The Witcher 3

[jonathan_phang]

Heads up all - patch 1.03 has been released:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-article-promo

From the article:

Improves stability in gameplay and the UI
Improves performance especially in cutscenes and gameplay
Fixes grass and foliage popping that could occur after density parameters were changed
Improves Nvidia Hairworks performance
Boosted texture anisotropy sampling to 16x on Ultra preset
Sharpen Post-process settings extended from Off/On to Off/Low/High
Blood particles will now properly appear after killing enemies on the water
Corrects a bug where player was able to shoot bolts at friendly NPCs
Improves menu handling
Corrects an issue with Stamina regeneration while sprinting
Fixes a cursor lock issue that sometimes occurred when scrolling the map
Generally improves world map focus
Improves input responsiveness when using keyboard
Corrects some missing translations in the UI
Corrects an issue in dialogue selections
Rostan Muggs is back
Minor SFX improvements

Just had a check on GOG and its there ready to be downloaded I know its not going to be a magic bullet, but hopefully this improves a few things. Nice to see patches coming out (well rather there were none needed but you know what I mean) and things being addressed

JP

[kopite]

Just wondering What are ppl playing on Steam or GOG?

I was looking at buying it today and it looks cheaper on GOG but i've not really bought many games on there so not really had much experience...

[kalniel]

GOG is excellent for their own games, of which The Witcher is one

For other games it's great as well, but if they need updating they can be a bit slow with third party patches (but because they made The Witcher this isn't a problem here). For that reason I tend to stick to older games on GOG for non CDProjekt games.

I got the retail version (£28 from Amazon at the time), which is separate from GOG or Steam, but comes with a GOG key as well.

1.04 was out the other day too:

-Rebinding of all keys is now available after switching on the ‘Unlock Bindings’ option in the Options\Key Bindings submenu.
-Corrects an issue in the dialogue system that might have caused dialogue looping in certain scenes.
-Fixes an issue with incorrect behavior of Wild Hunt warriors after they were affected by the Axii Sign.
-Corrects a bug that caused spontaneous combustion of gas clouds.
-1280 x 720 resolution is now properly displayed as a valid resolution option.
-Fixes boat stuttering in cutscenes.
-Texture rendering quality for the high and ultra presets has been improved.
-Further improvements made in NVIDIA Hairworks performance.
-A few additional gwent cards are now available in the Prologue area.
-Fixes an issue where users with usernames incorporating non-Latin characters were unable to import saves from The Witcher 2.
-Includes a series of overall stability and performance improvements.
-Fixes issues related to alt + tabbing and minimizing the game window.
-Updates the game icon.
-Enlarges the loot pop-up window in the UI.
-Fixes an issue where, in certain circumstances, the comparison window could extend beyond the game borders in the UI.
-Upgrading items included in gear sets no longer destroys rune sockets on said items.
-Introduces small tweaks in the UI for gwent.
-Corrects some missing translations in localized versions.

[kopite]

Bought it

The only problem now is I'm in work till 4 and the missus will prolly want to spent time together tonight I suppose I can start it downloading it

[jonathan_phang]

I put on the 1.04 patch yesterday and his has greatly improved LoD at higher settings. I was previously using sweet fx to improve it but now it's almost spot on.

[stevie lee]

one bug that's affecting everyone in 1.04 is the NPC 'popping' where they magically appear infront of you.
its very annoying.

also, the saves are still currently locked to patch version, so if you downgrade - as in reinstall whole game and only put on 1.03 patch - then you cant load up the 1.04 save.

at least the patches seem to be improving performance though. I'm now running in medium settings and its still just as smooth as it was in low settings. CPU usage has gone up from 40% to 90% though,

59 hours into the game, i'm level 17 and not been to skellige yet.

what can I say? I like exploring. and apparently elf heads take like squishy strawberries, add a few nekkers, some squashed frogs and a sprinkling of slugs you get a nice stew. .head north on the 'inn of the crossroads' peninsula

[gl30]

GOG is absolutely trustworthy, although there are posts about various "bargains" from sites like CDKeys which I'm not so sure about... can anyone vouch for them?

[stevie lee]

if anyones looking for the new DLC start location, well
theres mines in them thar big mountains of central aard skellig

just go to the notice board, they turn orange if theres new quests available.


and geralt broke the stuffed unicorn again.

[Marenghi]

AMD have released 15.5 for the witcher and project cars, anyone noticing an improvement in performance? i'm still on the fence whether to get this or not, never got on with the other 2

[jonathan_phang]

Oooh. Must give them a try and see if crossfire is working yet. There was a version floating around in guru3d but if this is official then will have to grab it.

Just had a new baby born so a little preoccupied

[Jasp]

AMD have released 15.5 for the witcher and project cars, anyone noticing an improvement in performance? i'm still on the fence whether to get this or not, never got on with the other 2

Think of the game as Skyrim, open world go anywere do anything, it really doesn't hold your hand and leaves it up to you, wanna fight that lvl 20 boss at lvl 8 all yours...

[kalniel]

AMD have released 15.5 for the witcher and project cars, anyone noticing an improvement in performance? i'm still on the fence whether to get this or not, never got on with the other 2

I'm waiting for the driver to come out of beta before trying it - the last WHQL drivers seem to be the most stable for me and the performance is already as good as I want so I'm not desperate for a small improvement at the risk of stability.

If you didn't get on with either TW1 or 2 then don't bother with 3.

[jonathan_phang]

Managed to download the 15.5 Betas and cant really comment on single card performance as I went to test that crossfire was functioning, and for now at least, they seem to be working great with my 2 7970's. Means I can finally play at native 2560x1440 at 60. Not sure what the scaling is yet as I haven't installed my usual monitoring tools, but able to get some decent performance now even with hairworks+the AMD tesselation tweak.

I've only been roaming around White Orchard at the moment, testing different environments and times in the day night cycle to get the settings right, but I think I'm good to start the game properly now I did read some reports of CFX having problems still, with flickering textures etc, but fingers crossed things will stay as they are. Its a great looking game

Well done AMD.

[kalniel]

I just entered Novigrad, and while I was already mightly impressed with the graphics in the open world, I've been blown away by the city environment. So much detail, texture. Full of life. And still fantasticly smooth performance. CDPR have done a good job on the engine, and the hardware is doing a great job too. I was certain I'd need to upgrade but now I don't see that I'd get much benefit from doing so (I'm happy with 30fps for this kind of game).

Just wish there was an easy way of taking screenshots so I could show it off to anyone who doesn't have it!

[jonathan_phang]

Can you not just run FRAPs or something, which then lets you take screens? I've been using SweetFX/Reshade to have a look at some of the presets for colour etc, and settled for keeping it as it is colour wise (I quite like the vibrancy) but bumping up the sharpness only. Coupled with the LOD changes in 1.04 and the new sharpening in the in-game post processing its looking very good. I know that also has a built in screenshot function too.

I recommend turning all the HUD elements off and just wandering for a bit, and turn the music down. Its strangely atmospheric and peaceful.

[kalniel]

I could use a third party tool, but I'd prefer not to run any overlays in case I add any extra load. Technically I don't meet minimum requirements, so I shouldn't be able to run on high settings + hairworks (capped in CCC) + ingame AA. Don't want to upset the balance!