Onkel Neal, if you don't mind, can you also provide me with your GameData.dat file? It's in the same folder location where the Player.log is stored, which is:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Iron Wolf Studio\Destroyer The U-Boat Hunter

I think I'm getting closer to the root problem. I noticed my GameData.dat file is completely empty. As a test, I put some random information in there, saved it and relaunched the game, and now the JSON error in my Player.log file indicates "Invalid value." instead of "The document is empty."

It's possible there's supposed to be some specific information or code the game is looking to read/parse in that particular file, but because mine is empty, the game never fully loads.

Thank you.

Belay that request. I deleted the GameData.dat file and now my game fully launches and works! Issue resolved.

For anyone that is experiencing the black screen on launch, see if you have a GameData.dat file in the following folder and then delete or rename it:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Iron Wolf Studio\Destroyer The U-Boat Hunter

That file had a date stamp of March, which I can't guarantee that it's when I first installed and played the demo, but it feels like it was around that timeframe. It's possible the file was left over from the demo. Who knows.

Man, you rock! Thanks for all the diligent work solving this. :Kaleun_Cheers:

I don't have a GameData.dat file in this folder. And I didn't have a demo version of the game. In this folder I have three files:
player.log
Player-prev.log
steam_autocloud.vdf

Black screen on startup persists

The Player.log file usually contains clues as to what's causing the game to get stuck at the black screen after launch. If you don't mind sharing your file here, I can take a look at it and see if there's anything I can ascertain from it in hopes to find a solution to resolve your case.

I copied the link to my Player.log file

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fc3...ew?usp=sharing

Thank you. I have looked through the LOG file and it appears your case is a known issue between the Unity game engine and DirectX 11 on Windows 7 (and Windows 8.1). In the other cases I've come across when searching this issue, the game developers have needed to fix it on their end.

There are two things you can try on your end to see if they'll make a difference, however the first one is a temporary workaround that might get the game running, but could exhibit performance or gameplay issues.


Run the game with DirectX 10

See my attached screenshot for visual depiction of the following instructions.

1. Open the Steam application to the Destroyer The U-Boat Hunter main game page.
2. Click the gear icon on the right-hand side, located under the game's picture banner, and click Properties.
3. In the Launch Options section, either type in or copy/paste the following line: -force-feature-level-10-0
4. Close out of the Properties dialog and launch the game.

You can always switch back to DirectX 11 by following steps 1-3 again, and removing/backspacing the Launch Options line item.


Disable the Steam Overlay

On some occasions, the Steam Overlay can cause rendering issues on game launch. You can try disabling it, if it isn't already, to see if it makes a difference.

How-to—

Follow the above steps 1-2 to reach the game Properties dialog, and then uncheck the boxes next to both:

• Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game
• Use Desktop Game Theatre while SteamVR is active

Close the Properties dialog and launch the game.

Thanks for the help. But all my attempts to launch the damn game have failed.

Windows 7, end of life in 2020. Sorry, mate.

Possible fix
 

If you are using Nvidia you might want to try this:

1: Go to Nvidia control panel
2: Go to "Manage 3D settings
3: Go to "Program Settings" tab
4: Find Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter (you may need to add the program to the list with the "Add" button)
5: Find the "vertical synchroimpulse" line
6: Turn it off (or Vertical sync setting to "use the 3D application setting")
7: Apply changes

Thank the Gods, after today's patch, the game was finally able to start :Kaleun_Cheers: