The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

wunkley said:
I think I may be onto something here lads in terms of performance and stability!....

Update to the latest hotfix from today asap, then if you're running an intel CPU and Nvidia GPU:

1. Disable resizable bar for the GPU (UPDATE - THIS ONE IS NOT NECESSARY - IT'S HYPERTHREADING OFF THAT's KEY!....)
2. Disable Hyperthreading for the CPU! (I think this may be the biggest factor for smoothness/ lack of hitching as there is a real DX12 CPU issue going on at the mo in this update)
3. Using RTSS limit your FPS to 45 (yes 45 sounds horrific and ridiculous, but it's really not and it helps consistency in lack of judder/ stutter!)

My PC is a 3090 on an i7 11700, screen is 4k OLED GSync compatible running at 120Hz, and I'm running custom ultrawide 3840x1620 (my favourite for most games) and HDR

Key In game settings are:

1. DX12 with all raytracing on except shadows (I think these cause weird pop in currently)
2. Enable reflex+ (really helps with input lag and makes 45fps feel very very responsive)
3. DLSS balanced (tailor this to your GPU - need to keep it pegging BELOW 99% at all times to maintain maximum judder free motion. IF the GPU is maxing out and 45fps can't be maintained, even with Gsync you get judder and the frametimes are negatively impacted)
3. Most other settings a mix of ultra+ and ultra and high

Doing the above solved the 5 minute crash to desktop after the hotfix update I was getting, and also really smoothed out performance. The frametime graph in RTSS is now a FLAT 45 most of the time, and it feels very responsive. 45fps sound ridiculous on a 3090, and it is really, but it's a bit like running 40hz/ 40fps on the Steam Deck which is a revelation many will tell you. It's a world above 30 in terms of overall feel. Trust me.

Unitil the game hopefully gets a proper DX12 patch and implementation, this is the best I've got to play with currently, and it feels pretty pretty good, and it does look superb I have to say with GI RT.
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I made an account just to thank you. Never would have thought to mess with hyperthreading. I already did most of those like reflex+boost and disable ReBar. I also disabled HAGS and Game Mode from Windows 11. I play exclusive fullscreen and disable fullscreen optimizations. I turned over every rock trying to find the alchemy for smooth but disabling hyperthreading really added a layer of support.

So thank you very much. Not sure if it buys me frames since I play locked at 60 but I sure do notice less judder.
 
wunkley said:
I think I may be onto something here lads in terms of performance and stability!....

Update to the latest hotfix from today asap, then if you're running an intel CPU and Nvidia GPU:

1. Disable resizable bar for the GPU (UPDATE - THIS ONE IS NOT NECESSARY - IT'S HYPERTHREADING OFF THAT's KEY!....)
Click to expand...

Incorrect on this one...

As proven some posts back, Resizable Bar is DISABLED with the Witcher 3. It doesn't matter if you've personally enabled it in Bios and Nvidia drivers. The Witcher 3 doesn't use Resizable Bar unless it's forced enabled through Nvidia Inspector :) :D
 
wanderjahr said:
I made an account just to thank you. Never would have thought to mess with hyperthreading. I already did most of those like reflex+boost and disable ReBar. I also disabled HAGS and Game Mode from Windows 11. I play exclusive fullscreen and disable fullscreen optimizations. I turned over every rock trying to find the alchemy for smooth but disabling hyperthreading really added a layer of support.

So thank you very much. Not sure if it buys me frames since I play locked at 60 but I sure do notice less judder.
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No problem at all bud, glad it helps.

This game continues to be very odd though in terms of performance and micro judder. Since making that post a while back, I've done a ton more testing with this game (I get a bit obsessed with games I like that don't run as well as they should do)...

I now leave hyperthreading on as I now have as smooth performance with it on vs off. Before, via my own multiple tests I had provably much better frametimes with HT off!

So what gives here then? The game has received no further patches as yet and I have made no significant changes to my PC, am still using the same drivers etc etc.
The only thing I can think it might be is - I updated RTSS to the latest beta version and updated HWinfo64 to the latest version (I was running quite an old one). I use HWinfo64 to populate the widgets I run on a second screen for monitoring CPU, GPU etc etc. Perhaps this changed something as simple as the polling rate or something? I don't know.

