I’m having issues with the game, specifically with Fullscreen Optimizations (FSO).
I was playing the game normally on a clean installation of Windows 11 24H2, and I noticed that my aim was very inconsistent. I couldn’t track properly, it felt like my mouse was really heavy.
I ran some checks, and everything seemed to be configured correctly: stable FPS, good temperatures, etc. I launched PresentMon and observed that it was in “Hardware Independent Flip” mode. I read that this is the recommended setting, but I noticed that this meant I was playing with FSO enabled. So, I disabled it, and my aim returned to normal.
Previously, I used to play Overwatch on Windows 10 on an older PC, and FSO was disabled by default. However, I understood that on Windows 11, it’s not recommended to disable it.
My question is: Is this an issue with Overwatch, my PC, Windows itself, or something else? And is there anything I can do to fix it?
I think it’s both but primarily a windows problem. Especially given that you mention you had no issues on windows 10. But it’s also possible to be a software (aka Overwatch) problem. Maybe the game was originally designed to be optimised for windows 10 and it wasn’t really designed for newer versions of windows (aka windows 11).
I think windows is becoming more and more bloated while also becoming less and less optimal Operating System for competitive gaming. As they have started focusing more on productive stuff. Windows 7 was the last best OS for gaming, since you could disable DWM and have extremely minimal input lag.
Newer versions of windows now has a lot of overhead between the game and the peripherals (e.g. mouse and keyboard) leading to higher input lag. I don’t know if there is a solution to fixing input lag issues besides having the best GPU & CPU and experimenting with various window settings to see what works best for certain games.
Having a mouse with high polling rate (e.g. 8000 Hz) can also help to reduce input lag from your mouse and make it feel smoother and more responsive. But this is cutting edge technology and you need a powerful CPU to support it; otherwise it could tank your frame rates.
It’s also worth noting that Nvidia Reflex exists which was probably designed to work around the Operating System limitations at a software level (using API) which seems to fix the input lag issues in a lot of people. So I’d try enabling that setting in Overwatch if you have a Nvidia GPU.