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Digital Foundry: The Witcher 3 patch 1.10 gives PS4 the boost it's been waiting for
- Thread starter ElTorro
- Start date
HanzSnubSnub
Member
Great patch, I've been playing Hearts of Stone for a few hours now and the framerate has been solid on PS4. Patch 1.10 is a huge improvement performance wise, along with hundreds of bug fixes.
When the game would start raining, it used to tank my framerate. It's fixed now, and feels very smooth.
When the game would start raining, it used to tank my framerate. It's fixed now, and feels very smooth.
KyanMehwulfe
Member
didn't notice much of a difference myself and the UI is still horrendously slow. it leaves crafting or alchemy frustrating chore yet.
and it's still rather unstable. i've crashed 4 times so far... first time, Crow's Perch had all this glitchy ground textures and then after I came out of the well, the game crashed. second time, loading the 'Seven Dwarfs' island, the game froze and looped a sound effect until I restarted the PS4. Third time... forget at the moment but it even corrupted my user save file. All my controls, UI changes, etc were all reset to default. This was all in just one night, too (Friday night over about 7 hours). Was good Saturday and Sunday night but it crashed again last night. Not too mention other small bugs... Had 2 quests get bugged and unable to complete (Skellige's Most Wanted which I googled is an old bug, and Witcher's Forge which won't let me put the book on the pedestal no matter how many times I reload/leave the zone and come back). Maybe.... 5% of the time that I use Fast Travel, Roach gets bugged and I can't summon him. Have to reload the game. Or he does a graphical face stand for a riding animation. And the UI is still soooo slow.
love the game but it's also one of the most frustrating games I've played recently. at the very least, I can handle a few rare crashes and sloppy gameplay controls because the game world is so great. but the slow UI genuinely hurts the gameplay.
and it's still rather unstable. i've crashed 4 times so far... first time, Crow's Perch had all this glitchy ground textures and then after I came out of the well, the game crashed. second time, loading the 'Seven Dwarfs' island, the game froze and looped a sound effect until I restarted the PS4. Third time... forget at the moment but it even corrupted my user save file. All my controls, UI changes, etc were all reset to default. This was all in just one night, too (Friday night over about 7 hours). Was good Saturday and Sunday night but it crashed again last night. Not too mention other small bugs... Had 2 quests get bugged and unable to complete (Skellige's Most Wanted which I googled is an old bug, and Witcher's Forge which won't let me put the book on the pedestal no matter how many times I reload/leave the zone and come back). Maybe.... 5% of the time that I use Fast Travel, Roach gets bugged and I can't summon him. Have to reload the game. Or he does a graphical face stand for a riding animation. And the UI is still soooo slow.
love the game but it's also one of the most frustrating games I've played recently. at the very least, I can handle a few rare crashes and sloppy gameplay controls because the game world is so great. but the slow UI genuinely hurts the gameplay.
Haven't updated in a while so I managed to do some comparisons.
1.05
1.10
1.05
1.10
1.05
1.10
1.05
1.10
Why do you seem to be so unfazed by CDPR releasing another patch that negatively impacts performance on Xbox One? I get the feeling that if they did this to the PS4 version that there would be hell to pay.
The PS4's preferred graphics library is not OpenGL. It has proprietary libraries called GNM (low-level) and GNMX (an higher-level abstraction wrapped around GNM).
Dictator93
Member
this provides the impression they decreased it. thanks for the numerous examplesHaven't updated in a while so I managed to do some comparisons.
1.05
1.10
1.05
1.10
1.05
1.10
1.05
1.10
TheChewyWaffles
Member
So they improved the framerate by decreasing scene fidelity? Well crap.
Dash Kappei
Not actually that important
Awesome news! Kudos to CDPR.
Your move, From Software.
Ahhh, welcome back to the good old mythical, magical, special version of a console that no one else on Earth is equally lucky to own
Believe me, while reading this post my eyes would be popping on the floor if they'd started rolling any faster
Your move, From Software.
Ahhh, welcome back to the good old mythical, magical, special version of a console that no one else on Earth is equally lucky to own
Believe me, while reading this post my eyes would be popping on the floor if they'd started rolling any faster
Maybe, but I'd wait or NXGamer's full analysis before we know for sure. He's very good at noticing small details like that.
Yeah, it was definitely noticeable when playing the 2 patches back to back, otherwise I probably wouldn't have noticed. No problem.
