FIX: Sons Of The Forest Not Launching, Crashing, Showing A Black Screen

Buying a new game is always exciting, especially if you enjoyed the previous installments.

Waiting for the release, going through the purchasing procedure, installing a 50 GB game, and then it doesn’t launch…yeah, that’s the state of most newly released games.

Sons of the Forest recently launched, and even though it is still in early access, it cannot justify being unable to play it due to crashes or black screens.

Follow this complete troubleshooting guide when Sons of the Forest is not launching, crashing on startup, or showing a black screen on your PC.

We have shown a VIDEO walk through at the end of the post for easy solution.

How To Fix SOTF Not Launching, Crashing, Showing A Black Screen Issue

Table of Contents

The following solutions have worked for other users and should also help you fix these issues, so follow them carefully and perform as shown to fix them easily.

Solution 1: Check The Game Requirements

The first thing you need to do is make sure your PC meets the minimum requirements. We know it can be frustrating as The Forest used to comfortably run on most low-end PCs.

However, Sons of the Forest has much higher game requirements and might not be supported on your PC.

You can check the game requirements from Steam or Epic Games.

As you can see, the minimum requirements are pretty high, unlike the previous game. So, make sure your PC has the support hardware to run it.

sons-of-the-forest-game-requirements

Solution 2: Set The Game To High Performance

If your PC meets the game requirements and you still cannot launch it, then first set the game to High Performance from Settings.

Press the Windows + I keys to open Windows Settings.
Click on the System option and then select Display.

Scroll down and click on the Graphics Settings option.
Click on the Browse option and head to the Sons of the Forest installation folder. Select the Sons of the Forest exe file and add it.
You will now see it here. Click on Options and select High Performance. Select Save to save the changes.

Here is how you can find the Sons of the Forest installation folder:

Open Steam and click on Library.
Right-click on Sons of the Forest and select the Manage option.
Click on Browse local files, and this will open the installation folder. Remember the address and use it to browse in the graphics settings.

Solution 3: Verify Integrity Game Files

Verifying the game files is one of the first things you should do when facing game issues like not launching, crashing, or black screens.

Corrupted or missing game files are known to cause these issues; verifying the integrity will fix it. Verify the game files by following these steps:

Open Steam and head to Library.
Right-click on Sons of the Forest and select the Properties option.
Select the Local Files tab and click on the Verify Integrity of game files option.
Let Steam finish verifying, and once done, play the game.

verify-integrity-of-game-files-from-steam-sons-of-the-forest

Solution 4: Disable Steam Overlay

Another thing you can try is to disable the Steam overlay while you are playing Sons of The Forest. Doing this can solve any conflict the game might have with Steam overlay. Here is how you can disable Steam overlay.

Open Steam and head to the Library section.
Right-click on Sons of the Forest and select Properties.
In the General Tab, uncheck the Enable Steam Overlay option. Close the window and run the game. Steam Overlay will now be disabled for only Sons of the Forest.

disable-steam-overlay

Also, disable other overlay apps like Discord, GeForce Experience, Nvidia Shadow Play overlay, or AMD overlay.

Solution 5: Add To the Exclusion List

If the game is crashing or not launching, then add the game to the antivirus exclusion list on your PC.

If you have any 3rd party antivirus, add the game to the whitelist or exclusion list.

Those who are using Windows Defender, here is how you can do it:

Type Windows Security in the Start menu and open the first result.
Click on the Virus and threat protection option.

virus-and-threat-protection

Look for the Manage Ransomware protection option and click on it.

manage-ransomware-protection

Next, click on Allow an app through controller folder access and select Yes.

allow-an-app-through-controlled-folder-access

Click on Add an allowed app option.
Select Browse All Apps.

allow-an-app-through-controlled-folder-access-option

Browse to the Sons of the Forest installation folder and select the exe file.

Solution 6: Install Visual C++ Redistributables

Sometimes games don’t run if certain dll files are missing from the visual C++ redistributable library, or other times it’s not installed.

Installing Visual C++ Redistributables from the official website can easily fix this issue, and here is how you can do it:

Visit this website.
Download the Visual C++ redistributables for 2022. Remember to download the correct architecture, like x64 for 64-bit systems and x86 for 32-bit systems.
Install the downloaded file and restart your PC.

Solution 7: Set Power Settings To High

The next thing you can do is change the Power settings. Doing this will help your PC use its full power to run the game. This solution is particularly useful for laptop owners. Here is how you can do it:

Type Control Panel in the search bar and select the top result.
Set View By to Large Icons. Click on Power Options.
Expand Show Additional Plans. Select High Performance.

set-high-performance-power-plan

Now run the game. If the issue persists, or you already had the High Performance selected, select Balanced and try running the game.

Solution 8: Close Unnecessary Background Apps

Next, you can try closing any unnecessary apps running in the background. These apps can conflict with the game and prevent it from launching, or they can take away the processing priority of your PC, leading to crashes, low FPS, or stuttering in Sons of the Forest.

Here is how you can close unnecessary processes:

Right-click on the Taskbar and select Task Manager.
In the Processes tab, check for any unnecessary processes. Right-click on them and select End task to close them.

steam-end-task

Apps like Discord, GeForce Experience, Google Chrome, and Nvidia Shadow Play are some that you should close before playing Sons of the Forest.

Solution 9: Troubleshoot Graphics Drivers

Another thing you need to do is make sure your graphics drivers are up to date. Newly launched games are generally not stable with old graphics drivers.

When new games launch, graphics card manufacturers provide driver updates specifically for better performance from those games.

So, update your graphics driver and see if that solves the issue. If it doesn’t, then try reinstalling the graphics driver:

Right-click on the Start menu and select Device Manager.

device-manager

Expand Display Adapters and right-click on the Graphics driver.
Select Uninstall Device and follow as shown.

uninstall_graphics_driver_option

After the driver gets uninstalled, you will have to install it.
For the AMD graphics driver, install the Radeon app and run it. Similarly, you will need to install the GeForce Experience and run for NVIDIA graphics drivers.
If you already have them installed, simply running them will automatically detect that the graphics drivers are missing, and they will download and install them.
Restart your PC after the drivers install.

Then run the app again to check for any updates. If any update is available, download and install them.

Solution 10: Update Windows

Like graphics drivers, outdated Windows versions can also conflict with newly launched games, preventing them from launching, causing crashes, or showing black screens.

Here is how you can update your Windows version:

Type Check for updates in the search bar and select the top result.
Click on Check for updates and wait for Windows to check for the latest updates.
Download and install the updates. Once done, restart your PC.

check-for-updates