Game gets stuck on "Downloading update" screen in any mode

[alyxlight-2415]

My friend has this issue where his game launches normally but when he joins a game (even practice range) he just gets stuck on “Downloading update” screen. Some other players on Reddit also experience this issue: Reddit thread

[Kershew]

Hey there,

So at the time of that reddit post there was an issue with out some hotfixes would apply that could cause this. The workaround for that was to restart the game client, join a practice range match and let it sit on the applying update screen (sometimes for a few minutes) until it completed. Once that happened and you could play in the practice range you should be good to go.

However the bug that caused the issue to happen was resolved months ago. So it is very unlikely that what your friend is seeing is related to that old reddit post. It could be a re-emergences of the old issue but we are not seeing any current widespread reports of it happening . This would indicate it is likely a localized issue with your friend’s client, system or connection that is preventing the update from properly applying.

Without any information on the system or connection being used, it can be tough to narrow down. Your friend may need to submit a ticket with some system files but they are welcome to try the following first.

Try doing an extended power cycle on your system. Turn off all devices including the modem. Wait 30 minutes, turn on the modem, wait 5 minutes, turn on any network devices, wait 2 minutes, turn on your computer and try the game.

Sometimes firewall or routing software/hardware will have some advanced settings to prioritize and manage types of network traffic. Normally that is not an issue but we have seen situations where it can interfere with the delivery of the data for our games/voice chat.

Let’s try turning off these features:

QoS
SIP ALG
RoG (ASUS Routers Only)
Security firewalls (Some ISP provided modems)

Not all devices will have these options and the steps for turning these functions off will be different depending on the make/model/software version of the devices and programs involved. If necessary look at the documentation for your security and routing products to find out how to turn these options off.

In some cases there is a corrupt or misconfigured setting within the router or modem. We cannot say what that might be offhand but the easiest way to resolve these conflicts would be to factory reset the router and/or modem.

You may need to look up your specific model for the steps on how to do this and in some rare cases you may need to have this done by the ISP. Feel free to reach out to them for assistance if necessary.

Let’s manually clear the Battlenet Desktop Application and all supporting data from the system. This will not remove existing game clients.

1. Open file explorer/file manager (Right Click Windows Start)
2. Navigate to the folder where the desktop application would normally be installed. Delete that folder if it exists (usually program files x86)
3. Type the following into the address bar (not the search bar): %APPDATA% and press enter.
4. Delete the Bnet and blizzard folders inside the appdata folder if they exist.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with %PROGRAMDATA% %LOCALAPPDATA% and %TEMP%
6. Empty the recycle bin.
7. Now reinstall the app to the C: Drive.

Let’s reset the in game user options:

1. Right click Windows Start
2. Open File Explorer
3. Open Documents
4. Delete the Overwatch folder and empty the Recycle Bin.

(This will delete any unsaved/saved highlights so if you wish to preserve those, save and then move them from the videos folder before deleting the Overwatch folder.)

We will want to run the repair tool on the game client: Blizzard Support - Repairing Battle.net Games

Try running your system in selective startup mode: https://battle.net/support/article/200483

Create a new administrator account: Blizzard Support - Creating a New Administrator Account

Once the account is created, shut down the computer, wait 60 seconds, restart, log into the new profile and try the app/client.

If that doesn’t solve the issue, then I recommend submitting a ticket with an msinfo attached for further investigation. (instructions for collecting that msinfo report will be on the form.)

Click your name at the top right of this page, click support, click contact support.

Get your friend those steps and hopefully it solves the issue for them. If not they can get additional help by submitting a ticket as Io described above.