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Flickering fix/Refresh rate fix/Blurry screen fix
By N!ghTM@Re$*%
This is a niche problem, not for everyone. It's not a very common problem in games but if you're experiencing it, I've got the fix for you!

If you've ever played Payday 2 with a custom refresh rate, then this problem might be familiar to you. FLICKERING, BLURRY! When you launch the game, it's flickering and blurry! When you Shift-Tab to see the steam overlay, the texts are flickering and barely readable! And even if you change your refresh rate/resolution lower or higher, IT STILL FLICKERS/BLURRY! but I managed to fix it with some luck and tinkering so here you go.
   
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Created by
N!ghTM@Re$*%
Offline
Category: Modding or Configuration
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
21 Jun, 2020 @ 1:45pm
5 Dec, 2020 @ 10:39pm
854 Unique Visitors
10 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
Why 
How 
That's it. 
Comments
Why
The reason it flickers (and this is just a theory from reading other similar problems) is that, the game's refresh rate isn't matching your PC's/Monitor's refresh rate.

So basically it's fighting which refresh rate it actually should be, and it sort of glitches itself out. EVEN if the in-game settings says @144hz, at the main game's config file which can't be seen from the steam folder, is still stuck on the default refresh rate. Thus: Infinite flicker.
How
How to fix this annoying piece of-
So basically, if this was Payday 2, you'd just go to the main game's config file in at User/username/appdata/local/etc and manually set the refresh rate from say "= 60" to "= 144" in the settings.cfg or something like that.

EXCEPT THIS GAME DOESN'T HAVE ONE! or at least it's not obvious where it is because for the life of me, I cannot find it. So I made a workaround! It's easier too.
Just follow these basic steps! (With screenshots!)

Just a heads up, it's best to cap/limit the game's fps with your Geforce experience or Radeon settings. The game's engine wasn't built to handle if say 1000 frames, so best cap yours to 144 or 60, otherwise the game may start to evolve but backwards.
Frames to cap:
240hz/240fps cap = Might break the game. Untested. (ex. Gems not working.)
144hz/144fps cap = Works fine for the most part but it may vary. Tested. (If buggy, move to 60.)
60hz/60fps cap = Safest, meaning 0 possible glitches. Guaranteed to work.

Step 1
  • Just head on over to the game's Steam folder and open up the pcrun CFG file.





Step 2
  • Next is to just set "borderlesswindow" into "true", similar to other "fix guides" for this
    game, and save.


Step 3
  • is just to turn off Full Screen in-game and click confirm.
That's it.
Now, if you shift+tab to look at your steam overlay, everything should be a lot clearer. Or if you just play the game, you should notice it too. I have no idea why this happens. It's a rare problem, I've only ever seen 1 discussion about this kind of thing in games and that was in Payday 2. The flickering makes the game look like 800x600 even though you're running in it 1080p, it makes the whole thing blurry. Really strange. I guess the only downside is you have to play in borderless, sorry. ¯\_('n' )_/¯

Do comment if you've experienced this kind of problem in other games because I'm quite curious. I run games with a custom refresh rate because I overclock my monitor, so that's one of my theories on why games go blur like this.
6 Comments
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N!ghTM@Re$*%  [author] 27 Jun, 2023 @ 9:56am 
Just revert the settings back, if that doesn't work go to the game's folder and right click it's .exe, then go to properties and click the option for 800x600. That should force the game to it's minimum resolution. You should be able to start the game and change back to the settings to default. Just uncheck the 800x600 once you're done. Different monitors and different graphics cards react differently, especially if you're on a laptop. Mix n match settings to whatever works.

Remember, game gets quirky with different refresh rates, stick to 60hz people.
KidWithTheHat 26 Jun, 2023 @ 2:58pm 
why does it just go white i used to play this with no issues what happened how do i fix this
ForEverBlade 13 Nov, 2022 @ 12:25pm 
for me it just goes to a white screen but you can still hear the audio
Capt_Blakhelm 6 Dec, 2020 @ 7:57pm 
I've seen a couple other people mention it in the forums.
N!ghTM@Re$*%  [author] 5 Dec, 2020 @ 10:18pm 
@Capt_Blakhelm I finished the game from start to finish and never had any game breaking bugs, perhaps your fps might've went a little too high and surpassed the game engine's capabilities.

I'll add a heads up warning for people to cap their frames using their Geforce or Radeon settings. Thanks!
Capt_Blakhelm 3 Dec, 2020 @ 6:05pm 
You should mention that this will cause problems with some segments, such as the Jack In the Box fight. When performing the last hit on the boss, you will take damage and either be knocked away into a grey limbo outside the world boundaries, or if you are on your last star, it will kill you and not give you the chance to pick up the Orange Gem, even though you technically won the fight.

I didn't have problems until AFTER I used this fix, so I went back to default. I didn't see or feel much of a difference for it to be worth the framerate boost. Works for first person shooters, not so much for easy, third person platformers