How to Optimize PC and Dota 2 for Best Gaming Experience

I will explain in detail about the steps through which you can optimize PC and Dota 2 for smooth gaming experience. It will helps you to avoid lags, delays, crashes and improve your in game performance.

Intro

I have assumed that you have low end PC and low end Internet and you may be knowing many of the stuff earlier. If you know anything, skip to next step.

Even if you have high specs PC and fast internet, there are still some stuff which can be useful for you. You can implement as many steps as possible or as you wish.
This will ensure that you have a smooth gaming experience.

Hard Disk Defragmentation

Optimize PC for Smooth Gameplay :

I. Hard Disk Defragmentation
If we talk in easy language, Information is stored in form of small boxes on your hard drive.
So for example if Dota 2 is distributed on 25 boxes, then these 25 boxes will be scattered over whole hard disk. So de-fragmentation allows you to combine all those boxes in 1 part of your Hard Drive for smooth working of game.

Here is how we do it-
1. Go to My Computer
2. Right click on C Drive and from drop down menu, select “Properties“.
3. Go to “Tools” tab and select “Optimize“.
4. Another new window will open. Select the the drive in which Dota 2 is installed and click on Optimize.
5. Give it some time, it may take from 1 hour to 5 hours depending upon size of your hard disk and you are done.

Delete Dota 2 Crash Dump Files

Each time Dota 2 Crashes, it creates a crash dump report file in case you want to report the issue to steam or whatever reason they got. Size of each file is almost 35 MB. So just make a guess how much space that can create on your hard disk after every 6 months ?

First time I cleaned those files I freed up 2.3 GB of space form my Dota 2 folder. Again after almost 3 months this size has swelled up to almost 850 MBs.

You can remove all these files with “.mdmp” extension.
Do not worry it does not create any issue, I tested it my self. You can locate those files in C :/Program Files (x86)/Steam /SteamApps/Comom/dota2beta.

Here is how those files look like.


Just try and tell me in comments below,how much space you have got back ?

Install Dota 2 in Drive other than C Drive

In case your C Drive is full of stuff and even after trying so much you can not get free space in it, then you need to install in any drive other than C Drive.
This can be a harsh but more stable solution. Here is how you can do it.

Hard but Reliable Method :

1. Uninstall Dota 2 from your system (The part with hardest feelings though :D)
2. Click on Install button in Steam. When you will install it, it will ask you where you want to install it ? Then you should give it path to other drive where you have got enough free space.
3. Dota 2 needs only 13 GB of Disk space, but it is advised if you can keep almost 25 GB free space for Dota 2 for upcoming updates etc.
4. With this method, you will also erase all unnecessary files from Dota 2 Folder which actually occupied space in your hard disk. For example, if you just check out your Steam folder, it will be minimum 20 GB plus. But actually Dota 2 is of just 13.7 GB. So what are rest of those 7 GB files ? Those are just junk files that are stored on your computer regularly on each update.
5. Once you will install a new copy of Dota 2, then only almost 14 GB space will be consumed and you will free another 5-10 GB of space for sure.

Easy but Less Reliable Method :

1. Make a back up of Dota 2. Here is how you can make a back up of your Dota 2.
2. Now restore the back up. You can follow link above to restore the back up too.
2. Now while restoring the back up, install it in any other drive.
3. This method will take only 30-40 minutes, but it is just like copying all files from one drive to another. So you may not get rid of useless and junk files which have piled up in your system for long time.

Stop Downloading & Running Heavy Programs

I. Stop All Downloads when you play Online Dota 2

Even if you have an awesome internet connection, still you should not run parallel downloading while playing Dota 2 online. It will eat out your bandwidth and data packets. Result may be high pings and may be packet loss too, thus lags and delay.
That is why it is highly recommended to shut down all torrent and other download managers.

II. Shut Down Heavy Programs

Well, it will not hurt to open notepad while playing Dota 2, but it will definitely hurt if you open Adobe Photoshop along with Dota 2. It will put lots of burden on your CPU, RAM and graphic cards.
Thus your FPS may drop and you may have a laggy experience.
So it is suggested that once you start Dota 2 for Online gaming, do not forget to shut down heavy programs.

