If your screen goes black at a certain point in Chrono Trigger, you are not alone. I wrote this short guide for players stuck at that exact spot.
The game can freeze on a black screen during a scene transition or a loading moment. The good news is there are two fixes that work for most people. Try them in the order below, from the most likely cause to the least likely.
Step 1: Turn Off All Screen Overlays
Overlays are the number one cause of crashes in this game. Chrono Trigger has a hard time handling any program that tries to draw something on top of its screen, so start here first.
- Steam Overlay: Open your Steam Library, right-click Chrono Trigger, then go to Properties >
General tab, and uncheck Enable the Steam Overlay while in game. - Other programs: Fully close or disable the overlay for apps like Discord, MSI Afterburner, RivaTuner, GeForce Experience, or OBS Studio before you launch the game.
I missed one of these the first time and the black screen kept coming back, so double-check each program before you move on.
Step 2: Enable Windows 8 Compatibility Mode
Many players fix the black screen transition crash and loading problems by forcing the game to run in an older compatibility mode.
- In Steam, right-click Chrono Trigger >
Manage >
Browse local files. - In the folder that opens, right-click the game executable (Chrono Trigger.exe) and select Properties.
- Go to the Compatibility tab.
- Check Run this program in compatibility mode for and select Windows 8 from the drop-down menu.
- While you are here, also check Run this program as an administrator in the same window. Click Apply and OK.
This is the step that cleared the black screen for me, and it also smoothed out the load times.
If Neither Step Works
If those two steps still do not solve it, try changing the refresh rate in your control panel. Use your graphics card program to set the Hz to 60Hz. A refresh rate that is too high for this old game can sometimes cause the black screen on its own.
Work through the steps in order and change only one thing at a time. That way you know exactly which fix solved the black screen for you.
