The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt [PC Edition]

Moon54

I just started playing The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt and it looks absolutly fantastic!

However, graphically, the game is fairly resource intentive and I'm running
it @ 2560x1440 resolution on a R9 290 card with i5 2500k CPU,
but I was only getting 25-30 fps on "High" setting.

So, I started messing around with the graphic options to get the best performance
and found that by just turning "NVidia Hairworks" Off , I got a huge FPS boost.
I'm now getting 45-50 fps in-game, with no major difference visually.

I just thought I'd share that quick tip for anyone looking to squeeze more
performance out of the game, as this Hairworks seemed to be enabled by default.

Genghiz Cohen

Ubersampling or GTFO

EoinHef

The hair is a product of Nvidia Gameworks so should be off on an AMD rig as it will aversely affect performance. One of the devs tweeted AMD cards will run the feature but performance will tank.

Even though i have a Nvidia card i hate all this proprietery rubbish. Gamesworks needs to die....

Completionist

Thought my 2gb 6950 might last a while longer as I didn't have too much trouble with games so far (Had it 4 years) but only getting ~30fps at 1080p with everything turned off/at the lowest setting...

Amazing game though, 10/10

Ri_Nollaig

I am running it with everything on High on 1440p with AA off, getting around 50~ fps. 780ti, 16gig, 4770k.
I had to disable that nvidia hairworks features as well, turning it off added about 10 fps straight away.

Skerries

Completionist wrote: »

Thought my 2gb 6950 might last a while longer as I didn't have too much trouble with games so far (Had it 4 years) but only getting ~30fps at 1080p with everything turned off/at the lowest setting...

Amazing game though, 10/10

yeah this is the first game that has tested my 6970 so may be time to upgrade

Ri_Nollaig

Hard to tell exactly what some of the graphics options actually do.
I had no idea what vignette did

Nvidia have a good tweak guide here: http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-graphics-performance-and-tweaking-guide

They have a similar tweak guide for GTA5, obviously written for their cards but its the same info either way.

dreamers75

Finished 2 last night so getting this today or morrow, anyone seen it for Steam in around the 30 quid mark?

G2play have the GOG version for 33.

abbir

EoinHef wrote: »

The hair is a product of Nvidia Gameworks so should be off on an AMD rig as it will aversely affect performance. One of the devs tweeted AMD cards will run the feature but performance will tank.

Even though i have a Nvidia card i hate all this proprietery rubbish. Gamesworks needs to die....

Hairworks also uses a lot of performance on Nvidia cards. Disabling it gives me an extra 10-15 fps on a GTX 970.

EoinHef

abbir wrote: »

Hairworks also uses a lot of performance on Nvidia cards. Disabling it gives me an extra 10-15 fps on a GTX 970.

Yeah it just seems to be a waste all round when the performance hit on both brand cards is pretty big. I can appreciate that with so many animals in the game its nice that they tried to animate there fur but its the shi**y way nvidia go about this type of stuff that annoys me. Its anti consumer imo as it diminishes choice.

AMD had tressfx in tomb raider a few years ago but released the source code so nvidia could optimize for it so owners of both makers cards could enjoy the feature. Fat chance Nvidia will ever do the same.

Kiith

While nVidia may not release the code, you can do it yourself without much of a performance hit apparently. Set Tessellation to 8x (or 4x if your card isn't that good). Just don't use 2x, if it looks awful (http://i.imgur.com/2wyxv90.jpg)



I've not tested it myself, but it's supposed to work well enough.

yoshiktk

Quick one. Does anyone have the box edition? I wanted to get it in next few days but I just found topic on CdProjekt where loads of ppl are unable to install the game because of faulty Dvd. Would lrefer not to spend money just for bunch of useles plastic.

Spear

I'll have my boxed edition tomorrow, but last I recall you can still use the serial on Gog.com and download from there, as you could with past Witcher titles.

yoshiktk

I know about Gog. I could get the Witcher straight from it but I prefer the Dvd version. Box looks better on shelf.

