Discord is an application that offers excellent communication services and features. One such features is it’s overlay feature which allow it’s users get in touch with their Discord friends during a full screen game. But some users complained of a problem of their overlay not being shown while playing the game.
For some of these users, this issue occurs only in some specific games but for others are getting this problem in every game that they play. This issue is very frustrating as it cause a lot of trouble for the users as it prevents them from having proper communication with other players while playing online games.
What causes Discord overlay to not show up?
The list will be quite extensive if we will start enlisting every reason behind this problem. Hence, the list given below includes all of the most common reasons behind it. Let’s have a look.
Read Also:
1 – Game Overlay Option
One of the most common and biggest reasons that causes this error is the Game Overlay Option itself. Majority of the users are not familiar with the games’ settings and generally it’s the settings that cause trouble for the players later on. To fix this, user have to turn on their overlay option for certain games and they even have to add that particular game to their Discord game list too. A lot of users are unaware that they are supposed to manually turn on their overlay otherwise their game won’t be added to their Discord game list.
2 – Antivirus
Antivirus software are also one of the most common reasons behind various issues with the Discord overlay. These apps at times flag Discord as suspicious and then blocks them.
3 – Scaled Display
In case your system has a scaled Windows display then chances are it might be hiding your Discord overlay too.
4 – Overlay Location
Discord overlay has the ability to be moved around the screen due to which a lot of users at times move Discord overlay out of their computer screen accidentally. This situation arise when the user scale their display too. For instance, if the user put the overlay near the edge of their screen and they scaled that display afterwards then and they won’t be able to find the overlay despite the fact that its working efficiently.
5 – Hardware Acceleration
Hardware acceleration refers to you using your computer hardware in order to carry out some tasks more efficiently than it is possible running software on a CPU that is comparatively for more general purpose. This property when turned on can give rise to certain issues with your feature of discord overlay too.
Note: Before carrying out the following methods, do not forget to restart your PC and the discord app. Doing so can at times fix the issue for you. Hence, restart your discord app and see if the issue has been resolved. If it hasn’t, restart your computer and then check if the problem has resolved.
Method 1: Turn on Game Overlay
First of all, you need to turn on the option of of overlay for your game. You should ensure that you turned on the option since it’s worth it as there are many things that you need to be certain about in the overlay of the settings of of your game. If you want to insure proper setup then follow the given steps in order to avoid any setting issue.
Step 1 – Open your Discord app.
Step 2 – Now, click on the gear icon, i.e. user settings which is located to the right of avatar. After that, in the left pane, select Overlay.
Step 3 – Further, turn on the enable in-game overlay. Its located in the right pane at the top.
Step 4 – In left pane, click on game activity. While playing any specific game, you must ensure that the overlay option is turned on.
Step 5 – If the overlay option is on, danger game must be present in a green box which is present in the right pane. The status “Overlay:On” must be visible when you are playing a game. In case the overlay option is off for your game then to turn overlay on, click monitor button present in front of the game.
Step 6 – You can even add games of your choice if they are not available in the options. Choose add it link present in right pane. Now select game of your choice from the drop down list.
Step 7 – Click Add Game. Now, to turn on the overlay for your game you can repeat 6 step.
Method 2: Turn Off Hardware Acceleration
The main culprit behind all these issues is hardware acceleration, therefore it’s best to disable this option. In order to turn off the hardware acceleration, follow the given steps:
Step 1 – Open Discord. Then, click on the gear icon, i.e. user settings which is located to the right of avatar.
Step 2 – Now, choose Appearance in the left pane. Then, scroll down the right pane and you will find Hardware Acceleration option. If you can’t find it, check under Advanced section.
Step 3 – Once you find it, turn the toggle off on Hardware Acceleration. When you do that, a confirmation box will most likely pop up. Click on Okay. The Discord app will reboot now.
And that’s all. This issue will most probably be fixed after the Discord app reboots.
Method 3: Rescale the Display
Some people realised that the display of their PC was scaled upto 105% or more and all that they had to do to resolve this issue is to bring it back to 100%. Ensure that this isn’t the case with you as this can be the only root cause why you fail to see your overlay. All you need to do is to scale your display back to its original, that is, 100% and the problem will vanish, as simple as that.
Step 1 – First of all, press the Windows + I key combination. Then, click on System.
Step 2 – Then, click on 100% (Recommend) option from the drop down menu that will appear under the Scale and Layout section.
