Basically the lighting was completely redone prior to release because it couldn't run on console. Textures also received a downgrade and the leader or the wild Hunt was like ps5 quality in the trailer.
Witcher 3 Next Gen Console Upgrade - Q4 2022
- Thread starter Dolemite
- Start date
Looks pretty good. Cant really tell the "better lighting" but the foliage is waaay better which imo is the originals biggest weakness
I just watched the actual presentation, I suspected this but they confirmed it, a lot of the new textures are actually taken from fan mods.
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PeteWorrell
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- Aug 31, 2006
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Installed the update and played about an hour of the PC version. These are some of the things i noticed in that relatively short amount of time.
Food does not heal as much and as quickly as before and skills in the skill tree that used to have 5 points have been lowered to 3 points. The points that are no longer allocated have been refunded so you can use them elsewhere.
You also have infinite stamina outside of combat so running around places like big cities without your horse is a breeze. You also no longer get a menu or stop when picking up herbs so running around the world while collecting is much less time consuming.
Food does not heal as much and as quickly as before and skills in the skill tree that used to have 5 points have been lowered to 3 points. The points that are no longer allocated have been refunded so you can use them elsewhere.
You also have infinite stamina outside of combat so running around places like big cities without your horse is a breeze. You also no longer get a menu or stop when picking up herbs so running around the world while collecting is much less time consuming.
Checked out the PS5 version since I dont have an RTX card, and tbh the RT global illumination is pretty much the exact same as the regular lighting. Theres some better shading on the foliage, but thats it.
The indooor lighting I will say is much better. The non-RT lighting in indoor sections are significantly worse. Really it feels like there is no lighting when you turn off the RT indoors. Huge difference.
That said, I'm not sure its worth the compromise of 60 fps. Fortunately, you can change the setting at literally any time even during cutscenes, so you dont need to commit to one or the other.
The indooor lighting I will say is much better. The non-RT lighting in indoor sections are significantly worse. Really it feels like there is no lighting when you turn off the RT indoors. Huge difference.
That said, I'm not sure its worth the compromise of 60 fps. Fortunately, you can change the setting at literally any time even during cutscenes, so you dont need to commit to one or the other.
Unholy Diver
Registered User
Does the free update apply to all versions of the previous gen game? Or does it have to be a certain version like GOTY?
I played thru the game but never went back for a replay or got the DLC, this might be enough to get me to do so
I played thru the game but never went back for a replay or got the DLC, this might be enough to get me to do so
I bought the game and dlc separate and it works for me on ps5. Should be the same on PC
Unholy Diver
Registered User
Shareefruck
Registered User
Saying this from a point of ignorance-- I haven't given it too much of a chance yet, and I guess it's a common convention for this type of game from this period, but the way the NPCs behave and the way they react to player actions really hurt the experience for me and put me off from continuing, personally. I didn't find that aspect of it endearing, I just found it really uncomfortable and dumb, and such a disconnect from the tone the game seems to be going for.
Will probably re-attempt at some point, though.
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what did the NPCs do? I don’t remember anything super bad that sticks in out. Only thing I didn’t like was how certain npcs once you completed a quest you could never talk to them again even if they still stuck around.
Shareefruck
Registered User
Just the derpy screams and noises they make when you try to talk to them, bump into them, or threaten to hurt them. The acting of the inconsequential NPCs in general felt really aggressively bad to me. From the perspective of someone who doesn't play these types of games, it's just this weird mix of the campiest of camp combined with storytelling that seems to try to be more serious and pristine. I don't know if it's meant to be an intentional attempt at humor, or what, but I'm not into it.
Again, I'm under the impression that this kind of thing is super common and gets memed on a lot in things like Oblivion and Skyrim, but going into it, I was hoping that it'd be something that The Witcher 3 transcended (since it has this critically flawless reputation), and it was still pretty bad for me, personally.
For the record, I only started the very beginning of it (and I assume that more story-relevant NPCs are better), so if it's some intentional reference or rug-pull that doesn't persist throughout the game, then I stand corrected.
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I actually didn’t like that either, however it didn’t ruin the game for me. Although I took a very long time fully get into the Witcher 3. It was only like a year after I bought it that I went all in.
I’m even one of the few people that actually likes the combat. I think it’s much deeper than people give it credit for.
A lot of the quests are genuinely horrible in terms of pacing though. It’s one of the few things cyberpunk did a lot better. There’s very little filler in the quests.
- Aug 24, 2011
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So if buy the complete edition off the Xbox store will it automatically have the graphical upgrade?
* Turn on Nvidia Reflex Low Latency in the game if you have an Nvidia card or AMD Anti-Lag in Adrenaline if you have an AMD card.
* Turn off Hairworks in the game if you have an Nvidia card.
* Turn "Foliage Visibility Range" down to Medium.
* Turn detail settings down to Ultra or High. It's mostly Ultra+ in combination with RT that causes stuttering.
* Set the game's framerate limiter to 30fps. Alternately, it may be possible to set a higher cap (like 45fps) in outside software and get the same benefit.
A tip that I read to eliminate crashes:
"To 'fix' crashing, When you start the game and are in the first menu, enable all ray tracing. Once you have loaded your save, then change the ray tracing settings to your liking."
I won't be able to try out the update until after the holidays, but wanted to post these so that I don't forget them and in case anyone else finds them useful.
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PeteWorrell
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- Aug 31, 2006
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It's free on all platforms so yes.
I have ray tracing and hair works off. The performance hits are just too high. I value smooth gameplay over 60 FPS over eye candy.
Especially on console it just does so little. They really dialed back the ray tracing on console to the point where a the rtgi shader mod on my gtx 1080 looks better than what they implemented on ps5.
Also for all the gamers out there who want to transfer their save on console (I assume its easier on PC), its a bit complicated. Press L2 on PS4 in the load menu at the start screen, follow the link and create a GoG account to link, then do the same on ps5. It will create a cloud save of your last autosave on the ps4 version. Load any manual save and fast travel to trigger an auto-save on whatever save file you want to transfer.
This also gives you a free armor set. The bad news though, this glitched for me and I did not get the armor set. Its like a level 5 armor set though so its purely fashion.
PeteWorrell
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- Aug 31, 2006
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Everything on high, hair works off and ray tracing on at 1440p i get under 30 FPS as in it's blurry and unplayable. Even if i downscale the resolution down to 1080p i still get a blurry mess. Ray tracing off with the same settings at 1440p and the lowest it will drop down to is around 70 FPS.
I've seen claims the issues are related to how they ported direct X 11 to direct X 12, so if you aren't using Ray Tracing or FSR, it may make sense to just use the Direct X 11 version which I believe has the improved character models.
Unholy Diver
Registered User
So I am seeing a lot of issues and complaints here, is it actually worthwhile to upgrade and play again? I'd be on a PS5
PeteWorrell
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- Aug 31, 2006
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The 60 fps mode and increased foliage is reaaal good.
However, the raytracing is heavily downgraded from PC and you can't even really tell outside of a handful of areas.
PeteWorrell
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- Aug 31, 2006
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They had no choice but to downgrade ray tracing on consoles since on PC it's very taxing even on high end cards. There are reports of the game crashing too when turning it on. They really need to patch the performance issues as this is something affecting both AMD and Nvidia cards.
