SCII wont load, graphics device not available

to whom it may concern,

SCII wont load. It will go to a black screen like it is about to load and then it will close and tell me that the graphics device is not available at this time. i have uninstalled and reinstalled and updated my graphics card, have no issues running my other blizzard games but this one has been doin this for over a week now…thought i was something on your guys end but i am still having the issue. please help

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i have encountered that myself on my laptops but, only there. it suggests that you have a setup with 2 gpus, one of which is integrated on the same chip as the cpu and one of which is a separate chip. you should be able to right click the starcraft 2 switcher to tell it what gpu to use. try to tell it to use your good gpu. if that does not work, please open run, write in dxdiag and when it opens, click on save. that saves your dxdiag data as a text file while can then be opened in notapad. copy the data from notepad and past it in your post.

It’s typically a settings or hardware limitation that causes this error. Andreasasp has good callouts to try. There’s a few additional steps that can help with this issue.

  1. Go to Documents on the computer, then go to Starcraft II. Delete the Variables.txt file.
  2. Try forcing Windowed mode. * Open Blizzard App, click Blizzard Logo icon in the top-left, Settings > Game Settings, click checkbox for Additional Command Line Arguments for SC2, type -Displaymode 0 in the text box that opens up. If you’re using a TV or secondary monitor, this step can serve as a workaround.
  3. If you are using a Nvidia card, try the following steps:
    • Disable DSR:
      1. Right click on the Desktop, then go to the Nvidia Control Panel.
      2. Under Manage 3D Settings, either select Global (for the entire system) or Program Settings (to select StarCraft II specifically).
        Note: Try the Global Settings if the Program settings for StarCraft II does not work.
      3. Uncheck any DSR - Factors selected.
    • If you have Geforce Experience, select Optimize for SC2. Otherwise, try disabling the Geforce Experience.

If it continues, could you include a DxDiag file? Copy and paste the text file created and paste it between two ~~~ like so:

~~~
DxDiag Here
~~~

If you have issues pasting here, use Pastebin and post the end of the link. (ie. 123456 for pastebin.com/123456)

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thanks i had the same problem and deleted the Variables.txt file and it worked again.

Deleting variables.txt did nothing. Opening in windowed mode worked but I want to play in fullscreen. There was nothing in the Nvidia settings that said DSR.

Howdy lurkmoar,

This is a very old forum thread. Please create your own forum thread for your specific issue, including the steps you have tried and your DxDiag:

  1. Press Windows Key + R.
  2. Type DxDiag and press Enter.
  3. In the DxDiag window, click Save All Information.
  4. Name the file “dxdiag” and click Save
  5. Paste the DXdiag into the post, select and highlight everything you just pasted, and hit the “preformatted text” button (</>). That’ll make the information much more readable.
It should look like this.

If you have issues pasting your DxDiag, please use Pastebin and post the link then highlight the link and press the ˂/˃ button.