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Izanagi
Izanagi

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Overwatch 2 stutter fix: the DWM and MPO connection

Overwatch 2 stutter is one of the most common complaints in the community. Most people blame the game. The actual cause is usually Windows Desktop Window Manager and Multi-Plane Overlay.

What MPO does in practice

MPO (Multi-Plane Overlay) lets the GPU compositor handle overlay layers independently. In theory it reduces composite latency. In practice it causes frame delivery to become irregular on a wide range of hardware — especially AMD GPUs but also certain NVIDIA configurations.

Blizzard has acknowledged frame pacing issues in OW2. The fix on their end is ongoing. The fix on your end takes 30 seconds.

Disable MPO

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
OverlayTestMode = 5
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Log out and back in, or reboot.

Disable Fullscreen Optimizations

HKCU\System\GameConfigStore
GameDVR_FSEBehaviorMode = 2
GameDVR_FSEBehavior = 2
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

DXGI latency

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectX
MaxFrameLatency = 1
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Game DVR off

HKCU\System\GameConfigStore
GameDVR_Enabled = 0
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

These four changes together address the most common source of OW2 stutter that isn't related to the game itself.

IzanagiOP's Frame Pack applies all of them plus DWM timer, transparency, and fullscreen optimization settings. https://terweb.lt/

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