LOD Distance

[DrDeathhand]

LOD Distance

Dear Sirs and Madams,

I have played the Witcher 2 well hmmzzz at 10 times now (I am right in the middle of my next play through, now with the Enhanced edition doing Insane difficulty) and I have noticed a problem / something strange with the LOD Distance.

Ofcourse I have read and gone through the internet a lot to see if I could find a solution to this matter. I have tried TONS and tons of things, like changing the Mesh distance scale and foliage distance scale to higher levels, changing things like the Texture Memory Budget higher and lower but none of the hints and tips I have encountered have helped to fix the problem. Things I have also done is reinstall Windows, reinstall Witcher 2, install new graphics drivers etc etc etc, again none of these things have done ANYTHING.

Now what is the problem exactly? Ok, the best way to describe it is that things pop up around Gerald at a very close distance. For instance, when you are walking around in the forest at Flotsam near the gates at the walls you see twigs and stuff appear in front of you on the ground and when you walk back they disappear, (I am going to make a new video which shows this problem happening if I have time) but this also happens at other places, for instance. SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT, when you chose Roche's path and you play the king and walk around with him, here in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpmZu5Rq_4s you see all kinds of objects popping up near the king, rocks, skulls, bones etc etc. Here is an other video which shows the exact same problem at multiple stages of the game http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=I251wXhhgrQ

This problem is something I have encountered the entire game and I have not found any solution for it.

Now I just recently found a topic on the Internet with someone that is asking the exact same questions, see here http://www.gog.com/forum/the_witcher_2/odd_graphical_issues_the_box_of_high_detail_textures/page1

Now the man who has started this topic called Kindo managed to get into contact with some of the developers and managed to get the following information (below) out of them. Il continue after that.

Posted July 09, 2011
45
I received a reply from their tech support today, and it helps confirm that it is indeed a feature within the game, but in my case (and those who share my problem), it's not working exactly as intended, making this 'box' a lot smaller than it should be. Apparently, the effect of this box should pretty much impossible to spot unless you're really trying to find it. The person who wrote me back said it's a very rare issue, but they are at least aware of it, and that's half the battle.

An excerpt:

"We thank you for all the work you put into the investigation of this issue. We are actually aware of this and this is a feature aiming at saving some memory in this graphics-intensive game. The feature usually works in such a way that this issue is imperceptible to most. It happens at the peripheries of the screen and should not be visible in the immediate closeness of Geralt's. So you'd have to purposefully make effort to switch your attention to the edges of the screen to observe the LOD increase. But in your case this happens very close to Geralt, even right in front of him apparently and I do not know why this happens so with your graphics card. It is not an issue we encounter often."

I just have to say that CDP once again proves a truly helpful and sincere company - of all the contact I've had with various tech support departments over the years (not only limited to gaming and computers), this was by far the best. No copy/paste answer, no patronizing demeanour... just a friendly and sincerely helpful reply, that still gave a lot of good advice that actually makes sense. It felt like a human wrote it!
Post edited July 09, 2011 by Kindo

So dear Sirs and Madams, has anyone from the development team or anyone else for that matter found a solution for this problem??? We REALLLLYYYY want a solution for this problem because it just kills the realistic feeling and the whole experience of the Witcher which is again an AWESOME game!! (cant wait for Witcher 3!!)

I really hope someone can help me / us with this problem. Il post my User.ini file below and ofcourse also my sys specs.

here is the User.ini
[Dlc]
abetterui.dzip=1
alchemy_suit.dzip=1
dlc_finishers.dzip=1
krbr.dzip=1
magical_suit.dzip=1
merchant.dzip=1
roche_jacket.dzip=1
summer.dzip=1
swordsman_suit.dzip=1
winter.dzip=1