KonFusion

I've got a HD 6850...

Should I even bother? Or just wait til I scrape together a few pennies for a new build.

Just finished Witcher 2 for the 2nd time, and dying to play this.

Digital Solitude

yoshiktk wrote: »

I know about Gog. I could get the Witcher straight from it but I prefer the Dvd version. Box looks better on shelf.

Get the DVD then. If you've a faulty CD you can use the supplied GOG code anyways, and keep the CD on your shelf

Spear

yoshiktk wrote: »

I know about Gog. I could get the Witcher straight from it but I prefer the Dvd version. Box looks better on shelf.

I mean the serial from the boxed copy also works on GOG for a downloadable copy.

TetraxShard

yoshiktk wrote: »

Quick one. Does anyone have the box edition? I wanted to get it in next few days but I just found topic on CdProjekt where loads of ppl are unable to install the game because of faulty Dvd. Would lrefer not to spend money just for bunch of useles plastic.

The disc isn't faulty, you still need internet to install the game because you have to download an unlock key.

I would have bought the disc version, but hey, free key with my 970. Can't beat free, even if I'd really have liked the little compendium book.

yoshiktk

TetraxShard wrote: »

The disc isn't faulty, you still need internet to install the game because you have to download an unlock key.

I would have bought the disc version, but hey, free key with my 970. Can't beat free, even if I'd really have liked the little compendium book.

Unfortunate a lot of polish players have problem with Dvd disc 2, looks that the company which made discs for CDP didnt had the best standard.
Only few on English site stating having the same problem. With my luck probably I would be in that group.
I thought about picking it in Poland now as my wife is there now but I would risk buying a faulty one. Whats the funniest is that box is cheaper then cd key

TheDoc

More Witcher related stories and accusations this morning. Latest claims that NVIDIA have optimization purposefully degrades performance of sub 900 series cards. Serious feedback that the vastly superior high end 700 series, performing worse then the low-mid range 960's.

With most things in recent weeks, probably best for the dust to settle to see whats going on, but seems bad headline after bad headline lately for NVIDIA (more so then AMD imo).

General consensus us turn of the hairworks, especially if you are AMD, but even NVIDIA users are reporting bumps from disabling. Looks a horribly optimised library.

Mr Bloat

TheDoc wrote: »

General consensus us turn of the hairworks, especially if you are AMD, but even NVIDIA users are reporting bumps from disabling. Looks a horribly optimised library.

I have a GTX 970 and was trying out different settings last night. I can get a constant unwavering 1080/60 with hairworks turned off but it drops to 30-40 FPS with it turned on.

yoshiktk

TheDoc wrote: »

More Witcher related stories and accusations this morning. Latest claims that NVIDIA have optimization purposefully degrades performance of sub 900 series cards. Serious feedback that the vastly superior high end 700 series, performing worse then the low-mid range 960's.

With most things in recent weeks, probably best for the dust to settle to see whats going on, but seems bad headline after bad headline lately for NVIDIA (more so then AMD imo).

General consensus us turn of the hairworks, especially if you are AMD, but even NVIDIA users are reporting bumps from disabling. Looks a horribly optimised library.

If anyone decides to give a try to hairworks should be aware that default settings for it are at least improperly designed. By default hairworks is working with 8x msaa for EVERY STRAND of hair! Via editing config files it is possible to lower or disable completely msaa for hair, just put proper value (0, 2 or 4) in proper ini file to get performance boost for hairworks.

When You go to x:\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt\bin\config\base and check rendering.ini You can see that Hairworks have AA turned up to 8, changing it to 0,2,4 should help. Kinda like they want us to get Titans just for it
Someone posted this settings .

cherryghost

Anyone on 7xx/6xx/5xx, use older drivers, apparently performance is better than these 'Witcher 3 ready' ones.

dreamers75

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-19-cd-projekt-red-tackles-the-witcher-3-graphics-downgrade-issue-head-on

Cd projekt respsonds.

dreamers75

290 running everything on Ultra (hair off) 1080p at 50 fps.

