Rendering device has been lost

Good hell, I’m glad I don’t spend money on this game anymore. What an actual joke. Over a year without a fix on something like this? Really?

This error is why I keep playing apex legends instead of OW. Wait a month or two, go back to OW, get this error 1-3 games in while STILL keeping drivers up to date, and no update from blizzard.

It’s not anger. It’s not sadness. It’s pure disappointment. I’ve enjoyed playing with my friends for so long, why do you do this to us? After a year to figure out the problem, I can only imagine it’s pure blizzard ire. I Hate blizzard.

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It’s not anger. It’s not sadness. It’s pure disappointment. I’ve enjoyed playing with my friends for so long, why do you do this to us?

It’s really unfortunate how far Blizzard has fallen from what they used to be. Disappointment indeed.

FIX FOR RENDERING DEVICE HAS BEEN LOST

This problem is actually very simple to fix and involves bypassing the Blizzard battlenet launcher to open Overwatch. I will try to explain how to do this in the simplest way possible.

  1. Locate the overwatch.exe file in your program files. In my case, the path would be C:\Program Files (x86)\Overwatch\retail\Overwatch

  2. Rename the “Overwatch” application file to “Overwatchtest”

  3. Right click the file after you have renamed it and select “create shortcut”

  4. Drag the shortcut to your desktop and double click it to launch the game and enter your log in information.

I have not had a single crash since doing this simple fix and it should work for everyone. Again, the purpose of this is to bypass the Blizzard game client which for some reason causes issues. I hope this works for everyone.

If you are having trouble you can message me here or find me at twitch.tv/straferyan

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Can confirm that renaming the application does work. However it’s still a problem as it means I need to enter my login information every time I want to play, as well as re-doing the process every time there is an update.

This is on an RTX 2070, only had the issue since changing card.

Yes, it’s unfortunate we have to log in every time, but at least the game is playable without crashes for now. I also have an RTX 2070 factory overclocked card. The good thing is Blizzard is aware of this fix and I assume they are working to find a solution.

Possible solution, hopefully it’ll help some of you.
Alright, I’ve been having this problem for a very long time. I have an RTX 2080, MSI Ventus, if that even matters. The point is that the card is more than capable of running this game on Epic settings.

My previous card was a GTX 970, also a very capable card. I would never get this error, but for some reason the RTX 2080 would. The crashes are random too, maybe you’ll crash in 15 minutes, maybe in an hour, but always in a match. Frustrating, tell me about it.

I was previously running in BORDERLESS WINDOW. I changed it to FULLSCREEN and seems to have done the trick. I run three monitors, with the 2080 and the 970. Only thing that changed was the upgrade to the new card and I started getting the crashes. But I changed to FULLSCREEN and it seems to have solved it. Hope it helps.

I’ve only seen this once or twice so it’s not an issue for me but apparently it’s a known issue with Nvidia (Nvidia driver patch notes):
Windows 10 Open Issues
[Overwatch]: The games crashes with “Your rendering device has been lost” error. [2482278]

then check if you have installed some overlay programs like overwolf or the logitech app for the mouse settings. the logitech app lets my game crash as well with the render device lost. Uninstall fixed that.

Have this issue repeatedly, only in competitive. Have not yet had this bug in CTF or any other game mode. It’s insanely annoying, and nothing I’ve read online has fixed it.

Edit: Fullscreen does not make any difference. I had 3 crashes in one game while on fullscreen. Always and only in competitive mode though.

Edit2: Have tried reinstalling Overwatch, wiping all GPU drivers (with DDU) and reinstalling the newest version, playing fullscreen/bordered windowless, running hte Overwatch exe directly without bnet client, changing a bunch of settings in the Geforce software, closing all background programs including Discord and Razer software, none of it has done a single thing and I am still getting crashes in almost every single comp game I play - but still no crashes in arcades or QP.

I’m shocked this thread is still going on for this long, is Blizzard even aware of this issue? I’ve been playing consistently for a couple weeks until it started crashing again now, I don’t know why. I must have done a fix awhile ago that i forgotten.

They are and have been aware of it since around Nov 2018 as have Nvidia!
Both sides play dumb

Every so often a blue will post in this thread and say the pretty much the same thing about the rename method.
Nvidia will either pretend its not an issue or when they do just reply with it’ll be updated in an a software update “soon”.
That or either side will blame the other etc etc

It’s just not a priority for them and hasn’t been tbh

So the best fix is to not buy Nvidia cards anymore, and to not play this game.

Ok, I can do that. See ya Blizzard!

For those who are not aware Nvidia knows this is an issue for Overwatch.
(It only took them 10000 years for them to notice)
Hopefully Nvidia users will see a fix for this ASAP.

(posted 15 days ago as of me writing this)
Under ‘Important Open Issues’ it says this:
"[Overwatch]: The games crashes with “Your rendering device has been lost” error. [2482278]"

Nvidia have been aware of this as long as it’s been going. It’s not something new in any way shape or form.
Check back on this thread and the interactions I’ve had with them… they are playing dumb and just saying a fix will be released in an upcoming driver update… for 10 months

I stopped even looking in for updates on it anymore… shameful but the only way these things will change with any company game wise/software wise is stop buying their stuff. Money talks not forums posts etc

I like how a non-insignificant number of people have this issue with literally ONLY overwatch and tech support just blows it off like “If nothing helps, my recommendation would be taking your PC to a local technician so they can make sure everything is working as it should.” because yes if a issues only happens with a single game for multiple people its probably just all of there PCs and not the game.

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to add my 2c.
Its not my computer. I can say this with confidence as ive had this issue on 2 computers over the last 18 months both using nvidia cards. Taking my PC to a tech will do nothing other than waste my money and the tech’s time.
The first computer was a Win 7 machine and had a 1070 TI which experienced rendering device lost crashes, and my current build is using a 2080. OW was the first game i installed after completing the build and immediately played since TM was in rotation in the arcade. after 2 games the same crashes would happen. This i would like to think should absolve the user and pin the issue on either Blizzard or Nvidia since the second machine was a fresh build using brand new parts and a new version of windows (10).
FYI blizzard, in my case, these crashes happened at the apex of a fight when activity is greatest.

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Issue started happening again to me after i updated the latest Nvidia driver (436.30; the Borderlands 3 driver.)
The game was working fine before this driver, so I suspect it’s an nvidia issues.

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I play error free since i changed this…

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the rename (OverwatchTest.exe) work around has been working solidly for me for over a month, until today. 2 “render device lost” in back to back games, (banned in between briefly). Now I am stuffed. no work around any more QQ

(RTX 2080 Ti, 436.30 driver, 9900k, sadness)

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