I don’t know how closely you’ve followed this thread, but they said the RDL error is a generic error. There is something specific about the RTX cards that is causing this for us, which led Blizzard to start with the rename workaround. It seems like the rename method works for about 85% of the RTX users, which should be enough information for Blizzard to make progress.
Knowing a couple people with 1060 cards who don’t have this issue and the rename method not working for your RDL issue (which could be a completely different root cause from the RTX issues), I’m saying that your complaints are not adding any value to this thread. This is a known issue for the RTX users. Any solution that will come out of this may not even be applicable to your situation.
Glares in August 2019.
I just played today with no issues with the update, AND I just launched from OverwatchTest WITHOUT renaming anything after the initial renaming occurred.
Before I renamed in the first place I would get the error/crash within 10 minutes. Then I swept the drivers, reinstalled windows, and cleaned/reinstalled my drivers only to have the error occur again. Then I renamed and it seems to work. (I also uninstalled GeForce exp…) (When in doubt, blame NVIDIA LOL)
RTX 2080
32 GIGS 3200MHZ
RYZEN 5 2600
I upgraded from a 1070 and I never experienced this issue with Pascal. FWIW
I am using a GTX 1070 and getting this error since patch before last. It isn’t consistent when it happens but when it does, it’s always at the beginning of a match. After heroes are chosen and the countdown timer is done and we are leaving spawn, BAM rendering device lost. I’ve had it happen twice in comp. Lost 50 SR. Only reason I didn’t lose another 50 when it happened yesterday is because a guy on the other team crashed seconds before I did and the match cancelled as I was staring at the error trying not to have a meltdown. I’ve tried renaming the Overwatch.exe and it used to work but now renaming it only brings up the Blizzard launcher and not the game itself.
My computer is above all requirements and it never did this to me before though it has been doing it to my friends for a while. I’m not sure what else to do.
Hello!
My wife and I both play Overwatch. Both of our systems randomlyish crash out to “Rendering Device Lost” anywhere within the first 5 minutes to 2 hours.
Things we tried:
Those settings specifically did not do anything. Next we tried
No good fixes there as well and some vague mentions of both being ‘looked into’ and Rendering Device Lost - Blizzard Support
But that’s way back over half a year ago.
Here’s a history of the systems:
My original system:
- i7 2600k
- Asrock P67 Extreme
- 16 GB RAM
- 256 GB Samsung 840 Evo
- Windows 10 Pro
- (No crashing) EVGA GeForce 770
- (Rendering Device Lost) Zotac 1080 TI
- (Rendering Device Lost) EVGA RTX 2070 XC
- Seasonic SS-850HT 850W PSU
Wife’s original system:
- i7 5830k
- Gigabyte X99 ud4p
- 32 GB RAM
- 256 GB Crucial M4
- Windows 10 Pro
- (Rendering Device Lost) Gigabyte GeForce 1080TI
- (Rendering Device Lost) EVGA RTX 2070 XC
- Crucial RM1000x PSU
Both were tested on a UPS and on wall power. No changes. Then we decided to just trash everything and just refresh our PCs. My Sandy Bridge was feeling old. Wife’s didn’t really need it but she wanted to play more competitive games so might as well try something.
Current systems:
Mine:
- i7 7700k
- MSI Z270 Gaming M7
- 32 GB DDR4 RAM
- 512 GB Samsung 970 Evo
- Windows 10 Pro 1903
- EVGA RTX 2070 XC
- Seasonic Focus Plus 850 Gold SSR-850FX
Wife’s:
- Ryzen 2700X
- ASUS ROG Strix X470-F
- 64 GB DDR4 RAM
- 512 GB Samsung 970 Evo
- Windows 10 Pro 1903
- Gigabyte 1080 TI
- Seasonic Focus Plus 850 Gold SSR-850FX
New systems, fresh Windows OS, none of our stuff carried over from the old systems and new drivers. NVIDIA driver 431.36 Standard. We can try the DDU one without the other stuff but we also like to have Geforce Experience every now and then for recordings and VOD reviews.
We’ve also tried MSI Afterburner to set these video cards back from manufacturer settings to stock NVIDIA settings with no success.
I’m not sure how many comp games we ended up wrecking but since it is random, we’d try something, try some QP and think it is fixed and it ends up coming back.
