How to Fix the OBS Game Capture Black Screen

What do you do when you’re trying to stream or record gameplay but you run into the dreaded OBS game capture black screen? This bug can ruin your day – so let’s walk through the best ways to fix it.

An OBS black screen on game captures could be happening for a few different reasons. The issue could be with your download of OBS Studio, with your desktop or laptop, or it could even be an issue with the specific window you’re trying to record. The most common reasons for OBS not capturing a game are:

• OBS doesn’t have sufficient permissions to capture your screen.

• The version of OBS on your computer needs to be updated.

• Another application is interfering with OBS’ ability to perform.

• There is an issue with the game you’re playing. Some games with known issues include Call of Duty, Destiny 2, Fortnite, and League of Legends.

Sometimes game capture is not working with OBS because you don’t have the right settings chosen in OBS to capture a specific window. Occasionally, when set to the full-screen capture, OBS will not work properly, but you can fix this by opening OBS and changing this setting. In OBS, go to Game Capture and choose Capture specific window from the Mode dropdown menu.

If the Open Broadcaster Software black screen is still happening, OBS might not have the right permissions to capture your desktop screen or the game you’re playing. Here’s how to fix it. Right-click on OBS.exe and, from the dropdown menu, select Run as administrator. If this works, and you don’t have the OBS black screen, you can make this a permanent fix in just a couple of steps:

1. Right-click on OBS.exe and select Properties.

2. Under Compatibility, uncheck Run this program in compatibility mode for.

3. Under Settings, check Run this program as an administrator.

Sometimes, OBS won’t capture a game because it’s using the wrong graphics processing unit (GPU). If your game is running a high-performance GPU (which makes it look smoother, and more crisp) and OBS is set to capture your computer’s integrated graphics (a lower-performance GPU), then the software won’t capture your gameplay. You can fix this by changing your computer’s GPU setting:

1. Go to Start and navigate to Settings > Display > Graphics (if you’re running Windows 11, this will be labeled Advanced Graphics).

2. From the list of apps, choose OBS Studio and then go to Options.

3. Choose High performance to ensure that OBS is set to capture your game’s GPU.

4. Click Save to implement the change.

OBS may not be showing the game capture because it’s set to work with the wrong operating system. To check if this is the cause of the error (and fix it), do the following:

1. Right-click on OBS.exe and choose Properties.

2. Under Compatibility, you’ll see Run this program in compatibility mode for: with a dropdown box below it featuring an operating system.

3. Check this box and ensure that you have the correct OS selected. So, if you’re running Windows 7, it should say Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 7.

4. Try recording your gameplay again to see if OBS will work for you now.

OBS may not be recording your game video because another application is interfering with it. This occurs most often when another streaming or video capture app is running in the background. Solving this problem is as easy as turning off the interfering app. You can see if you have conflicting software running in the background (and turn it off) by checking the Task Manager:

1. Open the Task Manager by holding Ctrl + Shift + Esc or typing Task Manager into the Search bar.

2. Look through the list of programs running on your computer. Right-click and select End Task on any apps that perform a video capture or streaming function similar to OBS.

If you’re wondering, “Why won’t OBS record my game?” for a specific game when it runs perfectly fine on other games, the issue may be with DirectX. Games with DirectX 12, like Fortnite, may crash when you try to record them with OBS due to some frame issues with the graphics API. Go to your game’s settings and see if it has the DirectX 11 API. If possible, change to DirectX 11 and see if this resolves the OBS black screen problem.

Sometimes, you may face the OBS game capture black screen issue because OBS will capture the source at the wrong size. For some reason, the source size occasionally gets stuck, but you can fix it by going to the source and right-clicking on it. In the dropdown menu, choose Transform and click on Reset Transform. Choose Fit to Screen, and this should fix the issue.

Gamers will often enable the Game Mode feature in Windows to boost the frame rate on their games and get a smoother, more attractive gaming experience. Unfortunately, Game Mode sometimes causes issues with OBS. 

You may get the OBS game capture black screen issue or even a white screen instead of a video recording of your game. To fix this issue, go to the Start menu, select Settings, and go to Gaming to turn off Game Mode.

Sometimes, when OBS can’t detect a game, or you can’t see your gameplay video, the solution is really as simple as “turn it off and back on again.” Try exiting OBS and restarting the program. You may also want to quit your game and/or restart your computer when you do this. This type of hard reset sometimes fixes the problem entirely.

If OBS isn’t capturing your gameplay due to an issue with your graphics preference settings, you can fix it by changing the setting in OBS.

1. Go to Start > Settings > Display > Graphics (this will show up as Advanced Graphics in Windows 10).

2. Click on OBS Studio from the list of applications.

3. Then click on Options and choose High performance.

4. To implement the change, click Save and try to record your game again.

Sometimes, an OS can’t find a game or won’t record gameplay because the hardware acceleration is enabled in Chrome. To disable it, open Chrome and then:

1. Click the three dots at the upper-right corner of the browser window and select Settings.

2. Select Advanced and go to System.

3. On the right, make sure that Use hardware acceleration when available is toggled off.

While Game Mode is a nice feature in Windows 10, it can interfere with OBS. To disable Game Mode, open Settings (Win + I) and then go to Gaming > Game Mode. On the right, toggle Use Game Mode off.

If you have the OBS black screen, you may run an outdated version of OBS that interferes with screen recording. To check for updates, open OBS and click on Help. Scroll down and click on Check for Updates. Review available updates and install the latest version. Next, restart your computer and attempt to record your gameplay again.

If you’ve tried troubleshooting the issue, and you’re still having trouble with OBS not picking up your game or not displaying your screen recording, you may want to choose an alternative recording and streaming app. We recommend checking out Gecata by Movavi. This game capture and live-streaming software is compatible with Windows 7 through Windows 10, as well as macOS. Plus, it makes it easy to record your gameplay without the dreaded black screen.