New Witcher 3 PC Patch Adds Visual Upgrades

[StewShearerOld]

New Witcher 3 PC Patch Adds Visual Upgrades

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt has received another patch, this time aimed at improving the texture rendering of its higher end graphical settings.

While <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/the%20witcher%203%20wild%20hunt?os=the+witcher+3+wild+hunt>The Witcher 3 has been privy to some of the highest praise <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/rpg>an RPG has received in a good long time, the game has still inspired a number of a complaints from fans and critics alike. Key among these has been the fact that the game released last week doesn't visually live up to footage and demos shown off by CD Projekt RED over the course of its development. While the studio has responded to these sentiments, it would also seem that they're intent on improving the game's visual quality as much as humanly possibly.

Case in point, a new PC patch (v1.04) released today has added in a number of changes including updates to the game's higher end visuals. More specifically, the patch will improve "texture rendering quality for the high and ultra presets." It will also improve the performance of NVIDIA Hairworks and fix the game's resolution settings so that the 1280x720 resolution will henceforth be "a valid resolution option." In addition to these fixes, the patch will add the option to assign custom key bindings and fixes a problem where players using "non-Latin characters" had been unable to import their save data from The Witcher 2. The patch will also make a series of minor changes to the UI and enhance the game's "overall stability and performance."

Unfortunately, while the visual improvements at the core of the patch are welcome, they still won't fully make up for the downgrade that's left some gamers feeling cheated. Commenting on the disparity in <a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-19-cd-projekt-red-tackles-the-witcher-3-graphics-downgrade-issue-head-on>a recent statement, studio head Adam Badowski attributed it to "the nature of game development" and explained that there was simply no way to realistically apply the visual quality seen in smaller demo builds to the massive world of the full, finished game. He would go on to say that the development team is "<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140864-The-Witcher-3-Receives-New-PC-Patch-After-Complaints>continuously working on the PC version" and that it would try to make up for the difference with future updates.

Source: PC Gamer


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[Remus]

So if I buy this game in, say, half a year, I might get a semi-close version to the as-advertised product. And here I thought it was only MMOs that improved games so drastically with patches.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

It's good that they're trying to make-up for the disparities. I don't think it'll be as first advertised, but the fact that they admitted it in this day and age and are striving to improve it is pretty golden.

 

[Abomination]

I can play the game with ultra settings for detail and textures while sustaining a constant 60+ FPS.

That's all I need and it still looks pretty damn great. Sure, it's not promo-demo great but everything else it delivers on is brilliant.

Just wish I could fast travel from ANY location rather than just from other signposts... damn the maps are huge.

 

[drkchmst]

While it is less shiny than I expect a 2015 game to be, they have a lot to make up in the console arena right now I think. Xbone save issues ps4 load times. Not quite sure how those things made it through to the release build.

 

[Imre Csete]

It still looks good on my minimum req PC, running on medium/high, I'm happy it runs that good with better looks than the previous game. Besides, I didn't wait years for this game because of the graphics, the amount of coverage its getting is really funny. The content is the same on 650ti as on SLI Titan. So they didn't live up to their word on the graphics front, I stopped listening to pre-release hype ages ago, I hearthly recommend it.

 

[Post Tenebrae Morte]

I find it worrying that such a big deal has been made over such a little issue. No wonder costs are inflating constantly, the consumers have only seemed to reinforce the belief that they want shiny stuff and don't care about the other stuff.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

As of patch 1.4 I can actually use full Hairworks on Ultra settings with a 780. One caveat is I had to tweak the config files for rendering as the default Anti-Aliasing setting for Hairworks was 8xMSAA which was pretty harsh on system resources. I manually reduced that to 2 (seems to be good now), though I think you can turn it to 0 if you don't mind slightly grainy looking hair.

