Solution for: #97: RoTK XI movies show black screen

Turn off visual themes and desktop composition

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The answer is to disable Windows 7 visual themes and/or desktop composition. Find RoTK11.exe, right-click to bring up the Properties panel, pick the Compatibility tab, and start turning off the fancy graphics options.

Apparently some elements of either the visual themes or desktop composition components interact badly with RotK 11 on full screen mode. In this context, tweaking resolutions or fullscreen/windowed modes is a red herring -- turning off the graphics features fixes the problem without needing to reduce resolution or play in windowed mode.

References used:

Comments

  1. I got the same problem but in windows XP. I've tried to enable/disable visual themes, but it's still give black screen.
    I've also tried to change the game resolution BEFORE start the game, but it always go back to the default setting. any idea?
    it seems most people experience it on Windows 7 and not XP.

    destroyer on June 15, 2010, 06:59 AM UTC
  2. make sure you are disabling them on the correct file. NOT the launcher file. its the RTKXI.file!

    Tim on July 23, 2010, 05:01 PM UTC
  3. Worked like a charm! Thanks, yliu! :Þ

    genie on January 11, 2011, 09:53 AM UTC
  4. When I started ROTK XI, I can move the mouse pointer around but with black screen and no sound. I tried to change the resolution and/or adjust the graphic features but still didn't work. My laptop is an Acer 1410 (native resolution 1366X768) with Windows 7
    But when I tried it on my desk top 4:3 screen with Windows XP, it works fine
    Could someone help me so that I can play it on my laptop. I am taking a long trip this Friday (need this amazing game to kill some time)

    JobApp on December 22, 2011, 03:13 AM UTC
  5. I'm also having the same sorta problem. Used the advise here to try and fix it and it still wouldn't work. The problem I get when a cutscene plays is that the screen just goes a different color. Not black, but orange. Any advise???

    Ice on February 16, 2012, 11:56 PM UTC
  6. Thanks for the advice I just went into rotk 11 and went to compatibility and told it to run windows 7 version and played like a charm : )

    dominick on March 23, 2014, 12:48 PM UTC