How to Fix Dead Island 2 Screen Flickering or Tearing Issue on PC

Enabling V-Sync or updating the graphics drivers significantly improve the flickering problem.

M. Mateen
May 8, 2023

Many players have reported experiencing screen flickering or tearing issues while playing Dead Island 2 on PC. This issue can be quite frustrating and can affect the overall gaming experience.

After skimming different tech forums we can conclude that screen flickering or tearing occurs when the frame rate of the game is not synced with the refresh rate of the monitor. This means that the graphics card is rendering frames faster than the monitor can display them, causing screen tearing. Another reason for this issue is outdated or faulty graphics card drivers. The game may also have bugs or glitches that cause the issue.

In this article, we have explained ways that will help you fix the Dead Island 2 screen flickering issue.

How Do We Fix Dead Island 2 Screen Flickering or Tearing Issue on PC?

Follow the steps below to fix the screen flickering or tearing issue in Dead Island 2 on your PC:

1. Update your Graphics Card Drivers

The first step to fix the screen flickering or tearing issue is to update your graphics card drivers to the latest version.

Open the Device Manager by typing “devmgmt.msc” in the Windows search bar.
Locate the Graphics Card driver and right-click it.
Click on “Update Driver” and select “Search automatically for updated driver software.”
Once the update is complete, restart your computer.

Best Alternate To Update Graphics Driver

NVIDIA and AMD do release game-specific updates that you can download and install on your PC but it takes time.

Especially, if you are a newbie or you don’t have time or skills then there are chances that you might end up installing the wrong graphics drivers.

So we recommend downloading Driver Easy software on your PC. This program is a professional system driver updater that automatically scans a PC’s old driver and updates them instantly.

We have personally used this tool on our Windows 11 PC. The most favorite part is its outstanding scanning feature. You can instantly know which PC part needs to be updated.

The Driver Easy is an N0.1 software updater tool in its field with a mega database of more than 600000 drivers. Users have been using this tool for the last 12 years to fix their PC errors.

So download Driver Easy and let it deal with all the system drivers.

2. Enable V-sync

Enabling V-sync in Dead Island 2 can help to sync the frame rate of the game with the refresh rate of your monitor, which can help to reduce or eliminate screen tearing. To enable V-sync, follow these steps:

Launch the game and go to the options menu.
Click on the Graphics tab.
Scroll down and locate the V–sync option.
Toggle the option to ‘On.’

3. Enable FreeSync

FreeSync can help reduce screen tearing and improve the overall gaming experience. Here are the steps to enable FreeSync:

For AMD:

Make sure that your monitor supports FreeSync.
Right-click on the desktop and select “AMD Radeon Settings” from the context menu.
Then, click on the “Display” tab and select your monitor.
Scroll down to the “FreeSync” option and toggle it on.

For NVIDIA:

Right-click on the desktop and select “NVIDIA Control Panel” from the context menu.
Then, click on “Display” in the left-hand menu and select “Set up G-SYNC” in the right-hand menu.
Toggle on the “Enable G-SYNC, G-SYNC Compatible” option and select “Enable for full-screen mode” or “Enable for windowed and full-screen mode.”

4. Disable Fullscreen Optimization

Fullscreen optimizations can also cause screen flickering issues in Dead Island 2. You should disable fullscreen optimizations and then play the game. Follow these steps:

Locate the Dead Island 2 executable file (DeadIsland2.exe) in the installation folder.
Right-click on the file and select ‘Properties.’
Click on the ‘Compatibility’ tab.
Check the box next to ‘Disable fullscreen optimizations.’
Click on ‘Apply’ and then ‘OK.’

5. Try Lowering In-game Settings

Try lowering the graphics settings of the game. This can be done by going to the graphics options menu and adjusting the settings such as resolution, texture quality, and shadows.

Launch Dead Island 2.
Click on the main menu or options menu.
Look for an option that says “Graphics,” “Video,” or “Display” and click on it to access the settings.
you will see options for various settings, such as resolution, texture quality, shadows, anti-aliasing, and more. Adjust these settings to lower values to improve the game’s performance.
Save the settings and launch the game and check for the issue.

6. Close Unnecessary Tasks

Closing unnecessary background programs can help improve the performance of your computer and Dead Island 2. When you have many programs running in the background, they can consume system resources and cause the game to run slower or even crash.

Press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys on your keyboard, or right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager.
In the Processes tab, look for any programs that are not essential to the game or your system’s operation.
Right-click on the program you want to close and select “End task” or “End process.”

7. Setting High Priority

Setting high priority in Task Manager is a way to give a higher preference to a specific program or process to use more CPU resources when the system is under heavy load.