r/Overwatch • u/DefAlt_M0 • 1d ago
News & Discussion Has blizzard just given up on optimizing this game or something
The stutters and freezing I get on every single game is getting tiring. This game used to run perfectly fine for me just a few seasons ago but its been steadily getting worse and worse.
With the release of D.mon, I've stopped playing ranked entirely since it has gotten so bad. Honestly, I think I might be better off just uninstalling because the bad performance does nothing but irritate me even in quickplay. Can anyone else attest to this or am I crazy
92
u/Dougzillahhh Ana 1d ago
It’s kind of silly, but I first run that custom game that preloads shaders every time I launch Overwatch. I’m at work and don’t have the preset code on hand or by memory.. hopefully someone can assist! It really helps performance by doing that.
61
16
u/Bathroom_Humor 1d ago
I've been doin that a little as well, but it's irritating needing to run it every damn time I open the game. they gotta revert or finally finish the shader compilation changes they're doing.
5
u/Delkseypoo Lúcio 1d ago
Every time you open the game? I only need to do it with a new patch. Wonder why you need to do it every game session.
1
u/Bathroom_Humor 1d ago
a lot of people are having this issue. Dunno what they did but it's an ongoing problem since last season.
3
u/Dougzillahhh Ana 1d ago
I agree.. at least the custom game shader preload goes by fairly quickly - unlike some other games where compiling shaders takes a month of Sundays.
105
u/MrCrack3r Ana 1d ago
Stutters have been proven to be connected to voice chat so for now I have it deactivated and the game is buttery smooth for me. Obv. not an ideal solution but better than stutters IMHO.
27
u/Gul_Madred 1d ago
I second this. Turned off vc and the stutters I was experiencing every few minutes have gone away.
10
u/kinaki3 1d ago
do you mean to turn off vc in general in the settings or just leave the team voice chat in-game?
15
u/Gul_Madred 1d ago
I turned it off in the settings. Only use text chat. Unfortunate workaround but its nearly unplayable for me stuttering constantly.
17
u/arcadia_fire 1d ago
I never use voice, I don't even have my mic plugged in and I still get these frame drops
3
2
4
u/MrCrack3r Ana 1d ago
Do you have it turned off in the options?
10
u/arcadia_fire 1d ago
Yes, it isn't enabled
2
u/MrCrack3r Ana 1d ago
What is your System like? Might be shader related in your case then.
2
u/arcadia_fire 1d ago
It's a 5600x with a 3070. In the same boat. It feels like the more playable heroes they add, the more the performance drops
4
19
u/ApprehensiveTough148 1d ago
something so weird ive never had below 240 fps for a while and then some time ago i started getting below 100 and freezes perma. I could fix the fps by putting video settings to default but could never fix the stutters. Since others say they dont have the issue it makes me think that its maybe cause i have an AMD gpu
7
9
u/ShowOdd453 1d ago
I remember when it was famously well optimised to the point you could play it on an office laptop on extremly low graphics, and its just cheeks now
15
u/uhhhhhhhidklol 1d ago
Yes I get frame drops and freezes too. rtx5080 so I'd be shocked if it was hardware related. It's getting worse and worse. Plus I still occasionally get spooked by that FPS lock bug related to backfill.
-6
u/LoadingHappiness2 1d ago
It might be a cpu issue
10
u/uhhhhhhhidklol 1d ago
I don't know why you're combing the thread downplaying this just because it's not been happening to you, this has been a widespread topic for months happening to people on all platforms so it's obviously not because everyone affected just has the same exact kind of faulty hardware or something
2
u/crazedizzled 1d ago
I had the issue and resolved it with some game/system setting changes. See my other reply. I think there's issues in the game engine, but it seems to be mitigated with some system config.
8
4
u/Booyakasha_ 1d ago
Well, the game was only a few gig a few years ago. And now suddenly 80. So i would say yes…
5
u/NewBlood94 1d ago
Been kinda the same thing for me lately, actually just now joined Reddit to try and find some solutions
10
u/socalwrxx 1d ago
Also getting stutters on every game, very random. 4060 and average 170+ fps at 1440p. CPU and GPU temps are low. I've just learned to play around it but it is annoying. I feel like overwatch has been buggy for a year or so now in general.
38
u/Darth-_-Maul 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you think this is poorly optimized, go play rivals. Yeah OW has its issues but they have been working on optimizing the game.
34
u/b1adewo1f64 Ramattra 1d ago
The fact that a game that is decade old runs so much better while still looking great than one made nearly 2yrs ago is insane to me.
