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F1 2020

F1 2020 - Won't Launch, Crashing, Black Screen Fix

The new F1 game, which race lovers have been waiting for, is finally out. Although the optimization of F1 2020 seems good, it seems that it has some technical issues. It is normal to have such problems in the beginning.

Most common problems in F1 2020 (as far as I can see in the forums and reddit): random crashes, won't launch, black screen...

More than once on the forums and reddit there were comments asking for help to fix these issues. Therefore, I listed the solutions and workarounds to your problems in F1 2020 in this article.

Won't Launch Fix

GPU Drivers

The drivers are one of the biggest causes of this type of problem. I suggest you check and update your GPU drivers. I recommend the same for those who have a crash issue.

Download your latest drivers from the links below:

Disabling Background Applications

Certain third-party software running in the background may interfere with F1 2020. MSI Afterburner and RivaTuner are some of them. Disabling them temporarily can help you identify if one of them is causing the crash and not launching issue.

Verify Integrity Of Game Files

Corrupted or missing game files may cause F1 2020 to not launch. So you should verify the data integrity of the game.

  • Go to the Steam library.
  • Right-click on F1 2020
  • Select Properties
  • Go to the Local Files tab.
  • Press the Verify Integrity of Game Files button.

Safe Mode

Try running F1 2020 in safe mode.

  • Go to the Steam library.
  • Right-click on F1 2020
  • Select Properties
  • Press the Set Launch Options button.
  • Type -safemode into the text box.
  • Click OK

Crash Fix

Some players' F1 2020 crashes to the desktop randomly. Especially after crossing the finishing line, crashes occur very often. First, make sure to update your GPU driver and verify the files of the game. Then follow the suggestions below.

Disable Fullscreen Optimizations

Full-screen optimizations might be causing issues in F1 2020 on Windows 10. So you should disable it.

full-screen optimisations
  • Go to the Steam library.
  • Right-click on F1 2020
  • Go to Manage, then select the "Browse local files"
  • Right-click on the .exe file of F1 2020
  • Hit the Properties
  • Check the box that says "disable fullscreen optimizations" on the Compatibility tab.
  • After that, click on the “Change high DPI settings” button.
  • Under the “High DPI scaling override” section, tick the “Override high DPI scaling behavior
  • Use the “Scaling performed by:” drop-down menu and select the “Application”
  • Click on the OK and again OK.
High DPI

Nvidia and AMD Settings

You can fix the crash issue by applying some changes on the video card control panel.

Nvidia Control Panel Settings:

Nvidia Control Panel > 3D Settings > Manage 3D Settings > Global Settings

Power management mode: Prefer maximum performance
Texture filtering - Quality: Performance

AMD Radeon Settings:

AMD Radeon Adrenaline Software > Gaming > Graphics > Advanced

Texture Filtering Quality: Performance

Disabling the Overlays

You should disable overlays of applications such as Steam, Discord and NVIDIA GeForce Experience.

Anti-Aliasing

It seems that Anti-Aliasing causes crashes in F1 2020. I suggest you temporarily disable the Anti-Aliasing and DLSS.

  • Go to Game Options > Settings > Graphics Options > Video Mode
  • Set the Anti-Aliasing to Off.

Black Screen Bug Fix

  • Navigate to C:\Users\%UserName%\Documents\My Games
  • Right-click on the F1 2020 folder and select Rename
  • Give a different name. For example, you can change it to "F1 2020 old".
  • Launch the game.

If you still encounter black screen issue after that, run the game with DirectX 11 instead of DirectX 12.


If you are still experiencing technical issues with F1 2020, please leave a comment.

1 Comment

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  • I did all what you said and it still blacks out. But everytime i try to put it out of full-screen (F11) it works for a second. Please respond with more feedback!

    KR!