Hmm, so they reduced some of the fog in the swamps and a few patches of foliage in that specific cutscene? Doesn't sound like a bad trade off overall. However, I don't think those alone would have improved performance to the point it is now. I do think CDP worked on optimizing the game on PS4 since we also got much better texture streaming and vastly reduced NPC pop in.
DISSESHOWEDO
Banned
Never been bothered and probably never will be by frame rate dips! Finished the game before 1.03 on PS4 and was completely satisfied with the package! Only slightly annoyed with slow loading architecture in Novigrad.
I remember fog, smoke and dust alpha give PS4 a really hard time (also see MGS5).
Ps4 doesn't use OpenGL.
Well, generally alpha effects are pretty hard on hardware. I just think the reduced fog in the swamps alone isn't enough to boost frame rate to 27-30 from a locked 20. It's possible, but I belive CDP genuinely worked on the PS4 version to optimize it better.
So, with the new patch every scripted encounter with "bandits" is broken and I can't complete any quest where I have to kill "bandits." All that happens is they become hostile on the map, combat music starts, they stand there and are invincible. The front of their health bar says -1.
Good stuff.
Edit: Apparently this is a known issue with the quest "Fools Gold," but it happened to me in another quest too. At the end of "Where the Cat and the Wolf Play" when you can take the stash, the bandits outside do the same thing.
Good stuff.
Edit: Apparently this is a known issue with the quest "Fools Gold," but it happened to me in another quest too. At the end of "Where the Cat and the Wolf Play" when you can take the stash, the bandits outside do the same thing.
Fredrik
Member
Why oh why can't they add graphics settings for the details and resolution etc in the console version?
This jumping back and forth from playable to unplayable to playable to unplayable again with every update makes it impossible to know when and where to jump in. I still haven't dared to buy the game.
This jumping back and forth from playable to unplayable to playable to unplayable again with every update makes it impossible to know when and where to jump in. I still haven't dared to buy the game.
CaptainofIndustry
Member
Why even bother playing a game at launch anymore? Bloodborne's loading times got patched a month or so after release, The Witcher 3's frame rate is fixed significantly several months after release, the option to remove the black bars from The Evil Within was introduced long after release.....the list goes on and on. Right now a friend of mine is stuck on the new Mad Max game with some glitch that won't let him access his map. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad developers are improving their games, but it really seems to be better to wait about 6 months or so to play a game. I'm glad I haven't played The Witcher 3 yet. By the time I get to it, I'll have a better experience than if I played it a launch. It'll probably be cheaper or it'll some GOTY edition (we all know it's coming) with all of the DLC.
StrongBlackVine
Banned
They admitted this before the game released. I knew it was capable of performing better than was up until this patch. Better late than never and I'm still in the first 3rd of the game so I'm glad I waited.
Whatever they did it was worth it. If it can't be noticed without someone else pointing it out to you it's not big deal.
flipswitch
Member
Starting playing this again after the patch, continuing off from where I was. It's much smoother, not perfect, but an improvement.
Game is like 48GB now after the patch.
Speaking of the patch, I don't understand how this patch could be so large. I mean it's not replacing anything, it's just added an additional 17GB to the game, but besides the performance improvements and bug fixing there's nothing there that I can see that would take up some much space.Any ideas what 17gb could have been?
Game is like 48GB now after the patch.
Speaking of the patch, I don't understand how this patch could be so large. I mean it's not replacing anything, it's just added an additional 17GB to the game, but besides the performance improvements and bug fixing there's nothing there that I can see that would take up some much space.Any ideas what 17gb could have been?
RoadHazard
Gold Member
That's some very good news for PS4 owners. Seems like CDPR have finally managed some real optimization, bringing PS4 performance to where it really should have been at launch. It was never acceptable for the PS4 version to be running that much worse than the XBO version (with the typical 900p vs 1080p resolution gap performance should always have been similar or slightly in favor of PS4, as it at last seems to be), and it's not quite acceptable that it has taken this long to see any real improvements. But I'm glad they've finally delivered, and I think it's time for me to jump back into this game. Or start over, actually. It's been too long to just jump in where I was, I think, and I was "only" around 35 hours in anyway.
The other issues this patch causes (disappearing DLC items and such) are just for NG+, right? Everything should be fine for a regular playthrough?
