Watch Dogs Troubleshooting Guide: Fix Lagging, Low FPS, Game Crashes, CTD, Black Screen, FOV, and Sound Problems

Here is yet another amazing Video game from Ubisoft, Watch Dogs. Personally I was waiting for this game since its very first trailer about a year ago because of its Hacking Gameplay system. Well, finally I got the game on my PC and already completed it. During this gaming hours I, obviously, came across several problems including installation, gameplay, graphics glitch, lags, bugs, etc. But as always, every problem has a solution, I managed to fix all those problems and completed the game successfully, with Lots of Fun 

So, I thought to share all those experience here as well assuming many other games can also come across those same problems. In such case the following workaround troubleshooting will help them to get rid of the same and enjoy the game comfortably. So, in case you come across any of these problems, don’t worry, just follow the below provided steps and fix the issues immediately. But before that, let’s have a look at the system requirements of Watch Dogs, because this is the very first aspect that needs to be fulfilled to run any video game as it is meant to be. If your system doesn’t meets the system requirements, it would be very difficult (or nearly impossible) to run the game properly on your computer.

Watch Dogs Minimum System Requirement:

• OS: Windows Vista 64bit
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 940.
• RAM: 6GB
• Graphic Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 768MB / AMD Radeon HD 5770 1024MB
• Sound Card: DirectX 11 Compatible
• Storage: 20GB of free space.

Watch Dogs Recommended System Requirements:

• OS: Windows 7 64bit
• CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 4-Core 3.5GHz / AMD FX-9370.
• RAM: 8 GB
• Graphic Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 / AMD Radeon R9 290.
• Sound Card: DirectX 11Compatible
• Storage: 20GB of free space.

If you are sure that your system rig is between those two provided system requirements and still facing problems in installation, plating, or any other, then simply follow the below provided troubleshooting to fix them. Good Luck.

Unable to install Watch Dogs:

Whenever we get a new game, we come across this problem itself, if it has to be. No matter if it is Digital version of Installation Disk, due to some reason the game wont installs. There could be one or more reasons for the same but there are ways too to fix it. Here are they:

• If it is installation disk and not allowing to install then check your DVD and DVD Drive first. Make sure the disk is not having any scratches or something. Yes, sometimes new disks also come with scratches. Secondly, make sure the Drive is properly working. You can do this by putting some another DVD and test.
• If the DVD is proper and you are getting the problem then it could be your security softwares blocking the installation. Many times our security programs assume the installer is virus or malware (many installers are made in such manner) and hence they block it. So, you may need to disable your security suite while installation, may be after installation as well. This workaround stands for both DVD and Digital version.
• Norton Antivirus plays lead role with game problems. So, if you have Norton, you might need to disable or uninstall it temporarily until you are finished playing the game.
• Apart from Norton, if you have any third party firewall installed on the computer, you will need to disable it.

Watch Dogs wont start or freezing on Startup:

Watch Dogs is having very high graphics and every game with high graphics may cause problems on startup. Although there could be several reasons for these problems but the main reason is system requirements. If your system is not up to the mark, than it is going to be very difficult to fix it. But if it meets the provided system requirements and still getting the problem, then here are few things which can help you:

• In order to fix the startup problems, first thing you need to do is updating drivers for your entire system. By entire system I mean drivers for graphis card, motherboard, etc.
• If still the game wont load or starts then it could be UAC (User Account Control). You should try disabling the UAC and see if it works. If you don’t know how to disable, then here it is: Click Windows button and type UAC. Click on UAC from the results and slide down the slider at the bottom. Restart the computer and now launch the game.
• Most probably the game should start now. If still, then disable all Antivirus software and third party firewalls. Now launch the game. Hopefully it should work fine now.

Watch Dogs Blackscreen and Crashes to Desktop (CTD):

After fixing the installation and launch issues, the next thing we can come across is CTD and/or Blackscreen. This is also a common problem with high end video games. Personally I spent hours with this annoying problem with my copy of Watch Dogs. However, I managed to fix it. Here is how:

• The fix for blackscreen or CTD is in the Graphics card settings itself but before that make sure you are running the most recent drivers for your video card and chipset.
• Once updated the drivers, go to your Graphic Control Panel and disable V-Sync, Anti-Aliasing as well as Filtering. Most people don’t prefer doing this but it is the most helpful workaround.
• If still in case you getting the crash or black screen than probably the game is not getting enough resources or any program running in the background would be causing it. So, the best thing you can do is open task manager and kill all unwanted process running in background except the required ones (for the game and graphics).
• Few times, due to some unknown reason, running the game from desktop shortcut icon creates this problem. So, I will suggest you to go to the game’s installation directory and double click the game’s respective .exe file to start the game, instead of running it from the desktop shortcut icon. Also remember to run the game as an administrator (right click .exe and select run as Admin).
• All above steps are enough for fixing Blackscreen and CTD if still you getting the problem, you should try lowering down your Graphics settings. Open Graphics control panel and Turn Off multi-sampling as well as VSync.
• Also disable security suites and 3rd party firewalls as they can also play important role causing this problem. Just leave the defaults Windows Firewall and add the game as exception.
• All these steps are far enough to get rid of CTD or blackscreen, but if you are still getting the same then the only way left is to perform complete uninstall and re-install the game again, before doing this, backup your save games if you have played some missions.

Fix Watch Dogs Crashing during Gameplay:

• We all have come across this problem many times with any games. Most important cause of crashing games is out dated driver. So, if your Watch Dogs is crashing during the gameplay, you simply need to update the drivers for your video cards and make sure you install the proper drives. By saying proper drivers, I mean you should update the drivers only from their official manufacturer’s page. It is good to update the drivers before installing the game but if you have installed and configured, no problem. You can try updating now. So, if you are using Nvidia card than download latest Nvidia Video drivers from here and if it is AMD then download latest AMD ATI driver from here
• Another reason behind the crash could be Antivirus and Security programs. You should always disable all security suites (if getting any problem with game) from the time you start the game until you close the game. As I said earlier, if it is Norton, you may need to uninstall it because, according to me, Norton is the greatest enemy of your video game.
• Not always, but few times, the game can crash also because of outdated Direct X. As we know according to the system requirements, Watch Dogs requires DirectX 11, make sure you are running DX 11. You can update to the latest version from this link: Download DirectX.
• If still you facing the problem then it would be surely some background processes. Here is what you need to do. Tap Win+R key, type “Msconfig” and hit Enter. In the new pop up window click on System Configuration tab and click Startup. Now check Hide all Microsoft services box at the left bottom of the window and uncheck all services above except graphics services. Click OK. Now restart the PC and launch the game. It should work fine.
• For better performance, I will suggest you to go to Graphics control panel and run the game on only one GPU instead of both.

Fix Watch Dogs lagging and FPS Problems:

• This is also well known problem for all high end games and the main cause for them is low resources for the game. So, obviously you need to free up resources by killing up all unwanted process running the background from Task Manager.
• Apart from them you also need to make some changes in Graphics Settings. Go to control panel and Disable V-Sync and Antialiasing. Now run the game it should work good.
• In case still getting the problem then turn off triple buffering and continue the game.

Fix No Sound or Sound Stuttering problems in Watch Dogs:

• Just like graphics problems, you also need to update sound drivers. Ensure it is updated and see if the problem occurs.
• Make sure DirectX v11 is installed on your computer.
• If still the sound doesn’t appear, go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound > Communication tab > select Do Nothing. See if the problem is fixed.
• If not, reduce the Sound Acceleration. You can do this by opening Run BOX (Win+R) > type dxdiag > click sound section and reduce sound acceleration.