60hz widowmaker Overwatch FEELS BETTER than 500hz OLED

[earth_is_flat]

I've tried everything guys over the past several years....like 6+. BIOS tweaks, custom USB drivers for Windows 7 installation, Win8, Linux (although failed to install OW), debloating, guides like Calypso's, timer resolution, ISLC, interrupt moderation, different mice, and different monitors. I remember the days when you could pretty easily hit widowmaker hook shots and other relatively easy flick shots and reaction shots. The biggest enemy back then was SIM spikes...Sometimes you'd have to restart OW at the half of competitive games, or switch to windowed mode and right away shots on widowmaker were possible again. I've been chasing that feeling/ability for years now.

OW feels like absolute crap. Widowmain streamer Kephrii experienced this feeling back when OW2 first came out and he was finally able to fix it with some console controller settings that was affecting the mouse experience....that fix never helped me.

A few times, several glorious games at a time for a few hours until the next day or a restart in windows I was able to have amazing/scary dominating games on Widowmaker........but the next day no matter what i tried I started to not be able to hit the easiest of shots. Brand new computers, but more often new monitors on the very first day I tried them...such as some BenQ blur buster's recommended monitors, and eventually 540hz Asus ROG....and today an ASUS 500hz 2.7K OLED. A couple other OLEDs I had some good experiences for a few hours, but this current 500hz Asus I've not really had a single great game on......................until today when I switched it to 60hz. The screen didn't look good and my mouse felt a bit laggy, BUT I WAS ABLE TO HIT SHOTS. I hit 17 scoped crits I think in a quickplay match.....I tried upping the hz to 120hz and 240hz....and progressively it LOOKED better, but it FELT WORSE.

What is going on guys? I most recently had a desktop which I returned with 9800x3d and 5070ti. My current laptop has Ultra 9 and 5090gpu. I use "perfect mice" and obsess over sensitivity and mousepads...wooting keyboards, etc. I most recently had a good few games when I read in this forum about uninstalling Realtek driver using DDU....but it went to crap by the next day and then uninstalling it again had zero effect.

Help.

[TN_fun]

Dude, if you think the problem is with the hardware, not the electricity or the internet, but your new laptop acts exactly like your PC, and the laptop screen is lagging too—then it's those EMIs. And you yourself are the source of the interference. There's no other explanation. Just think about it logically using the process of elimination.

[PapaJuan]

I have experienced something similar, and this could be actually due to how overwatch handles netcode.

When you press Ctrl + Shift + N in game, it will pull up the netcode graph. There is alot happening here, but you specifically want to look at PPS OUT. This is how many packets are being sent from your computer to the server. Normally, this will fluctuate around ~63 PPS, and even more the higher your FPS goes. However, when you lock your FPS to 60, the PPS locks to a perfect 60 PPS with zero fluctuation. This is by design. I have noticed that this feels more "consistent" if that makes sense.

Now, why does netcode matter? Well, the hitmarker visual and sound effect don't play until the server validates it. So, if you have really high ping, then it will take longer for the hitmarker to appear. But there is a little more nuance to this issue. I had a friend who felt as if he was having networking issues, but nothing was showing up in any tests on his side or his ISPs side. But every once and a while he would notice this weird desync (especially on characters like tracer) where the bullets were going where he was aiming, but the hitmarker sound and display were going off way too late and also very inconsistently. Something as subtle as this was completely throwing off his aim to the point where he actually had to take a break from the game. My friend is a champ DPS player, and we also talked to some Tier 1 pros about the same issue. Some experienced it, some did not.

The fix? Well, there isn't really any good ones. My friend basically had to deal with it when he was at school, as it didnt cause any issues at home. The only slight fix I could find was a setting to reduce client send rate somewhere in the overwatch settings; it reduces the PPS down to ~33, but it's MUCH more consistent than when your fps is at 500+ and the setting is off. The main downside is it adds about 15ms of extra ping, as half the number of packets are being sent.

The only other thing I can think of testing is toggling High Precision Mouse Input in the Overwatch settings. This setting ONLY effects the first shot on hitscan weapons, but that means every single shot for Widow.

Here is the netcode blizzard article. When it talks about "locked framerate" they mean specifically locked at 60FPS. Anything below or above counts as unlocked when it comes to overwatch netcode.
https://us.support.blizzard.com/en/help/article/37007

Info about me: I am a GM hitscan player, with ~400 hours on Widow, ~400 on McCree, and ~500 on Sojourn. I also have a few sources that go much more in depth about Overwatch's netcode.