Once the process is done, run your game again and your overlay should present itself now.
Method 4: Move the Overlay
In certain cases, the reason behind this error is the location of your overlay. Since the overlay has the ability to be moved around it is possible that you moved it off your screen by mistake. If none of the previous methods worked for you then it means that all the settings are working properly you are just unable to see overlay due to its location. The ultimate solution in this case is to relocate overlay using steps listed below:
Step 1 – Exit your game and launch Discord. Then, press the key combination ctrl + shift + I once you’re in the Discord app. A javascript will launch here.
Step 2 – Now, click the >> icon present on the top right corner of your javascript console.
Step 3 – After that, choose Application from the list. Then, click twice on Local Storage. Or simply click on the arrow present next to the Local Storage.
Step 4 – You will now see a newly made entry below the Local Storage. You’ll notice that it is called https:\\discordapp.com. Now, click on this entry.
Step 5 – Next, right click on OverlayStoreV2 or OverlayStore. You’ll find it somewhere inbetween the Keys column.
Step 6 – Now, click on Delete. Finally, relaunch Discord app.
Open game. Your overlay shoud be on it’s default position and you can move it around as you wish.
Method 5: Update Discord
Your discord app can get updated very regularly so maybe this issue has something to do with that. Think back and try to remember if the issue started after the most recent update. If the solutions listed above didn’t help you then sadly there’s nothing you can do in this case. Although you can update Discord manually again.
Method 6: Run as Administrator
In certain cases, your Discord app might be void of certain necessary system permissions in order to read and write in the root directory of your system. This at times prevent discord overlay from working efficiently and in this method we’ll allow this consent to Discord app in order to ensure that it’s not the root cause of the error. For doing so:
Step 1 – First of all, right click on Discord executable that you can find inside the Discord installation folder present on your desktop. Next, click on Properties.
Step 2 – Now, within Discord Properties choose the Compatibility tab. Then, ensure you click on “Run this Program as an Administrator” option.
Step 3 – Then, click on Apply for saving the made changes and then click OK in order to close the window.
Step 4 – Relaunch Discord once again and see if the error appears again.
Method 7: Allowing Through Antiviruses
In case you’re using certain strict settings on some third party security software. And even if you use standard Windows Firewall or Defender you can still get this error. This happens as these programs block Discord from operating in the background and also from using your system resources. Hence, in this method we will try to add an exception in Windows Firewall as well as Windows Defender for Discord app. Steps:
Step 1 – First of all, press the Windows + R key combination for launching Run prompt.
Step 2 – Then, type Control Panel and hit the Enter for launching your classic control panel interface. After that, click on View by and choose Large Icons.
Step 3 – Now, click on Windows Defender. Then, click on Allow an app or feature through the Firewall present on the left pane.
Step 4 – Next, click the Change Settings button and then accept the prompt.
Step 5 – Ensure you’ve checked both Private as well as Public options for your Discord app and related drivers/applications. Now, save the made changes and exit the window.
Step 6 – After that, press the kep combination Windows + I for opening settings and then choose the Update and Security.
Step 7 – Then, click Windows Settings option and then choose Virus and Threat Protection. Next, click on Manage Settings option beneath the heading Virus and Threat Protection.
Step 8 – Now, scroll down the screen and choose Add or Remove Exclusions option in the window. After that, click Add an Exclusion button and choose Folder.
Step 9 – Now, make sure you specified Discord installation folder and then exit this window once the changes are saved. See if the issue has resolved or not.
Note – Examine the third party antivirus software and make sure Discord app is not included in their block list. It is to be noted that Discord can at times get flagged by these apps which prevents it from running efficiently.
Method 8: Reinstall Discord
At times installing apps can be faulty because of storage failures. This can really mess the integrity of Discord’s settings. In this method, we will make sure that this doesn’t happen. We will reinstall Discord after uninstalling it from your system. For doing so:
Step 1 – Start by pressing Windows + R key combination in order to launch Run command window.
Step 2 – Next, type in Control and hit the Enter key to open Control Panel tab. Then, scroll down to View by > Category and click on Uninstall a program.
Step 3 – You’ll see a pop up window here showing a list of programs. Right click on Discord. Click on Uninstall.
Step 4 – Go through on screen instructions and follow them to fully uninstall Discord app from your PC. Reboot your system after uninstalling Discord app.
Step 5 – Download the latest update of Discord app from their official website. After downloading, click executable in order to run it and then follow the instructions given on the screen for installing it on your PC.
