How to Fish Black Screen When Joining

How do you fix a black screen when joining?

First match the host and guest game versions, confirm the lobby can accept the guest, retry the invitation, and remove uncertainty from any mods. A collected player report says running the game with administrator permission helped its joining black screen. That workaround is not an official universal fix, and the underlying cause is To be confirmed.

Work from reversible checks toward more intrusive ones. Restart the game and platform client, recreate the lobby, and test an unmodded one-to-one session before changing permissions or files. Record which player sees the black screen and whether audio, cursor movement, or loading indicators remain.

What should the host check first?

The host should verify the game is updated, the lobby privacy allows the intended guest, and the invitation was sent after the lobby finished loading. If a larger-lobby mod is installed, confirm the host has the required BepInEx and plugin versions. The standard game officially supports one to four players.

Try a fresh lobby with only one guest to reduce variables. If that works, add the remaining players one at a time and note when the problem returns. The collected sources do not confirm a player-count threshold for the black screen, so no number should be presented as the cause.

What should the joining player check?

The guest should confirm the same game version and, if modded, an installation compatible with the host. Join from a stable menu rather than during another loading or transition state. If the game reaches a black screen, note whether it recovers or produces an error before force-closing it.

Do not assume a black screen means save corruption. The supplied evidence does not identify damaged saves, graphics drivers, network ports, or account state as the confirmed cause. Each remains To be confirmed until a reproducible report connects it to the symptom.

When should you test the administrator workaround?

Test administrator execution only after ordinary version, lobby, invite, and mod checks fail. The collected discussion report presents it as a player workaround, not an official instruction. Run only the trusted installed game executable or trusted launcher, and do not download a replacement executable from a guide.

Elevated permission gives a program broader access, so it should not become a permanent default without a known reason. If it makes no difference, return the setting to normal. Whether the host, guest, or both must use it is To be confirmed by the available material.

How do you test whether mods are involved?

Compare the host and guest setups, including BepInEx and every plugin. The More Players mod documentation recommends matching participant setups and describes a host installation for expanded capacity. It does not claim to fix black screens or other gameplay issues.

Test the standard four-player-or-fewer game without optional lobby modifications, using a recoverable method that preserves the existing setup. If the black screen disappears, restore components one at a time to identify the change associated with failure. A correlation in one system is still not proof of a universal cause.

What information should you record?

Record the game version, host and guest roles, standard or modded lobby, player count, privacy setting, invite method, and visible symptom. Also note whether the screen appears before or after joining the world and whether other players see the guest connect. These details make later reports comparable.

Avoid reporting only “black screen” without the join stage or environment. A screenshot may help, but it rarely proves the cause by itself. Logs can be useful if the game or mod loader already provides them, though specific log paths and error signatures are To be confirmed.

What should you avoid while troubleshooting?

Do not delete saves, install unrelated files, disable security protections globally, or run unknown downloads as administrator. None of those actions is supported by the collected material. They add risk and can destroy evidence needed to understand the original problem.

Do not apply fixes written for unrelated games just because the symptom sounds similar. One rejected video in the source set covered multiplayer in a different title and was excluded. Troubleshooting must remain tied to How to Fish evidence.

How do you know whether the issue is resolved?

A useful confirmation is a repeated successful join under the same intended setup, not merely reaching a different screen once. Recreate the lobby and test again after identifying the smallest change that helped. Then add other players or mods gradually while preserving the working baseline.

If administrator execution appears necessary every time, record that as a workaround rather than a root-cause diagnosis. The reason it helps, supported operating systems, and long-term fix remain To be confirmed. Future official notes should replace the workaround if they provide a confirmed solution.

What is the recommended test order?

Start with a fresh standard lobby, matching game versions, one host, and one guest. Retry the invite after both players reach stable menus, then confirm whether the guest enters the playable world. This establishes a baseline without changing permissions or deleting data.

If the baseline works, restore additional players and optional mods one change at a time. If it fails, record the symptom before testing administrator execution as the reported workaround. Stop when one change produces repeatable success, because simultaneous changes hide which condition mattered.

Black-screen joining video

The embedded player video is provided as visual troubleshooting context. Its steps may reflect a particular system or patch and should not override the safer diagnostic order above. Do not treat the footage as proof that elevated permission fixes every case.

How to Fish black screen joining workaround