A standard recommendation, but a very important one.

The thing is, your operating system, known as Windows, is built on a complex structure that runs on a variety of background services. The problem is that services can get stuck. When your operating system's services get stuck, they may not be able to load important things, which can be important to the drivers of many connected devices that need them - such as your graphics card which is considered an internal device. Think of it like a paper jam on your printer. It can go on forever, and sometimes it just happens out of the blue.



Not the kind of jam Homer had in mind, though...

To restart your personal computer properly, use the correct restart option in Windows. A shut down is often not enough, as certain Windows setups keep some modules on standby for an artificial "quick boot", rather than cleaning them up for a refresh. Your PC needs a proper restart from time to time for services and drivers to work and update properly.

Reinstalling a game is not the same as verifying the integrity of game files. But why should or do you need to check the integrity of the game files in the first place?

This is a standard action that usually happens automatically after you download a game on Steam, without you ever noticing it unless you are paying close attention. Sometimes the automation can fail at some point and you start to notice problems running the game.

This is because games often come as single large files that need to be unpacked. Whenever you copy, or in this case download, something can go wrong.

This is especially true of patches, which are meant to overwrite existing files.

Think of it like a pair of jeans that get patched over and over again. Eventually, the patches go wrong and the jeans become unusable. You then have two options:

a) buy a new pair of jeans (translates as: re-download the entire game)

b) check the jeans you have and compare them to how they should look in order to fix the problem (translates as: check the integrity of the game files), and then fix the parts that do not match the model

Normally, when a patch is downloaded, Steam will automatically check the files and attempt to download them again. However, just like your operating system's services, Steam's services can get stuck. If the automation fails, you will need to manually initiate this self-checking process.

Right-click on the game in your Steam Library -> select Properties



Go to the Local Files tab and select Verify integrity of game files



If Steam finds something wrong with your game files, it will automatically try to fix it for you by re-downloading the corrupted/missing files. Repeat this process until Steam finds nothing to check and you can be sure that you have downloaded the game as the developers intended.

Sometimes it is a little more difficult than just verifying the integrity of the game's files. For example, if your storage device has some bad sectors without you noticing. While this may sound worrying, it is usually harmless. Nowadays, storage devices are made in mind with parts that can "get old and defective" rather than just break entirely and become useless. Think of it as a reusable collegeblock. It has many sheets, and with an eraser you can use a sheet over and over again. But even the strongest sheet can and will deteriorate over time. One bad sheet in the collegeblock? No big deal. You use the next available sheet, just as Windows would use the next available sector on your storage device that is not defective.

What we can do to eliminate the possibility of your games' files occupying bad sectors on your storage device, and fix them while we are at it, is to trigger the repair of your Steam Library Folder(s). This will make Steam verify that your games can be properly and completely read as library items, and will fix any data corruption that would not be detected by the basic game file integrity check.

Open Steam Settings from the main menu of Steam



Go to the Storage tab, select the drive on which your game is installed, then pick the Repair Folder option from the menu (the three dots "...")

It can happen that a misbind or update messes up your game's settings so badly that you cannot start it. In such cases, it may help to force the game to reset all settings to default. You can do this without launching the game:

Right-click on the game's entry in your Steam Library -> Manage -> Browse local files



Select the HWR2.exe.cfg file and delete it



With HWR2.exe.cfg deleted, Heroes of Hammerwatch will automatically create a new file with the default settings, allow you to start the game in its vanilla state without affecting the savegames.

If you follow steps 2, 3 and 4, you will not need to reinstall the game, as all of these steps are designed to ensure that the game files are as they should be, and to fix any file corruption that may have occurred after an update or other means.

In fact, it is better than new, as if you had simply uninstalled the game, the settings file would be left behind as a remnant file, causing repeated problems after reinstallation if your problem was settings related in the first place.



Even if you had uninstalled the game using the Steam uninstaller, these files would have remained. They would be reused if you reinstalled the game. This is troublesome if your problems are due to incorrect game settings.

Steam Cloud savegames were not available at launch, as the developers added them a few days later with the third patch - Build 118 on 21.01.2025. To use Steam Cloud savegames, see here:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3412821375

There are two things we can do to improve the connectivity of Heroes of Hammerwatch II and reduce or even fix the desynchronisation and micro-stuttering problems it causes.

The first is to turn off Nagle's algorithm: Nagle's algorithm controls the size of data packets sent to manage network congestion. Instead of sending all packets immediately, it combines smaller packets into larger ones before sending them. In rare cases, this can cause micro-disconnects, which can be a problem with certain games, especially latency-sensitive games.

The second is to use an alternative Domain Name System (DNS) server, which is responsible for allocating your connections to the world's servers, other than the default one used by your internet service provider (ISP). This is because your ISP's default server is often inferior due to technical limitaitons.