[earth_is_flat]

Dude, if you think the problem is with the hardware, not the electricity or the internet, but your new laptop acts exactly like your PC, and the laptop screen is lagging too—then it's those EMIs. And you yourself are the source of the interference. There's no other explanation. Just think about it logically using the process of elimination.

so what's the solution?

[earth_is_flat]

I have experienced something similar, and this could be actually due to how overwatch handles netcode.

When you press Ctrl + Shift + N in game, it will pull up the netcode graph. There is alot happening here, but you specifically want to look at PPS OUT. This is how many packets are being sent from your computer to the server. Normally, this will fluctuate around ~63 PPS, and even more the higher your FPS goes. However, when you lock your FPS to 60, the PPS locks to a perfect 60 PPS with zero fluctuation. This is by design. I have noticed that this feels more "consistent" if that makes sense.

Now, why does netcode matter? Well, the hitmarker visual and sound effect don't play until the server validates it. So, if you have really high ping, then it will take longer for the hitmarker to appear. But there is a little more nuance to this issue. I had a friend who felt as if he was having networking issues, but nothing was showing up in any tests on his side or his ISPs side. But every once and a while he would notice this weird desync (especially on characters like tracer) where the bullets were going where he was aiming, but the hitmarker sound and display were going off way too late and also very inconsistently. Something as subtle as this was completely throwing off his aim to the point where he actually had to take a break from the game. My friend is a champ DPS player, and we also talked to some Tier 1 pros about the same issue. Some experienced it, some did not.

The fix? Well, there isn't really any good ones. My friend basically had to deal with it when he was at school, as it didnt cause any issues at home. The only slight fix I could find was a setting to reduce client send rate somewhere in the overwatch settings; it reduces the PPS down to ~33, but it's MUCH more consistent than when your fps is at 500+ and the setting is off. The main downside is it adds about 15ms of extra ping, as half the number of packets are being sent.

The only other thing I can think of testing is toggling High Precision Mouse Input in the Overwatch settings. This setting ONLY effects the first shot on hitscan weapons, but that means every single shot for Widow.

Here is the netcode blizzard article. When it talks about "locked framerate" they mean specifically locked at 60FPS. Anything below or above counts as unlocked when it comes to overwatch netcode.
https://us.support.blizzard.com/en/help/article/37007

Info about me: I am a GM hitscan player, with ~400 hours on Widow, ~400 on McCree, and ~500 on Sojourn. I also have a few sources that go much more in depth about Overwatch's netcode.

I think we're onto something. I have DEFINITELY OFTEN found that limiting client send rate helps with hitreg/widowmaker...........every once in a while limiting server send rate also, but at that point nothing is feeling great. So High Precision Mouse Input ON, OFF and back ON?

Is there a way you can reduce the Client Send rate by a certain amount? Maybe I'll try capping FPS at 60 and upping my refreshrate to 500hz and gradually lower that. Maybe find a sweetspot in the middle. I found that during this improved hitreg/input delay switching my mouse from a 1000hz G pro to a 4000hz superlight x2 helped even more.

[vnb]

I have experienced something similar, and this could be actually due to how overwatch handles netcode.

When you press Ctrl + Shift + N in game, it will pull up the netcode graph. There is alot happening here, but you specifically want to look at PPS OUT. This is how many packets are being sent from your computer to the server. Normally, this will fluctuate around ~63 PPS, and even more the higher your FPS goes. However, when you lock your FPS to 60, the PPS locks to a perfect 60 PPS with zero fluctuation. This is by design. I have noticed that this feels more "consistent" if that makes sense.

Now, why does netcode matter? Well, the hitmarker visual and sound effect don't play until the server validates it. So, if you have really high ping, then it will take longer for the hitmarker to appear. But there is a little more nuance to this issue. I had a friend who felt as if he was having networking issues, but nothing was showing up in any tests on his side or his ISPs side. But every once and a while he would notice this weird desync (especially on characters like tracer) where the bullets were going where he was aiming, but the hitmarker sound and display were going off way too late and also very inconsistently. Something as subtle as this was completely throwing off his aim to the point where he actually had to take a break from the game. My friend is a champ DPS player, and we also talked to some Tier 1 pros about the same issue. Some experienced it, some did not.

The fix? Well, there isn't really any good ones. My friend basically had to deal with it when he was at school, as it didnt cause any issues at home. The only slight fix I could find was a setting to reduce client send rate somewhere in the overwatch settings; it reduces the PPS down to ~33, but it's MUCH more consistent than when your fps is at 500+ and the setting is off. The main downside is it adds about 15ms of extra ping, as half the number of packets are being sent.

