Overwatch Blizzard App Network Error Solved

I have been playing Overwatch for a while. It was the Christmas update. I downloaded 1.16GB of update data. But it got stuck at 56.09KB and it says 0KB/s. And then there was an exclamation mark that said Network Error. I tried lots of tricks such as disabling the Windows Firewall, restarting my computer, reconnecting my Internet. Nothing worked. What did I do?

1. Paused the Overwatch update.

2. Went to the Overwatch game folder.

3. Went to the data folder “Overwatch\data\casc\data”

4. Renamed a few idx files (I added _ at the back. For example: 0100000075.idx_)

5. Unpaused the Overwatch update. It then said “Need to rescan…” since some of the files changed (I renamed them). I went away to eat some bananas.

6. I came back after a while and the download bar was gone and I saw the big Play button! Problem fixed!

Not sure if this will work for everyone but it is worth a shot. Explanation behind this? I’m not sure at all. But if I were to guess, it could be that the files were downloaded but the Blizzard app thought there was still data left. This conflict jammed the download. By forcing it to rescan, the problem could be solved.

Overwatch Blizzard App Network Error Solved!

UPDATE: My sister encountered the same problem during he Blizzard World update. She used the same steps above but with no avail. She tried Fiddler, Proxifier, Proxycap, even redownloading parts of the main data in GB’s. No luck. But in the end, we found a solution:

1. We copied a working installation from a different computer (mine) to her computer, and renamed the whole folder (for example: Overwatch2)

2. We renamed the current Overwatch folder (for example: Overwatch_old)

3. We started Blizzard app. It said “Install” instead of Update because the folder was “missing”. There was a small link saying “Locate Files”. We clicked it.

4. We selected the folder from point 1 (Overwatch2)

5. It then said “Scanning…” with a blue bar.

6. After the scanning it said “Starting Repair Update” (Red bar).

7. The Play button appeared!!! Mission accomplished.