To disable Nagle's algorithm enter this code in terminal / PowerShell

select the administrator option for Terminal from the Windows menu by opening the menu via Win+X or right-click on the Windows icon on the taskbar then copy & paste the following code snippets and confirm them with enter while running the command prompt tool




then enter


to lookup Your LAN-IP



now run the registry editor (WIN+R -> "regedit") and go to


search for the key folder (left-hand-side) which has Your LAN IP (right-hand-side) - for me it is 192.168.178.57



and there add

TcpAckFrequency 1

and

TCPNoDelay 1



as DWORD (32-bit) Value entries.





For the settings to take effect restart your PC.


To improve ping and overall connection stability, we use the Cloudflare DNS server, known to be the best choice for gaming.

Go to Windows Settings and select there Network & internet
you can get there by right click on the Windows icon in your taskbar and select Settings

Select the connection type you are using
in this example we start with Ethernet aka wired connection

Edit the DNS server assignment



Select Manual



Expand the options for IPv4 and IPv6



The Cloudflare Public DNS IP addresses (IPv4) are as follows:

• 1.1.1.1
  
• 1.0.0.1

The Cloudflare Public DNS IPv6 addresses are as follows:

• 2606:4700:4700::1111
  
• 2606:4700:4700::1001

Same can be done for Wifi - select the Hardware Properties to access the option



Then do the same as above





When you are done confirm with Save and restart your PC.

With the introduction of Steam Cloud support for Heroes of Hammerwatch II savegames, it can happen in very rare cases that due to a desynchronisation issues can occur.

To prevent that from happening there are two things you can do.





To do that make sure that the files you can find in your local game files folder

(default)

are identical with the files you can find in Steam's remote cloud synchronisation folder

(default)

Steam Cloud files must always be more up-to-date than local files, otherwise this could be an indicator of a synchronisation and upload failure. If in doubt, make backups of both folders so you can restore them at any time.

Usually the correct folder with Your Steam ID is the only folder which can be found in userdata. Should you share your PC with other players, you can use this guide I made for another game to find out your personal Steam ID, which you can use to complete the path above.
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2976796532
Should it happen that Steam Cloud fails to upload your files, try turning Steam Cloud off and then on again. Sometimes it is necessary just to try again later as it could be temporarily disabled due to Steam server maintenance (Tuesdays/Wednesdays).

If you uninstall your game, the savegames and game's setting will not be removed from your PC.





Hence when troubleshooting issues, reinstalling will not do much if any faulty settings just get reloaded. You would need to delete the HWR2.exe.cfg file manually if you wish to reset your game's settings.

For more indepth knowledge about Heroes of Hammerwatch II savegames, see here:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3416137956

The screenshot above was provided by a Heroes of Hammerwatch II player who ran into graphical issues after they just bought the game. A driver update did the trick for them.

In cases where resetting the settings does not help, the best thing to do is to check your video card drivers. In most cases, an update is due and will fix the problem. In rare cases, it is recommended that you perform a clean reinstall of your video drivers using the Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU).

a) Download your latest graphics cards drivers from official resources

For the latest Nvidia drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx
For the latest AMD drivers: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

It is easier to download the drivers uninstalling your current video card driver. This way you will not be affected by reduced resolution or other handicaps which could occur while browsing for the correct driver with a limited video card.

b) Download DDU

Display Driver Uninstaller
http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) is freeware. Only download it from this trusted source.

c) Unpack DDU



I recommend to unpack it onto your Desktop - makes it easy to find

d) Run DDU



Select your GPU manufacturer from the drop-down menu.
If you are happy with the options (the default is fine), click the Clean and restart button.



Ignore the advertisement

e) Install Your graphics card latest driver which you have downloaded before

Once everything is done restart Your PC.

After you are done with reinstalling your graphics card drivers you can delete the DDU folder safely from your PC. No extra uninstall is needed.

DDU is a specialised tool that is highly regarded by gamers as the most used troubleshooting tool. This has something to do with the fact that with countless system updates, a lot of leftover files from previous installations can remain and be responsible for causing unknown conflicts with the current driver. To eliminate this possibility, we want a complete clean uninstall and reinstall of the video drivers. DDU is the best tool for this, as it takes care of all your video drivers and any leftover files.

Do yourself a favour and use these three terminal / PowerShell and one run commands every now and then to ensure your PC is still in good shape.

(make sure to run as admin)



checks your main storage drive for errors


System File Checker (SFC) and Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) checks your Windows for corrupted/broken OS related files and attempts to fix them

(press WIN+R to open the run window)

Windows' memory checking tool - not as thorough as memtest86, but easy to use for everyone

Increase Heroes of Hammerwatch II's task priority via task manager, so it will not be overthrown by background apps such as discord e.g.

Do not forget about Windows compatibility mode whenever you have unexpected issues as a legit approach



Try running the game under a clean boot to exclude third party apps as cause of your issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s43Auv8ub7w

For other connection-sensitive-games it has proven that disabling IPv6 can increase your game's connections stability. Use WIN+R -> enter "ncpa.cpl" -> right click on the adaptor you are using -> disable IPv6 and restart your PC. No worries, the change is easily revertable and your connection will just work fine using the IPv4.



It can help to limit the server browser for multiplayer lobbys by ping - you can find a Steam setting which help you with that. Set server browser pings/minute to the minimum of 250.