It doesn't alter the fact though that disabling HT/SMT can be a fix for problematic and badly coded games in terms of micro judder, especially when CPU usage is the culprit. I've used it several times over the years for certain games, so it's always worth a try.


Neil79 said:
Incorrect on this one...

As proven some posts back, Resizable Bar is DISABLED with the Witcher 3. It doesn't matter if you've personally enabled it in Bios and Nvidia drivers. The Witcher 3 doesn't use Resizable Bar unless it's forced enabled through Nvidia Inspector :) :D
Click to expand...

I've tried experimenting with rebar on and off using Nvidia Inspector too - makes absolutely no difference in terms of performance or frametimes. I also said (in giant capital letters) it's not necessary anyway :confused:
 
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@mrk reading your posts has made me smile so much mate. Witcher 3 is my all time favourite game, way above anything else. I've always accepted it's flaws as it's outweighed by the world building and story.

Dude, you're going to be obsessed with this game for years lol. There is so much more yet to explore!
 
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It's funny you say that because up until the next gen update came out and the game fell under my radar as everyone was suddenly talking about it, I'd probably never have checked it out as RPGs like this aren't really my thing, at least not since Zelda64 and then Cyberpunk 2077. It helped that I know it was from CDPR as I spent 190+ hours on Cyberpunk, so kind of knew what to expect at that point.

but yeah the story and characters are just so good, and there's so much to do and explore that I could just causally play it doing side stuff for the next 12-18 months and still probably not explore chunks of the map whilst waiting for other games to hit release etc.

it has some obvious bugs that are not next gen related but game mechanics related, but so did Cyberpunk, and they were easily ignored tbh as everything else made up for therm.

I forgot I grabbed a screenshot of the first area right after killing that beast, the vibrancy and the ambience :cool:

witcher3_2023_01_09_16_24_06_844.jpg


I have about 39 hours (maybe slightly more will have to check in game as STEAM doesn't account for the GoG playtime but the game save clocks the total across both platforms). Never a boring moment so far!
 
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mrk said:
38 hours, just checked :p

But yes I have been doing side stuff mostly.
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I think Paul said this as surprise that you're already in Toussaint? At least I certainly am! I spent far, far longer building up to it (unintentionally, just taking ages with the good stuff elsewhere!).

That's a great screen cap you've got of it; it's a really enjoyable area.
 
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will13 said:
Can't install game, steam goes in a loop of missing files or disk write error, if I pull files from download folder I can play it fine, and steam will install other games fine just not W3, any ideas?
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Why isn't Steam letting me install a game?


Remove Steam's Download Cache

To download games again, you need to clear Steam download cache. This will make the Steam client remove the locally cached structure and get it from Steam servers. In your Steam account, open the Settings menu. Then, select Downloads > CLEAR DOWNLOAD CACHE.26 Jul 2021
 
Blueball said:
Why isn't Steam letting me install a game?


Remove Steam's Download Cache

To download games again, you need to clear Steam download cache. This will make the Steam client remove the locally cached structure and get it from Steam servers. In your Steam account, open the Settings menu. Then, select Downloads > CLEAR DOWNLOAD CACHE.26 Jul 2021
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Thanks that fixed it
 
5 hours in on my second playthrough. First playthrough was rushed. Im taking my time to explore and read all the books, finding the lore so interesting its made me pause 3 to play 2 again :D.
 
It tells you time played on the player stats page. Just finished the Bloody Baron quests and now going to see the crones about his wife - 10 hours in.

Love the music in this game (although Witcher 2 music was better), finding it so relaxing playing and riding around on Roach.
 
mrk said:
Worth noting that whilst I now have the first Toussaint quest in the main quest list, I have not actually been there yet!
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That screenshot above is from Toussaint. Did you go there and then reload older save?

Anyway, I really recommend not going there until you finish the main game and Hearts of Stone.
 
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