Players encountering “screen impossible to look at” or a pure black display in Order of the Sinking Star need immediate, verifiable fixes. The game’s demanding lighting engine and layered puzzles can overwhelm older hardware, but the newly released beta branch update introduces dedicated optimizations that target exactly these pain points. This article walks you through the order of the sinking star best settings for the beta branch, explains how to activate the update, and provides troubleshooting steps for crashes and black screens. Whether you’re on a low-end laptop, a Steam Deck, or a high-end desktop, the recommendations below will help you achieve stable frame rates and clear visuals.
Understanding the “Screen Impossible to Look At” Issue
One of the most common complaints among early players is a flickering, oversaturated, or completely unresponsive screen that makes puzzles unplayable. Community reports indicate that “screen impossible to look at” often manifests as intense bloom glare, mismatched gamma levels, or stroboscopic artifacts when moving between the game’s dark corridors and brightly lit chambers. The culprit is typically a combination of default graphics presets that push post‑processing effects beyond what the GPU can comfortably handle.
Common Symptoms and Root Causes
| Symptom | Likely Root Cause | Affected Systems |
|---|---|---|
| Flickering white flashes on scene transitions | High dynamic range (HDR) mismanagement or driver‑level HDR conflict | Windows + HDR monitors, Steam Deck with external displays |
| Black screen on launch with audio playing | Resolution mismatch or fullscreen exclusive mode failure | All platforms, especially 1440p/4K monitors with high refresh rates |
| Screen tearing and micro‑stutter during puzzle rotations | V‑Sync forced off or triple buffering disabled | Nvidia/AMD GPUs with default control panel overrides |
| Oversaturated colors with crushed black levels | Post‑processing (bloom/volumetric lighting) set above “Performance” tier | Integrated GPUs, Steam Deck in “Balanced” mode |
The order of the sinking star optimization update on the beta branch addresses all four categories by lowering the ceiling on the post‑processing stack. According to the official Steam announcement, the developer focused on “optimizations for faster frame rate, especially on lower‑end devices.” That update is the foundation for everything that follows.
The Beta Branch Update: Your First Step to Stability
Before tweaking individual settings, you must ensure you are running the version of Order of the Sinking Star that includes the latest performance patches. The beta branch, labeled public-testing, contains the order of the sinking star optimization update that directly resolves many of the visual issues described above. Here is how to switch to it:
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Right‑click Order of the Sinking Star in your Steam Library and select Properties.
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Navigate to the Betas tab (labeled “Game Versions & Betas”).
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From the dropdown menu, select
public-testing(no password required). -
Wait for Steam to download the small patch (approximately 150 MB) and restart the game.
Once on the beta branch, launch the title and verify that the splash screen no longer hangs. Players have reported that the “won’t start” failures on Windows 10 and 11 are almost entirely eliminated after applying this update. If you are using a Steam Deck, the beta branch also introduces the “Very Performance” graphics preset, which is described in the next section.
Performance Comparison: Beta Branch vs. Main Branch
| Metric | Main Branch (Stable) | Beta Branch (public-testing) |
|---|---|---|
| Average FPS on Steam Deck (Default Preset) | 28 – 36 FPS | 52 – 60 FPS |
| Linux proton stability (Nvidia 525 driver) | Random black screen on level load | No black screens in 4 hours of play |
| Windows 11 HDR flicker | Frequent with HDR enabled | No flicker after driver gamma reset |
| Loading times (from launch to main menu) | 48 seconds | 32 seconds |
These numbers come from aggregated community testing on the official Discord and Steam forums. The improvement is substantial enough that the order of the sinking star best settings guide can now recommend the beta branch as the default configuration for all users.
Best Graphics Settings for Smooth Gameplay
Even with the beta branch update, manual fine‑tuning is often required to eliminate the “black screen” glitch that occurs when changing resolution mid‑session. The following order of the sinking star best settings are validated on both Windows and Steam Deck.
“Very Performance” Setting and Beyond
The beta branch adds a new graphics tier called Very Performance. It disables all volumetric effects, reduces shadow resolution to 256×256, and caps particle counts at 200 active particles per scene. This profile is ideal for:
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Integrated graphics (Intel Iris Xe, AMD Radeon 680M)
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Steam Deck in 40 Hz / 40 FPS mode
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Laptops with Nvidia GTX 1650 or below
If you want to maximize visual fidelity while keeping stable frames (60 FPS), use the “Performance” preset and then manually disable Depth of Field and Motion Blur. Those two effects are the primary triggers of the “screen impossible to look at” complaint because they interact poorly with the game’s dynamic camera when panning across large puzzle rooms.
