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CS 1.6 Black Screen and Widescreen Fix

A black screen, a stretched picture or black bars on the sides are the most common graphics problems with CS 1.6 on modern monitors and Windows 10/11. Try these fixes in order.

1. Switch to OpenGL

If you can see the menu: Options → Video → Renderer: OpenGL, restart the game. If the screen is black from the start, add -gl to the launch options (in the shortcut Target after hl.exe, or Steam launch options).

2. Set the resolution in launch options

-w 1920 -h 1080 -full

Use your monitor’s resolution. If fullscreen stays black, try -window first, then switch back to fullscreen in the video options.

3. Widescreen and black bars (800x600, 1024x768)

Old 4:3 resolutions on a 16:9 monitor give black bars or a stretched image:

  • Want widescreen? Choose 1920×1080 (or your native resolution) in Options → Video.
  • Want 4:3 stretched like pros? Keep 800×600 or 1024×768 and set scaling to Full-screen:
    • NVIDIA: Control Panel → Adjust desktop size and position → Full-screen, “Perform scaling on: GPU”;
    • AMD: Adrenalin → Display → GPU Scaling: On, Scaling mode: Full panel;
    • Intel: Graphics Command Center → Display → Scale: Stretch.

4. Other causes

Symptom Fix
Black screen after alt+tab Run in windowed mode or -window -noborder
Flickering gl_vsync 0, update the graphics driver
Very dark picture brightness 2, gamma 3 in the console
Game starts on the wrong monitor Make the main monitor primary in Windows display settings

Still broken? Reinstall to a folder with a Latin-only path (installation guide) or try the Original build.

FAQ

Why does CS 1.6 show a black screen?

Usually because of the video mode or resolution. Switching to OpenGL and setting your monitor's native resolution fixes most cases.

How do I get rid of black bars at 800x600?

Either choose a widescreen resolution in the game, or change GPU scaling to 'Full-screen' in the NVIDIA, AMD or Intel control panel.

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