General Gaming The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Next-Gen Update (PC/PS5/Xbox Series), update: "Patch 4.01: one step forward, one step back" (Digital Foundry)

[legend]

The music choice for the first part of the trailer is great. Brings back so many feels.

 

It's the music that is played when

Spoiler

Geralt finds Ciri, but think's she dead, and she's revived as he weeps.

 

[best3444]

8 hours ago, legend said:

The music choice for the first part of the trailer is great. Brings back so many feels.

 

It's the music that is played when

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Geralt finds Ciri, but think's she dead, and she's revived as he weeps.

 

 

I don't even remember that. I only beat this once at launch so I hope the console versions come through here to bring a next-gen feel to it. 

[legend]

40 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I don't even remember that. I only beat this once at launch so I hope the console versions come through here to bring a next-gen feel to it. 

 

I'd give you a youtube clip but you should probably just wait to play it again. It's a great scene. So many feels that build from the whole journey up to that point.

[best3444]

2 minutes ago, legend said:

 

I'd give you a youtube clip but you should probably just wait to play it again. It's a great scene. So many feels that build from the whole journey up to that point.

 

Yes. I want that fresh for me. I look forward to this in a couple weeks. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

NVIDIA DLSS 3 Available In 14 Games & Coming To December’s Biggest Releases

WWW.NVIDIA.COM

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Portal with RTX, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt DLSS and ray tracing update, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and more launch this December; now, over 250 released games and apps accelerate performance with NVIDIA DLSS!

 

PC-specific features:

 

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• RTX Global Illumination (RTXGI) adds more immersive and realistic outdoor ray-traced lighting
• Ray-traced ambient occlusion improves shading around objects occluding light
• Ray-traced shadows improve the fidelity, clarity and visibility of shadows
• Ray-traced reflections increase the accuracy and quality of reflections on bodies of water and other suitably reflective surfaces

 

On top of that, Ultra+ settings increase draw distances, foliage density, background character detail, asset quality, and more. Texture resolutions are increased and environments gain new geometric detail. The list goes on!

 

[stepee]

1 minute ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

NVIDIA DLSS 3 Available In 14 Games & Coming To December’s Biggest Releases

WWW.NVIDIA.COM

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Portal with RTX, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt DLSS and ray tracing update, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and more launch this December; now, over 250 released games and apps accelerate performance with NVIDIA DLSS!

 

PC-specific features:

 

 

 

yeah this is the thread and the good news I was talking about :P

[Mr.Vic20]

I deeply question the need for DLSS3 on the Witcher 3 next gen, but like a greedy little piggy, I welcome it all the same! 

[best3444]

New

 

 

Hands on with The Witcher 3's next-gen update: PS5 and Series X tested

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Tom Morgan introduces the tech enhancements to The Witcher 3's Next-Gen Update, a free release that boosts graphical fidelity on PS5, Series X/S and PC.

 

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The Witcher 3's next-gen update arrives on 14th December, at last giving the game a proper release on PS5, Series X and Series S. And equally, it enhances the PC version with a suite of long-awaited upgrades including ray-tracing support. Seven years after the original release, after multiple expansions and a successful Netflix adaptation, this update is the perfect opportunity to craft an ultimate version for longterm fans and newcomers alike. And I'm glad to report, after flying to developer CDPR's offices in Warsaw last week to go hands on with the PS5 and Series X versions, this revitalised release very much looks to be delivering on that promise.

 

While we weren't allowed direct capture at the event, we were provided with footage of the first 15 minutes of the new update running on PS5 and Series X, in both their performance and RT modes - more than enough for a preview ahead of a full breakdown closer to release. As always with preview capture, it's worth stressing all of this is still being optimised and the final release may be improved further.

 

Still, The Witcher 3 on PS5 and Series X impressed hugely in the four hours we played it - and not just in the visual upgrades, which include reworked foliage, 4K textures and higher-quality models throughout. There are also significant quality of live improvements, like a revised camera and faster controls for using signs, the magic spells of the Witcher universe. All told, the game truly looks and plays better than ever before.

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Update Hands-On Preview - IGN

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We played three hours of The Witcher 3's next-gen update and came away impressed, particularly by the smooth Performance Mode.

 

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IGN played three hours of The Witcher 3's next-gen update, which will be released for players who already own the game on a console or PC. You can expect a similar suite of upgrades that typically come with next-gen updates which includes a graphics mode that prioritizes 4K visuals and ray-tracing at 30 fps, or a Performance Mode that prioritizes 60 fps.

 

CD Projekt also added a series of game-enhancing mods created by the community as well as internally at the studio, a photo mode, and even some new easter eggs related to the Netflix show. While all of these bells and whistles are nice, the highlight from my playthrough was undoubtedly the Performance Mode which offers a super-charged, incredibly smooth version of The Witcher 3.

