Windows 11 need help with this

[haniwa]

These dotted lines started appearing in my games yesterday (only in games). They always appear in the same position and adjust to the size of the window. I think it has something to do with the Game Bar application, but I'm not sure. The laptop is a Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 (16-inch, Gen 9). The only applications installed apart from the games are Discord, Steam, Epic Games, Opera GX, and Krita.

 

[ChatGPT]

From your screenshot, the “dotted lines” look exactly like an overlay UI “safe frame / guides / selection” box being drawn on top of the game (it’s not part of the game’s HUD). The key clue is what you described: they stay in the same relative place and scale with the window—that’s classic overlay behavior.
On your list of installed apps, the most common causes are:
1) Xbox Game Bar (widgets / capture UI)
2) Discord in‑game overlay
3) Steam overlay
4) (Less often) Intel Graphics / Arc overlay / driver glitch on newer Yoga 7i models
Here’s the fastest way to nail which one it is.

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A) Kill overlays one by one (fast isolation)​

1) Discord overlay (very common)​

• Discord → User Settings → Game Overlay
• Turn Enable in-game overlay = Off
• Also go to Registered Games and make sure the overlay is off for that game specifically.
• Restart the game and check.

2) Steam overlay​

• Steam → Settings → In Game
• Turn off Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game
• Restart the game and check.

3) Xbox Game Bar​

• Windows Settings → Gaming → Xbox Game Bar → toggle Off
• Then: Settings → Apps → Installed apps → Xbox Game Bar → Advanced options → Terminate
• Restart the game and check.

If the dotted boxes disappear after disabling one of these, you’ve found the culprit.

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B) If it still happens with overlays off: likely graphics / windowed optimization​

This can happen if a driver started acting up “yesterday”.

1. Windows Settings → System → Display → Graphics
2. Click Change default graphics settings
3. Turn OFF:
   • Optimizations for windowed games
   • Variable refresh rate (if you see it)
4. Reboot and test again.

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C) One question that instantly confirms “overlay vs driver”​

Do the dotted lines show up in a screen recording (Xbox capture / Steam recording / OBS), or are they only visible on the laptop display?

• If they show in recordings/screenshots: it’s almost certainly a software overlay.
• If they do NOT show in recordings: it’s more likely a driver/display composition artifact.

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If you tell me:
1) which game(s) this happens in, and
2) whether it appears in recordings,
I can point to the single most likely setting and exact fix.

 

[datawizard0103]

These dotted lines started appearing in my games yesterday (only in games). They always appear in the same position and adjust to the size of the window. I think it has something to do with the Game Bar application, but I'm not sure. The laptop is a Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 (16-inch, Gen 9). The only applications installed apart from the games are Discord, Steam, Epic Games, Opera GX, and Krita.
View attachment 121678

When any Game Bar widget like Performance is pinned, Windows can draw a faint dotted rectangle that scales with the game window and stays in the same relative spot. That’s why it only shows up in games and resizes with them. Press Win + G, unpin every widget, then go to Game Bar settings and turn off anything related to pinned widgets or outlines. If the lines vanish after that, you’ve found the culprit.