If you want to relax or have fun by playing games, nothing's more offputting than a screen that dims by itself while you play. Unfortunately, having everything go dark without warning could make some games difficult or even impossible to play and can throw you off.

Fortunately, our guide will walk you through the solutions so you can get back to having fun in no time.

1. Turn Off Your Monitor’s Auto-Dimming Feature

Before tweaking your system settings, make sure this is not a hardware issue. For example, check if your monitor has an auto-dimming feature that will automatically lower the screen’s brightness once you start playing.

Connect your computer to a different monitor and check if this solves your issue. If the screen doesn’t dim, you need to disable auto-dimming on your original monitor.

Because the instructions for this process vary from one producer to another, we can’t give you specific instructions. Instead, you will have to check the monitor’s user manual or look for step-by-step instructions on the manufacturer’s website.

Related: Which Display Resolution Is Best for Gaming?

2. Turn Off Adaptive Brightness

Before going through the below steps, check if your computer has installed and enabled light sensors. If your computer lacks the sensors, your screen dimming issue is not caused by Adaptive Brightness.

Windows 10 checks the lighting conditions and adjusts the screen brightness to better fit those conditions. If the level of ambient light decreases, Windows will make your screen less bright.

However, most people prefer to adjust the screen brightness manually, especially when playing a game. If you are one of them follow these steps to turn off Adaptive Brightness:

  1. Open the Settings menu by pressing Win + I.
  2. Go to System > Display.
  3. Uncheck Change brightness automatically when lighting changes.
Windows display settings

3. Check Display Drivers

Even if you are running the latest Windows 10 version, it doesn’t mean all your drivers are updated. Especially if your computer has a dedicated graphic card installed that uses third-party drivers.

You can update the display drivers manually by going to the producer’s website or via Device Manager. Here is how to do the latter:

  1. Right-click Start and select Device Manager.
  2. Expand the Display adapters list.
  3. Right-click the driver you want to update and click Update driver.
Device Manager

If your screen dims only when you are playing an older game, your driver version is incompatible with that game. In this case, you will have to roll back the driver.

Right-click the driver and select Properties. Then, click Driver and select one of the available rollback options.

Related: How to Run Old Games and Software on Windows 10

4. Turn Off Windows Game Mode

Theoretically, Game Mode detects when you are playing a game and gives that game more CPU and GPU resources to improve your gaming experience. So when you are doing something else like browsing the web, Game Mode has no impact on resources.

Because it changes how your system resources are managed, it might create conflict and cause your screen to dim when playing. So turning it off might be worth a try.

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Select Gaming > Game Mode.
  3. Turn off the toggle below Game Mode.
Windows 10 gaming settings

Also, you can try turning off Xbox Game Bar. From the Gaming menu, select Xbox Game Bar and turn off the toggle for Control how Xbox Game Bar opens and recognizes your game. Then, launch your game and check if the screen keeps dimming.

Related: How to Fix Low Game FPS in Windows

5. Check Your Graphics Card's Settings

If all else fails, the dimming may have something to do with your graphics card. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem, but there are things you can try.

Depending on your graphics card, there will be a different application that you can use to reconfigure the GPU settings. The best way to do it is to follow the manufacturer’s website and look for instructions.

Related: How to Check the Graphics Card on a Windows 10 PC

No More Self-Adjusting Brightness

Having a dimming screen can be annoying, but you can easily fix it by yourself. Looking through your monitor’s user manual or checking your system settings will help you solve the problem.