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Witcher 3 PC Performance Thread

Alasfree

Member
I think MSI Afterburner, RTSS and related program are what is causing all the crashing. I played for hours without any problem, than i restarted the game with Afterburner and RTSS and after 5 minutes the game crashed to desktop.
It might just be a coincidence so some else should try to see if it's the same on their end. I have a 970 and the latest driver on w7.
 

ss_lemonade

Member
Is there a way to increase the distance of when things stop animating? I noticed a couple of times I would see something like a windmill in the distance that isn't animated, or NPCs that stop moving. Also, is there a NPC render distance ini setting? Sometimes, some NPCs in the distance would appear with invisible body parts
 

UnrealEck

Member
It's mostly around 50fps so the recommendation is okay. Big drops mostly occur in foggy forest villages where you just talk with people.

The drops in village areas etc are every bit as relevant to performance as the open fields where performance is pretty high.
If being next to a few log cabins drops framerate into the low 30s (or even lower) then I don't think it's fair to point out that it runs in the 50s in fields and thus the reccomended specs are fine.
 
Damn I was hoping they fix the pop in with the patch but no - it actually seems a lil worse. Has anyone successfully increase the draw distances to help this? Or, is it something CDPRed have to fix?1
 

Dries

Member
Can anyone help, I constantly have 70 to 80 fps, game never dips below 60. Running on Sli 980s with a 144hz gsync monitor, yet the game doesn't feel smooth... It's like the animations are jerky or there is micro stutter or.... Something... Anyone else feel this way?

I have this while walking on horseback. I really mean walking, so no holding down A but just moving the analog stick forward/only pressing W.

Really strange that you're experiencing stutter on a G-sync monitor. I'm playing on a G-sync monitor at 1440p with a 970. I'm typically running around 50fps and everything feels perfectly smooth, no stutter or lag whatsoever.

I also have a G-sync monitor and while G-sync works great most of the time, sadly, the horseback walking animation is screwed. Try it for yourself. While on Roach, just press W to make Roach walk and not run. The camera will auto-center and the animation will skip every second or so. G-sync can't cover crazy stuff like that. "Normal" framerate drops do indeed get masked by G-sync and it sure does look amazing. I'm really enjoying it in TW3, sadly that horseback walking stutter exists.

Edit: Googled and first hit: http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/37068-Stutter-when-riding-horse-at-walking-speed
 
also have a G-sync monitor and while G-sync works great most of the time, sadly, the horseback walking animation is screwed. Try it for yourself. While on Roach, just press W to make Roach walk and not run. The camera will auto-center and the animation will skip every second or so. G-sync can't cover crazy stuff like that. "Normal" framerate drops do indeed get masked by G-sync and it sure does look amazing. I'm really enjoying it in TW3, sadly that horseback walking stutter exists.
The camera animation also is skippy or jerks while running with Geralt. Same behaviour. Weird that they left that in... It is just the camera... not a performance thing.

I can have a flat unchanging 16.6 MS but the camera jerk is still apparent.
 

Leatherface

Member
I just wanted to let everyone know that I just tested the below stuttering fix posted on reddit and it made a HUGE difference. I couldn't stand playing the game at 30FPS and sacrificed graphical settings to avoid it. Now, with the fix, 30FPS is also smooth. Anyone who is downsampling, or would like to increase the graphics settings at the expense of FPS give this a shot. You may find that 30FPS isn't so bad now. ;)

http://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/36ja0c/micro_stutters_fix_for_nvidia_cards/

btw- 780GTX / I7 920 / 12g RAM here
everything maxed except foliage distance and shadows.
hairworks enabled and maxed. applied ini fix and dropped to 4 instead of 8.
 
I just wanted to let everyone know that I just tested the below stuttering fix posted on reddit and it made a HUGE difference. I couldn't stand playing the game at 30FPS and sacrificed graphical settings to avoid it. Now, with the fix, 30FPS is also smooth. Anyone who is downsampling, or would like to increase the graphics settings at the expense of FPS give this a shot. You may find that 30FPS isn't so bad now. ;)

http://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/36ja0c/micro_stutters_fix_for_nvidia_cards/

btw- 780GTX / I7 920 / 12g RAM here
everything maxed except foliage distance and shadows.
hairworks enabled and maxed. applied ini fix and dropped to 4 instead of 8.

