Has the game clearly been running fine, but only your OBS preview window and recorded video come out pitch black? If the sound is recorded but only the screen is black, OBS is in a state where it "couldn't pull in the game screen." Fortunately, the cause is almost always one of a few things, so if you go through the steps below in order, it's usually fixed within 5 minutes.
OBS Black Screen: Why Does It Happen?
In OBS, the sources that capture the game screen are usually two: "Game Capture" and "Display Capture (full-screen capture)." A black screen happens when these sources can't read the game screen properly, and the causes fall into roughly three groups.
Cause 1, GPU Mismatch (Most Common on Laptops)
Gaming laptops have two graphics chips: integrated graphics and a discrete GPU. The game runs on the discrete GPU for performance, but if OBS runs on the integrated graphics, OBS can't see the game screen and you get a black screen. This is an overwhelmingly more common cause on laptops than on desktops.
Cause 2, Game Capture Hooking Failure
The "Game Capture" source hooks directly into the game process to pull in the screen. But if the game is in Exclusive Fullscreen mode, or anti-cheat blocks the hooking, or OBS is launched later than the game, the hook fails and you get a black screen.
Cause 3, Insufficient Administrator Permissions
Some games run with administrator privileges. In this case, if OBS has standard permissions, it can't hook into the game and can't pull in the screen. It's surprisingly common for a black screen to come from a single permission difference.
Step-by-Step Fix (In Order, From the Top)
- Step 1, Run OBS as administrator: Fully close OBS, then right-click the desktop icon and choose "Run as administrator." A black screen caused by a permission difference is most often resolved by this one step.
- Step 2, Set the game to "Borderless Window" mode: In the game's graphics settings, change the display mode from Fullscreen to "Borderless Window" instead. Black screens happen often in Exclusive Fullscreen mode.
- Step 3, If on a laptop, match the GPU: Windows Settings → System → Display → Graphics → add OBS to the list → Options → choose "High performance (discrete GPU)." OBS needs to run on the same GPU as the game for the screen to show.
- Step 4, Change the game capture method: In the source list, double-click "Game Capture" → change the mode to "Capture specific window" and select the game window directly. If that still doesn't work, try enabling the "SLI/Crossfire capture mode" option.
If It's Still a Black Screen
- Update your graphics driver to the latest version. Outdated drivers frequently cause hooking and GPU recognition problems.
- If the black screen happens only in a specific game, that game's anti-cheat is blocking screen capture. In this case, display capture may be the only solution.
- Fully uninstalling OBS and reinstalling the latest version can reset tangled settings and resolve the issue.
A Method That Doesn't Have This Problem in the First Place
In fact, most black screen problems come from the structure where "OBS distinguishes between game capture and display capture, and the user has to match the GPU and permissions themselves." DOR doesn't have that distinction or setting at all.
After installation, when you launch a game like Valorant or League of Legends, DOR automatically recognizes and records it without you needing to touch the capture method, GPU, or administrator permissions separately. Because it captures the same whether you're in fullscreen or borderless window, the fullscreen black screen problem common in OBS structurally doesn't happen. If you find it a waste of time to wrestle with settings just to catch a black screen, it's worth trying an approach where recording works right after installation.
