Witcher 2 - VERY FRUSTRATED :'(

[crailberry]

Ok so I am having issues BIG TIME. And have been researching my butt off for the past 2 days, and still no success. Real quick, here's my setup.

-AMD Phenom 2 1045t Six Core Processor
-8GB DDR3 system memory
-AMD Radeon HD 6450 512MB DDR3
-1.5 Terabyte Hardrive
-Windows 7. And the computer is a HP Pavilion Elite HPE. Everything
stock.

Ok well, my first issues after installing the game were that I could not get better than 16 frames per second. Tested with FRAPS. I went into the witcher 2 folder in my documents/config/user and changed my mouse sensitivity, ubersampling, vsync, and still nothing. Not even a little better. Then I went into the options, accessed from the launcher, and disabled a bunch of things like bloom and shadows and turned down the resolution a little. Still didnt do anything. The only thing that helped was when I turned down the resolution A LOT, to where it looked REALLY shitty, but still couldn't get even 25 frames per second. And I dont think my computer is considered a monster (or is it?), but MY GOD MAN SHOULDN'T IT BE ABLE TO AT LEAST RUN THE GAME ON LOWEST SETTINGS??????? IF NOT MEDIUM TO HIGH WITH UBERSAMPLING OFF???????? I mean seriously!!!!!!!!! I'm so effing frustrated right now. So then I downloaded the latest drivers for my graphics card, the 11.5b catalyst thingy, and I decided to try uninstalling the game too, I think right before I installed the 11.5b driver. So I don't think I even got to try out the 11.5b driver before I uninstalled the game. Because now when I reinstall the damn game, it opens the launcher, starts to download the updates, which I'm assuming are the patches 1 through 1.3, AND IT JUST KEEPS DOWNLOADING!!!!! It appears to be downloading, finishes, then starts over again!!!! WTFFFFFFF. And now its not even the normal looking launcher it was before. It's just a small rectangle with the download progress bar, and has nothing like "launch game" or "options" or "witcher.com".

Pleassseee help meeeee. Ive seriously been trying to figure this out on my own for the past 2 days and have had no success. And I'm not that technicial. I dont know what DLC is and stuff. Your help is GREATLY appreciated.

 

[zinfamous]

I haven't played Witcher 2, but most of the early reviews here say that ubersampling gives a huge, HUGE hit to even the most stout systems.

It also looks like your machine is VERY GPU limited, compared to everything else? only 512mg of video memory?

there is a rather long Witcher 2 thread, here. so maybe check that out.

I wouldn't think Witcher 2 has any DownLoadable Content yet, does it? (DLC is just extra game content. sometimes, this stuff does break certain games on initial releases.

 

[KaOTiK]

I haven't played Witcher 2, but most of the early reviews here say that ubersampling gives a huge, HUGE hit to even the most stout systems.

It also looks like your machine is VERY GPU limited, compared to everything else? only 512mg of video memory?

there is a rather long Witcher 2 thread, here. so maybe check that out.

I wouldn't think Witcher 2 has any DownLoadable Content yet, does it? (DLC is just extra game content. sometimes, this stuff does break certain games on initial releases.

TW2 does have DLC, but it is all free and added in with patches so you have it regardless.

As for the OP. I dunno, ubersampling is for some beefy gpu setups and will rape your frames.

 

[IGemini]

The 6450 is meant to be an HTPC card, not meant for gaming at all. Minimum requirements for the video card are GeForce 8800/Radeon 3850 which were upper-midrange cards in their time. I have no idea why you thought you were going to get medium or high settings from what you have.

 

[Carfax83]

It's your video card. That thing is no gaming GPU..

 

[Red Hawk]

I don't have the game so I can't really comment on the update process but I can say that your graphics card is very low-end and The Witcher 2 is a monster of a game when it comes to graphics. Put two and two together and the answer is no, your PC can't even be expected to play the lowest settings well. You need to upgrade to at LEAST something like a Radeon HD 5670 to play smoothly on the lowest settings, and you'd need something like a Geforce GTX 560 to start pushing high settings.

 

[zinfamous]

The 6450 is meant to be an HTPC card, not meant for gaming at all. Minimum requirements for the video card are GeForce 8800/Radeon 3850 which were upper-midrange cards in their time. I have no idea why you thought you were going to get medium or high settings from what you have.

Ah, that makes sense. that GPU stood out to me and I wasn't sure why. I wasn't sure what the the breakdown for the 6xxx class was, but the 512mb is a bit of a giveaway these days.

 

[stahlhart]

And the computer is a HP Pavilion Elite HPE. Everything stock.

I think this might have something to do with it.

Welcome to the forums, BTW.

 

[zinfamous]

I think this might have something to do with it.

Welcome to the forums, BTW.

why is that? It's jsut another box and the guts seem fine, except for the seriously underpowerd GPU.

seriously...6 cores, 8gb memory, and a dinky GPU? weird....

 

[stahlhart]

why is that? It's jsut another box and the guts seem fine, except for the seriously underpowerd GPU.

seriously...6 cores, 8gb memory, and a dinky GPU? weird....

My experience with retail PCs (HPs in particular) is that they tend to have underperforming OEM motherboards. They'll be fine for standard 2D stuff, but bottlenecked for 3D gaming.

