Discord overlay tutorial – setup and streaming

What is the Discord overlay?

Discord’s in-game overlay allows you to use Discord’s features while playing a game, overlaying a chat window and a server browser onto your screen on top of the fullscreen application you’re running at the time. You can activate it with a specific key combination and customize it to your heart’s content within Discord’s options menu.

It’s a lot like Steam’s overlay in a way, giving you a platform-locked chat window and many other features on top of your game experience. It is the best on single-monitor setups because it means you don’t have to Alt-Tab all the time as you go back and forth between the game and the chat, but it is also a nice tool of convenience even if you have multiple monitors, especially if you are streaming a game because you already have so many windows to manage in that scenario. Need help on how to stream on Discord? Learn here!

How to set up and customize your Discord overlay

To activate the Discord overlay, click on the cogwheel in the bottom left corner to open up the settings menu. Under Activity Settings, you will find the Game Overlay menu option. This is where you can set up and customize your Discord overlay.

You can enable or disable the overlay and change the overlay shortcut (which is Shift + ` by default), your avatar size, whether to display names or not, where the notifications should appear on your screen and whether you want to receive text chat notifications or not.

Above the Game Overlay menu in the left-side bar, you will find the Activity Status menu. Here, you can decide on a game-by-game basis whether you’d like to have the overlay enabled or not by clicking on the little computer monitor icon next to each of them. As you no doubt figured out, a crossed-out red monitor means that the overlay is disabled: a gray monitor means that the overlay is enabled for that particular game.

Once you’re in-game and you’re using the overlay, you can customize the size and the opacity of the individual widget elements the way you would do with any other window: clicking and dragging will get the job done.

You don’t need to do anything else: your changes will be saved automatically. Keep in mind that these settings are not stored on your Discord profile, but rather, on your computer – meaning you will have to repeat this setup on other devices like your laptops and any other PC you may use Discord on.

Discord overlay not working – problems and solutions

If you’re having issues with your Discord overlay, there are multiple small adjustments that you can try to sort out the issues.

Are you sure you have enabled your overlay?

Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone. Sometimes the issue is as simple as that. Perhaps you’ve just moved over to a new computer or you accidentally flicked off the switch in the options menu and forgot about it. Double-check that the Discord overlay is enabled before you go any deeper down the troubleshooting rabbit hole.

Run Discord as an administrator

Admin mode often solves some of the more finicky software issues you may run into, and Discord is no exception to this rule. Right-click on the Discord icon on your desktop and select Run as administrator, then test things to see whether you can reproduce your issues.

Turn off hardware acceleration

Go back to the settings menu by clicking on the cogwheel icon, then navigate to App Settings > Advanced and turn off Hardware Acceleration. Click on OK and restart Discord.

Reset your display size

Open Windows settings, click System, and set the Scale and layout value to 100%. Restart your game and check whether your overlay is working now! 

Update Discord

Duh. Discord usually does this automatically - if you’re not sure whether your current version is up to date, all you have to do is completely close Discord and start it again. The software will automatically check for updates and install them, should it be necessary.

Check your firewall or antivirus software

If you’re having trouble finding the problem, you might want to try and temporarily disable your firewall or your antivirus software. Only do this to test, do not leave your computer vulnerable – make sure to turn them back on once you’re finished! If disabling one of these solved your issues with Discord, you now know where the problem is and which specific software to research.

Maybe restart your computer?

Sometimes a simple restart or fresh installation works wonders. Have you ever restarted your PC, only to find that it magically fixed a persisting issue? Well, this might also work for Discord!

How to display Discord messages on stream in real time – Discord overlay for streaming

Discord offers its own dedicated streaming overlay for content creators to seamlessly integrate their Discord comms into the broadcast. The Discord StreamKit overlay is compatible with OBS and XSplit. Once you’ve installed the software and given it the right permissions, you can customize three separate widgets: one for your status, one for your chat and one for your voice comms. The software will provide you with a browser source to implement by generating a link for you. You can then drag and adjust it as you would with any other source element in your scene.

Why would you want to display Discord messages on stream?

Growing a Discord server for your community is a great asset. By including your Discord activity live on stream you’re promoting more viewer engagement. This also lets you include viewers who may not be watching the live broadcast but are active in your Discord (for instance, because they are on their phones while traveling)