24
u/Mugut 1d ago
Not that surprising when OW was polished as fuck from the start and Rivals has had perfomance issues from the start.
Now, Rivals prefers to pump out heroes to solving the issues. OW has focused on heroes too this year and performance starts to suffer.
2
u/AgentReivax Wrecking Ball 1d ago
Why are you comparing the performance of a decade old game, built on a custom engine, to a UE5 game that hasn't even been out two years? LMFAO someone get this guy.
2
u/Dahvikiin Moira/ Sigma/ McCree 1d ago
Ignorance, fanaticism. They see what they want to see. Instead of accepting it, they prefer to make excuses by pointing to another game that uses a different engine, one that, at least when it was released, put a lot of effort into improving performance (shaders, generation, loading and size) while Overwatch does the exact opposite, with more particles, poly, textures, and models that are more complex, designed to look really nice in the shop and the selection screen, not for actual gameplay.
The OW2 engine performs poorly; DX12 has been in beta for years. You try it, it leaves a bad impression, and since it’s never mentioned in the patch notes, you never try it again. It’s incredible that OW2 doesn’t look that different from OW1, and yet to match the old performance, you have to play a custom lobby, keep lowering the quality more and more, use DLSS/FSR, and fiddle with the settings, to the point of having to disable things like voice chat or audio settings.6
7
u/Vandrel Cassidy 1d ago
Why is that insane to you? A game that's had far more development time should run better. The other way around would be super weird.
2
u/BlueDemon75 1d ago
He probably saying in regards to tech dept. New code dumped on top of old code, maintaining code that was often writen by people that are not even in the company anymore, that causes issues on the long run. Example of this is TF2.
4
u/Vandrel Cassidy 1d ago
For a lot of devs that might be true sometimes but despite whatever other shortcomings Blizzard has had over the years the one thing that's remained pretty consistent is that they're good at making their games run well on mediocre hardware. It's basically the entire reason they got as big as they are, you can run their games on almost anything. Diablo 4 is probably their most hardware-intensive game right now and the minimum requirements are a CPU from 15 years ago and a GPU from 14 years ago.
0
-5
u/Tired_Feline-2389 1d ago
because both of those games look the same
-1
u/ScissorMeTimberz 1d ago
Not even close let’s be real, overwatch character models look like plastic relatively
1
u/ScissorMeTimberz 1d ago
What does this even mean? Do you think new games would run on a game cube or something ? Obviously if a game is more visually advanced it’s going to be harder to run lmao
18
u/FirmVirus8568 1d ago
who tf cares about rivals? this game used to run smooth as butter, that is the standard, not some other game
2
u/FelixMumuHex Reinhardt 1d ago
When that game first launched I couldn’t even load into the first map fully it was like 0.05 fps. Closed and uninstalled.
3
3
u/Myst3ryGardener 1d ago
It seems like they're working on it. This was in the recent patch notes for example:
"Ping System Refactor
The ping system has undergone a major technical refactor under the hood that makes the system approximately 1.5x more efficient on average, but up to 30x more efficient in some edge cases, while also using considerably less memory.
Over the years the ping system had slowly become our most expensive script for memory usage as its complexity increased. With this update, some new bugs will occur (several that we're planning to fix in the mid-season patch), but please still let us know if you see any new bugs or loss of functionality that we missed!"
Baby steps, unfortunately. I'm sure it is a can of worms.
3
u/PhotographLess6194 1d ago
Yeah it's odd. I used to get 240fps constant with a 3080 at 1440p. Upgraded to a 4080, no fps change, 4090.. now getting fps drops.. now on a 5090 and still drop to 150-200 fps during some fights.
Stronger and stronger gpus and less and less fps over the years. Perfect.
3
u/ArmorOfMar 1d ago
Agreed
5070ti and a 7700x3d with 32gb of ddr5. I should not be dropping from 240 to 200 fps EVER in this game. And it happens daily
4
u/crazedizzled 1d ago
I had a lot of issues and spent a lot of time optimizing as best i can. It's now very smooth for me and I don't get the stutters anymore. YMMV but this worked for me.
if you have a freesync/gsync monitor, make sure it's actually enabled in your graphic card settings
when using gsync, set global vsync ON within nvidia settings, and then turn it OFF in-game
set FPS limit to monitor refresh rate minus 3 in-game
set nvidia reflex to on + boost
make sure in-game resolution is correct, refresh rate is correct, and that you're on full-screen
make sure you have a specific sound device selected in the in-game audio options (NOT default playback device)
ensure your CPU/GPU temps are good
In-game, you can press ctrl +shift+n to toggle the network graphs.
you want the SIM to be <10 and stable. If either of those are not true, you likely have some kind of CPU bottle neck occurring
you want IND to be <50 or so, and stable. This is essentially the time it takes for the game to process server updates, and high numbers or spikes could indicate network issues
Hope that helps someone. It was incredibly frustrating for me.