Awesome. Nvidia only though :/
 

knerl

Member
Really strange that you're experiencing stutter on a G-sync monitor. I'm playing on a G-sync monitor at 1440p with a 970. I'm typically running around 50fps and everything feels perfectly smooth, no stutter or lag whatsoever.

How's that strange? Stuttering isn't necessarily related to refresh rates or vsync. Can be a wide range of things that cause it. I too experience stuttering in this game in several forms. Mostly it's smooth sailing, but sometimes the game decides to skip a frame after a while. Which it then does frequently. Might be because of me changing graphics settings back and forth. Alt-tabbing out and back in or changing the settings back and forth again sometimes solves. The only real stuttering issue I have is that when you walk on the horse not only does the animation stutter, but so does the camera. It stutters forward. If you run on the horse it doesn't occur. Only while walking.

Pretty disappointed by how sluggish the animations and controls are outside of combat.
While in combat they work great, but otherwise they're rather rough. Turning in different directions feel a bit stuttery as well and if you jump you can see a clear skip in frames. The physics also feel pretty bland. Mixed feelings about the game. It can look spectacular, but it can also look really "meh". Overall the experience is nice so far.
If they'd just polished the animations and controls more (combat on a horse is bad) it would have been much better.
 
I'm no longer running a solid 30 fps after the update with a gtx 680. Had to tone down everything to medium/high. Used to be at ultra everything except for hairworks and foliage distance at medium And never dipped below 30 but now I'm getting drops to 24 Fps...
 

GHG

Member
I just wanted to let everyone know that I just tested the below stuttering fix posted on reddit and it made a HUGE difference. I couldn't stand playing the game at 30FPS and sacrificed graphical settings to avoid it. Now, with the fix, 30FPS is also smooth. Anyone who is downsampling, or would like to increase the graphics settings at the expense of FPS give this a shot. You may find that 30FPS isn't so bad now. ;)

http://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/36ja0c/micro_stutters_fix_for_nvidia_cards/

btw- 780GTX / I7 920 / 12g RAM here
everything maxed except foliage distance and shadows.
hairworks enabled and maxed. applied ini fix and dropped to 4 instead of 8.

What is this hair works ini fix you speak of?
 

Dries

Member
The camera animation also is skippy or jerks while running with Geralt. Same behaviour. Weird that they left that in... It is just the camera... not a performance thing.

I can have a flat unchanging 16.6 MS but the camera jerk is still apparent.

Oh, I haven't noticed that particular stutter yet tbh. Concerning the stutter you are talking about: does it only occur when moving the camera manually or does it also occur when you just let the camera follow Geralt without player interaction.
 
Oh, I haven't noticed that particular stutter yet tbh. Concerning the stutter you are talking about: does it only occur when moving the camera manually or does it also occur when you just let the camera follow Geralt without player interaction.

It happens without touching the camera movement, unfortunately it is how the camera animation is :/
 

Dries

Member
The only real stuttering issue I have is that when you walk on the horse not only does the animation stutter, but so does the camera. It stutters forward. If you run on the horse it doesn't occur. Only while walking.

It happens without touching the camera movement, unfortunately it is how the camera animation is :/

Stuff like this........ really. It amazes me how this ended up in the final version.

I bought a G-sync monitor to be done with this bullshit. Hopefully it'll get patched.
 

Nabbis

Member
Hmm, what kinda performance should i be getting with a DC II 780GTX in this game? The game seems to stutter while playing on everything being Ultra aside from shadows(High) and hairworks off. Also the mouse movement feels really janky.
 
i5-4570 and a GTX 670 with 8 gigs of RAM.

Have most postprocessing effects off (not a fan of most considering their minimal impact; Sharpening - high, Ambient Occulsion at SSAO, though). All graphics options set to Ultra except Shadow Quality (low), Grass Density (low), and Foliage (High). Frames locked to 30, no HairWorks.

Very smooth, no issues. GPU around 60% power and VRAM only in the range of 1.3/2 GB used.
 
This game... I think I need a Titan X

Stuff like this........ really. It amazes me how this ended up in the final version.

I bought a G-sync monitor to be done with this bullshit. Hopefully it'll get patched.

Weren't you the one who locked their framerate at 45fps and didn't notice any issues?
 

somesang

Member
Anyone playing at 3440x1440?

