OBS Black Screen on Game Capture: The Fix List
Game capture showing black is nearly always GPU mismatch or permissions. Work through these.
Black game capture almost always means OBS and the game are running on different GPUs, or OBS lacks permission to see the game. Both are quick fixes.
1. Run OBS as administrator
Many games run elevated; OBS can't capture an elevated process unless it's elevated too. Right-click OBS → Run as administrator, and set it permanently in Compatibility properties.
2. Match the GPU
On laptops with switchable graphics, Windows Settings → Display → Graphics → set OBS to the same GPU as the game (usually High performance). Mismatched GPUs is the single most common cause.
3. Try Window or Display Capture
Some games — especially borderless or emulated ones — don't play well with Game Capture. Window Capture works more often; Display Capture almost always works as a fallback.
4. Set the game to borderless
Exclusive fullscreen causes capture and alt-tab problems. Borderless windowed is friendlier to OBS with essentially no performance cost on modern systems.
5. Update or reinstall
Old GPU drivers and old OBS builds cause capture bugs that no setting fixes. Update both before assuming something deeper is wrong.
Once it's capturing, dress it up
Cozy animated overlays that drop straight onto your game capture.
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