The first open beta for Battlefield 6 ran from August 9 to August 10, giving gamers their first taste of the latest installment. Over 520,000 players jumped into the beta, and it has been a resounding success. But the game also had its fair share of bugs and minor glitches. For some, it ran great, for others, Battlefield 6 didn’t run as smoothly as they hoped. Users on older AMD hardware also ran into a Radeon driver error that required a workaround.

Something very surprising happened during the beta, as a setting that is usually known for sometimes even hurting performance ended up doing the opposite. Many PC players discovered that turning on the EA in-game overlay gave them a major performance boost with smoother gameplay and higher frame rates.

Enabling the in-game overlay can boost performance in Battlefield 6

Some players turn off overlays in games. That includes overlays from Steam, EA Play (in the EA App), and even tools like MSI Afterburner. These overlays help check your system & performance stats or record gameplay, but they’re just more visual clutter.

In Battlefield 6, multiple reports from players suggest that turning on the EA App overlay actually improves performance. One player claimed that their rig with a Ryzen 7 7700 was only giving them around 80 to 90 FPS in matches. After enabling the EA App overlay, their FPS shot up to 140. Another player had been dealing with small freezes and stutters. But just by enabling the overlay, those problems disappeared. Their gameplay became much more stable, and they were no longer facing stuttering issues.

How to enable the EA App overlay?

1. Open the EA App
2. Go to your game library, right-click Battlefield 6 Open Beta, and select properties
3. Enable the ‘in-game overlay’ option
4. (Optional) You can also enable the overlay for all games by clicking the 3-line (burger) menu in the top left of the EA app. Go to settings > application > toggle on ‘enable in-game overlay’.

Interestingly, it’s not just the EA App overlay that helps, as another player mentioned that turning on the Steam overlay also fixed freezing and FPS drops. You can disable the Steam Overlay in the Steam Settings (pictured below). Alternatively, you can do it per-game in the specific game’s properties.

In any case, the second open beta for Battlefield 6 starts on August 14, and if you had problems with FPS, freezing, or slow performance during the first weekend, try launching the game with the overlay turned on this time.

About the Author

Abdul Haddi

Abdul is a tech writer and Editor for PC Guide, specializing in all things tech, gaming, and hardware.