AMS Steam\Src\Plugins\DynHUD\Java".
    Loading msvcr100.dll... done.
    Loading jvm.dll... done.
Successfully loaded Java dlls.
Invoking Java VM...
JVM options:
    -Djava.library.path=D:\GameShield\AMS Steam\Src\Plugins;${system_property:java.library.path}
    -Djava.class.path=D:\GameShield\AMS Steam\Src\Plugins\DynHUD\dynhud.jar;D:\GameShield\AMS Steam\Src\Plugins\DynHUD\dynhud_gamedata.jar
    -Dworkdir=D:\GameShield\AMS Steam\Src\Plugins\DynHUD
    -Xms96m
    -Xmx96m
    -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=5
    -XX:+UseAdaptiveSizePolicy
    -Xincgc
    -Dsun.java2d.opengl=true
    -Dsun.java2d.d3d=false
    -Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true
    JVM properties:
        java.vm.vendor = "Oracle Corporation"
        java.vm.name = "Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM"
        java.vm.version = "25.60-b23"
        java.runtime.version = "1.8.0_60-b27"
        java.awt.graphicsenv = "sun.awt.Win32GraphicsEnvironment"
Successfully invoked Java VM.
Retrieving Java objects and methods...
Initialized logging system with log level EXHAUSTIVE.
Creating DynHUD instance Version 1.5.0-Beta (build 130)...
    Detected game "AMS" (supported).
    Creating overlay texture interface for resolution 1920x1080... done.
Loading GameEventsPlugins...
    Found plugin "net.ctdp.rfdynhud.plugins.director.DirectorPlugin".
Found and initialized 1 plugin.
Loading custom fonts...
    Loaded and registered custom font "DS-Digital".
    Loaded and registered custom font "DS-Digital Bold".
    Loaded and registered custom font "DS-Digital Italic".
    Loaded and registered custom font "DS-Digital Bold Italic".
Couldn't register font "Gotham-Bold". It is already registered.
Couldn't register font "Gotham Book". It is already registered.
Couldn't register font "Gotham-Medium".
Successfully created DynHUD instance.
Initializing input bindings...
    Bound "Keyboard::," to "FuelWidget1::DecPitstopLapAction"
    Bound "Keyboard::," to "FuelWidget1::DecPitstopFuelAction"
    Bound "Keyboard::." to "FuelWidget1::IncPitstopLapAction"
    Bound "Keyboard::." to "FuelWidget1::IncPitstopFuelAction"
    Bound "Keyboard::B" to "BrakeTempsWidget::ToggleWidgetVisibility"
    Bound "Keyboard::D" to "GLOBAL::ResetLaptimesCache"
    Bound "Keyboard::E" to "GLOBAL::ToggleFixedViewedVehicle"
    Bound "Keyboard::F" to "GLOBAL::ResetFuelConsumption"
    Bound "Keyboard::H" to "GLOBAL::TogglePlugin"
    Bound "Keyboard::M" to "MapWidget1::ToggleWidgetVisibility"
    Bound "Keyboard::S" to "GLOBAL::ResetTopSpeeds"
    Bound "Logitech G25 Racing Wheel USB::Botão 0" to "GLOBAL::IncBoost"
    Bound "Logitech G25 Racing Wheel USB::Botão 17" to "GLOBAL::TempBoost"
    Bound "Logitech G25 Racing Wheel USB::Botão 18" to "StandingsWidget1::CycleStandingsViewAction"
    Bound "Logitech G25 Racing Wheel USB::Botão 3" to "GLOBAL::DecBoost"
Finished initialization of input bindings.
Successfully retrieved Java objects and methods.
Starting up DynHUD Plugin (telemetry part)...
Successfully started up DynHUD Plugin.
Shutting down DynHUD Plugin...
Successfully shut down DynHUD Plugin.
Disposing DirectInput...
    Disposing Keyboard... Successfully disposed Keyboard.
    Disposing Joysticks... Successfully disposed Joysticks.
    Disposing DirectInput... Successfully disposed DirectInput.
Successfully disposed DirectInput.
Destroying Java VM...
Successfully destroyed Java VM.

Does anyone have any idea on how to fix this, or seen something similar?

Thanks in advance for any help given.

Tim Ling · Jun 24, 2018

@Alex Sawczuk I have this problem too, but I have found that it's caused by my keyboard

I recently got a Corsair K55 gaming keyboard, and after I plugged that in Automobilista stopped responding-I just got a black screen when I tried to start it up.

If I unplug the keyboard the game will start, then I can plug the keyboard back in.

The keyboard is fine to use while racing, but I need to unplug it again when I quit the race before the main interface will work again.