 

 

 

 

 

The Witcher 3 Is Back And Better Than Ever On PS5 And Xbox Series X - GameSpot

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition gives a stunning facelift to one of the best RPGs.

 

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This new quest is the most notable inclusion and, even if you don't plan on replaying The Witcher 3 in its entirety anytime soon, I highly recommend revisiting The Northern Realms just for this. Thankfully, all your saves will carry over, and it introduces cross-save. The quest itself features new characters, Henry Cavill's armor from the Netflix show, a new monster to fight, and a new-ish location. I won't say too much in order to preserve the surprise, but it fits nicely within the context of The Witcher 3 and expands on an area that felt underutilized in the original release. At the very least, it's nice hearing Doug Cockle reprise his role as the White Wolf, even if the quest itself is brief.

 

The meat of the Complete Edition is the visual and performance enhancements. On PS5 and Xbox Series X, there is a performance toggle. One favors the visuals with some subtle ray tracing added, while the other favors performance. During my time with the game, I preferred performance mode. The ray-traced visuals add some extra warmth and detail to interior environments, but it wasn't worth sacrificing the high frame rate available in performance mode.

 

No matter which graphics setting you choose, the game looks noticeably better than the original versions. This became abundantly clear when I started messing around with the new photo mode. It's not as robust as other photo modes, even when compared to Cyberpunk 2077, but I don't think it needs to be. Instead of goofy poses and facial expressions, the real star of photo mode will unequivocally be all the stunning vistas. For a significant portion of my demo I traveled all around the world just to take advantage of interesting photo opportunities.

 

 

 

What the next-gen Witcher 3 update is like to play.

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

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The next-gen update doesn't transform The Witcher 3, but it does make returning to it a pleasure

 

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But this patch isn't really more than a palette cleanser for the studio; what becomes apparent after spending a few hours with the next-gen update is there isn't a great deal to it. And I don't say that to trash it: what's there is more generous than I'd imagined a next-gen update would be - there are quality of life and content additions that go above and beyond what I originally expected and, I think, what the studio expected to do. But it doesn't transform the experience, The Witcher 3 does not now suddenly feel, or look, like a new game.

 

Honestly, it took a while to even appreciate the differences between the new Ray-Tracing and Performance modes that the update most notably brings. The studio had prepared a dozen saves across the game's campaign and expansions so we could test it in various places - in the idyllic starter village of White Orchard, in the bustling city of Novigrad, in the stormy windswept isles of Skellige, in the saturated fantasy land of Touissant and more.

 

But after a while, and in the right light, the differences do make themselves clear. In Ray-Tracing mode, the world seems deeper, warmer, and softer - I am not going to get technical because Tom from Digital Foundry has done that. Shadows are darker and fill the cracks and corners and edges of the world; colours are richer and bolder; foliage is soft, almost like down, when you see it swaying in the wind before you.

 

 

 

The Witcher 3's 'next-gen' update polishes an RPG that's aged like a fine Toussaint red | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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A new quest and Henry Cavill's armor are the highlights, but there are tons of little fixes and improvements, too.

 

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Ray tracing may even be the last reason to care about this update. Outdoors, you're unlikely to even notice it's on, outside of the dramatic framerate hit it causes as in every other game; most of The Witcher 3's outdoor lighting, including its breathtaking pink and orange sunsets, remains unchanged. On the PlayStation 5 version I previewed, ray tracing and 4K output definitely wasn't worth the framerate trade-off of "Quality" mode, dropping the framerate to a stodgy 30 fps. I'm hopeful on PC that we won't have to make that compromise, and with the right tweaks those with high-end hardware can have keep The Witcher 3's framerate at a minimum 60 fps where it belongs. 

 

I did spot a few realistic touches with ray tracing enabled, like the sun's speckled reflection on the gray waters of Crookback Bog, but that's it. Indoors, the ray traced lighting is more pronounced, with directional illumination coming in through windows. There are some ray tracing features that will only be available on PC, but I don't expect those to be revelatory, either. This is clearly a game retrofitted for ray tracing rather than being designed with it in mind. 

 

That'd be disappointing if the rest of the upgrades weren't such natural, welcome improvements. There's DLSS3 and AMD FSR support, which will be great for performance even without ray tracing. There's a photo mode, though it's not quite as detailed at Cyberpunk 2077's. There's a new quest that rewards you with Henry Cavill's Geralt armor from the Netflix series (and it's got a pretty cool bit of story, too). A newly nimble-fingered Geralt can now harvest herbs with a single click without opening up a loot menu. And CD Projekt has done a major bug fixing pass to fix issues that have lingered for years.

