Yeah, on Windows 11 24H2 I also had issues, not a black screen but an aspect ratio issue as it would bleed into the 2nd screen. I also have a multi-monitor setup (3 instead of 2), maybe this is related. I fixed mine by installing the Widescreen patch after the SilentPatch: https://libertycity.net/files/bully-scholarship-edition/147062-bully-widescreen-fix.html

Also, it could be that the ScriptLoader needs an update. I actually had this when I applied the Autosave Mod, you can get the latest Scriptloader here: https://bullylua.neocities.org/downloads#dsl

Last but not least, it could be an "DirectShow filter and Video for Windows codec" access permission issue. You can fix that by checking your ffdshow settings. For this you may need to install the latest version of the codec that includes the manager: https://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow-tryout/

When you start the game after the ScriptLoader and FFDShow have been updated, you will see the following 2 popups once you started the game afterwards: https://www.nafcom.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/image-5.png

If so, you need to update both in the following way:


answer the prompts in the following order:

A) modupdater: select “INI files: replace all and keep settings.
Then click on “Download and Install updates now”
B) ffdshow compatibility manager
untick: Report this exe file name via internet anonymously.
untick: Don’t ask me again.
Select: use ffdshow. (always)
Click: OK
C) modupdater: Restart Now

Furthermore, enabling the compatibility setting in the properties of Bully.exe “Disable fullscreen optimisations” might help further improving the situation.

If this still doesn't help you may need to uninstall the game, reinstall it and re-apply all mods and patches again.

Originally posted by nafcom:

Yeah, on Windows 11 24H2 I also had issues, not a black screen but an aspect ratio issue as it would bleed into the 2nd screen. I also have a multi-monitor setup (3 instead of 2), maybe this is related. I fixed mine by installing the Widescreen patch after the SilentPatch: https://libertycity.net/files/bully-scholarship-edition/147062-bully-widescreen-fix.html

Also, it could be that the ScriptLoader needs an update. I actually had this when I applied the Autosave Mod, you can get the latest Scriptloader here: https://bullylua.neocities.org/downloads#dsl

Last but not least, it could be an "DirectShow filter and Video for Windows codec" access permission issue. You can fix that by checking your ffdshow settings. For this you may need to install the latest version of the codec that includes the manager: https://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow-tryout/

When you start the game after the ScriptLoader and FFDShow have been updated, you will see the following 2 popups once you started the game afterwards: https://www.nafcom.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/image-5.png

If so, you need to update both in the following way:


answer the prompts in the following order:

A) modupdater: select “INI files: replace all and keep settings.
Then click on “Download and Install updates now”
B) ffdshow compatibility manager
untick: Report this exe file name via internet anonymously.
untick: Don’t ask me again.
Select: use ffdshow. (always)
Click: OK
C) modupdater: Restart Now

Furthermore, enabling the compatibility setting in the properties of Bully.exe “Disable fullscreen optimisations” might help further improving the situation.

If this still doesn't help you may need to uninstall the game, reinstall it and re-apply all mods and patches again.

Weird you mentioned script loader even though he himself never said anything about derpy script loader. But yes, i think all that is needed is the Widescreen Fix. Might be better to grab these mods from the actual source rather than a third party website but you do you.

Originally posted by nixkiez:

Weird you mentioned script loader even though he himself never said anything about derpy script loader. But yes, i think all that is needed is the Widescreen Fix. Might be better to grab these mods from the actual source rather than a third party website but you do you.

I know you are replying to almost any thread in this Steam forum of this game, so good for you, I guess.

However, since nobody replied to him for days and he clearly needs help, I thought I'd share my expertise.

What I wrote to him is based on my experience I had with getting the game to work right of the past 2 days, and I also had similar issues with Tex Murphy Overseer which uses the same video codec as Bully and has similar issues.

If my intention was to take credit for anything, I would have simply linked here to my blog post (in which I always link the original sources and manuals), which I did not.

Also "The sources" do not tell you in which order to do things to not break things by accidents, hence I included them here.

Whether somebody follows my advice or not, is totally up to them. The problem with some sources is, that one would have to search through threads and chunks of invalid links until to find the correct one which is recent and does work, hence I linked libertycity one. The other 2 are the original sources actually. And they can be found by scanning through the Steam Community Posts like I did.

Originally posted by nafcom:

Originally posted by nixkiez:

Weird you mentioned script loader even though he himself never said anything about derpy script loader. But yes, i think all that is needed is the Widescreen Fix. Might be better to grab these mods from the actual source rather than a third party website but you do you.

I know you are replying to almost any thread in this Steam forum of this game, so good for you, I guess.

However, since nobody replied to him for days and he clearly needs help, I thought I'd share my expertise.

What I wrote to him is based on my experience I had with getting the game to work right of the past 2 days, and I also had similar issues with Tex Murphy Overseer which uses the same video codec as Bully and has similar issues.

If my intention was to take credit for anything, I would have simply linked here to my blog post (in which I always link the original sources and manuals), which I did not.

Also "The sources" do not tell you in which order to do things to not break things by accidents, hence I included them here.

Whether somebody follows my advice or not, is totally up to them. The problem with some sources is, that one would have to search through threads and chunks of invalid links until to find the correct one which is recent and does work, hence I linked libertycity one. The other 2 are the original sources actually. And they can be found by scanning through the Steam Community Posts like I did.

Yeah i do reply to almost every thread on this forum. But since i’ve never heard of this issue after months of helping people troubleshoot, i didn’t reply because i honestly didn’t know if the Widescreen fix would be enough. Not tryna claim that you take credit for anything btw, it was just simply weird that for the script loader it was the old site instead of the new one, which is linked on the same page. Soz if i was trying to come off as an ass.

Originally posted by nixkiez:

Yeah i do reply to almost every thread on this forum. But since i’ve never heard of this issue after months of helping people troubleshoot, i didn’t reply because i honestly didn’t know if the Widescreen fix would be enough.

I don't know either. Too little info on what hardware and Windows version he uses
I think it is most likely a mix of a video codec issue and a GPU driver issue.
Also, Nvidia GPUs are more likely to be compatible to older games than AMD ones.
So, I did take a broad shot at anything that could be potentially wrong.

Originally posted by nixkiez:

Not tryna claim that you take credit for anything btw, it was just simply weird that for the script loader it was the old site instead of the new one, which is linked on the same page.

Good spotting! that was an oversight on my part. I just took the link straight from the Steam Community post! Interestingly, the other patches/mods (widescreen & autosave/savyanywhere) use the same outdated modloader. Since it automatically offers an update on first startup, it does not really mater, since they will be updated anyways.

Originally posted by nixkiez:

Soz if i was trying to come off as an ass.

No hard feelings :)

Okay guys, I solved it in the strangest way possible. Since when you hover the mouse over the application in the taskbar you see the preview of the game, I said to myself, "What if I enter on a Discord call and share screen so I can play?" (sounds weird, I know). The thing is that YEAH, you could see the game and you could play it, and not only that, but it suddenly started working, it appeared on the left screen. Since then the game opens normally, lol.
Thanks for responding too, what a great community <3
Pd: My native language is not English, I'm sorry if you don't understand me well

Ah, thanks for getting back to us! Glad it has been fixed. If you ever have this issue again, simply disable the 2nd screen when you start the game, this should fix it as well. :)