The Witcher 3 - Visuals

[Vixraine]

To be honest, my guess is that someone in Nvidia's PR fucked up and included year-old images, only to get screamed at afterwards.

This has been my impression so far, though I'm never one to turn down confirmation if it can be had.

I'd guess I'm a little more accepting 'downgrade-as-fact' since the confirmation of the blood_decals being removed and the meditation preview getting the cut (the latter not confirmed, but chronological look at footage seems to suggest as much.

More than anything else, I'm rolling around looking for my priority list for Mods as soon as Redkit drops and I can dig into that beautiful engine.

 

[dragonbird]

This has been my impression so far, though I'm never one to turn down confirmation if it can be had.

I'd guess I'm a little more accepting 'downgrade-as-fact' since the confirmation of the blood_decals being removed and the meditation preview getting the cut (the latter not confirmed, but chronological look at footage seems to suggest as much.

More than anything else, I'm rolling around looking for my priority list for Mods as soon as Redkit drops and I can dig into that beautiful engine.

Well, the meditation preview may be disappointing for you, but I don't think it comes under the category of visual downgrades. The blood issue? I don't have a clue.

I'm more and more certain of "PR Fuck-up" on the Nvidia one though, especially as the screenshots on that page are now standard PR material, also not "New". I just don't think that there was any contact between them and CDPR to get actual, current, screenshots so they just took something they had lying around from the past.

 

[Khaos-51]

This has been my impression so far, though I'm never one to turn down confirmation if it can be had.

I'd guess I'm a little more accepting 'downgrade-as-fact' since the confirmation of the blood_decals being removed and the meditation preview getting the cut (the latter not confirmed, but chronological look at footage seems to suggest as much.

More than anything else, I'm rolling around looking for my priority list for Mods as soon as Redkit drops and I can dig into that beautiful engine.

I am 100% with you on this.

 

[Vixraine]

I just don't think that there was any contact between them and CDPR to get actual, current, screenshots so they just took something they had lying around from the past.

The recent Nvidia promotional video with John Mamais lends to your assertion there, as they used some VGX footage even through it's a completely a different renderer and not representative of the game anymore.

 

[sidspyker]

Pretty sure DB meant that 'in this case' they didn't ask CDPR and put shots up themselves not that CDPR and NV have never had contact.

@Vixraine Oops, I misread what you said.

 

[Vixraine]

Pretty sure DB meant that 'in this case' they didn't ask CDPR and put shots up themselves not that CDPR and NV have never had contact.

I didn't imply that they were never in contact. It was a video interview with CDPR and John Mamais after all, a rather worn-out looking Mamais at that.

All I was saying was that it was a very plausible second-example of 'using footage they had laying around' during the editing process.

 

[dragonbird]

I didn't imply that they were never in contact. It was a video interview with CDPR and John Mamais after all, a rather worn-out looking Mamais at that.

All I was saying was that it was a very plausible second-example of 'using footage they had laying around' during the editing process.

I agree. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if this was from VGX era.

 

[JasonShepard]

I agree. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if this was from VGX era.

I don't think so really. Maybe they are from an older build, but I wouldn't say older than the 35 minute demo as it looks very different from VGX and the demo visually and more in touch with newer footage/screenshots (Ex: More colorful assets, Geralt's model, etc).

 

[dragonbird]

I don't think so really. Maybe they are from an older build, but I wouldn't say older than the 35 minute demo as it looks very different from VGX and the demo visually and more in touch with newer footage/screenshots (Ex: More colorful assets, Geralt's model, etc).

Could be.

 

[Mezziaz]

I don't think so really. Maybe they are from an older build, but I wouldn't say older than the 35 minute demo as it looks very different from VGX and the demo visually and more in touch with newer footage/screenshots (Ex: More colorful assets, Geralt's model, etc).

I also highly doubt that this is the from the VGX era. The colour palette is in line with the rest of what we have seen from the game so far this year.

The way the grass it lit where it is hard to make out the individual strands of grass due to the lack of colour variation and how it clips trough everything actually reminds me of the PAX build where pretty much everything else in general looked off about the visuals.

Example below

Spoiler

So if the Nvidia images were indeed from an older build which I hope is the case I would put my money on that they were from the PAX one.