My GTX 770 2gb is crying. Graphics settings on low, bloom on, motion blur on, light shafts on, and depth of field on. I can get 25-30fps.

Had to lower the res to 2560x1080. Hate non native res, but I hit 60 most of the time with the same settings. Regret getting a 2gb card, but I do have a Titan X on the way.
 

datamage

Member
I have the GOG version. Also just realised that I am not using the old DS4Windows but the newer InputMapper as it is noe called.

I also use the PS button to take screenshots, both work perfectly. But I am using FRAPS for screenshots. Have not added the game to Steam as I like the new GOG launcher.

Ah damn, didn't know about InputMapper, I'll give that a go.. thanks!

Hrm, I used to use MSI Afterburner for screens, but at times, it would give me a blank or black screenshot. So I decided to use Steam for screens.
 
anyone have a good config me to get 60fps? it seems I cant get it at all (no matter what im stuck in the mid 40s)

i5 4650k (stock but with a 212 cooler master evo)
nvidia 770
8 gigs of ddr 3 ram
 

SliChillax

Member
Really strange that you're experiencing stutter on a G-sync monitor. I'm playing on a G-sync monitor at 1440p with a 970. I'm typically running around 50fps and everything feels perfectly smooth, no stutter or lag whatsoever.

Gsync fixed framerate related stutters not game engine stutters because the animations dont work properly.
 
You might be interested in this: http://www.pcgamer.com/durantes-witcher-3-analysis-the-alchemy-of-smoothness/

(I also had pretty bad stutter out of the box despite good framerates)

Awesome write up!

I tried to follow your earlier suggestions, but couldn't get rtss to actually limit my fps.

Looking at the screenshots in that article, mine looks different. Frame rate limiting is not even on that screen, but in options.

I just updated to the newest afterburner though, so I'm not sure why.
 

Barzul

Member
What AA solution are most people using. In game or NVCP FXAA or the SweetFX thing (that's SMAA right)? Is there a kind of consensus. Which one has the least performance impact.
 

UnrealEck

Member
Anyone playing at 3440x1440?

My GTX 770 2gb is crying. Graphics settings on low, bloom on, motion blur on, light shafts on, and depth of field on. I can get 25-30fps.

Had to lower the res to 2560x1080. Hate non native res, but I hit 60 most of the time with the same settings. Regret getting a 2gb card, but I do have a Titan X on the way.

I doubt frame buffer memory is your limitation. I know for sure GPU capability is though which also may be made worse by drivers, but despite the issue being all over the internet, we still await an answer on that.
 

viveks86

Member
What AA solution are most people using. In game or NVCP FXAA or the SweetFX thing (that's SMAA right)? Is there a kind of consensus. Which one has the least performance impact.

NVCP FXAA seems to work better than rest for minimal performance impact. But you are going to need a high resolution to get good IQ with FXAA
 
Here are my specs.
AMD FX 8350
MSI Radeon R9 290X 4gb DDR5
16 gb of Ram

Game ran at Ultra settings, but framerate dipped between 25 to 45.
Tweaked some stuff, like foliage distance, water quality, and changed framrate to unlimited. now its on 57 to 62 fps. Games running smooth and looks great. Wish it ran at ultra without flaws. Maybe Ill have to SLI that card of mine with another Radeon R9 290X
 

daninthemix

Member
You might be interested in this: http://www.pcgamer.com/durantes-witcher-3-analysis-the-alchemy-of-smoothness/

(I also had pretty bad stutter out of the box despite good framerates)

Have you tried the frame-rate limiter in Nvidia Inspector Durante? The settings get applied right on the driver profiles, so you don't need an app running all the time. Was curious to see if you'd ever done any frametime analysis on that. At the mo I'm using it for a 60fps cap w/adaptive v-sync and seems pretty smooth.
 

Barzul

Member
NVCP FXAA seems to work better than rest for minimal performance impact. But you are going to need a high resolution to get good IQ with FXAA

Yeah that's what I was using when I was getting shitty performance but I'm looking to test out other solutions. Is SweetFX better than what is currently in the game. I guess I want to try it out.
 

