Fix: Steam Overlay & Screenshots Not Working

Steam Overlay

Your only friend just came online on Steam but you got no notification. You’re all alone. Shift + Tab isn’t working, so you cannot even see if your only friend is online or not. And the best part about the Steam overlay—Being able to see the time quickly and conveniently to realize it’s 5:37:19AM already and you have work/college/school in 2 hours. GG.

Well, shit.

Steam Screenshots

You just did the sickest/funniest thing in the particular Steam game you’re playing, and while the death-cam lasts, you quickly press F12 desperately in order to take a screenshot of that one-in-a-billion moment.

You don’t hear the “THWEEEEEP!” sound of the screenshot being taken by Steam… Well, okay, no big deal, maybe you’ll still probably get the Screenshot Uploader window after you quit the game, right? Okay.

So, you quit the game, and there you are, day 74, no sign of the Screenshot Uploader window…

Well, shit as well.

Step 1: Exit Fraps

Right-click on Fraps in your taskbar, and simply click on “Exit Fraps”.

You’ve technically fixed the issue already. But keep reading for an alternative way to get the FPS counter in your game that you were using Fraps for.

Step 2: Enable Steam’s FPS display [Optional]

Now that you’ve exited Fraps, you won’t get the FPS counter overlay anymore. So, you can use Steam’s very own in-game FPS counter.

Go to Steam’s settings, and navigate to the “In-Game” tab.

Under “In-game FPS counter”, select your desired position for the counter to be displayed, and also check that “High contrast color” box for better visibility. This is shown below:

Step 3: Verify

Run your Steam game now and you’ll see the “Access the Steam Community…” notification pop-up from any one of the four (I hope) corners of your screen. It should look something like this:

If you see this, you’re good to go. Press Shift + Tab in-game and you’ll see the Steam overlay. This also means you’ll be able to take screenshots through Steam again by pressing F12 (default) and show it to that only one friend that you have on Steam (yay).