 

 

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The Witcher 3: Enhanced-Edition-in-all-but-name also incorporates five mods, including the HD Reworked project, which has racked up more than 5.2 million downloads on Nexusmods over the years. People love their 4K textures. Another polishes monster textures; another fixes little visual issues like clipping but also rebalances some abilities, and was actually created by a Witcher 3 developer in his spare time. 

 

 

The Witcher 3 next-gen update - everything you need to know

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Roach can now walk backwards and kick?! Here's everything we learned about The Witcher 3 next-gen patch while at CD Projekt Red.

 

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Last week, I travelled to CD Projekt Red to play the long-awaited next-gen update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which will be released 14th December - AKA next week. I spent a few hours with the update, playing with the new graphical options, the quality of life improvements, and the quest tied to unlocking gear from the The Witcher Netflix show. And I talked to acting narrative director Philip Webber about it, too.

 

I've written more flowerily about what it's like to go back to the game with all these bells and whistles on, but here, in what I think is a more easily digestible form, is everything I learned about it.

 

 

Hands-on with the Witcher 3 next-gen update: Ray-tracing and new features improve an already incredible game | GamesRadar+

WWW.GAMESRADAR.COM

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The Witcher 3 next-gen update is like returning to a world I know, only everything looks even better than I remembered it

 

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During my time with the Witcher 3 next gen update, I stand at the peak of a hill that lies just to the side of Kaer Trolde in Skellige. The water below shimmers and reflects the light of the sun, which beams down against a pink-hued sky. The vista before me looks glorious thanks to environmental improvements and the new Ray Tracing mode running on PS5, which prioritizes graphic fidelity with global illumination for more realistic lighting and higher quality reflections at 30 FPS (Performance mode allows 60FPS, more on that later). As I pan the camera around, I see snowy mountains frame the landscape behind Geralt and his trusty steed, Roach. And at this moment, I can't help but think this view is exactly what the newly introduced photo mode was made for. 

 

Without another thought, I click the left and right sticks on the DualSense controller to bring up the mode and begin to frame up a shot. With different filters and overlays, I relish the chance to move the camera at just the right angle and play around with the settings to capture this gorgeous panorama. A photo mode in the Witcher 3 is truly a match made in heaven, especially now that the graphics have been polished to make an already beautiful world all the more picturesque. 

 

 

[stepee]

I’m glad I checked and realized I don’t actually have Witcher 3 on steam, I have it on GOG and I didn’t want to deal with that with Steam Deck where I plan to play a lot of this also.

 

Luckily the fire sale is still going, $10 for the complete edition and the dlc is also on sale separately if anyone is missing any of that and wanted to get it for this update. 

[best3444]

I'm definitely playing this in 60 rather than utilizing rt. 60 is key in this game for me. 

[legend]

15 minutes ago, stepee said:

I’m glad I checked and realized I don’t actually have Witcher 3 on steam, I have it on GOG and I didn’t want to deal with that with Steam Deck where I plan to play a lot of this also.

 

Luckily the fire sale is still going, $10 for the complete edition and the dlc is also on sale separately if anyone is missing any of that and wanted to get it for this update. 

 

 

I also re-bought it on Steam at $10 for this reason myself  

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

CDPR has checked out which of your Witcher 3 mods will be broken by its next-gen update | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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Geralt VGX Snowboarder bafflingly omitted.

 

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CDPR has put together a spreadsheet of 71 popular Witcher 3 tweaks and mods to find out whether they still function with the game's next-gen patch. The good news is that a lot of the quality of life stuff—the little tweaks that lots of players have gotten used to and would struggle without—seems to work just fine. Fast Travel Anywhere, Weight Limit Removal, and that mod that puts all your objectives on the map all survived the transition intact.

 

Where mods are broken, it's mostly due to scripting errors. In a forum post accompanying the spreadsheet, CDPR staff say that "due to the addition of a new quest [in the next-gen update], most of the mods that are based on scripts will error out". So stuff like the charmingly-named Ultra Gore 2—A Dismemberment Mod and Improved Sign Effects won't work until their authors update them for the next-gen patch. On the other hand, maybe it's a good thing: No Time for Gwent has also been broken by the update, and everybody should have time for Gwent.

 

[eventide11]

But the armor in this game is so stupid.. 

 

 

*sarcasm*

 

 

 

Or is it? 

 

[best3444]

Who's pumped as much as me for this!?

 

I played this once at its launch and forget a ton. Plus reading how great it looks now and with quality performance improvements this could be fuckin awesome.

[TheLeon]

This is one of those games that I got ~20 hours into and stopped. I don’t remember exactly why. I think something happened to my save file. Anyway, enough time has passed, I could probably start over with this and it would be a pretty fresh experience. 