 

[Arkaign]

The mobo will perform within 1-2% of the best custom-order boards, but obviously overclocking is almost always totally unavailable or severely limited.

The issue is the GPU. That's a great GPU for watching videos or playing old games, but yeah a $100ish 5770 or GTX460 would be a tremendously huge upgrade.

 

[PUN]

I am even surprised that you were able to install the game with your videocard.

 

[zebrax2]

As others have said its your GPU.

 

[alcoholbob]

I have a 6 year old PC that's faster than that video card lol.

 

[busydude]

You must be lucky.. 16 FPS on a 6450 is awesome.

 

[crailberry]

Sigh...hahahahaha I'm chuckling to myself as I walk around reading this on my phone. My graphics card sucks along then, eh? I just assumed it was decent because its a newer series (I think?) And the 6450 is numerically bigger than 5xxx. Haha man I feel rather sheepish. But thanks for the help everyone. And just so we're clear, when you guys talk about my GPU and my graphics card, those are the same things right? I'm assuming GPU stands for Graphics processor something. Either way looks like ill be making a trip to the store tomorrow. Maybe ill take this opportunity to go 3D...

 

[crailberry]

Still though, that doesn't explain as to why it keeps downloading and downloading and downloading, does it? Because I was actually able to play the game the first time, just with really low fps...

 

[busydude]

Yeah.. and don't buy hardware parts from Best buy.. they will rip you off like mad. If you have FRY's or MC then visit those stores.. if that is not possible, online stores like newegg or Amazon.. have the lowest prices.

 

[cronos]

Here's the latest graphic cards ranking if you want to make a comparison:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2964-7.html

I don't follow graphics card development too closely but when I want to get a feel of what's out there I looked for the latest version of this list. As you can see your 6450 is ranked number 17. My 3 years-old 8800 GS is ranked number 12, and I usually play my games at the lowest (or close to lowest) setting.

If you're looking for an upgrade, I believe rank 5/6 is the current sweet spot right now for casual gamers, priced around $100-150 depending on the brand and what kind of discount/sale is available.

 

[Demo24]

I cant answer to the constant downloading issue (their forums might have a solution), but I did read in the patch notes that 1.3 does do some launcher tweaks. One of which is that it doesn't stay running when the game is launched, although not what you are experiencing.

 

[crailberry]

Yeah.. and don't buy hardware parts from Best buy.. they will rip you off like mad. If you have FRY's or MC then visit those stores.. if that is not possible, online stores like newegg or Amazon.. have the lowest prices.

Ok....yeah I've heard that most pc enthusiasts stay away from places like Best Buy. I'm not sure if there's a FRYs around here, what is "MC"? Radioshack have cards? Or is that another place to stay away from. Sorry, I'm sure by now you're like duuuuude use the search bar, but I think we're pretty much wrapped up here

 

[Nintendesert]

I usually get my cards from Amazon or newegg depending on the deals. MC is Microcenter.

As for the downloading over and over thing, just go to the website and download 1.1, then the 1.2 then the 1.3 patch. The fresh install of the game has problems with the auto updater and it only works with version 1.1 and up.

 

[crailberry]

As for the downloading over and over thing, just go to the website and download 1.1, then the 1.2 then the 1.3 patch. The fresh install of the game has problems with the auto updater and it only works with version 1.1 and up.

YESSSS!!!! Thank you!!!! It worked!! Man, I uninstalled the game like 6 times. Thought it was a random glitch or something. Haha I'm sure you're all shaking your heads. But thank you all so much! Hopefully I'll be able to run to the store tomorrow and pick up a new card. Sundays in Utah, everything shuts down makes everything a real pain in the arse.

 

[crailberry]

Is anyone here surprised that my comp ran Crysis 2 on the 'Very High' settings at all? Because it did!

 

[Red Hawk]

Sigh...hahahahaha I'm chuckling to myself as I walk around reading this on my phone. My graphics card sucks along then, eh? I just assumed it was decent because its a newer series (I think?) And the 6450 is numerically bigger than 5xxx. Haha man I feel rather sheepish. But thanks for the help everyone. And just so we're clear, when you guys talk about my GPU and my graphics card, those are the same things right? I'm assuming GPU stands for Graphics processor something. Either way looks like ill be making a trip to the store tomorrow. Maybe ill take this opportunity to go 3D...

The 6000 series is newer than the 5000 series, yes, but each series has fast cards and slow cards, and the slow cards are still slower than the fast cards of the last series. The second digit (0n00) usually indicates the actual speed of the card. The 6450 is the absolute slowest card in the 6000 series and slower than the majority of the 5000 series.

As others have said, avoid Best Buy. Their customer service isn't great and their selection of graphics cards is small and really overpriced. A good computer hardware store I know of in my area is called Microcenter, you might want to look that up. If there's no good hardware store near you then you may want to order from Newegg.com, they have really good prices.

And yes, GPU is the same thing as a graphics card, and it stands for "Graphics Processing Unit", like CPU stands for "Central Processing Unit".

Is anyone here surprised that my comp ran Crysis 2 on the 'Very High' settings at all? Because it did!

I seriously doubt that...what, did you get like 10 frames per second while running it at 1024x600 resolution?