[Engine]
CustomRenderingSettings=1
PerformancePlatform=3

[Input]
InvertCameraX=0
InvertCameraY=0
KeyboardLayout=QWERTY

[InputQWERTY]
IK_1=(Gamekey=GI_Steel,Value=1.000000)
IK_2=(Gamekey=GI_Silver,Value=1.000000)
IK_3=(Gamekey=GI_Hotkey03,Value=1.000000)
IK_4=(Gamekey=GI_Hotkey04,Value=1.000000)
IK_5=(Gamekey=GI_Hotkey05,Value=1.000000)
IK_6=(Gamekey=GI_Hotkey06,Value=1.000000)
IK_7=(Gamekey=GI_Hotkey07,Value=1.000000)
IK_8=(Gamekey=GI_Hotkey08,Value=1.000000)
IK_9=(Gamekey=GI_Hotkey09,Value=1.000000)
IK_A=(Gamekey=GI_Adrenaline,Value=1.000000)
IK_C=(Gamekey=GI_Character,Value=1.000000)
IK_CapsLock=(Gamekey=GI_WalkFlag,Value=1.000000)
IK_Delete=(GameKey="GI_Cancel",Value=1)
IK_Down=(GameKey="GI_Down",Value=1)
IK_Down=(Gamekey=GI_AxisLeftY,Value=-1.000000)
IK_E=(Gamekey=GI_UseItem,Value=1.000000)
IK_Enter=(GameKey="GI_Enter",Value=1)
IK_Enter=(Gamekey=GI_Block,Value=1.000000)
IK_Escape=(Gamekey=GI_Exit,Value=1.000000)
IK_F5=(Gamekey=GI_F5,Value=1.000000)
IK_F9=(Gamekey=GI_F9,Value=1.000000)
IK_H=(Gamekey=GI_Holster,Value=1.000000)
IK_I=(Gamekey=GI_Inventory,Value=1.000000)
IK_J=(Gamekey=GI_Journal,Value=1.000000)
IK_Left=(Gamekey=GI_AxisLeftX,Value=-1.000000)
IK_LeftMouse=(Gamekey=GI_AttackFast,Value=1.000000)
IK_M=(Gamekey=GI_Nav,Value=1.000000)
IK_MiddleMouse=(Gamekey=GI_UseAbility,Value=1.000000)
IK_MouseX=(GameKey="GI_MouseX",Value=1)
IK_MouseY=(GameKey="GI_MouseY",Value=1)
IK_NumPad0=(Gamekey=GI_LockTarget,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_A_CROSS=(Gamekey=GI_Accept_Evade,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_B_CIRCLE=(Gamekey=GI_UseAbility,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_Back_Select=(GameKey="GI_TutorialHint",Value=1)
IK_Pad_Back_Select=(Gamekey=GI_Exit,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_DigitDown=(Gamekey=GI_Holster,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_DigitLeft=(Gamekey=GI_Steel,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_DigitRight=(Gamekey=GI_Silver,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_DigitUp=(Gamekey=GI_Adrenaline,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_LeftAxisX=(Gamekey=GI_AxisLeftX,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_LeftAxisX=(Gamekey=GI_AxisLeftX,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_LeftAxisY=(Gamekey=GI_AxisLeftY,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_LeftAxisY=(Gamekey=GI_AxisLeftY,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_LeftShoulder=(Gamekey=GI_LockTarget,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_LeftThumb=(Gamekey=GI_Medallion,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_LeftTrigger=(Gamekey=GI_FastMenu,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_RightAxisX=(GameKey="GI_AxisRightX",Value=1)
IK_Pad_RightAxisY=(GameKey="GI_AxisRightY",Value=1)
IK_Pad_RightShoulder=(Gamekey=GI_UseItem,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_RightThumb=(Gamekey=GI_CircleOfPower,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_RightTrigger=(Gamekey=GI_Block,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_X_SQUARE=(Gamekey=GI_AttackFast,Value=1.000000)
IK_Pad_Y_TRIANGLE=(Gamekey=GI_AttackStrong,Value=1.000000)
IK_PageDown=(Gamekey=GI_Medallion,Value=1.000000)
IK_Q=(Gamekey=GI_FastMenu,Value=1.000000)
IK_RControl=(Gamekey=GI_Accept_Evade,Value=1.000000)
IK_RShift=(Gamekey=GI_WalkSwitch,Value=1.000000)
IK_Right=(Gamekey=GI_AxisLeftX,Value=1.000000)
IK_RightMouse=(Gamekey=GI_AttackStrong,Value=1.000000)
IK_S=(Gamekey=GI_CircleOfPower,Value=1.000000)
IK_Tab=(GameKey="GI_TutorialHint",Value=1)
IK_Up=(GameKey="GI_Up",Value=1)
IK_Up=(Gamekey=GI_AxisLeftY,Value=1.000000)
IK_V=(Gamekey=GI_H,Value=1.000000)

[MouseInput]
SensitivityX=0.5
SensitivityY=0.5
Smoothness=1

[Rendering]
AllowAntialias=1
AllowBloom=1
AllowBlur=1
AllowCutsceneDOF=1
AllowDOF=1
AllowDecals=1.0
AllowMotionBlur=1
AllowRain=1
AllowSSAO=1
AllowScatterDOF=1
AllowShafts=1
AllowSharpen=1
AllowVignette=1
AspectRatio=0
AtlasTextureDownscale=0
CharacterLodGameplayDownscale=0
DanglesLimiter=0
DetailTextureDownscale=0
FoliageDistanceScale=9
Fullscreen=1
MaxAtlasTextureSize=4096
MaxCubeShadowCount=3
MaxCubeShadowSize=2048
MaxSpotShadowCount=3
MaxSpotShadowSize=2048
MaxTextureSize=2048
MeshDistanceScale=9
ShadowQuality=3
ShadowedLights=3
TextureDownscale=0
TextureMemoryBudget=1024
TextureTimeBudget=10
UberSampling=1
VSync=1