The other issues this patch causes (disappearing DLC items and such) are just for NG+, right? Everything should be fine for a regular playthrough?
I think combat is already unresponsive and mashy mess. W3's combat would work in 10fps scenario too.
flipswitch
Member
Yeah, it was weird coming from MGSV which obviously runs better, but not only that it controls near perfect. I still have issues with movement and combat in witcher 3. Does the alternative control method make any difference?
Yes but it still isn't great.
This patch (for PS4) hopefully provides a valuable lesson to a lot of people who were claiming that "CDPR did all they could with the hardware they had, what did you expect."
We expected performance improvement. And now it is here. People should stop jumping to conclusions as to what is possible on what hardware. These comments mainly come from some PC owners which is unfortunate as, usualy it is the PC community that has better knowledge over how coding and hardware works.
CDPR didnt max out the consoles. Not even now they havent. Unfortunately it took them 5 months to fix something that should have been there from the beginning, but it still stands as proof that you can improve. Besides it was blatantly obvious that those 20 fps caps on PS4 were not due to hardware...
In any case, I hope XBOX1 owners get a patch that will put performance on par with PS4 and will alleviate the new issues that emerges with 1.10.
Again, stop jumping to naive comments about what hardware can do what. PC will always be the undisputed King, but saying that XXX developer cant do anything else to make the game run better is pure BS. Yes there will be a limit, but we are still early on this generation and CDPR sure as hell didnt max out next gen consoles with their first product. They perhaps maxed out their capabilities during the time frame they had in mind to release the game.
Game should have been delayed but I can somewhat understand that they needed to release their game during that window and they couldnt afford yet another delay.
We expected performance improvement. And now it is here. People should stop jumping to conclusions as to what is possible on what hardware. These comments mainly come from some PC owners which is unfortunate as, usualy it is the PC community that has better knowledge over how coding and hardware works.
CDPR didnt max out the consoles. Not even now they havent. Unfortunately it took them 5 months to fix something that should have been there from the beginning, but it still stands as proof that you can improve. Besides it was blatantly obvious that those 20 fps caps on PS4 were not due to hardware...
In any case, I hope XBOX1 owners get a patch that will put performance on par with PS4 and will alleviate the new issues that emerges with 1.10.
Again, stop jumping to naive comments about what hardware can do what. PC will always be the undisputed King, but saying that XXX developer cant do anything else to make the game run better is pure BS. Yes there will be a limit, but we are still early on this generation and CDPR sure as hell didnt max out next gen consoles with their first product. They perhaps maxed out their capabilities during the time frame they had in mind to release the game.
Game should have been delayed but I can somewhat understand that they needed to release their game during that window and they couldnt afford yet another delay.
Graphics have been downgraded, but no one is willing to talk about it.
Version 1.08
Version 1.10
Version 1.10
looks like the Wii U version finally came out
Thats obviously not how the game looks... possibly a glitch or something...
flipswitch
Member
Could be the PC version on its lowest settings.
Blackthorn
"hello?" "this is vagina"
LOL and people say this is the best open world game ever.Graphics have been downgraded, but no one is willing to talk about it.
Version 1.08
Version 1.10
/s
flipswitch
Member
You can even see it's been zoomed in to make it look worse .
.You can even see it's been zoomed in to make it look worse
Even zoomed in, it doesnt even come close to the actual game. This guy probably had a glitch or something...
lordfuzzybutt
Member
iirc, it was a mod that modifies the config to a settings much lower than the lowest preset.
Thanks for the heads up, had no idea.
Acquiescence
Member
Graphics have been downgraded, but no one is willing to talk about it.
Version 1.08
Version 1.10
This had me burst out laughing. All I could see was the first image initially, and then I scrolled down.
LabouredSubterfuge
Member
You can downplay this downgrade all you want you disgusting CDPR shill but I for one will be taking to Twitter to inform everyone of my outrage.
God bless Chinner for outing these frauds.
Dictator93
Member
Only if there was some public organ... some sort of digital channel... some sort of foundry of knowledge... that could reach out to CDPR and ask the questions as to which things were optimized via removal and which were optimized by refactoring. Or that could create screenshot and micro-detail comparisons between the versions...
On PC I did not notice the removal of any alpha effects in the swamp btw like the screens above show. I could check later though of course.
On PC I did not notice the removal of any alpha effects in the swamp btw like the screens above show. I could check later though of course.