Experiencing PC gaming action on a portable device is a dream come true for many gamers. Well, Steam Deck allows you to do the same. It brings the action and adventure of PC gaming into the clutches of your hands. Steam Deck has most of the games in its arsenal. However, not all the games are officially supported on the device. Now, even though some games are listed as playable, players face issues with them. Recently, Overwatch 2 players have reported facing crashing issues when running the game on their Steam Deck. Imagine being in an intense match and suddenly the game crashes. If you’re struggling with the same, consider reading this guide until the end.
Overwatch 2 is a sequel to the original action PvP Overwatch game. It was developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released on various platforms. Similar to the original, Overwatch 2 is a team-based PvP action game. Players can select heroes and fight against the other team. There are different heroes to choose from and various modes to play. In addition, players can also enjoy this gameplay while on the move. Steam Deck allows players to join the Overwatch 2 action at their leisure, without the need to be tied to a stationary place. However, the crashing of the game on Steam Deck is annoying as it ruins the gameplay experience. That said, here are some potential workarounds you can try.
Overwatch 2 crashing on Steam Deck: How to fix it
Overwatch 2 is meant to be played on big screens like PCs or consoles. However, playing on the Steam Deck could still be a good experience. But it requires some tweaking, as the game is not officially supported. Although Overwatch 2 runs quite well on the handheld, there can be instances where it crashes without any error code. If that’s happening to you as well, here are a few workarounds for you to try:
Restart Steam Deck
The simplest and most effective troubleshooting method is to restart the device. This method helps if the issue is caused by a background process interfering with the game’s launch.
Update OW2 and SteamOS
Ensure that the game and your Steam Deck have the latest version installed. Eventually, an outdated SteamOS can lead to several issues while playing games. That’s why we recommend getting the latest SteamOS version installed and then launching the game.
Change the Proton Version
You can also run the game using Proton. However, there are various Proton versions that you can experiment with and check to see which one fixes the crashing issue. Here’s how you can change the Proton version for Overwatch 2:
- First, head over to the Steam Library, and go to the Overwatch 2 tab.
- Here, select the Options button and tap on Properties.
- After this, choose Compatibility.
- Now, checkmark the Force Proton version option, and then select any of the available versions. You can try running the game on different versions.
Tinker with the game files
A player suggested that using ProtoupQT, and tinkering with the game files has helped resolve the issue. Follow the steps below to try the fix.
- First, switch to Desktop Mode.
- Next, change the Proton version for OW2 to Proton 7 or higher.
- Then, reinstall Battle Net and Log in.
- After this, download Overwatch 2, but don’t launch the game.
- Then, set Battle Net to close after the game is launched.
- Once done, open Dolphin and go to Home>.local>share>Steam>steamapps>compatdata. Make sure that the Battle Net and OW2 files are installed in pfx>drive_c> Program Files (x86).
- Now, go to pfx>drive_c>users>steamuser>Documents. At this file path, create a new folder called Overwatch. Here, add two new folders: Settings and Logs.
- Then, open the Settings folder and create a new text file called Settings_v0.ini. Then paste the following inside:
[Cinematics.1]ShowIntro = “0”[environment.1]Current = “4165336192”[General.0]movieexport.1 = “1”movieexport.1 = “0”render.13 = “1”[GPU.6]GPUDeviceID = “5695”GPUName = “AMD RADV VANGOGH”GPUScaler = “29.000000”GPUVenderID = “4098”[Render.13]FullScreenHeight = “800”FullScreenRefresh = “60”FullScreenWidth = “1280”FullscreenWindow = “0”FullscreenWindowEnabled = “0”GFXPresetLevel = “1”LimitAspectRatio = “0”ShowFPSCounter = “0”WindowedFullscreen = “1”WindowMode = “1”[TankMenuItems.1]FPSOverlay = “0”
- After this, save it as a .ini file, not a .txt. Now, download ProtoupQT from the Discover store and launch it.
- In ProtonupQT, install Proton GE 7–10.
- Once done, on Steam, set the compatibility of Battle_net with Proton GE 7-10.
- After this, launch the game and check if it crashes.
Use Bottles
Using Bottles can fix the game’s crashing issue on the Steam Deck. Bottles are containers utilized to run native Windows applications in SteamOS (Linux). Well, Overwatch 2 runs well using Caffe 7.18 as the runner. Follow the steps to install it:
- First, switch to Desktop mode on the Steam Deck.
- Next, open the Discover Store.
- Now, find and download the Bottles application.
- Once installed, go to Preferences and select Runners.
- After this, choose Caffe 7.18.
- Once done, download Battle.net and then the game. Now, add the game as a non-Steam game, and launch it. You may have to wait for a while until the shaders are loaded completely.
Download Lutris
Lutris is an open-source gaming platform that can be used to run Overwatch 2 smoothly on your Steam Deck. Players can download Overwatch 2 using Lutris to fix the crashing issues on the Deck. Follow the steps below for the same:
- First, switch to Desktop Mode, and open the Discover Store. Now, search for Lutris and install it.
- Then, download Caffe from the given link.
- Extract the downloaded files in the Lutris directory (/home/deck/.var/app/net.lutris.Lutris/data/lutris/runners/wine/).
- After this, download BattleNet via Lutris.
- Then, add it to Steam as a non-Steam game.
- Once done, launch it, and download Overwatch 2. Using the Battle.net launcher, try playing OW2, and check if the issue persists.
That was all for the workarounds to fix the OW2 crashing issue on Steam Deck. We hope that this guide was helpful. For more such guides and updates, visit DigiStatement daily. Also read: Binding of Isaac crashing on Steam Deck: How to fix it?