[best3444]

14 minutes ago, TheLeon said:

This is one of those games that I got ~20 hours into and stopped. I don’t remember exactly why. I think something happened to my save file. Anyway, enough time has passed, I could probably start over with this and it would be a pretty fresh experience. 

 

I highly recommend starting over and enjoy this masterpiece. 

[legend]

29 minutes ago, TheLeon said:

This is one of those games that I got ~20 hours into and stopped. I don’t remember exactly why. I think something happened to my save file. Anyway, enough time has passed, I could probably start over with this and it would be a pretty fresh experience. 

 

You could definitely start over. 20 hours isn't *that* far into the game depending on how much you want to do sidequests (or play gwent  ) Especailly not if you also factor in the lengthy expansions they released with it.

[stepee]

44 minutes ago, best3444 said:

Who's pumped as much as me for this!?

 

I played this once at its launch and forget a ton. Plus reading how great it looks now and with quality performance improvements this could be fuckin awesome.

 

I sure as hell am! 

[Mr.Vic20]

[Dodger]

Somebody talk me out of starting a brand new fresh play through.

[stepee]

On 12/8/2022 at 6:01 PM, Dodger said:

Somebody talk me out of starting a brand new fresh play through.

 

na dooooo it

[best3444]

I'm absolutely starting over and going through the entire game. 

[stepee]

Anyone know if you can use your GOG save with the steam version? I’m like 10 hours in and unfortunately remember everything that’s happened so far so would like to just resume from there. 

[Keyser_Soze]

12 minutes ago, best3444 said:

I'm absolutely starting over and going through the entire game. 

 

You do that with every game though.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Reviews (as if you needed 'em!)

 

 

 

 

 

Review: Witcher 3 on PS5/XSX is the definitive version of one of the best RPGs ever

WWW.VIDEOGAMESCHRONICLE.COM

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CD Projekt delivers the excuse you've been looking for to replay one of the best games of the last decade…

 

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The Witcher 3 is gaming’s definitive fantasy RPG for modern times. As influential and as cited by other developers as DeusEx for immersive sims, Doom for shooters, and Dark Souls for everything else. It’s a game that launched CD Projekt into superstardom, in a similar way that GTA 3 did for Rockstar 20 years ago. While some cracks are beginning to form around the edges, the people who’ve played the game 10 times already won’t care, and will be thrilled to hear that the next-gen version of the game provides a definitive console experience and a great reason to head back out into the wilds.

 

 

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition Review (PS5) - Bringing A Classic To The Current Gen In Style - PlayStation Universe

WWW.PSU.COM

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The bright and shiny current-gen update has finally arrived. Come see how it shapes up in our official Witcher 3: Wild Hunt PS5 review!

 

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Not everything is perfect in this current-gen upgrade, but the additions, new choices, and improvements make this version of the game feel complete. Despite the oddities that come with the new camera option, the presentation across the board just feels superb. It even lets those who missed the expansions jump right into that content from the jump. Such a great update to a beloved game comes free with the PS4 version, leaving this as almost a requirement for everyone who even remotely has an interest in playing it again or experiencing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the first time.

 

[TheLeon]

On 12/8/2022 at 6:56 PM, legend said:

 

You could definitely start over. 20 hours isn't *that* far into the game depending on how much you want to do sidequests (or play gwent  ) Especailly not if you also factor in the lengthy expansions they released with it.

I don’t think I ever bought the expansions on PC (where I played it initially), but at some point I apparently bought the complete edition on PS4, so I’ll just restart on PS5. That’s probably better than my PC at this point anyway. 

[best3444]

Why did I have to start Elden Ring right when this comes out! 

[Paperclyp]

I wish this was out tonight…

[best3444]

The reviews are absolutely phenomenal for this update. I'm going to play this Wednesday and go back and forth between Elden Ring and this. I'm really excited. 

[stepee]

Good news, it’s a global midnight release so the update comes out today in the US for Xbox and PC players! 4pm pacific/7pm eastern - ps players will have to wait until midnight their local time.

[johnny]

im excited to play through this again and see my sweet yennefer 

[Dodger]

Cool. I think I'm just about done with GOWR. Maybe I can start this tonight. I just don't have the time to play all the stuff I want to play. 

[Hurricane Game]

Can I transfer my steam save to my ps5 and resume from my console? 

[stepee]

5 minutes ago, Hurricane Game said:

Can I transfer my steam save to my ps5 and resume from my console? 

 

Im almost positive yes. I think you have to upgrade the pc version to the new version then your save should transfer via cross save which I think now works on xbox series, ps5, and pc. And switch too, if you sync to pc first.