Pretty game until you see the edges of the foliage.

DARK-KNIGHT

dreamers75 wrote: »

290 running everything on Ultra (hair off) 1080p at 50 fps.

Pretty game until you see the edges of the foliage.

Was gonna upgrade gpu to a 290.. any good? worth the money?

Skerries

so what are the recommended changes people have made to their settings or to get the FOV working that are necessary to get it going at a decent fps?

Ri_Nollaig

cherryghost wrote: »

Anyone on 7xx/6xx/5xx, use older drivers, apparently performance is better than these 'Witcher 3 ready' ones.

This has to be a bug with the latest drivers right?
I can't believe the conspiracy theories that nvidia are trying to cripple hardware that is only a year old.

yoshiktk

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

This has to be a bug with the latest drivers right?
I can't believe the conspiracy theories that nvidia are trying to cripple hardware that is only a year old.

This could be Your answer.
It's all about the money, if they will be able to squish few more $$$ they probably will do it. Look how many ppl did upgrade for Witcher.

Venom

AMD driver for Witcher 3 and Project Cars due in the next few days.

http://www.techspot.com/news/60751-amd-working-catalyst-beta-drivers-witcher-3-wild.html

As much as Iv been impressed with my R9 280 and previous 5870 for bang for buck, next card is so going to be an Nvidia (unless they totally screw the pooch) as team green are light years faster for driver updates.

Ri_Nollaig

yoshiktk wrote: »

This could be Your answer.
It's all about the money, if they will be able to squish few more $$$ they probably will do it. Look how many ppl did upgrade for Witcher.

While that wouldn't fill anyone with confidence. I am slow to assume any of the usual internet whinging or theories are correct. I have had ATI/AMD cards in the past and to be honest I have found their drivers/software shocking. So where does this leave us? Intel :P ?

Skerries

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

So where does this leave us? Intel :P ?

this works great on my 3Dfx Voodoo 3000! much wow!

yoshiktk

Naahh S3 Virge should be enough
It would be nice to see a 3rd one in this competition. To be honest even thou I prefer Gtx I think it doesnt matter if You buy Amd or Nvidia. Both companies did some black PR or unfair moves against each other or buyers.
Right now I would stick with better value to spec.
Ill get Witcher at the ewening and see how will it work on my rig.

dreamers75

Skerries wrote: »

so what are the recommended changes people have made to their settings or to get the FOV working that are necessary to get it going at a decent fps?

I changed nothing only turned hair off cos of this thread. It runs very well for me so far.

Only played 1.03 tho as only got it yesterday.

TheDoc

Venom wrote: »

AMD driver for Witcher 3 and Project Cars due in the next few days.

http://www.techspot.com/news/60751-amd-working-catalyst-beta-drivers-witcher-3-wild.html

As much as Iv been impressed with my R9 280 and previous 5870 for bang for buck, next card is so going to be an Nvidia (unless they totally screw the pooch) as team green are light years faster for driver updates.

In fairness to AMD, as I said a few times, they can't be expected to go any faster when NVIDIAs propriety code is closed and not accessible before launch.

Indications are the stuff like Hairworks went into the game two months before launch, not a lot of time to sort out optimisation.

The only reason NVIDIA never had driver stumps(granted they did down the years) is because AMD shared their stuff with them.

Maybe AMD need to bite the bullet and appreciate NVIDIA arnt playing by the unwritten rules anymore, and start closing of their own tech. They were making the big leaps not so long ago, and NVIDIA were only relevant because they were sharing.

I currently have an offer down on some second hand R9 290's hoping to land one. The stuff NVIDIA has pulled has really turned me off them.

dreamers75

DARK-KNIGHT wrote: »

Was gonna upgrade gpu to a 290.. any good? worth the money?

Paid 324 for it new, its an exceptional card and if you get the right revision not as loud as the 1st batch.

yoshiktk

Couldnt wait, just got it.
On my I5 with Gtx 670 have to say works really well. On all on uber it went down to 25fps. Few settings put on medium/high stable 30. Will see till later is it enough or will I have to tweak it a little bit.