[Viewport]
Height=1080
Width=1920

And here are my sys specs.
CAse = Coolermaster Cosmos 2
PSU = Corsair AX1200I
Motherboard = Gigabyte Z77x-UP7
Processor = Intel I7 3770K
CPU Cooler = Corsair H100i
RAM = 32 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133hz
Graphics card = Asus GTX 680 Direct CU2 TOP
Soundcard = Creative Labs XFI XtremeGamer Fatal1ty pro
Optical drive = 1x LG Blueray Writer.
Monitor = Samsung Syncmaster P2450
network card= 2x onboard
Harddisk = 4x Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB WD2002FAEX (7200rpm, SATA II, 64MB)
1x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (7200rpm, SATA II, 32MB)
1x SSD Samsung 840 Pro 512GB (SATA III) OS
1x SSD Samsung 840 Pro 512GB (SATA III) Game drive
Internet connection = Cable 50 mbit down, 4mbits up
OS = Windows 7 Enterprise 64 Bits (fresh install) and all recent patches and updates

from windows update
DirectX version = 11
Anti Virus program = Kasperski Anti Virus 2013
Vid card drivers = Detonator latest version 213.44
Soundcard drivers = latest version
Internet explorer version = 9 with all the latest patches
Mail program used = Outlook ( Office 2010)

 

[Benzenzimmern]

I am sure your problem can be solved with Redkit, but we don't have a release date yet (first half of 2013). I found this mod on the witcher nexus, is this your problem? If yes, it might help: http://witcher.nexusmods.com/mods/274

 

[Garrison72]

This is a known issue with both games. I hope they can minimize it for TW3 because it drives me fucking nuts.

 

[Dprelate]

I am sure your problem can be solved with Redkit, but we don't have a release date yet (first half of 2013). I found this mod on the witcher nexus, is this your problem? If yes, it might help: http://witcher.nexusmods.com/mods/274

And how should we apply this mod ?

Edit: Got it !

 

[DrDeathhand]

I am sure your problem can be solved with Redkit, but we don't have a release date yet (first half of 2013). I found this mod on the witcher nexus, is this your problem? If yes, it might help: http://witcher.nexusmods.com/mods/274

Dear Benezimmern,

No this is not my problem. If you can please read my post again then you will see exactly what the problem is. I have added multiple links and stuff which discribes and shows the problem very well.

but thanks for thinking along for a solution!

 

[DrDeathhand]

And how should we apply this mod ?

Edit: Got it !

Dear Black Leopard,

For your information, this is NOT the solution for the problem I am discribing.

 

[DrDeathhand]

This is a known issue with both games. I hope they can minimize it for TW3 because it drives me fucking nuts.

Dear slimgrin,

I know EXACTLY what your talking about. Both witcher games are just frigging awesome and I bet that you cant wait for The Witcher 3 to come out. But hell, this stupid LOD problem is just soooo soooooo sooooooo damn anoying and just stupid and irritating.

Graphic wise everything is just super in the Witcher 2 game but this LOD problem just rips the whole realistic feeling away. I mean... skeletons and bones that appear out of no where... and rocks... and whatever else, it just should be there. And yes I know it probally has an impact on the performance of the game but well, then it should be something that can be configured so that if you have a medium or low end system you can configure it for that or if you have a high end system you can configure it for that!.

Anyways, as you can see in my topic it is a known problem at the developers of the witcher so I hope they will do something about it!

Maby even reply to our posts!

 

[AsTheDeath]

As others have mentioned, this is a problem with the game engine for which there currently is NO FIX. I know there´s already been a lot of threads and posts on this subject, some of which seem to suggest that this is a bug/glitch that can be fixed or will be fixed, but unfortunately it's simply a part of the game.

So in short: you'll have to live with it and hope that TW3 improves in this respect. It's definitely one of the more annoying graphical shortcomings of TW2.

 

[FoggyFishburne]

I haven't paid much attention to this little detail while I've been playing. Is this something that affects all players or just some particular rigs? Because I don't remember the game ever doing that LOD nonsense while I was playing. So either I've just ignored it or it didn't affect me.

Not the most infuriating thing though, certainly not gamebreaking, but I can see why people would be annoyed with it. I'm sure TW3 won't have anything as ludicrous as that in it. Well, at least after they've released the first patch ^^

 

[jerf.674]

@DrDeathhand

I had the same LOD issues as you describe on my Geforce GTX 580, it was rather annoying, but I never found a solution. I hope that you'll manage to find one, since I intend to replay the game before TW3 comes out, and it'd be much better to not have these LOD issues

By the way, does anybody have the same issues on AMD hardware?

 

[Dprelate]

By the way, does anybody have the same issues on AMD hardware?

