During a match, the player HUD completely disappeared. This included the crosshair, health bar, and scoreboard. Audio was also missing. Teammates were rendered as glowing blue orbs instead of their normal character models.
Enemy player models were still visible and rendered normally.
If the hero select screen is opened while the bug is active, no heroes appear. Instead, only a single blue orb appears in the center of the screen. The player can still move around inside the spawn room, but the orb disappears when leaving the safe zone.
I’ve attempted to reproduce, I’m not fully certain, but the issue occurred mid-match after dying. I may have pressed the Tab key rapidly after death to check the scoreboard before respawning, which might have triggered the bug.
The game becomes extremely difficult to play due to the missing HUD, lack of audio cues, and teammates not rendering correctly.
The only way I have been able to resolve the issue is by completely restarting the game. In some cases, I also had to restart my PC. One time the issue caused the game to crash, which resulted in me abandoning the match and receiving a penalty.
After researching this issue, I found several reports from other players describing the same or very similar bug. This suggests it may be a recurring asset loading or UI bug.
Sources from other players experiencing the same issue:
(It only allows 2 links so just put reddit in the beginning of the URLs.)
/r/Overwatch/comments/zuj6rx/hud_and_audio_is_missing_and_teammates_are_orbs/
/r/Overwatch/comments/1l5jix4/ui_and_audio_bug/
(Includes a video example. The issue was determined not to be related to Alt + Z overlays.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/4tldpw/if_your_hud_disappears_its_not_necessarily_a_bug/
(Older thread, but players continue returning to report the same issue.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/1ftihmw/hud_and_models_just_disappear/
(Also includes a video and troubleshooting attempts.)
My suggestion is if this issue is related to assets failing to load properly, it might help to add a “Reload Match Assets” feature or hotkey. This would allow players to reload the current match’s UI and character assets without having to restart the entire game.
I know I’m making it sound like an easy fix, I’m sure its not, but something along the lines of this type of fix would be nice.
To prevent abuse, this feature could include limitations such as:
• Only usable once per match
• Disabled during competitive overtime or fights
This could help prevent situations where players are forced to abandon a match and receive penalties due to technical issues outside their control.
Thank you. 