Black screen after connect to data center

[smsaks2000]

Hey...

I just upgraded from the trial version to the full version of the game and now it doesnt work.

After choosing the data center, i get a message that says "Connecting to Data Center" then the screen goes black and all I have is the loading graphic in the lower right corner. Never get's past the loading screen.

I've uninstalled and re-installed but to no avail.

This is on Windows 10.

DirectX 11.

Thanks,

Steve

[smsaks2000]

So, I contacted support via chat and we tried to get it working. Apparently, according to support, this is a known issue with Windows 10.

We tried some troubleshooting and tried some changes but was unable to get it working with Windows 10.

Support suggested I ask for a refund since they were able to get it working.

Sent e-mail via website to get my refund. The response I got was that they wont offer a refund because the software works with Windows 10.

What morons. Seriously.....they should have a giant banner on the website letting people know that it doesnt work with Windows 10 and that they suck.

[Raist]

There really isn't much difference between the trial and full version of the game. It is more a change in the background data (licensing, flags in your account/character data, etc.). Basically you are running the same game from the executable standpoint.

Working in Win10 and having issues with Win10 are two different things. It does run in Win10, but is not officially supported. Just like 2.0 ran perfectly fine on XP, but it wasn't supported (though, it was initially developed and targeted for the XP/Vista/7 market).

A lot of times in these scenarios, locally installed security is detecting a change in the program after re-installation/updating and is blocking it from the web. Make sure to go through them to make sure exceptions are added/updated for the new executables. Note there are two separate boot files now--ffxiv.exe is for the DX9 version, and ffxiv_dx11.exe is for the DX11 version. Make sure to check the other executables in the boot folder as well, not just the game folder. On that note...check which version is launching too. If your system supports DX11, try switching it to that if you can. You have to actually toggle the option...if you have re-installed the client, it may have reset it to use DX9 and there may be an issue with the DX9 support that needs to be fixed by installing the offline DX9 runtimes for that to work properly.

Also double check your security software for a section about running processes. This is sometimes an extra layer that monitors/blocks processes specifically after they launch--would need to add the launcher and dx9/dx11 executables here as well, as they may be allowed to launch but then get clamped down from network access after the fact.

If you are getting the black screen in the launcher and not the actual booting of the game (the launcher is where you put in user/pass), then it may be an issue with browser configuration. The launcher is built on Internet Explorer, and uses core components and OS level settings. Need to make sure that TLS is enabled in the advanced settings for both the operating system's Internet Properties (inetcpl.cpl) as well in your Java Control Panel. While in both of them, make sure to flush your caches, just in case there is a version conflict in locally saved files. Also make sure that support for Mozilla browsers is enabled in your Java Control panel as well---just in case the launcher isn't properly jiving with the newer agent string in Win10 (it should pickup the Mozilla5 variant though).

Make sure that both .Net 4.x and 3.5 are enabled in control panel also (add/remove programs (or appwiz.cpl), then click the link for turning Windows features on/off--3.5 may be listed in a legacy section), and then make sure they are up to date. Some calls have been deprecated in the newer versions of .Net, so you may need legacy support enabled. Remember--they haven't finished testing Win10 yet and are not officially supporting it yet...the programs are expecting older versions of all technologies to be no newer than what is common to Win8 or older, so this could actually be a factor.

Make sure also that flash is installed, current, and allowed to launch without a security prompt as well...for Internet Explorer, even if you don't actively use it. Never looked closely at just what all the launcher does from a browser standpoint, but some if it could be using flash elements so this may be needed as well (you pretty much have to have it for the web these days anyways).

If by chance you are trying to get on Chaos Data Center...the IP for neolobby06.ffxiv.com (the registered DNS name for Chaos) has changed for that service. You may need to flush your locally stored DNS caches. They should have full propagation by now...provided they started it early enough (it can take 72 hours depending on the service provider), but it may be a good idea to flush them locally just in case. Reboot your modem and router, and then flush the Windows DNS cache by running this command in a DOS prompt (cmd from the search/run box):

ipconfig /flushdns

If you have setup any port forwarding or were using the UPnP router feature--turn it off. Neither should be necessary in a typical residential environment, and may be opening yourself up to some issues by using them. The router's NAT and SIP protections should manage packet direction just fine. Port forwarding is really only needed in higher security environments where all inbound traffic is blocked unless a rule is set specifically to allow it in--places like Universities or the workplace. The game initiats an outbound session first and uses that same session for inbound traffic, so stateful inspection security built into both the router and most typical firewalls should manage traffic just fine (if you are prompted to allow an ffxiv process network access, check the option to remember your response and answer to allow it network/internet access and it should set the appropriate rule for it).

Oops.... forgot one of the most important ones...always forget to put this in, since it has become second nature for me to do this:

Run as Administrator. Right-click the shortcut and select to run as admin, or edit the properties to always run it as admin. It needs to write to some protected areas that are locked by windows unless you provide elevated privileges.