For players experiencing the Helldivers 2 black screen crash bug, it seems there is a simple workaround for this unearthed by the community, which is outlined below.
Update (Feb. 18): There is a better fix found which you can read about here.
Helldivers 2 Black Screen Crash Bug Fix:
Here’s a confirmed workaround/fix for it as per Reddit user aureum_castrum:
- Disable Steam input on controller
- Disconnect your controller from your PC
- Go to your files \Steam\steamapps\common\Helldivers 2\bin
- Delete GameGuard
- Run helldivers2.exe with administrator
Apparently, the PS4 controller was the issue for launching the game. Not only that, but while in the tutorial section trying out a mouse and keyboard, they decided to reconnect the controller and the game stopped, and didn’t respond until the controller was disconnected.
This fix has been verified by another community member to have done the trick for them too.
Hopefully, Arrowhead patches this little bug out, though I imagine they’d want to fix the server and rewards issues first before doing so. Speaking of which, a patch was released earlier on PC, but was rolled back by the studio after it caused performance issues.
With now over a million units sold and counting, Helldivers 2 is the surprise hit of the year! Thankfully, Arrowhead has already confirmed that players will see a steady dose of post-release content and for free.
If you know anyone suffering through the black screen issue for Helldivers 2, point them to this article.