So I've been walking around Novigrad and getting into a few scraps with nary a stutter. In the last patch walking through a small village would drop below 30fps (sometimes lower then 20 if Roach was nearby). I need to test this in a fight with "hairy" creatures that employ Hairworks, like a pack of wolves, to see if it's stable. Also need to see how well it handles when riding fast across the map.

Note: I've capped my framerate to 30 as it's smoother then 60 (it would stutter to below 40 quite regularly). This is one of those games i'll take the fps hit for the visual quality.

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

Hard to see it as a downgrade for me. They had to change the entire rendering system to make the thing work in the open world. They didn't make the graphics worse, they made them different.

Thing is, they made a reasoned choice to switch to a system that works better with the majority of the game, as opposed to just those couple scenes. I think that's perfectly reasonable.

I mean, come on people. It's still easily the best looking game on the market. I mean, holy shit, have you actually seen it? Have you seen that shit? I'm like 15 hours in and I still haven't managed to get my jaw back into place.

 

[zinho73]

I find it worrying that such a big deal has been made over such a little issue. No wonder costs are inflating constantly, the consumers have only seemed to reinforce the belief that they want shiny stuff and don't care about the other stuff.

I think the problem is that Watch Dogs and Alien: Colonial Marines really abused of the graphical differences between demo and actual game. The end result on those games is really not all that good (and Colonial Marines added salt to the wound because the gameplay was also very different).

In The Witcher the difference is visible, but the end result is still amazing, and while textures suffered in comparison to the demo, animations and weather effects were improved, and the game feels a little bit less detailed but more alive. I am very happy with the game - and it is really great performance-wise.

It is still advisable for the developers to thread carefully, because not only the demo was more detailed but the devs said at some point that there wouldn't be any downgrades. Those declarations can be very damaging and awkward to refute. NOthing wrong in showing the game as best as you think it can be, just be clear about it.

 

[Remus]

So if I buy this game in, say, half a year, I might get a semi-close version to the as-advertised product. And here I thought it was only MMOs that improved games so drastically with patches.

You are literally everything that is wrong with gamers in today's day and age.

The Witcher 3, patches or no patches is one of the most incredibly solid, well polished, well designed role playing games of this or any other era. And you want to grump about the difference between promo trailers and the main game graphics?

I'm sorry did you make the same complaints about the Blur trailers BioWare used to sell all their games that were nowhere ever near the visual quality of the trailers themselves?

The difference in graphics between TW3 and its promo trailers is literally so minor you literally have to WANT to use it as a reason to hate the game...rather than it actually being a valid reason to hate the game. It is literally a difference in shader and post processing effect choices between the trailers, and the released version.

And guess what? If you really want the original look from the 2013 trailers you can literally do it yourself [http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/23/?] with a few mouse clicks.

Trailers are trailers. Cinematics are cinematics. This has been true since Square first conceptualized Final Fantasy. And Blur, is well, Blur. They create battle scenes for the MCU movies so no, I do not expect videogames to look like that. That is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about this -
Note that it's not just shaders, but a range of particle effects cut from the final product. I like open world games and there are things one can do in them that are unlike any other game out there. That said, these graphic options that were disabled in the final product should at minimum be left available for those who can in fact run them on PC.

Personally, I recently spent a not-insubstantial amount on a new computer that can run any current game at ultra, 60fps - frames limited by IPS monitor hz rate. So I'm allowed to be a bit of a graphic snob and if you don't like that, fine, that's your problem, not mine.

 

[Pr0]

So if I buy this game in, say, half a year, I might get a semi-close version to the as-advertised product. And here I thought it was only MMOs that improved games so drastically with patches.

You are literally everything that is wrong with gamers in today's day and age.

The Witcher 3, patches or no patches is one of the most incredibly solid, well polished, well designed role playing games of this or any other era. And you want to grump about the difference between promo trailers and the main game graphics?

I'm sorry did you make the same complaints about the Blur trailers BioWare used to sell all their games that were nowhere ever near the visual quality of the trailers themselves?

