The Witcher 3

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
6,240
2,559
136
Still looks good by default today. There's mods to make it look better (HD textures, etc).

And CDPR is supposed to upgrade it for next-gen at some point.

That is supposed to come out Q1 of 2023 I think. It was going to be this summer but got delayed.
 

Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
6,240
2,559
136
Ray Tracing seams like it won't be that obvious as some games given the locals. Hopefully it doesn't run as bad as CyberPunk. Or as bad as Witcher 3 did at launch before it got patched.

But, really looking forward to yet another playthrough :)
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
28,275
19,922
146
I preordered Spiderman Miles Morales for under $40 from Fanatical. Between these 2 games, I have a most excellent holiday season of gaming lined up. That they are giving the Witcher 3 a bit of the Skyrim treatment, is brilliant.
 
  • Like
Reactions: igor_kavinski

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
126
I definitely need to continue where I left off in Witcher 3 if they are going to update the game to use rtx. That and I'm finally going to be on a 4k oled so I hope it will feel new to get back into it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zor Prime

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,494
470
126

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
94,690
14,936
126
Still sitting on my drive not getting played. Bought it when I built the Ryzen 3700X system in 2019.
 
Last edited:

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
28,275
19,922
146
Still sitting on my drive not getting played. Bought it when I built the Ryzen 3700X system in 2019.
As I wrote, I had a hell of a time committing to it. Always wandering off to another game within the first hour. This last attempt the bug bit me. It was all I played until finished. I will happily do another playthrough after the update. I know there is stuff I missed.
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
17,578
9,268
136
witcher3.png
I did this screenshot some time ago, re conversations of witcher 3's graphics showing signs of age. It's difficult to be amazed by something I've seen many times before, but it still looks pretty damn good IMO.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,494
470
126
View attachment 71583
I did this screenshot some time ago, re conversations of witcher 3's graphics showing signs of age. It's difficult to be amazed by something I've seen many times before, but it still looks pretty damn good IMO.
I have many screenshots from this game and it's one of the few that I was floored by the graphics alone. My first sunset on Skellige I just put the controller down and watched the sun fade away. I think I was honestly more impressed that my old PC was able to max the game without any frame rate issues so I'm fairly excited to see this game with updated graphics at 4K.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,719
7,016
136
It also looks like the next gen patch will come with all the DLC bundled from what I can tell. Basically everyone who owns the base game will end up with the GOTY edition after the patch.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DAPUNISHER

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,512
29,099
146
so 4.0 is now available...anyone tried it out yet? Does it do the rays well? :D

I picked up my new 6800XT yesterday, but probably won't be able to finish the new system until the end of the weekend, but it's also dedicated to my new racing rig...but I will be trying Witcher 3 on it at some point. I don't expect Ray Tracing to work very well at all for AMD, knowing CDPR's long history with crappy Nvidia tech, especially with "Gameworks" from the first days of W3 release.

I wonder if it will scale to triple 2k displays? :D

But just reading the release notes, definitely calls for a 4th replay soon!
 
  • Like
Reactions: DAPUNISHER

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
28,275
19,922
146
so 4.0 is now available...anyone tried it out yet? Does it do the rays well? :D

I picked up my new 6800XT yesterday, but probably won't be able to finish the new system until the end of the weekend, but it's also dedicated to my new racing rig...but I will be trying Witcher 3 on it at some point. I don't expect Ray Tracing to work very well at all for AMD, knowing CDPR's long history with crappy Nvidia tech, especially with "Gameworks" from the first days of W3 release.

I wonder if it will scale to triple 2k displays? :D

But just reading the release notes, definitely calls for a 4th replay soon!
I am updating the game as I type. I have a RX6800 I will try it on. I will install it on my 3060ti system too, and see what kind of a difference it makes with RT. Honestly, I have zero cares for lighting and shadows, reflections are the only RT feature I find value added. It could be due to my aging eyes, and not using a HDR display.

I will turn everything on to laugh at how it tanks performance on the 6800 and 3060ti. Then only use reflections after that.
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
126
I'm excited to try that update for Witcher 3 tonight. I heard it brings a 4090 to it's knees if you don't use dlss. From what I saw of people who tried it, all ultra settings with hairworks native 4k it's about 40-50fps.

Others are saying performance without ray tracing is also worse than the previous build.
 
Last edited:

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,719
7,016
136
Little bummed its not an upgrade to the GOTY edition like prior Witcher "enhanced edition" upgrades, but beggars can't be choosers I guess.

Figure I'll look into picking up the season pass this winter sale and giving the game a go.
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
126
Well I loaded it up and with RT settings on my 13900k and 4090 it's around 45-50fps but 99% of the fps is even lower than that. I see as low as in the 20's lol.

This is using native resolution 4k and no dlss.

Game crashed about 3 times already while I was trying to mess with settings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DAPUNISHER

Igo69

Senior member
Apr 26, 2015
716
101
106
Well i doubt my dinosaur PC can handle this update but will try to install and see anyway
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
126
Been testing some more, something is definitely weird here. The only way I can see 98% GPU usage is if I use Ray Tracing. If RT is off, the game only uses 60-70% of the GPU and like 5-13% CPU.

There are several RT options, global illumination, RT Ambient occlusion, RT reflection, and RT shadows. With all these on and native 4k it runs at like 25-27 fps. That's the 99% number as the regular fps from Nvidia overlay is higher (40-50's).

Even with just RT global illumination on and the other RT settings off, not much better, it can go to 30fps, jumps up and back down. I wouldn't call any of these playable. It's really jittery.

With dlss on quality I can hit high 30's into the 45 range. Doesn't matter if you turn on all RT options or use just RT Global illumination. Even dropping most of the graphics settings from ultra+ to ultra did nothing spectacular for performance.

I think it needs some patches.. surprised because from what I heard they did fix up RTX in cyberpunk I just have not tried it since I got my new card.
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
28,275
19,922
146
To fix afterburner not working: Go to your Witcher 3 folder, open BIN, make a new folder and move the 2 following files into it -
d3d11on12.dll
dxil.dll

Playing on an RX6800 Ultra+, Hairworks maxed, 1440, it holds the 60fps frame cap I use. If I try to turn on ray tracing on any save that I was not using it, it crashes to desktop. Ray tracing tanks performance massively too. It looks great on ultra+ so that's how I am playing.
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
126
To fix afterburner not working: Go to your Witcher 3 folder, open BIN, make a new folder and move the 2 following files into it -
d3d11on12.dll
dxil.dll

Playing on an RX6800 Ultra+, Hairworks maxed, 1440, it holds the 60fps frame cap I use. If I try to turn on ray tracing on any save that I was not using it, it crashes to desktop. Ray tracing tanks performance massively to. It looks great on ultra+ so that's how I am playing.
Performance with RT does suck, I tried again this morning and it would crash immediately unless I turned off RT, launched then tried adjusting settings after I was in game. But then sometimes it would work, other times it would crash.

When it did work, it ran pretty bad kind of like a slideshow.