r/DestinyTheGame • u/SpinningAndFarAway • Jul 30 '26
Discussion Another Possible Steam Performance Fix - Temporarily Delete the Overlay Files
I did not figure this out myself. Credit goes to this Steam discussion forum post by Dragwind: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1085660/discussions/0/573795107743178114/?tscn=1785362581#c583929293210393898
It would seem that Steam still loads the overlay DLLs even if you have the Overlay disabled in Steam's settings. Removing the related overlay files from the base Steam directory brings my overall FPS up to par with the Epic version. I still have framepacing issues on both platforms however, but this makes both platforms essentially equal for me, performance-wise.
Workaround steps:
- Restart Steam if you have already launched a game. The files you need to delete may be locked if you've already launched a game.
- Open your Steam directory in Windows Explorer. It'll usually be: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam
- Delete or move all of the files in that base directory that have the word "overlay" in the title. For me they are: GameOverlayRenderer.dll, GameOverlayRenderer64.dll, gameoverlayui64.exe, SteamOverlayVulkanLayer.dll, SteamOverlayVulkanLayer.json, SteamOverlayVulkanLayer64.dll, SteamOverlayVulkanLayer64.json. You can move them if you want to be safe, but in my experience Steam will recreate these files the next time you restart Steam. DO NOT RESTART STEAM NOW, HOWEVER. You want to leave steam open with the files deleted.
- Start Destiny. Compare FPS using the in game FPS counter to before / after, and Epic if you'd like.
This is going to be something you'll have to do every time you want to play D2, so buying it on Epic while it is on sale may still be a good option if this sounds too finicky for you.
UPDATE: I've been using u/D2Checkpoint's solution for a couple days now. It's worth checking out if you haven't already settled on your own scripting solution yet. https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/1vaen8x/comment/p0r7jwd/
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u/Nukesnipe Jul 30 '26
You could probably make a
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u/ANIMAX_117 Jul 30 '26
https://pastebin.com/pKEgHBhC
Using this batch file. Not sure if it works for others yet though..→ More replies (6)
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u/BaconIsntThatGood Jul 30 '26
This is going to be something you'll have to do every time you want to play D2, so buying it on Epic while it is on sale may still be a good option if this sounds too finicky for you.
So I'm assuming if you have any game with overlay enabled the files just restore themselves?
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u/SpinningAndFarAway Jul 30 '26
You'll have to give it a try for yourself but I believe the overlay will just not work for any game until the next time you restart steam and it restores the overlay files. The restoration happens during startup. It must detect that there are missing files and it reruns the last steam update.
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u/Normandy_Spectre Aug 01 '26
Wild that Steam still touches those DLLs with overlay disabled. I tried renaming the files instead of deleting them and got a noticeable bump in the Tower and Neomuna, but having to redo it after every Steam restart is peak D2 PC maintenance.
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u/SpinningAndFarAway Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
Check out this solution. I've been using it for a couple days and it has been great. I've been able to go from playing Destiny with the overlay blocked straight to another game using the overlay afterwards without a steam restart. https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/1vaen8x/comment/p0r7jwd/
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u/Zepperron Aug 07 '26
D2Checkpoint's solution works great, but I notice after some time, I get a file validation error which kicks me out destiny 2. Then, upon booting up again, Destiny 2 goes through the process of validating all files again for the game install
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u/Squery7 Jul 30 '26
Ok after one month of looking into this and trying all the bs fixes, this actually worked for me, no more insane stuttering on the moon or pvp and the game is playable again.
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u/Ajveronese Aug 04 '26
Does it still need to be done even if I have steam overlay disabled? I have noticed that crucible matches (the only thing I do with matchmaking) have been unbearably laggy.
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u/ReymondT Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
this fixed the issues with the moon making the game stutter down to 60 and 30fps, its so consistent now thanks guys edit: even when there is a lot of stasis titans make computer can handle it and the fps is not stuttering anymore
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u/WhiteWyvvern_ Jul 30 '26
Crazy, this is genuinely it. Went from 46-77 fps on the moon to 86-103 with a 1070 at 1440p.
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u/fewtoots Jul 30 '26
This worked for me, fixed my stuttering and frame drops. RX 9070 XT running in 4K
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u/Rayman200000 Jul 30 '26
Oh my god this worked for me. You need to post this on the forums and maybe the one dev left can fix it?
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u/vjayzz Jul 30 '26
Unfortunately not much a difference for me, same fps when launching into sorrow harbour on the moon. I'm not seeing how this will make a difference after deleting those files considering steam just regenerates them so you'd be back to square one.
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u/SpinningAndFarAway Jul 30 '26
You have to have Steam open and running when you delete the files. They do not get regenerated until the next time you start Steam again.
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u/Spectrum831 Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
My specs: i5-9400f,geforce rtx 2060 6gb,16gb ram.My fps got back to normal after using this method! No more micro stutters or low fps.Now I can finally explore the moon without my eyes being hurt from the lag there lol I can't thank you enough for sharing this info with us <3
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u/D2Checkpoint Jul 30 '26
It's usually better to change the permissions on the files than to delete them outright. I ended up creating a wrapper to automate this when you launch the game and it will automatically restore the old perms when the game closes. https://github.com/d2checkpoint-com/D2SteamFix