Recommended Settings Table
| Setting | Low‑End Target (<40 FPS) | Mid‑Range Target (40‑60 FPS) | High‑End Target (60+ FPS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphics Preset | Very Performance | Performance | Custom |
| Screen Space Reflections | Off | Off | High |
| Shadow Quality | Low (256) | Medium (512) | High (1024) |
| Post‑Processing Quality | Off | Low | High |
| Anisotropic Filtering | 2x | 4x | 16x |
| Anti‑Aliasing | TAA Low | TAA | MSAA 2x |
| VSync | Off (use game‑cap 60 FPS) | On, paste‑cap at 60 FPS | On, cap at 144 FPS |
| Resolution Scaling | 75% internal | 100% internal | 100% internal |
After applying these settings, players who previously reported “screen impossible to look at” on the “Ultra” preset generally see a stable, clean image. The black screen fix is most often achieved by switching to Fullscreen (Windowed) mode in the Display tab, then toggling back to Exclusive Fullscreen after the level loads.
Fixing “Won’t Start” and “Black Screen” Issues
Despite the beta branch improvements, a small percentage of users still encounter order of the sinking star wont start errors, particularly on dual‑GPU laptops and multi‑monitor setups. Here is a step‑by‑step troubleshooting sequence that resolves the majority of cases.
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Verify game files through Steam: Right‑click → Properties → Installed Files → Verify integrity of game files. This catches corrupted shader caches that cause black screen.
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Disable GPU overlays for the game (Nvidia GeForce Experience, AMD Adrenalin, Discord). Overlays interfere with the game’s exclusive fullscreen detection.
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Set Windows Graphics Performance Preference to “High performance” for
OOSS.exein Settings → System → Display → Graphics. -
Delete the config file
%LocalAppData%\OrderOfTheSinkingStar\Settings.ini— this forces the game to rebuild its settings from scratch next launch. Many users report that this alone resolves the “screen impossible to look at” problem because the old config holds a corrupted resolution string. -
Launch with
-windowedcommand in Steam Launch Options. Once the menu appears, you can switch to fullscreen.
If the game still refuses to start, a driver update is almost always the missing piece. The order of the sinking star bug report guide on the community forum recommends rolling back to Nvidia 536.23 or AMD 23.8.2 if you are on the latest drivers, because newer driver branches sometimes break Unity 2022 LTS rendering. For a comprehensive list of known bugs and workarounds, see the known bugs guide.
Community Bug Reports and Future Updates
The developer team has been responsive to order of the sinking star bug report guide submissions on the Steam Community hub and Discord. The most reported issue still open as of August 2026 is a black screen that occurs when alt‑tabbing out of the game with VSync enabled. A temporary workaround is to bind a key to p (the default “pause” overlay) before tabbing out, which forces the engine to keep its back buffer alive.
The order of the sinking star visual issues fix roadmap, based on developer posts in the beta branch changelog, includes a complete rewrite of the post‑processing stack in a future patch. Until then, the settings and beta branch described here are the most reliable way to experience the game without frustration. For players pushing for maximum frame rates on the Steam Deck, the Steam Deck performance guide offers per‑level tuning recommendations that further reduce GPU load.
Reporting Your Own Bug
If you encounter a visual issue not addressed here, please submit a report on the official Steam discussion board or the developer’s website. Include your system specs, whether you are on the beta branch, and a screenshot of the Settings menu showing your current graphics configuration. This helps the team prioritize the optimization update for the next release.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the “Very Performance” setting and where can I find it?
The Very Performance preset is exclusive to the public-testing beta branch. It removes all volumetric lighting, reduces shadow resolution to 256×256, and caps particle effects. You enable it by switching to the beta branch in Steam Properties under Betas, then selecting the preset from the Graphics menu in-game.
I still get a black screen after applying the beta branch. What now?
First, delete the Settings.ini file in %LocalAppData%\OrderOfTheSinkingStar\. Then launch with the -windowed command. Once in the menu, switch to exclusive fullscreen. If the problem persists, roll back your GPU driver to Nvidia 536.23 or AMD 23.8.2 and repeat the steps.
Does the beta branch affect save files or achievements?
No. The public-testing branch uses the same save location as the main branch, and achievements remain enabled. Steam Cloud syncs normally across branches, so you can switch back to stable at any time without losing progress. This branch also includes the new “Very Performance” preset, letting you test the optimization updates risk‑free.
Will these settings work on the Steam Deck?
Yes. The beta branch delivers 52–60 FPS on Steam Deck with the Very Performance preset. For optimal battery life, cap the frame rate to 40 FPS and set the TDP to 9W. The Steam Deck performance guide has detailed per‑scene profiles.
How do I report a visual bug that hasn’t been fixed yet?
Post your report on the official Steam Community hub under Bug Reports, or join the developer's Discord. Attach a DxDiag report and a screenshot of your Settings menu. Mention that you are using the order of the sinking star best settings from this guide so the team knows you have already applied known fixes.