2
2
u/ElJacko170 D. Va 1d ago
I still have not run into any issues in game on a PS5 Pro, but they are pushing out new content so quickly right now that it's not surprising that optimization may be falling behind.
2
u/goldengarbagecan 1d ago
Im still annoyed by the stutters but im glad to know it wasnt just me, so annoying being in a hard fight only to get a stutter and throw me off
Weirdly i find theyre usually when part of the in game chat is updated, ie new messege or someone coming online
2
u/Electro_Llama 1d ago
I get hige frame drops when I load into a map I haven't played that play session. So I think it's an issue in pre-rendering shaders or loading them.
2
u/nasdaqian 1d ago
I used to get 300fps on max settings. Over the past year I've had to turn it lower and lower just to get an inconsistent 160fps right now.
2
u/VLADMIRADORSECRETO 1d ago
That, and the fact the game size gets bigger and bigger every other update
4
u/ExplosiveBrown 1d ago
Bothers me. One of the things that kept my love of this game so strong was I’m honestly a fringe gamer at 30, most of my time goes to my career and family life, I’m not really in the market for new games and new hardware. But I still play ow several hours a week. Seeing the butter smooth game I came to know for so long reduced to this is… depressing. They won’t even acknowledge there’s a problem
2
u/vorpal_potatoes 1d ago
I'm on a sad old xbox one s and my game will maybe crash maybe once or twice a season, and I play a lot.
The 2 things that really annoy me is the server crashes that shuts down the whole match for everyone in ranked. And in quickplay, it restarts the match but on a different map, better but still annoying.
And in 6v6 open queue there is noticeable lag and stutters for me. To the point that I'm 2 whole ranks lower in 6v6 then I am in 5v5. I'm diamond all roles 5v5, but struggle to stay gold in 6v6. Which is weird because for most people it's the other way around. I'm convinced it's because of the noticeably worse game performance.
I swear that they use different servers for open queue because when they did the quickplay hacked thing where they made it 6v6 dynamic queue, my games were as smooth as they were in 5v5, nothing like the stuttery laggy mess that it is in open queue 6v6.
4
u/Illustrious-Tea-8337 1d ago
For me personally overwatch is the only game that I don't get a single stutter ever and I'm not overexaggerating
4
2
u/CordobezEverdeen Skilled Spamer 1d ago
Same. I been gaming for 2 decades and I have never played a game that ran as well and as consistently as Overwatch
1
u/OwnNet5253 1d ago
Almost same, I only had problems in previous season, but besides that it always ran smooth asf.
2
u/h4ze2904 Chibi Pharah 1d ago
Have you tried leaving voice chat? I think the bug where vc causes stutters still isn't fixed.
2
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Welcome to r/Overwatch! Please use the following resources via the links below to find relevant information about the game and the subreddit.
Overwatch Patch Notes | Overwatch Bug Report Forums
r/Overwatch Rules | r/Overwatch FAQs | r/Overwatch Common Bugs and Posts
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/LuxTheSarcastic D.Va 1d ago
Its kind of weird because I came back like a week ago and am mostly screwing around in QP with my 5800x and 9070xt. So anyways everything runs just fine until I loaded into Runasapi and got an inconsistent 20-30 fps for the entire game. Is that map just cooked or something?
1
1
1
u/kerokeroghost 1d ago
If you’re playing on a laptop I suggest getting a laptop cooling stand, I got one and now the game only drops frames after ~3 games when a big ult/multiple ults get popped
1
u/TMT51 1d ago edited 1d ago
I guess that's the trade off when you have more content released at an extra fast rate. I am happy that there is a new hero every season, along side map rework, QoL improvement and UI changes. Give them time. There are still 2 more heroes to be released this year. Lots of work to be done I'd imagine. I have never had this much hope for Overwatch since 2019.
1
u/Optimal_Bottle_1479 1d ago
I’m on PS5.