Reallink

Member
So the 1.3 patch claimed to add 16x AF to the "Ultra" Textures setting, but a back to back comparison confirmed it most definitely did not on my system. Post patch defaulted to "Low" textures for some reason, perhaps it fucked up the config files or something. Went back to forcing it through Nvidia panel. Anybody else confirmed 1.3 Ultra is for sure adding 16x AF or are you just taking them at their word?
 

kinggroin

Banned
I'm no longer running a solid 30 fps after the update with a gtx 680. Had to tone down everything to medium/high. Used to be at ultra everything except for hairworks and foliage distance at medium And never dipped below 30 but now I'm getting drops to 24 Fps...

Same for me on my 670 :-(

Was doing mostly 30fps with nearly everything but actor population set to medium and hairworks off. Now it starts to dip harshly in the same areas.
 
You might be interested in this: http://www.pcgamer.com/durantes-witcher-3-analysis-the-alchemy-of-smoothness/

(I also had pretty bad stutter out of the box despite good framerates)

It really seems like everyone is trying to manager the delivery rate of the rendered frames at the same time, from the driver level to the game engine which results in a mess.

Edit: Or maybe more accurately the in-game frame limiter is failing to anticipate external sources messing around with the rate of delivery of the rendered frames and causing it to fail spectacularly.
 
Durante article convinced me to try HBAO+ on my 7850. I do think I had a little headroom, but was planning on trying high foliage distance. Do you guys think HBAO+ is more of a noticable improvement than that? I may not know much about what it actually does.
 

Flandy

Member
No matter what I change, I can´t mantain a solid 30fps even with all settings to Medium, NO AA, SSAO, on a GTX 760. Sure, it stays at 30 when I´m roaming around a deserted place, but as soon as I get into a battle, or even just going a small village the fps already drops to 25-20.

Even if I overclock it, it doesn´t give me ONE fps more. It´s like, exactly the same.

Maybe your power plan in Windows is set to Power Saver?
My PC somehow ended up on the Power Saver option and I wasn't able to get a steady 60 on my 970 even on the lowest settings. It was anywhere between 40-75.
Found out I was on power saver mode so I switched it to High Performance and my issue was fixed.

Durante article convinced me to try HBAO+ on my 7850. I do think I had a little headroom, but was planning on trying high foliage distance. Do you guys think HBAO+ is more of a noticable improvement than that? I may not know much about what it actually does.

Personally I'd rather go with High Foliage than HABO+. I notice foliage rendering in the distance a lot more than I do the effects of HABO+ over SSAO
Could you link to the article?
 

Kezen

Banned
So the 1.3 patch claimed to add 16x AF to the "Ultra" Textures setting, but a back to back comparison confirmed it most definitely did not on my system. Post patch defaulted to "Low" textures for some reason, perhaps it fucked up the config files or something. Went back to forcing it through Nvidia panel. Anybody else confirmed 1.3 Ultra is for sure adding 16x AF or are you just taking them at their word?

The patch defaulted my textures to low as well but 16xAF is definitely there, and unlike The Witcher 2 is does work everywhere.

Brillant.
 

b0bbyJ03

Member
Durante article convinced me to try HBAO+ on my 7850. I do think I had a little headroom, but was planning on trying high foliage distance. Do you guys think HBAO+ is more of a noticable improvement than that? I may not know much about what it actually does.

I choose between these two as well and decided to go with foliage. HBAO+ makes a very small difference in this game imo.

Have you tried the frame-rate limiter in Nvidia Inspector Durante? The settings get applied right on the driver profiles, so you don't need an app running all the time. Was curious to see if you'd ever done any frametime analysis on that. At the mo I'm using it for a 60fps cap w/adaptive v-sync and seems pretty smooth.

I wanna know this as well. I always go with NCP but I would give rtss a shot if its better.
 
So Im installing my PC version that comes in 4 discs and it seems its not working.
The installing bar doesnt move (like 15 minutes already like this) and in the remaining installation times is more than 1400 minutes and not stopping going up.

Anyone having the same problem?
 

Flandy

Member
So Im installing my PC version that comes in 4 discs and it seems its not working.
The installing bar doesnt move (like 15 minutes already like this) and in the remaining installation times is more than 1400 minutes and not stopping going up.

Anyone having the same problem?

Don't have the disc version so I'm not sure. Could it be that it's failing to download the .exe?
 

Flandy

Member
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