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Overwatch

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games

This product is no longer playable in any capacity. It is covered here for historical reference.

Overwatch
Developers

	Blizzard Entertainment
Release dates
Windows	May 24, 2016
Reception
Metacritic	91
OpenCritic	91
IGDB	89
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	Cosmetic,Currency,Finite spend,Loot box,Time-limited,Free-to-grind
Modes	Singleplayer,Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action,FPS,Shooter
Art styles	Cartoon,Stylized
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	Overwatch

Overwatch
Overwatch	2016
Overwatch 2	2022

Warnings

This game requires aconstant internet connection for all game modes.

Overwatch was asingleplayer andmultiplayer first-person action,FPS andshooter game in theSeries:Overwatch series.

The game is no longer playable as of October 3, 2022 as it was replaced by the free-to-play sequelOverwatch 2 on October 4, 2022.

General information

Official forums

Official support sub-section

Overwatch wiki

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail (unavailable)		Origins Edition, Collector's Edition, Game of the Year Edition and Legendary Edition.
Amazon.com (unavailable)		Legendary Edition
Battle.net (unavailable)		Replaced byOverwatch 2

All versions requireBattle.net DRM and aconstant internet connection for all game modes.

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	Upfront purchase is required.

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
Cosmetic	The game has thousands of cosmetic items, ranging from sprays to skins, purchasable with the in-game premium currency.
Currency	The game has an in-game premium currency called coins. It cannot be directly earned in game nor purchased directly at a fixed real money to in-game currency rate. You may receive it by opening both free (given at each account level) and paid (via real money transactions) lootboxes either as the direct reward from the lootbox or if one of the items you receive is a duplicate.
Finite spend	The total spend is limited by the fact that you could in theory own all the cosmetic items. However, there are many thousand of low-value filler items, and you cannot directly purchase certain skins and items and must instead rely on the randomness of lootboxes, making the spend ceiling extremely high.
Free-to-grind	You could, in theory, obtain all the items by grinding the game. It may take you until theheat death of the universe, but it is possible.
Loot box	Overwatch was the first AAA western PC game with a sticker price to offer lootboxes, thus starting the whole trend.^[1]
Time-limited	Some cosmetics are seasonal and only available for a limited time.

Version differences

Overwatch: Origins Edition

This version includes the base game, along with the following extra content:

Exclusive hero skins for Overwatch
Mercy's Wings forDiablo III
Overwatch card back forHearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Tracer hero forHeroes of the Storm
In-game avatar portraits forStarCraft II
Baby Winston pet forWorld of Warcraft

Overwatch: Game of the Year Edition

This version includes all of the content found in the Origins Edition, along with:

10 in-game lootboxes

Overwatch: Legendary Edition

This version includes all of the content found in the Origins Edition, along with:

10 character skins

Overwatch: Collector's Edition

This version includes all of the content found in the Origins Edition, but not the Game of the Year Edition and the Legendary Edition, along with:

The game's soundtrack
A visual sourcebook
A 12.8" statue of theSoldier: 76 hero

Game data

In-game general settings. (Launch)

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Overwatch\Settings\Settings_v0.ini

Progress, stats, and controls are saved automatically by Battle.net servers.

Video

In-game video settings. (Launch)

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor		Pillarboxed 16:9.^[2]
Ultra-widescreen		FOV is Vert-.^[3]
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)	80-103°. Defaults to 103°.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	Listed asTexture Filtering.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	FXAA orSMAA.SSAA is available through the "Render Scale" option.
High-fidelity upscaling	See theglossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	Triple buffering is also available.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS	30 FPS, display-based (value of refresh rate + 10), or custom (30-400 FPS). Menus are locked to 60 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)	See theglossary page for potential alternatives.
Color blind mode	Choice of Deuteranopia, Protanopia, or Tritanopia. [Incorrect implementation, Applies filter to simulate colorblindness]

Input

Individual control profiles for each hero are available, making it possible to have custom control settings and bindings for each one.

In-game control settings. (Launch)

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard andmouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		XInput only. For Steam controller/link,see below.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger support

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers		See theglossary page for potential workarounds.

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)		See theglossary page for potential workarounds.

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M		Locking UI to either Controller or Mouse+Keyboard is possible.

Audio

In-game audio settings. (Launch)

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sound Effects, Music, In-Game Voice, Voice Chat.
Surround sound
Subtitles		On by default in the Tutorial, but added in 2019 to missions in the Archives event, then in regular play with three levels of customization ("None", "Critical gameplay", "Critical gameplay + Conversations", or "Everything").
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Toggle with sound in background option.
EAX support		Dolby Atmos for Headphones, Windows Spatial Audio^[4]
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play
Online play		12	Versus Up to 6 spectators can be added to a game on top of the max player limit. The official multiplayer service was shut down on October 3, 2022.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	80, 1119, 3724, 6113
UDP	3724, 26503-26597

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed

Overwatch process isn't being terminated when the game closes and/or changed settings are not saved

Set the exe to run as administrator
Go to the game installation folder \Overwatch\_retail_\ and right click Overwatch.exe > Properties > Compatibility tab > Check "Run this program as an administrator" > Apply/OK

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		Works using Compatibility Mode (enabled by default). Depth-sensitive halo around weapons.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Wwise (XAudio2^{[citation needed]})	^[5]. Dolby Atmos support for headphones. Vivox for voice chat
Cutscenes	Bink Video	1.100n
Multiplayer	Battle.net
Anti-cheat	Warden	W/ GuardIT anti-debug^[6]

Add as a non-Steam shortcut to have the Steam Overlay

Use bnetlauncher^[7]
With this method, manual login on every startup is not required. Downloadbnetlauncher. Extract`bnetlauncher.exe` to an easily accessible location. In Steam, add`bnetlauncher.exe` as a non-Steam shortcut. Right-click the shortcut and go to Properties. In theTarget box, add a space and add`ow` after the full path and quotation marks. For example, it would look like`"C:\Overwatch\bnetlauncher.exe" ow`.

Use bnetlauncher^[7]

With this method, manual login on every startup is not required.

Downloadbnetlauncher.
Extractbnetlauncher.exe to an easily accessible location.
In Steam, addbnetlauncher.exe as a non-Steam shortcut.
Right-click the shortcut and go to Properties.
In theTarget box, add a space and addow after the full path and quotation marks. For example, it would look like"C:\Overwatch\bnetlauncher.exe" ow.

Add the game executable^{[citation needed]}
With this method, manual login on every startup is required, even if Battle.net is running in the background. In Steam, add`<path-to-game>\Overwatch.exe` as a non-Steam shortcut.

Add the game executable^{[citation needed]}

With this method, manual login on every startup is required, even if Battle.net is running in the background.

In Steam, add<path-to-game>\Overwatch.exe as a non-Steam shortcut.

Add Blizzard App executable^{[citation needed]}
With this method, manual login on every startup is not required. In Steam, add the`Battle.net Launcher.exe` executable from Blizzard App path as a non-Steam shortcut.

Add Blizzard App executable^{[citation needed]}