How I Fixed the Black Screen on Launch in Dredge (Epic Games)

Recently, I ran into a frustrating issue with Dredge on PC. After playing for hours with no problems, the game suddenly started launching to a black screen—no error message, just nothingness. Here’s how I eventually solved it, in case you’re in the same boat.

What Didn’t Work (But Might Be Worth Trying)

Before finding a working fix, I tried a few common troubleshooting steps:

• Deleted Save Files: I thought corrupted saves might be the cause, so I removed them. No luck.
• Verified Game Files via the Epic Games Launcher: This usually helps when files are missing or broken, but not this time.

These are good first steps, but in my case, they didn’t solve the issue.

What Actually Worked

After some trial and error, this sequence finally resolved the problem:

1. Uninstall the Game: I removed Dredge from my system completely.
2. Backup and Remove the eos Directory: Navigate to:
   C:\Users\<your_username>\AppData\LocalLow\Black Salt Games\DREDGE Inside, there’s a folder called eos. Back it up somewhere safe, then delete it from the original location.
3. Reinstall the Game: Download and reinstall Dredge using the Epic Games Launcher.
4. Launch the Game via the Executable: Instead of starting the game through Epic, go to the installation folder and run:
   DREDGE.exe For me, this launched the game properly without the black screen.
5. Confirm It Works, Then Exit: If it loads fine, exit the game.
6. Restore Your Original eos Folder: Delete the new eos folder (if one was created), and put your backup back in its place.
7. Relaunch the Game: Run the game again (preferably through the executable), and it should work—black screen gone, save files intact.

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Final Thoughts

It seems the issue had something to do with either Epic Online Services (EOS) or corrupted cached data in that directory. Launching the game directly from the executable also seems to bypass something problematic in the Epic launcher integration.

Hope this saves you some time if you’re stuck with a similar black screen on launch. Let me know if this fix works for you—or if you found a different one.