I can't get anything past the launch menu. Once I click play, I get a small black window (or black screen if it's fullscreen) which stays for about 5 seconds, and then disappears, leaving me back at my Steam library. I've tried troubleshooting; I've made sure I'm using the latest drivers, I made sure my computer's specs fit the requirements before buying it, I've restarted Steam and my computer, and I've even sent a DxDiag file to Bethesda (Which all I've gotten is an auto response sending me back to where I started...). What is going wrong??

Same here... Such a disappointment.

from steam forum they said that you need to play in windowed menu, or you need to change the ini file

falloutprefs.ini to this:
bMaximizeWindow=0 bBorderless=1 bFull Screen=0 iSize H=1080 iSize W=1920
My screen resolution is 1080’1920

here's the first googling site when i tried your error :

fixcrasheserrorguide.com/fix-fallout-4-fullscreen-black-screen-crash-from-launcher

Same. At first I managed to run the game after messing with the config files, then I turned antialiasing off, which is a common problem with many games, changed the settings to minimum, and now it crashes EVERY [censored] TIME. Extremely low fps is another problem, while the game should run like a beast with GTX 970, Intel i5 and 16 GB RAM. For now, F4 is a FAILURE. Thanks a lot, Bethesda!

i am getting the same thing. spent all day downloading and cant get past the loading screen. click play and nothing.

I have got a similar problem.
I can get into the main menu. But if I want to start a new game, my pc freezes and doesn't react anymore.
I get a black screen with the green loading icon in the right lower corner. This loading icon freezes after a couple of seconds and I have to shut down my computer by holding the power button.

I'm so disappointed ...

My Configuration:
Lenovo Y50-70 Laptop
i7-4710HQ (4x2.5 GHz)
16 GB RAM
Geforce GTX 860M (with latest driver 358.91)

I tried this with no luck.. I wonder if anything else in the ini has something to do with this.

What were you messing with exactly? lol I tried the same thing with AA. Hopefully I didnt make things worse as well.

My specs are similar.. 64 bit windows i7 zotac gtx 970 16gb RAM. F4 truly is a failure.. we both have the 970 though..

I dont think so i tried change few things and nothing works, i try every steps and advice from reddit/steam/ Nothing helps. Only way to fix it once for all its a official patch from Bethesda, but they just dont care bout fixing this broken game. They just wanna our money for preorder.

My card has the same driver.. im assuming so does Zniesmaczony?

drivers are not the problem, i try older and still crashes.

Do you have a GeForce card as well? I pre ordered too. The worst part is they're going to make millions. They can't provide decent customer service?

but you do have GeForce driver 358.91? maybe an update to that driver will fix it in the near future?

Yea i have geforce and yea i have 358.91. I will just refund this game and buy GTA V. I lost my 2 free days to try run this piece of ****. Now i am on work 3 days for 15 hours and i dont even play. Coooooool. Bye Crapthesda.

I had the same problem(got the same laptop as HannibalForKing) and found a fix that worked for me.

Fallout 4 worked well for me until I decided to update the driver.

It seems the last three Nvidia drivers a bugged when it comes to the 860M(found the info in a thread on the official Nvidia board it also effects some other games).

The last driver that works for me is 355.98 9/22/15.

Maybe this works for you guys.

As an additional troubleshooting step, please be aware that some antivirus programs are known to block programs from running.

If you're crashing at launch like this, please be sure to check with the help site of your chosen antivirus (or Windows Defender if you don't run additional AV software) for information on how to add programs to your exceptions list. In this case, you would want to make sure that Fallout4.exe is added to the exceptions list.

If you're still experiencing these crashes, please be sure to contact our support team for further assistance at https://help.bethesda.net/app/ask

"There has been an error with your request"

The irony...

EDIT: remove the ask from the url and t hen just click on ask support.

Ok I seemed to have fixed the issue for me (always crash to desktop after starting new game).

The current driver for the nvidia 860M (358.91) does not work. Downgrade to 355.98 an the game runs fine.... so far at least.

This *may* work for other nvidia cards/drivers as well. Try a ~1 month older version.

Going to try this now. Thank you!

Guys, guys...guys. Refund! Steam gave me my money back. Within 20 min. after request. Thats the only language which Bethesda understand.

epoc1337, I don't want my money back, I want to play Fallout 4! Refunds, while helpful, won't fix my issue. Also, it would be nice to know how to fix any similar issues in the future.

Ofc, steam always refunds when requirements are met. But same here: I don't want a refund.

Looks like the game is working for now... But there certainly will be patches upcoming as well.

Didnt work for me :'( ty for your help anyways

Guys, I'll tell you what my problem was. It may sound stupid, but check if your pc monitor is plugged to the right port. By mistake, I plugged it into the motherboard HDMI port, so it worked on the Intel HD graphics card. After plugging it into the GeForce HDMI port all crashes disappeared, everything runs smooth now. Hope this helps. It helped me.

I changed some values in the FO4.ini and FalloutPrefs.ini files but all in all it turned out useless. Here's what I did:Open Fallout4config and change iPresentInterval=1 to iPresentInterval=0 and do the same with Fallout4prefs (here also change bForceIgnoreSmoothness=0 change that tobForceIgnoreSmoothness=1). You may also try the windowed mode. And, check if your monitor is plugged correctly, like I mentioned in the above post.