Performance Bug: Hearthstone stutters, when in Windowed mode (when “Fullscreen” is unchecked in the game).
During gameplay, when a repeating animation is playing, you’ll notice stuttering at a constant rate. You can notice it quickly if you right-click a gold-animated card in your Hearthstone Library. It is especially noticeable when the system is under full CPU load (I run BOINC).
2560x1440 Fullscreen: No stuttering. Animation is very smooth.
1920x1080 Windowed: Stuttering. Animation stutters/hitches, about once every 600ms at a constant rate repeatedly, and looks terrible.
I tested these, but issue persists:
- turning off Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling (HAGS)
- turning off Xbox Game Bar
- turning off Game Mode
Issue persists:
- Across drivers 432.00 to 456.71.
- When monitor is set to 60 Hz, as well as my default 144 Hz.
- On all Windows 10 channels – Release, Beta, and Dev.
Can you please reproduce the issue (Put CPU under load, then test Full-screen smoothness versus Windowed stuttering)
… and can you please provide a fix?
Thanks,
Jacob
GPU: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 XC ULTRA GAMING
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
Display: Dell S2716DG 2560x1440 144Hz, G-SYNC
G-SYNC Setting: Enable for full screen mode
4 Likes
I have encountered the exact same issue along with trying the exact same fixes. Nothing outside of using fullscreen seems to fix the stutter that happens every 6 or so seconds. My specs are as followed (Very similar to OP’s specs)
GPU: EVGA 2080 super black gaming
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700x
Display: Alienware ultrawide 3440x1440p 120Hz G-sync
OS: Windows 10 home version 2004 build 19041.572
Thank you. Is this the right place to request support, or should we contact Blizzard Support directly?
Hey, Snakeman and Samukun. I’m curious to if this may be related to the refresh rate and framerate for the game. In fullscreen mode it should use the default GPU settings, which should utilize G-sync better, but in Windowed mode, it will use the Windows settings instead. Could you try playing with the following setting in the options(.txt) file?
- Press Windows key + R, and type in
%localappdata%
- Go to the Blizzard folder, then Hearthstone.
- Open the options.txt file with Notepad or a text editor.
- Add the following to the file or edit as needed:
targetframerate=REPLACE_WITH_REFRESH_RATE
vsync=0
- Save the file and close.
As far as testing and a fix outside of standard troubleshooting goes, the technical support forums is only for technical issues that can be resolved through technical troubleshooting. We are not Quality Assurance or the Developers/Designers for the game, and they may not monitor these forums as often since it’s managed by the technical support team. Instead, it’s better to post on the #bug-report forums instead regard compatibility concerns or possible bugs.
We’d be happy to troubleshoot this further in case there may be something we can recommend to alleviate some of the stuttering issues, though depending on how complex this can get, we may refer to contact our Technical Support team directly so that we can work with you individually.
3 Likes
Thanks for the tip. I tried the settings below, but it didn’t work – it’s still a stuttery mess in Windowed, and buttery smooth in Fullscreen.
I tried:
targetframerate=144
vsync=0
I plan on reposting in the Bug Reports forum soon. I had already created a ticket with Blizzard Customer Support, who said that they couldn’t help technical problems, and I posted here in “Technical Support” but I guess you folks can’t solve it either. Hopefully “try 3”, in Bug Reports, can get to someone that can solve it. I’m frustrated.
Having same problem. Any fixes>?
I’m also having the exact same issue after the latest patch that put in achievements/duels. I’ve also tried all mentioned fixes. As others have mentioned, works well while full-screened, but it borderline unplayable windowed.
Specs:
GPU: 3070 Founders Edition Nvidia Driver Version 457.30 (latest)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3900x
Display: LG 27GL850 @ 2560 x 1440, 144hz, gsync on
OS: Windows 10 pro Build 19041
I have the same problem. Works flawlessly in fullscreen (actually “borderless full screen” from what I can tell).
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600
OS: Windows 10 2004
Display: 1080p 144Hz with “adaptive sync” enabled
I thought the latest patch (19.2) fixed the problem, but it still persists even after the patch 
After the patch, I was experiencing this issue and it was also messing a bit with my mouse clicks. I changed the options file and it seems to be fixed. Just an fyi.
hi i have the same problems now, what can i do?
it’s still a stuttery mess in Fullscreen (60-70 FPS), and buttery smooth in Windowmode (144FPS).
I’ve encountered the same issue and I have a 3900X + 2080S. My god this game has large frametime spikes (stutters). How old is this game again? Can you please fix the performance issues Blizzard? I mean, how long is long enough? Even with G-Sync the stuttering is there.
Sadly this did not resolve the stuttering issue for me. It didn’t appear to have any discernible effect at all on my system which is up to date with windows 10 and Nvidia’s latest drivers.
Many thanks. After update could only play in windowed mode. This fixed it nicely. Cheers.
Has anyone found a fix for this? I’ve been essentially unable to play in windowed mode for months.
Hey,
I had just had the same problem as I switched computers, but just copied the old files to the new one and located the game. What fixed it, was that I uninstalled hearthstone, then deleted the whole hearthstone folder in %localappdata%\Blizzard\
Then went to the battle.net folder and deleted the hearthstone folder there (Might need to close battle.net for this) Then went ahead and reinstalled the game.
It was propably something in the cache files (At least for me)
Hey thanks for the reply. I gave that a try and it didn’t make a difference, until I also set it to run as admin. However, it only worked for about a day and the choppiness is back. At this point I think I have tried everything ever mentioned on the internet…
It’s 2023 outside, yet the same issue exists 
1 Like
Do not necro old threads, if you cannot find a current active thread for the issue you are experiencing it is best to open a new thread with the issue. (you can reference older threads in that) The post you are replying to was from two years ago. Whatever circumstances caused the original issue from two years ago are not likely the same as what is causing your issue now.