Forza Horizon 6 Black Screen on Startup: PC Fixes

What should you try first?

1. Update Gaming Services. If the game shows Invalid Gaming Services Detected or simply never gets past a black screen, this is the most common cause on both Steam and the Xbox app. The Gaming Services fix has the full steps.
2. Update your GPU driver. If the problem started right after a driver update, roll back to the previous one.
3. Turn off overlays: Discord, Xbox Game Bar and other third-party tools can interfere with the game's graphics start-up.
4. Press Alt+Enter to switch to windowed mode. If the screen goes black after the game has launched, Alt+Tab out and back in.
5. Clear the shader cache through your GPU driver's settings, then relaunch.
6. Verify or repair the game files (Steam: Properties, Installed Files, Verify integrity; Xbox app: the game's Manage options).

How do you do a clean driver install?

Use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) in Windows Safe Mode to remove the old driver completely, then install the latest driver from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel. This clears leftover settings that a normal update keeps. NVIDIA released a Game Ready driver for Forza Horizon 6 at launch, so make sure you are on that release or newer.

Can display settings cause a black screen?

Yes. Fullscreen optimisations, an HDR mismatch between Windows and the game, or unusual resolution scaling can make the game fail when it switches display mode. Turn HDR off in Windows as a test, and run at your monitor's native resolution.

One user comment reported that enabling hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling fixed their black screen. You can switch it on under Settings, Display, Graphics, without editing the registry. This is a single report, so treat it as something to try rather than a known fix.

How do you fix amd_ags_x64.dll was not found?

amd_ags_x64.dll is the AMD GPU Services library the game uses to set up graphics features. The error can appear on NVIDIA cards too, if the copy that ships with the game is missing, corrupted, blocked or only partly installed.

1. Verify or repair the game files first.
2. Check Windows Security: Virus & threat protection, Protection history, filter by Quarantine. If amd_ags_x64.dll is listed, choose Actions, then Restore.
3. Update the GPU driver and run the game normally (not from a copied folder).
4. Do not download the DLL from random sites or copy it from other games.

Why do so many fix guides mention cracked versions?

Many search results for this DLL error and for not-launching problems come from pirated releases, which often ship with missing or altered files. Those copies cannot be fixed by the steps above, and Playground has banned accounts tied to unofficial builds. The download page explains the risks.

Stuck on Loading... Please Wait or crashing after a few minutes?

• Stuck loading: Gaming Services and the Microsoft account sign-in are reasonable first checks. Repair Gaming Services and confirm you can sign in to the Xbox app.
• Crashes after some minutes: at launch, GTPlanet's optimisation guide linked a memory leak to Extreme Environment Texture and Geometry Quality and suggested Ultra instead. See the best settings guide.
• Low-spec hardware: check the GPU against the system requirements; older AMD Polaris and Vega cards are below the minimum.
• Laptop start-up problems: make sure the game runs on the dedicated GPU, not integrated graphics, in Windows graphics settings.

What about error codes like 0x12C, FH201, FH205 or FHC01?

Players search for these codes, but no source we checked explains them. Forza Support keeps a Release Notes and Known Issues section that lists current problems; check it for your exact code, and include the code when contacting support. Until a code is documented there, its meaning is still to be confirmed.