 

[skylineR390]

Here are my thoughts on the matter. There are some facts that most people seem to be unaware of:

1. Because the game was built to conform to three platforms, working on features, most specifically but not limited to graphic effects, that will be unique to one particular platform is expensive in terms of time and money. And most likely given no priority, specially if this one platform is considered to have a smaller market.
2. Even if such features are managed to be squeezed in. The chances of them being thoroughly optimized and polished are slim. Specially when you consider the time pressure of having two delays under your belt.
3. This situation worsens incrementally with the disparity between platforms . That is, the bigger the differences in capabilities between platforms the more problematic the situation gets.

Taking this into account I understand perfectly why CD Project would develop a game that is pretty much in parity between all platforms. With that said, given that the features in question were already functional enough to be shown in earlier previews there are only two possibilities why these features would not make it to the final release:

a) The features were not finished or could not be brought up to the required standard of quality, stability or performance necessary for release.
b) The features were stripped on purpose for political reasons, not technical ones.

I am more inclined to believe in option A. And based on this I have to say to CD Project:
I am of the opinion that when you decide to release a product for a platform, It should not matter what other obligations you have. You should release a product tailored for that platform; It should behave natively, perform optimally and support all the capabilities that platform has to offer.

If you can't manage to adhere to these standards for x,y or z reasons. Or if you feel the market for the platform does not justify the investment, then you should not release your product for it. Really, don't bother. If you commit to supporting a platform, then make the best product that you can make for it. There's no place for half-assed efforts.

Because I believe you have not fully committed to making the best product for my platform, PC, I will not be supporting you, monetarily.
A disappointed customer.

 

[delnac]

To be honest, my guess is that someone in Nvidia's PR fucked up and included year-old images, only to get screamed at afterwards.

I'm not going to disagree with everyone who things those two shots are crap. But I'd prefer to judge based on content known to be current. I think that the comparison of those walls actually has "Old" and "New" the wrong way round.

Thanks, I feel a bit more sane in thinking the same way. This screams of marketing foul-up by people completely oblivious to the level of scrutiny of the fans.

I think the main thing that bothers me really badly is the grass, it just kills me in all these new screenshots. It's way too clumpy and way too flat at the bottom where it meets the ground, like you can see the clumpy line on the bottom of the grass where it meets the ground texture everywhere. It visually looks fake compared to everything else around it. It just doesn't meld with anything appropriately in my honest opinion. If we could get the grass back from earlier screens or even something like gta 5's grass on "high" setting looks miles better than what they've implemented. I can only imagine it was an optimization decision but seriously, the grass looks bad in this game.

I think the grass's texture and mesh changed as they went to a fully physical system. But I can understand people not liking its vibrancy. I think it looks really good, especially with the way the pigment of the grass matches the terrain to not just sit on it. But I can see how you can think the bottom just looks flat-out too bright in that particular screenshot considering it doesn't have any of the AO the latest footage shows (https://youtu.be/k_dvkGwwny0?t=3m37s). The old desaturated color palette wasn't perfect either, see http://i.imgur.com/SQdQhT3.jpg for a less glorious example. It's a matter of taste, but I dig the current one more as more realistic and beautiful all things considered, especially in motion.

Maybe that's just the new atmosphere of the game also growing on me. I am really liking how the natural look is starting to work. Something recently changed* with the contrast and natural feel of the new footage. It no longer feels lacking in dynamic range or washed out. So it suddenly clicked for me. I can see where the reds are going with this and yeah, it really works better. I think it was the polish commentless ps4 video that did it, that uninterrupted footage seeping with atmosphere. It's a candid thing to say but it's almost a bit eerie how these places suddenly feel real in a western, medieval tale way.

I was already uneasy with where the tone of this conversation was going. But given how increasingly impressed and excited I am with how the game is looking on the recent video footage, I'm now feeling pretty bad about dissecting every single piece of information and screenshot coming our way. Discussing this sometimes feels as if the game's entire quality hinged only on the hue they chose for their foliage baseline. I know first-hand that's not what these discussions are about, but I'm going to hold out on them because this really doesn't sit well with me. I feel this is going too far when we actually know nothing for sure, especially with no new information about the things that matter. I'm also not interested in participating in the same negative circular arguments over and over again. At the end of the day, I think this game deserves a more positive mindset .