I hope this helps track down the issue, as it's an annoying bug. Who would have thought a keyboard could cause this? USB drivers FTW!

pabletux · Jun 25, 2018

Tim Ling said:
@Alex Sawczuk I have this problem too, but I have found that it's caused by my keyboard I recently got a Corsair K55 gaming keyboard, and after I plugged that in Automobilista stopped responding-I just got a black screen when I tried to start it up.

If I unplug the keyboard the game will start, then I can plug the keyboard back in.

The keyboard is fine to use while racing, but I need to unplug it again when I quit the race before the main interface will work again.

I hope this helps track down the issue, as it's an annoying bug. Who would have thought a keyboard could cause this? USB drivers FTW!

Don´t tell me this! I have the same keyboard and the same problem!!!!! Will try it!

rafaelscard · Dec 27, 2018

Ok guys,

I accidentaly found out that my driving wheel is causing a game crash as soon as I click on the next button to go to the track, when my driving wheel (Thrustmaster T300) is not connected, everything runs smoothly.

Does anybody have any idea how to solve it?

berheavedtripod8 · Dec 27, 2018

@rafaelscard Have you tried updating your wheel drivers?

Fatalist88 · Dec 28, 2018

I for one had an issue with my K95 keyboard - plugged in = black screen. Unplug it = good to go!

Very odd.

rafaelscard · Dec 30, 2018

rafaelscard said:
Ok guys,

I accidentaly found out that my driving wheel is causing a game crash as soon as I click on the next button to go to the track, when my driving wheel (Thrustmaster T300) is not connected, everything runs smoothly. Does anybody have any idea how to solve it?

Ok guys I solved the problem!

But it does not mean that´s the final solution, even because it´s a bug so it´s up to Reiza.

Answering berheavedtripod8 question: Yes I have updated driving wheel drivers, but that didn´t work also.

Since my problem was related to driving wheel and following some suggestions that I saw here in this topic, I decided to start the race with the T300 unpluged, after being able to race few minutes with the keyboard I got back to the controls menu yet under the racing session, plugged the T300 in and set this up again refreshing the game inside controls menu to find the driving wheel. After that process, I got back to the race, but this time I was able to use the T300

Now everytime I log into the game again, I´m able to race normally with no more problems, and I don´t need to do the same process everytime.

I hope you guys are also able to do the same with other devices.

Dann Murillo · Jan 5, 2019

Tim Ling said:
@Alex Sawczuk I have this problem too, but I have found that it's caused by my keyboard I recently got a Corsair K55 gaming keyboard, and after I plugged that in Automobilista stopped responding-I just got a black screen when I tried to start it up.

If I unplug the keyboard the game will start, then I can plug the keyboard back in.

The keyboard is fine to use while racing, but I need to unplug it again when I quit the race before the main interface will work again.

I hope this helps track down the issue, as it's an annoying bug. Who would have thought a keyboard could cause this? USB drivers FTW!

WOW I just got the exact same keyboard and now I have the exact same problem. I am lucky I happened to find the correct thread where you guys noted the issue.
A possible solution: When I first installed the new keyboard I did not install the Corsair iCUE software and AMS seemed to not be negatively affected. It was a day later I installed and looking back I now realize that is about when the black screen issues started. Since reading this thread and learning the keyboard is the issue, I uninstalled the software and now my game seems to work fine.

Fatalist88 · Jan 5, 2019

Dann Murillo said:
WOW I just got the exact same keyboard and now I have the exact same problem. I am lucky I happened to find the correct thread where you guys noted the issue.
A possible solution: When I first installed the new keyboard I did not install the Corsair iCUE software and AMS seemed to not be negatively affected. It was a day later I installed and looking back I now realize that is about when the black screen issues started. Since reading this thread and learning the keyboard is the issue, I uninstalled the software and now my game seems to work fine.

But did you manage to keep the sexy lighting?

Dann Murillo · Jan 5, 2019

Ohh for sure. Yon can control the keyboard lighting with the FN key anyway. It is actually much faster to change vs the software.

Dann Murillo · Jan 6, 2019

That workaround does not seem to work any longer. I inquired about this issue in the Reiza 51 forum.

2stains · Jan 7, 2019

I've been having this issue ever since getting a new monitor and running in extended mode in Win 10! The new monitor is 1 (DP)and the TV(HDMI) is 2 but if i disconnected the HDMI cable from GPU I get AMS to run again on DP only, it's good as I only want to run AMS on the monitor but it's a pain to have to disconnect and reconnect the HDMI whenever I want to play AMS or ba k to the big screen!
By the way, AMS is just so fantastic and I'm totally stoked I sold my Rift and thats what got me to get the new monitor and get back i to AMS