The only 100% fix so far is to rename Overwatch.exe to something else (Underwatch, OwOwatch, notOverwatch, you name it) and it will run fine for weeks until you get patched.
An issue with this is that if we ever forget to launch notOverwatch and run the game from the launcher, we’d crash at some indeterminate point and get penalized. With the upcoming 2-2-2 where you can lose SR on all 3 roles, that becomes not fun at all.
Another issue is that we can’t play the game as intended. To even play the PTR, we have to make a notOverwatch and backwards-figure out how the Launcher launches the game and make a shortcut with those arguments. My current one looks like:
“C:\Games\Overwatch Test_ptr_\uwuwatch.exe” --BNetServer=test. actual. battle. net:1119 --cluster=PTR -uid prometheus_test
It isn’t just the PTR - we can’t use our authenticator push notifications and single signons; we have to use a username, password and the authenticator digits every time we play or swap from live to PTR or vice versa.
I’m going to ask that you get together with NVIDIA and either: have them get rid of or make it easier to remove games like Overwatch.exe from their list, or maybe you add in a ‘safe mode’ where it just renames and runs Overwatch but their detection stuff doesn’t catch and optimize it. Please help.
My friend has this issue and it was solved by replacing his RAM. It started as an OW issue but eventually spread to other games. Replacing his GPU did NOT work.
I also stopped the issue a year or so ago by rolling back my windows version. However that fix may be severely outdated now.
Wife and I replaced the entire computer as a last resort, each of us 
We did switch out RAM. On my old computer, I had old Kingston DDR3. Swapped with some identical Samsung sticks and even went down to a single 4 GB stick with no success.
On the wife’s old computer, I borrowed some Kingston HyperX 2100 DDR4 at work. Tried a single stick, 2 sticks, 4 sticks. Went back to Corsair Vengeance 3000 MHz.
Both machines went thru at least 24 hours of memtest86 without any errors. New machines as well.
Hi,
you can try what this user did, link is below, maybe it’ll help.
https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/possible-fix-for-rendering-device-lost/18234
Personally i used nvidia profile inspector and looked for overwatch profile and deleted it and have not expierenced rendering device lost anymore.
Still getting that lucky, Bunnie? I’m trying out multiple methods for rendering device lost.
I’ve been having this same issue for the last 3-4 months, ever since i updated to windows 1903, now that i think about it.
I wonder if it could be a windows versioning specific ‘thing’.
I’ve researched everything, read 50plus forum posts, even have it happen on 3 different computers.
The only ‘constant’ is an Nvidia graphics card. If i slap an AMD RX 570 into the PC then the issue goes away.
Yup, my issue was fixed after i deleted overwatch profile. Playing perfectly fine even eariler today.
Well, I thought it might have something to do with geforce, but I apparently don’t even have inspector, so now I’m at a loss again 
My RTX 2080 came over clocked. Once I underclocked it to factory settings I lost the rendering issue. But now the game crashes a few hours later and freezes my pc instead.
I may just return it today and go AMD just so I won’t deal with this happening again.
You gotta dl nvidia profile inspector seperately
Fixed my issue with this by doing either of the two common recommendations in this thread. I started having the error after upgrading to a 2080Ti
- Rename your Overwatch.exe to OverwatchTest.exe. File should be located someplace similar to C:\Program Files (x86)\Overwatch_retail_ depending on where you installed the game.
Note: you have to launch the game via the OverwatchTest.exe file each time, NOT via the Blizzard Battlenet Launcher. If you use an authenticator you will have to enter the code manually each time. PITA, but it works.
Note2: you need to do this each time the game updates.
- Google: Nvidia Profile Inspector. Download the latest version. After installing and running, search the “Profiles” drop down menu in the top left to search for anything “Overwatch” related and delete those profiles.
Note: using this technique I was able to launch the game via the Battlenet launcher.
That’s way too much work. The game shouldn’t have these issues. I can’t even get the weekly reward because the game crashes every single time.
video and sound freeze… BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT… hard crash.
sigh.
You’re right, we shouldn’t have to jump through these hoops to play the game. Unfortunately this is where we sit at the moment. Neither of the known fixes take much time or technical know-how.
Yeah, its happening again… Help me JEFF!