In short
CDPR needs to remove black bars from cutscenes.
Problem
All ultrawide users have black bars (pillars) on the left and right of screen when viewing in-game cutscenes. The gameplay allows for native ultrawide ratios, however the sudden jump to 16:9 cutscenes from 21:9 (and other UW ratios) ruins some of the immersion for many user. So much so, that a workaround has been written up online to fix it. Unfortunately, the latest PC Hotfix redistributed the game exe, which in effect removed the workaround for everyone.
The workaround is simple enough, but it requires individuals to edit 3 HEX values in the witcher3.exe files, via a HEX Editor. My concern is that future PC Hotfixes and patches will continue to redistribute the exe's, which is frustrating as we need to edit the HEX values again and again.
(information on how to do this is available here: https://vulkk.com/2021/06/27/how-to-fix-witcher-3-ultrawide-cutscenes-no-black-bars/)
Solution
Can I please request CDPR improve the game itself, so that cutscenes can be viewed natively, without black bars and without the need to HEX edit the exe files.
I understand that the removal of the black pillars may expose players to weird character behaviour due the cutscenes*, and to remedy that risk I would recommend a simple notification appear for any devices using ultrawide ratios, that warns players they may witness strange character behaviour during cutscenes, due to them being meant to be viewed in a 16:9 frame.
Thank you for reading
*In the game's opening cutscene when Geralt is walking past Yennifer, the Geralt character model can be seen gliding without animation until it hits the 16:9 "frame", then the walking animation starts. This weird behaviour is only visible when the black bars are removed.
CDPR needs to remove black bars from cutscenes.
Problem
All ultrawide users have black bars (pillars) on the left and right of screen when viewing in-game cutscenes. The gameplay allows for native ultrawide ratios, however the sudden jump to 16:9 cutscenes from 21:9 (and other UW ratios) ruins some of the immersion for many user. So much so, that a workaround has been written up online to fix it. Unfortunately, the latest PC Hotfix redistributed the game exe, which in effect removed the workaround for everyone.
The workaround is simple enough, but it requires individuals to edit 3 HEX values in the witcher3.exe files, via a HEX Editor. My concern is that future PC Hotfixes and patches will continue to redistribute the exe's, which is frustrating as we need to edit the HEX values again and again.
(information on how to do this is available here: https://vulkk.com/2021/06/27/how-to-fix-witcher-3-ultrawide-cutscenes-no-black-bars/)
Solution
Can I please request CDPR improve the game itself, so that cutscenes can be viewed natively, without black bars and without the need to HEX edit the exe files.
I understand that the removal of the black pillars may expose players to weird character behaviour due the cutscenes*, and to remedy that risk I would recommend a simple notification appear for any devices using ultrawide ratios, that warns players they may witness strange character behaviour during cutscenes, due to them being meant to be viewed in a 16:9 frame.
Thank you for reading
*In the game's opening cutscene when Geralt is walking past Yennifer, the Geralt character model can be seen gliding without animation until it hits the 16:9 "frame", then the walking animation starts. This weird behaviour is only visible when the black bars are removed.