The only other thing I can think of testing is toggling High Precision Mouse Input in the Overwatch settings. This setting ONLY effects the first shot on hitscan weapons, but that means every single shot for Widow.

Here is the netcode blizzard article. When it talks about "locked framerate" they mean specifically locked at 60FPS. Anything below or above counts as unlocked when it comes to overwatch netcode.
https://us.support.blizzard.com/en/help/article/37007

Info about me: I am a GM hitscan player, with ~400 hours on Widow, ~400 on McCree, and ~500 on Sojourn. I also have a few sources that go much more in depth about Overwatch's netcode.

I think we're onto something. I have DEFINITELY OFTEN found that limiting client send rate helps with hitreg/widowmaker...........every once in a while limiting server send rate also, but at that point nothing is feeling great. So High Precision Mouse Input ON, OFF and back ON?

Is there a way you can reduce the Client Send rate by a certain amount? Maybe I'll try capping FPS at 60 and upping my refreshrate to 500hz and gradually lower that. Maybe find a sweetspot in the middle. I found that during this improved hitreg/input delay switching my mouse from a 1000hz G pro to a 4000hz superlight x2 helped even more.

What user PapaJuan said is correct. It has been debunked for the longest time, same thing happens in Valorant and CS2 to an extent, however i agree that it is mostly noticeable within Overwatch for some reason.

Sad thing is all those companies are always trying to find a middle ground to satisfy the largest amounts of people (even the ones with low fps or high ping)

who is impacted? US, the ones with high end PCs who can push high FPS and have lower ping.

and it’s not only the "big games" that does this. there is this FPS called "Battlebit Remastered" which was made only by a few devs, and basically you can play with 400 ping and your hitbox will be completely broken (players have to shoot 20 meters in front of you to hit) + your movements are 3x times faster. Once the playerbase realised that, now everybody abuse it.

If you go to EU serv you will find all the fucking aussies with 400 ping on EU and the Chinese with 200 ping. And people do this on purpose to abuse the lag compensation.

Devs only think about money. (players with low fps and high ping should be disadvantaged, PERIOD) stop finding ways to make the game works for a 200 ping player, wtf. Some players will always abuse it.

We desperately needs devs that create a FPS that only favours lower latency PCs, low ping, etc. (basically an equivalent of 3DMark, but in form of a game) The day this will come, a lot of us could die in peace.

[TN_fun]

Dude, if you think the problem is with the hardware, not the electricity or the internet, but your new laptop acts exactly like your PC, and the laptop screen is lagging too—then it's those EMIs. And you yourself are the source of the interference. There's no other explanation. Just think about it logically using the process of elimination.

so what's the solution?

>>> There’s no solution, dude. I started playing Overwatch during the anniversary event, coming over from the Battlefield series. Battlefield had become completely unplayable for me due to terrible desync, floaty mouse, etc.
>>> Surprisingly, when I first started playing Overwatch, everything was just perfect. This lasted for literally a month. Then, bam—the exact same input lag and desync appeared out of nowhere, making it just as bad as Battlefield.
>>> It’s definitely not the internet (I’ve tried different ISPs) and it’s not the account. I still have no idea what it is, and I haven't been able to fix it. I’m completely out of ideas.
>>> The Kephrii Example & Animation Jitter
>>> I know Kephrii suffered from the exact same problem and was constantly complaining about it. I watched his streams back then and saw how he couldn't hit his shots.
>>> Then he completely replaced his PC (with a 9800X3D, I believe), and he doesn't complain about the issue anymore. He hits everything now, it looks effortless, and the game itself runs incredibly smooth on his stream.
>>> I’m talking about the actual gameplay and animations. When this issue happens, character animations don't look smooth at all, and their movements kind of jitter. I don't know if anyone else notices this.
>>> I know that in Kephrii's FAQ, you can find a list of what he did to fight EMI (electromagnetic interference), like putting a ton of ferrite beads on all cables, etc.
>>> Why the usual explanations don't make sense
>>> Honestly, I'm still not sold on all of that. It just can't be electricity, EMI, a "bad account," or hardware specs. Yes, maybe everything on that list has some impact, but it’s not the main reason or the root cause.
>>> Nothing from that list explains this specific pattern: you play one game (Battlefield) for years, everything goes downhill to the point where it's unplayable, then you switch to Overwatch, and it works flawlessly for exactly one month before the same issue breaks it too.
>>> Has anyone actually found the root cause of this? Any help would be appreciated.