EoinHef

For those who would like to read a bit further about Nvidia driver rumours. Good thread about it on OC.net

http://www.overclock.net/t/1529108/are-nvidia-neglecting-kepler-optimization-since-maxwell-release

It looks like its more a case of Nvidia focusing there latest drivers on maxwell architecture rather than legacy keplar arcitechture,hence you wont see the same boost from drivers if you own a legacy card. By no means would that mean they are "gimping" anything,they may just be not optimizing their new drivers for old architecture. Shame if true because givin the right support plenty of these cards are still very respectable performers

I certainly wouldnt be happy if i had paid a lot of money for something like a 680 a few years ago only to find out driver optimizatiins were already drying up for new games.

Robert ninja

^ Aye. Got a 660ti. I'm dreading booting up this game for crappy performance even though it looks comparable to TW2 which performs very well on my system or TW3 console versions. Given that it's nvidia, I wouldn't be surprised if this is on purpose. Focusing on newer drivers while ignoring their older cards is gimping their performance no matter what way you really spin it as the outcome is exaclty to the same to their consumers.

It's all this gameworks malarkey and current-generation games. Things barely look any better than Crysis 1 yet the requirements keep getting higher. wat do

yoshiktk

It's always about the money. Why we don't see electronics made in same way like old ones? Simple. Cash.
We did send ppl to the moon using power of calculator but today we have a problem making earphones which wont fall apart after 1 month
I'll stick with my current card and wait till next gen to see are they worth it or not. Or ill just sell one kidney and buy 3 x Titans

Skerries

Nexus mods already

yoshiktk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prufK9TBfyA

Just installed it. Looks a little bit better. But I dont see as much difference as it was in the video.
After

Before

Skerries

how to change your FOV

https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/36w8ac/fov_edit_comparison_pics/

dreamers75

EoinHef wrote: »

For those who would like to read a bit further about Nvidia driver rumours. Good thread about it on OC.net

http://www.overclock.net/t/1529108/are-nvidia-neglecting-kepler-optimization-since-maxwell-release

It looks like its more a case of Nvidia focusing there latest drivers on maxwell architecture rather than legacy keplar arcitechture,hence you wont see the same boost from drivers if you own a legacy card. By no means would that mean they are "gimping" anything,they may just be not optimizing their new drivers for old architecture. Shame if true because givin the right support plenty of these cards are still very respectable performers

I certainly wouldnt be happy if i had paid a lot of money for something like a 680 a few years ago only to find out driver optimizatiins were already drying up for new games.

Dunno about Nvidia dudes but on guru3d you can always get the new AMD drivers made to work for older cards, its always user made.

I dont think its gimped its just picking the latest cards for prioty updates, i dont see anything wrong with that.

EoinHef

dreamers75 wrote: »

Dunno about Nvidia dudes but on guru3d you can always get the new AMD drivers made to work for older cards, its always user made.

I dont think its gimped its just picking the latest cards for prioty updates, i dont see anything wrong with that.

Id agree,gimped suggests the cards have been impaired some how. I dont think thats the case. Nvidia are just not spending the extra time it would take to make profiles for older cards on newer games. I am surprised though that its happened this early.

Also for it to become apparent during the launch of such a big game like Witcher 3 is probably bad timing on there part.

Robert ninja

Ok I just booted this up today. In my personal opinion, it looks no better than TW2. Also, I cannot maintain 60fps even with everything set to minimum. I tried 30fps framelimit... it legitimately gave me a headache.

Looks like I'll have to do with this what I did with The Evil Within... play it at <1080 resolution.

There's also a crazy amount of stutter which I can barely do anything about. Apparently it's caused by texture resolution but that is the one setting that I am actually not wanting to set to minumum as it makes everything look really bad and also seems to cost nothing in frames. But the stuttering really is an issue... has anyone else noticed it? I'm playing fullscreen to try and reduce it.

