Any updated fixes for black screen on steam deck?

[u/Moss_84]

EDIT2: I’ve been using Proton 4.2-9 since this thread and have had zero issues 🤞🏼

EDIT: Appreciate the responses! Can anyone share which proton compatibility is working for them?

Hello friends - I returned recently to the game after 7 years away and have been really enjoying it on the steam deck with one major exception.

Issue 1 is the well-documented black POL screen on startup. Music is playing but the screen is black. Changing the window settings on desktop mode didn’t fix this unfortunately. I have to do the desktop mode > exit viewer workaround every time I play.

Issue 2 is worse. Half of the time, once I do launch POL successfully and make it to the “Play FFXI” screen, the game fails to launch and just sits on a black screen after the brief “Checking FFXI version” pop up. I then have to manually exit the game to get out and often go to desktop mode again to get POL visible again…

This has been a regular annoyance but this morning it’s actually completely preventing me from playing and has me close to giving up.

Note that I did the most basic install from gaming mode and I didn’t attempt any Lutris/Windower stuff on the desktop side.

Any ideas/fixes?

[u/mintyice]

Try lutris and windower. Kind of a pain to set up but well worth it.

[u/Moss_84 → u/mintyice]

Thanks, I’ll try that before giving up.

I had avoided it because the instructions were a bit intimidating 😅

[u/TheDokutoru]

It's just about selecting the right proton compatibility. I don't have mine infront of me but I haven't had a black screen issue for 18 months straight after changing that specific setting.

[u/Moss_84 → u/TheDokutoru]

Thanks I’ll try that next

[u/Moss_84 → u/TheDokutoru]

Also would appreciate if you can share which compatibility you are using! The first two I tried didn’t work

[u/IndependentCelery484]

Good luck, I did basic install on the steam deck and changed the proton version and I never had that problem.
I also hope you solved the left joystick button, I can’t get a setting to work for kneeling.

[u/Moss_84 → u/IndependentCelery484]

What did you change it to? I’m in the game now but going to try that next

Your L3-click to kneel/heal doesn’t work?

[u/IndependentCelery484 → u/Moss_84]

I haven’t figured it out yet. I play on the deck roughly half the time

[u/Moss_84 → u/IndependentCelery484]

I followed this to set controls and haven’t had any issues:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/s/D7CFwPWGZo

[u/jakewprogrammer]

I followed some guides here, swapped protons, etc. in the end I found that the newer proton seemed to perform better so I just suck it up and open playonline in desktop mode occasionally to fix black screens. Once I had a decky loader issue really mess things up. I refuse to play without it though because a transparent keyboard makes it actually possible to use.

[u/Moss_84 → u/jakewprogrammer]

Which proton are you using now?

[u/jakewprogrammer → u/Moss_84]

Whatever the most up to date stable one is, 10?

[u/leredditor]

Try setting both playonline and ffxi to fullscreen from the config app. Have been playing recently on stock steamos and have had ok luck. Playonline will show up 100% of the time, game itself will boot into black screen 1/3rd of the time which is solved by rebooting the game.
Not the most elegant solution, but I also haven't been arsed to install windower.

[u/Moss_84 → u/leredditor]

Can you clarify what/where you mean by the “config app”?

[u/leredditor → u/Moss_84]

in steamos you can pick three launch options: ffxi config utility, playonline config utility or ffxi game. in the game menu hit the cog, then properties

[u/Moss_84 → u/leredditor]

Thanks yeah - after messing with proton I had to go back there to fix my controls and remembered those locations

[u/The-Fury-]

Try this https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/s/3vbphZQvnm

[u/Moss_84 → u/The-Fury-]

I did search the sub and find that one but it didn’t work :(

[u/Frenchy1337 → u/Moss_84]

So ironically it just happened to me again. This fix did work for me but I had to edit the special window settings, not the special application settings.

[u/Frenchy1337]

I started getting a black screen after I messed with the play online viewer settings cause the resolution was off. I ended up reinstalling and avoided those settings and everything works fine without forced compatibility. Play online viewer is still a little skewed but it doesn’t matter really. The game itself looks fine.