Dota 2 Issues on Windows 10 & their Solutions

Windows 10 is not like other operating system of windows in many aspects. There are many good features in it but for gamers it is really pain in the a**.




Magic Solution to All Windows 10 Problems :
Revert back to your previous version of Windows till we get a stable version of Windows 10

Fixing Dota 2 Crashes

If you are facing regular Dota 2 crashes, then you need to read this guide to fix your Dota 2 Crashes.



It gives you almost all the solutions to the Dota 2 crashing problems. Give it a go.

Activate Gaming Mode on your Antivirus

Most of the antiviruses have Gaming mode by default in them.
Activating gaming mode will prevent your antiviruses from making any popup notifications. These popup notifications will minimize your game some times.

You can well imagine the fate if you are in middle of a gank and suddenly a stupid notification or ad from your antivirus appears and your Dota 2 gets minimized. When you restored your screen and you know your hero is dead and you have lost the battle and now your Barracks are under attack.
So just activate gaming mode before you play Dota 2.

I recommend using Avast Antivirus software which is free for 1 year. Well, here is a cheat, make a new email address every year and then make a new account to keep your antivirus free permanently. Thank me later 😀

Optimize Dota 2 for Smooth Gameplay

I. Optimize Video Settings

You may have an excellent gaming PC for playing, but you need to optimize your settings specially video settings so that everything works perfectly. If you have good Graphic Card and RAM, you can play Dota 2 on high settings. But in case you don’t have high performance system, you will have to optimize your settings.

In game graphics should never get priority over in game performance. So you must first fix the performance issues, then you should go for good graphics.

You need to read this guide to optimize your Video Setting.

II. Using Console

With console you can literally change your in game Dota 2 experience. We already have a detailed post about it which can tell you in detail about Console & autoexec cfg

III. Enabling Network Information

You must enable Network Information while playing Dota 2. It gives you an insight of game while playing.
For example, if your Pings drop while playing, that means its your network issue, you need to fix your internet. But in case if your FPS drop, that means it has nothing to do with your internet, rather its your PC. So you will fix PC problem in later case.


That is why it is always advised that you keep the network information active. In Source 1 Dota 2, you had to enable it via Console, but thanks to Source 2 engine, Dota 2 Reborn has an option in settings using which you can Enable FPS and pings.

After settings are save, you can see FPS and network information like this.

IV. Fixing High Pings and Lags Issues

Some times it may be your internet providers and some times it may be steam which may be causing high ping and lag issues. Obviously you cant perform well if you have high pings or lags.

I suggest you to use WTFast[www.wtfast.com]. It is a software specifically developed for the sole purpose of reducing in game ping and lags.

V. Turn off Background Updates for All Steam Games

1. Go to main Steam window, right click on Dota 2 (or whatever game you have) and go to Properties.
2. New window will open. Go to 2nd tab which is Updates.
3. Go to background updates and select “Never allow background updates“.
4. Click Close and you are done.





In case you if you have lags and delays issues, then you should also have a look at this article Dota 2 FPS Issues And Crashes (Possible Fixes). It will surely help you.

For best looking video graphics settings for Dota 2 : Video Graphics Settings:Dota 2

[MOSI]

x

[MOSI]

nice bro wp =)))

[Alignedtoast]

same

[Sweet Pea Ness]

guide confusong got my dick stuck in a toaster... :(

[Realjsh010]

With these tips I managed to run the game on a graphic calculator! 5/7!

[Sir Cumcised]

dota runs flawlessly on an intact pc and also on a wooden one : )

[gCute]

dota runs flawlessly on an intact pc and also on a wooden one : )

[Bimbo]

i have no idea why people are saying this but i ill say 2 ...



dota runs flawlessly on an intact pc and also on a wooden one : )

[Do Not Disturb]

i7 gtx 750 ti :(
8gb ram

[Sercali]

dota runs flawlessly on an intact pc and also on a wooden one : )