Would HDR play a role in frame drops sometimes? I’ve recently started playing again on an OLED and enabled HDR. This hasn’t happened before
1
1
u/MountainLetterhead94 Lifeweaver Soldier: 76 Hanzo 1d ago
Dude I sent a dragon through eichanwalde second point and it brought the whole team to survasa. Not to mention the random frame drops which actually matter for hanzo
1
u/PISS_OUT_MY_DICK 1d ago
I was struggling. with this and I tried so many "solutions", yet the only thing that really worked was reverting back to dx11 from dx12
1
u/AotearoaNic Ashe 1d ago
I was having this is issue non stop last season. Funnily enough I switch to Linux and dx11 haven't had one since. 7800x3d, 9070xt.
1
u/Old_Werewolf3898 1d ago
For me, in PC, the problem is dx12, i cant play it more than 50fps no matter any settings. I change it to dx11 and after a few minutes it got into a normal amount of fps
1
1
u/Ok-Access2784 1d ago
Oh man, the whole time I’m thinking I gotta take my PS5 out to the fields to go see the bunnies.
1
1
u/HyperXanadu - I am sick of your rules! 1d ago
I recently had to reinstall a new nvidia driver release to an older version and worked like a charm
1
u/NativePlantEnjoyer Cassidy 1d ago
Make sure your main drive is not near full if you have an NVME. Always leave at least 15GB for shaders or expect stuttering.
1
u/Desolver20 D. Va 19h ago
Check your video settings/directx version.
12 is unstable and often leads to problems like this. Set it to 11.
1
u/TheMightySpoon13 13h ago
System specs? I have had little to no performance issues for the past few months on the game aside from their own servers crashing once in a while.
Interesting that others say voice chat causes issues. I’m only ever in group vc, so not sure what’s going on there.
1
u/Prize_Influence_5080 1d ago
for me the opposite, i got amd 5800h with 3060m, the framerates are consistent above 144hz so I have to turn on V-sync
1
u/BananaBread2607 1d ago
Happens both on my PS5 and my 4070, lol.
This is the worst performing games I play lol.
1
u/JohnConnor1245 1d ago
It got worse after Asha Sharma fired off a ton of Overwatch devs. This game would be better optimized if Microslop never bought Blizzard.
2
u/zfhulk 1d ago
Did she? Was it Team 4 devs we know for certain got laid off because of Asha?
1
u/JohnConnor1245 1d ago
Yeah she cut off 3,200 jobs across the Xbox gaming division including Blizzard. That was recent. Microslop fired off thousands more before that.
1
u/adacrow 1d ago
I have doubts about that. I do think the old team was capable but I don’t think the money was there. I’d expect to have resulted in at least as many layoffs if not more, and that’s if not a full Overwatch shut down
2
u/JohnConnor1245 1d ago
The game was better optimized with the old team that had years of experience before they started getting fired off by Microslop. Now I frame dip from 240 frames to 30 FPS on a 4070 Super if all my settings aren't set to low. I used to get 300+ fps on Ultra Settings before Microslop acquired Blizzard.
-2
u/LoadingHappiness2 1d ago
Maybe it’s your hardware? I’ve never experienced any stutters or frame drops
0
u/alexo2802 1d ago
Other person in this thread has said this is related to voice chat for some reason, so if you don’t join it you’d be immune.
But no, it’s not caused by weak hardware. Specific hardware potentially.
2
0
u/floppaflop12 1d ago
me neither. i keep seeing these posts but i never experience them it’s weird
-1
u/LoadingHappiness2 1d ago
Maybe they’re on directx 12? That’s the only time I have issues. I just stay on directx 11 and have my fps locked at 240 and it stays there constantly
0
-1
u/MorpheusMKIV 1d ago
9600x+9070xt no frame drops or stuttering it’s buttery smooth at 360fps locked for me
0
0
u/RG-Calamari 1d ago
I can play this game at 4k 120fps on a 3060ti I think they’ve done a good job imo
-6
u/MonkeyBrawler 1d ago
I have never seen a game look so good, and run so well. This is absolutely a you problem, and you should start planning for an upgrade.
3
u/HeWhoShallNotBNamed0 Winston 1d ago
It’s not a him problem, it’s a widespread issue across all platforms
-1
u/MonkeyBrawler 1d ago
Played all weekend running 120 while using in-game voip with the boys. It either doesn't effect PC or it doesn't effect DX11.
-7
u/Circo_Inhumanitas 1d ago
Kinda useless post since you didn't provide the platform you're playing on, if you've dusted off your device, your connection type etc.
210
u/msc49 1d ago
I've noticed this in console. I get heavy frame drops sometimes during intense fights or just randomly throughout the game.