See if you still see error pop up. Most probably reinstallation would have fixed it for you.
Method 9: Disable Background Applications
In certain cases, some of the background software can disrupt actions of your Discord app by creating interference, preventing overlay from showing itself. In method 9 we will disable such background apps and see if it fix the problem for us. Steps for that are:
Step 1 – At first, press the key combination Windows + R for launching Run prompt. Then, type MSConfig inside the bar.
Step 2 – Now, hit the Enter key to carry out the command. MSConfig window will launch.
Step 3 – Here, click on Startup tab and select on all the apps set up. Then, click Disable for all of them.
Step 4 – After that, select the Services tab and check the Hide all Microsoft services box. You can simply click on Disable All in order to stop all apps and services from running.
Step 5 – Click on OK and reboot your system. After the reboot, check if the error is still there. If it has vanished, enable apps one by one and check with which app the error returns.
Step 6 – After analysing which app is troublesome, you can disable it permanently to avoid error in the future.
Method 10: Use a VPN
You can try resolving this matter by configuring your VPN connection as majority of the voice connection errors can be fixed by simply using VPN. It is to be noted here that Discord operates only with VPN solutions with User Datagram Protocol (UDP).
We recommend Nord VPN for stuff like this. Nord encrypts the internet traffic as well as keep your Identity hidden. Moreover, it allow its users to connect with six different devices all at once. Given below are some steps to establish VPN connection on your computer:
Step 1 – At first, navigate to Nord VPN official website. Follow their step wise instructions given on the web page for creating a Nord VPN account. Here you have to choose a specific plan for yourself.
Step 2 – Now, go to the download folder on your system and then click Install.
Step 3 – Nord VPN will now be set up on your computer. Sign in using your account and password details.
Step 4 – Next, click on Quick Connect and viola! You will instantly be connected to some recommend server.
Note – If you wish to choose a specific server for yourself you can easily do that. For doing so, go to the left panel within Nord VPN window. Here, choose a specific server by clicking on the country pin present on the map.
Once the VPN is configured, see if Discord Overlay is visible.
Method 11: Use Overlay Hotkey
Generally, a hotkey is not assigned in order to enable overlay at start. In case it has been, ensure that this hotkey is not overlapping other Hotkey which may have been configured on Discord. If this is the case, you can try activating a new Hotkey. This can help in fixing your issue. Steps for the same are:
Step 1 – At first, launch Discord app and find User Settings within it.
Step 2 – Look for Overlay icon in left pane present beneath App settings and then click on it. Here you can see an option of the current Hotkey near the option of Enable-in-game-overlay.
Step 3 – You can easily reconfigure the new Hotkey here and utilise it later on for calling upon Discord Overlay the next time you launch your game again.
Step 4 – Lastly, see if this method has resolved this issue or not.
Method 12: Restart Discord Completely
It is a possibility that the Discord app is not launched properly on your system because of which Discord Overlay error is triggered. So, in this method we will try to disable this entirely on your PC and then reboot and see if the error is gone. Steps:
Step 1 – First of all, press the key combination of Windows + R for launching Run prompt. Then, type taskmgr and then hit Enter for launching Task Manager.
Step 2 – Within the Task Manager, select Processes tab and a list containing active processes will pop up.
Step 3 – Now, within this list, select Discord process. After that, click on End Task option.
Step 4 – Ensure you’ve thoroughly checked the list and disabled all Discord app instances within it. Finally, see if the error resolved.
Method 13: Disable other Versions
In case you wish to the PTB and normal version of your Discord app at the same time, you will get this error often. Check your settings and ensure both these versions are not running at the same time. You can edit your settings in order to run just one single version of your Discord app and then see if the error disappeared.
Method 14: Contact Discord Support
If none of the above methods were able to resolve this error for you then the best thing to do in this scenario is to contact the support team of Discord. For that you can visit their site and go down to their Support Section for getting a detailed insight of the process.
Here you will see a detailed contact info. For a quick feedback about your problem you can type your exact issue in their search box and their team will contact you as early as possible. You can also get a fast reply from them by contacting them on their twitter account.
Read Also:
Conclusion
So, that’s all we had on this error. We hope that at least one of the above mentioned methods eased your problem. It is not a very big issue but we understand it can be extremely frustrating. If nothing worked, contacting the support team is the best idea in out opinion. Thank you for reading!