*This post showcases this nicely : http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/34169-The-Witcher-3-Visuals?p=1635231&viewfull=1#post1635231

 

[OliverDK]

Yup, the direct links work, but after asking around, I think they were originally on this page:
http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/ar...witcher-3-wild-hunt-nvidia-geforce-gtx-bundle
and then removed.

To be honest, my guess is that someone in Nvidia's PR fucked up and included year-old images, only to get screamed at afterwards.

I'm not going to disagree with everyone who things those two shots are crap. But I'd prefer to judge based on content known to be current. I think that the comparison of those walls actually has "Old" and "New" the wrong way round.

(Incidentally, there's no real need for anyone to click on those image links. They are, as stated, the two images that everyone's been talking about)

I hope you are right that it is just a mess up by Nvidea. Right now I am patiently awaiting release before my judgement.

 

[scratcherpen]

Ultra settings gameplay suggestion.

Dear develorers and all the crew of CD Project Red. How do you like the idea to celebrate the Witcher3: Wild Hunt release by showing the best the game can give at maximum settings and 4k video stream? Without terrible youtube compression(official stream).And show all Nvidia features features all the players and fans of wither want to see -Hairworks, PhysX, HBAO+, weather, fog, clothing and damage simulation and others. So people could really share all the best feelings they got about the game you guys made real.

 

[dragonbird]

And we are really NOT going back to complaining about changes relative to VGX/SOD. We've had thousands of posts on the subject already. If it were possible to change anyone's mind, it would have happened.

Posts deleted.

 

[sidspyker]

You don't lose a hut, better-looking grass, better fire effects, particle effects from the fire, depth of field, and awesome lighting like that because of the time of day.

Lose a hut? THE ENTIRE SCENE IS DIFFERENT. Different NPCs, different character model, different time of day, what awesome lighting? It's Nightime in the other one, things will look different. Please explain to me how you're seeing better grass in a total night scene where it's quite literally a shade of black.

What about the armour reflections? Did you notice they are in a completely different class because of PBR? They look like actual metal instead of the VGX look which was pretty carbon-ish. The sword, the greaves.

It has a stronger Bokeh effect yes, and? TW2 had ridiculously strong bokeh effect, INSANE, that brought the performance down a lot

Spoiler

Seems insane? Yes it is! Especially for larger bokeh sprites the overdraw and performance costs were just insane… I think that some scenes could take up to 10ms on just bokeh on some latest GPUs at that time…

- Bart Wronski, Witcher 2 Senior Graphics/Engine Programmer

10ms!

You need to render the scene in 16.6ms to have 60fps, add 10ms to that 26.6ms, know how many FPS you will get from the game? 37. All for a bit of bokeh DoF.

 

[Pazox]

Ist there any information on how Witcher 3 will likely perform with AMD graphics cards? The latest Nvidia Gameworks title Project Cars runs very bad on AMD cards.
I'm a little bit concerned with my AMD Radeon R9 290. :/

 

[Sneky]

@skylineR390

Sooo, you are buying only PC exclusives? Because every multiplatform game is developed this way​

.​

​

 

[Canthuss]

Lose a hut? THE ENTIRE SCENE IS DIFFERENT. Different NPCs, different character model, different time of day, what awesome lighting? It's Nightime in the other one, things will look different. Please explain to me how you're seeing better grass in a total night scene where it's quite literally a shade of black.

What about the armour reflections? Did you notice they are in a completely different class because of PBR? They look like actual metal instead of the VGX look which was pretty carbon-ish. The sword, the greaves.

It has a stronger Bokeh effect yes, and? TW2 had ridiculously strong bokeh effect, INSANE, that brought the performance down a lot

Spoiler

- Bart Wronski, Witcher 2 Senior Graphics/Engine Programmer

10ms!

You need to render the scene in 16.6ms to have 60fps, add 10ms to that 26.6ms, know how many FPS you will get from the game? 37. All for a bit of bokeh DoF.

Fair enough forget I said anything.

 

[Mindfreak191]

Well they've released a new trailer....to be honest I don't know what to think anymore...

http://youtu.be/chn9QN2W5V4

The missing blood splatters on the floor are really damaging the immersion....