Venom

Robert ninja wrote: »

Ok I just booted this up today. In my personal opinion, it looks no better than TW2. Also, I cannot maintain 60fps even with everything set to minimum. I tried 30fps framelimit... it legitimately gave me a headache.

Looks like I'll have to do with this what I did with The Evil Within... play it at <1080 resolution.

There's also a crazy amount of stutter which I can barely do anything about. Apparently it's caused by texture resolution but that is the one setting that I am actually not wanting to set to minumum as it makes everything look really bad and also seems to cost nothing in frames. But the stuttering really is an issue... has anyone else noticed it? I'm playing fullscreen to try and reduce it.

Well of course its going to look crap running at its lowest settings :pac:

What hardware are you trying to run this on?

Robert ninja

The same hardware than I ran TW2 at which ran better and looked as good to me. Albeit, not open world but isn't that mostly a CPU hog? Something my rig is pretty beefy in.

But I'm happy to say... I'm actually getting into the game now! Despite the low resolution and almost minimum video settings (textures are high) I've just done my best to look past it and now I'm playing at around 60~ fps. Getting into the story again and enjoying the encounters. Controls are messy, though. It's terrible to see you can't even rebind WASD... all those poor ESDF users. It's at the point where most of the mods released are just for more binding options and even different gamepad layouts. 25 million dollar marketing budget and can't rebind WASD... just... ugh.

Anyway I'm just going to try and deal with it until an official patch soon. If none comes I guess I'll try out some custom bindings mixed with mods. I tried gamepad but I'm not digging it despite totally expecting that was what was going to be best for this game... so it's back to KB/M.

Sonics2k

Robert ninja wrote: »

The same hardware than I ran TW2 at which ran better and looked as good to me. Albeit, not open world but isn't that mostly a CPU hog? Something my rig is pretty beefy in.

But I'm happy to say... I'm actually getting into the game now! Despite the low resolution and almost minimum video settings (textures are high) I've just done my best to look past it and now I'm playing at around 60~ fps. Getting into the story again and enjoying the encounters. Controls are messy, though. It's terrible to see you can't even rebind WASD... all those poor ESDF users. It's at the point where most of the mods released are just for more binding options and even different gamepad layouts. 25 million dollar marketing budget and can't rebind WASD... just... ugh.

Anyway I'm just going to try and deal with it until an official patch soon. If none comes I guess I'll try out some custom bindings mixed with mods. I tried gamepad but I'm not digging it despite totally expecting that was what was going to be best for this game... so it's back to KB/M.

What specs are you running to have such low settings?

Robert ninja

Sonics2k wrote: »

What specs are you running to have such low settings?

I think I'm technically at the minimum specs but for TW2 I'm quite above the minimum. I guess I really shouldn't complain since if I did knock down my FPS requirement I could actually run the game medium to high in a lot of aspects and it remains fairly consistent when I framecap it to 30 but I just can't stand it.

I've been hearing that TW3 is optimised for 30fps... if that's even possible... but it seems to be correct at least in what I've seen.

Going to rebind some keys tonight. I think I'll throw all my signs onto the numpad and all the inventory stuff on the regular numbers. Definitely need to get lock-on off the z key, too. The hell were they thinking?

Digital Solitude

Robert ninja wrote: »

I think I'm technically at the minimum specs but for TW2 I'm quite above the minimum. I guess I really shouldn't complain since if I did knock down my FPS requirement I could actually run the game medium to high in a lot of aspects and it remains fairly consistent when I framecap it to 30 but I just can't stand it.

I've been hearing that TW3 is optimised for 30fps... if that's even possible... but it seems to be correct at least in what I've seen.

Going to rebind some keys tonight. I think I'll throw all my signs onto the numpad and all the inventory stuff on the regular numbers. Definitely need to get lock-on off the z key, too. The hell were they thinking?

TW2 is 4 years old, if you're at the minimum for it, how do you expect to run TW3? Graphics card is a major bottleneck in your system