The difference in graphics between TW3 and its promo trailers is literally so minor you literally have to WANT to use it as a reason to hate the game...rather than it actually being a valid reason to hate the game. It is literally a difference in shader and post processing effect choices between the trailers, and the released version.

And guess what? If you really want the original look from the 2013 trailers you can literally do it yourself [http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/23/?] with a few mouse clicks.

You are literally too easily offended. Trailers are trailers. Cinematics are cinematics. This has been true since Square first conceptualized Final Fantasy. And Blur, is well, Blur. They create battle scenes for the MCU movies so no, I do not expect videogames to look like that. That is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about this -
Note that it's not just shaders, but a range of particle effects cut from the final product. I like open world games and there are things one can do in them that are unlike any other game out there. That said, these graphic options that were disabled in the final product should at minimum be left available for those who can in fact run them on PC.

Personally, I recently spent a not-insubstantial amount on a new computer that can run any current game at ultra, 60fps - frames limited by IPS monitor hz rate. So I'm allowed to be a bit of a graphic snob and if you don't like that, fine, that's your problem, not mine. Now get off that high horse before you hurt yourself.

Yeah I'll do that as soon as you stop reporting posts to moderators because you got your feelings bruised by someone using your statement as a general description of what is literally the worst thing about gamers today.

I'm done trying to talk on these forums. Its pointless.

The Witcher 3 is an incredible game...if you don't like the graphics, thats fine. Have a great day, no one requires you to play the game for the game to remain an amazing achievement in the modern industry.

 

[Remus]

snippage.

Actually I didn't. The post was modded while I was typing in fact. Funny that.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

While I am a little disappointed with the overall graphics quality and performance I would cut them some slack in this case because it's pretty obvious that the reason they delayed for as long as they did was to fix these issues. And personally I feel like if they delayed again I would have lost my shit.

I've no doubt they will continue to improve the game for months to come, and it'll probably take me that long to even finish it anyway. Not saying it's ok for companies to do it, but so far the game itself is A LOT of fun and more importantly isn't broken or lacking content on day 1, which is what a lot of AAA games tend to be like these days.

In short, could have been better but it's still a great game with a shit ton of content.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

So this game is damn near perfect in all other regards, and people are furious at it over graphics? I don't even...why? Because a trailer was shinier? Like trailers always are? I will never understand this train of thought.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

So this game is damn near perfect in all other regards, and people are furious at it over graphics? I don't even...why?

If the game is damn near perfect in all other regards, then why misrepresent the graphics? Can't they stand on their own?

I honestly don't care either way; I'm never going to be buying the game. I just think the complaints have a point.

 

[TT Kairen]

Yeah I'll do that as soon as you stop reporting posts to moderators because you got your feelings bruised by someone using your statement as a general description of what is literally the worst thing about gamers today.

I'm done trying to talk on these forums. Its pointless.

The Witcher 3 is an incredible game...if you don't like the graphics, thats fine. Have a great day, no one requires you to play the game for the game to remain an amazing achievement in the modern industry.

All this talk about a graphics downgrade is sort of grinding my gears. Nobody yet has managed to refute my claim. All I ask whenever this pops up is this: Name a game on this scale, with this level of quality content, that looks even REMOTELY this good. (Yes, the 5 hour 100% linear The Order: 1886 looks better. Nobody cares) Nobody can do it. They just want to complain despite receiving a modern masterpiece.

 

[mrgerry123]

I would only feel cheated if I could max out the game. My OC'd 970 and 4.4ghz 3570k can't run everything at ultra at 60fps so I don't really mind. Game still looks great. In principle though they should try to make advertising as close to the finished product as possible however in my opinion CD project red have done enough good stuff to get a pass on this.

 

[Baresark]

Good old CDPR. They will keep working on this game because they are one of the best developers around today. And I think they deserve to be rewarded for their truly fantastic game, so go and buy it. There is so much to do, it's crazy.