Do you like to use Hairworks on Geralt?

[PloughEnthusiast]

Do you like to use Hairworks on Geralt?

I'm curious as to how many people actually like and use Hairworks on Geralt. It's a performance hog, so is the tradeoff worth it for most of you guys? Do you use Hairworks for Geralt, yes or no? Or do you use mods that disable Hairworks for his hair, but keep it for his beard?


My opinion on the matter:

Because of some of my recent troubles with a Hairworks mod for Geralt that disables HW for his hair, I had to actually engage with the Hairworks hair for Geralt. I always disliked how it looks, but recently I've warmed up to almost all the hairstyles, except for the Long and Loose hairstyle and the default hairstyle, which I still think look better without HW.

Pros of Hairworks hair:
-can get wet, looks very good wet
-reacts better to movement, even to small things such as sign casting and to walking uphill or downhill
-reacts to wind more
-Ponytail hairstyle (shaved on sides, long on top+ponytail) looks superior with HW
-DLC hairstyles look insane with Hairworks, especially the two shorter ones; hair looks almost real on the back of Geralt's head

The cons of Hairworks hair:
-obvious LOD-shift depending on distance from camera
-very resource intensive
-will "pop in" during camera angle switches/cuts during cutscenes, and it's quite noticable. Vanilla hair does also have this issue sometimes, but it can be remedied 100% through a mod, but there is no mod for Hairworks hair that enables greater LOD distance
-hair can look somewhat artificial depending on the lighting; hair has no real texture to it, it's just made up of white/silver strands, can look like plastic
-too much specularity for my taste
-hair has an "invisible wall" preventing it from actually hanging down loosely on to Geralt's shoulders and back; instead there's an invisible "buffer" zone on his neck it seems; normal hair doesn't have this issue
-default hairstyle looks a bit like plastic noodles
-long and loose hairstyle looks like Geralt has an alien-head, it bulges out at the back (normal hair version does not have this issue), and it looks like Geralt's hair was treated with tons of hairspray and then blow-dried so it's super hard and stiff; the tips are way too jittery


I'm sure I missed some pros and cons. Feel free to add yours.


Disclaimer: Yes I realize the game's been out for years. Don't judge me!

 

[Blendixx]

idk but for a reason i think hairwork off the hair on geralt looks better imo but i love the beard but im not going to throe away 30fps plus for the beard only

 

[SigilFey]

I turn Hairworks off completely. I appreciate the novelty of the technology, but I wound up disliking it for a bunch of reasons:

1.) Performance could become woeful.
2.) I did not like the color shift between the hair and beard.
3.) The movement of the hair was unnatural. It was cool, but it made every character look like they were professional supermodels that had just come from a salon. Hair has substance, shape, and weight to it -- especially fur on creatures like wolves and bears.
4.) The overall look and action did not blend very well with the rest of the game's visuals. I found myself constantly staring at hair instead of immersing in the overall scenes.

On the whole, I think it's cool tech, but there needs to be more work done making it blend in with the overall look and feel of a game. As is usually the case with any "theatre"...people will spend hundreds of man-hours struggling with intricate details so that the audience sees it as "normal". (When they get it right, everything will look so amazingly natural, no one will even know it's being used. )