I have HD 4870.
Give me some time and I'll watch those videos to see if I have the same problem or not.

 

[DrDeathhand]

As others have mentioned, this is a problem with the game engine for which there currently is NO FIX. I know there´s already been a lot of threads and posts on this subject, some of which seem to suggest that this is a bug/glitch that can be fixed or will be fixed, but unfortunately it's simply a part of the game.

So in short: you'll have to live with it and hope that TW3 improves in this respect. It's definitely one of the more annoying graphical shortcomings of TW2.

Dear Wut the Melon,

I know that there are alot of threads out there, that either sort of or completely deal with the same subject. But one thing is the same for all of them, and that is that no one has to this date found a solution for this matter. But like I said I was browsing a site recently (check my first post) and there one person posted this.

An excerpt:

"We thank you for all the work you put into the investigation of this issue. We are actually aware of this and this is a feature aiming at saving some memory in this graphics-intensive game. The feature usually works in such a way that this issue is imperceptible to most. It happens at the peripheries of the screen and should not be visible in the immediate closeness of Geralt's. So you'd have to purposefully make effort to switch your attention to the edges of the screen to observe the LOD increase. But in your case this happens very close to Geralt, even right in front of him apparently and I do not know why this happens so with your graphics card. It is not an issue we encounter often."

As you can see from this post which is from one of the developers it is a problem that should not occur and yet Al Lot of people like me are having problems with it. When I read this I thought damn I should open an other topic about this at the Witcher forums and hope that it will get enough attention that one of the developers will again take notice and do something with it. I would have never opened an other topic about this if I was not convinced it could be of some use.

Today I also emailed the support email address of the Witcher forums to see if that will have any effect. If I get an answer il post it in my thread.

Anyways, lets hope and pray that the developers will still do something about it!.

 

[DrDeathhand]

I have HD 4870.
Give me some time and I'll watch those videos to see if I have the same problem or not.

Dear Black Leopard,

Man this is going to be interesting!! I really want to know your results!

 

[DrDeathhand]

I haven't paid much attention to this little detail while I've been playing. Is this something that affects all players or just some particular rigs? Because I don't remember the game ever doing that LOD nonsense while I was playing. So either I've just ignored it or it didn't affect me.

Not the most infuriating thing though, certainly not gamebreaking, but I can see why people would be annoyed with it. I'm sure TW3 won't have anything as ludicrous as that in it. Well, at least after they've released the first patch ^^

Dear FoggyFishburne,

In the time since the release of the witcher 2 I have had a couple of rigs and all of them had the exact same problem. One thing is the same about those rigs, they where all Intel rigs (no amd processors here) and all nvidia rigs (no ATI graphics cards here)

so maby that wil give a difference?

 

[Dprelate]

What in HELL !
damn, I've never seen anything like this.

after entering the inn in flotsam, loading of wall textures is apparent, the process takes about 2 seconds but that's it, textures will remain in their places.
your problem is totally different, that's a rendering issue and I don't think that either mods or REDkit could help.

by the way, my brother's system is Intel corei7 2600 and EVGA GTX 560 TI but he has never complained about such a thing.
tomorrow I'll ask him to reinstall TW2 and double check this.

WE WILL FIND A SOLUTION MATE !

 

[jerf.674]

What in HELL ! />/>
damn, I've never seen anything like this.

after entering the inn in flotsam, loading of wall textures is apparent, the process takes about 2 seconds but that's it, textures will remain in their places.
your problem is totally different, that's a rendering issue and I don't think that either mods or REDkit could help.

by the way, my brother's system is Intel corei7 2600 and EVGA GTX 560 TI but he has never complained about such a thing.
tomorrow I'll ask him to reinstall TW2 and double check this.

WE WILL FIND A SOLUTION MATE !

I have exactly the same issues as in DrDeathhand's videos, on my GTX 580.

 

[DrDeathhand]

What in HELL ! />/>/>
damn, I've never seen anything like this.

after entering the inn in flotsam, loading of wall textures is apparent, the process takes about 2 seconds but that's it, textures will remain in their places.
your problem is totally different, that's a rendering issue and I don't think that either mods or REDkit could help.

by the way, my brother's system is Intel corei7 2600 and EVGA GTX 560 TI but he has never complained about such a thing.
tomorrow I'll ask him to reinstall TW2 and double check this.

WE WILL FIND A SOLUTION MATE !

Dear Black LEopard,

The glitch / problem you are describing is something I have seen before also on my computer but something which is easily solved I think.

I dont know what the settings are that you have in the user.ini file, but I think it has to do with either MaxTexturesize or Texturetimebudget. You can easily change all these things with the witcher tweaker or manually.

I hope my advice will help for you!

Ow and maby your brother has never noticed the thing / glitch that I and many other users are experiencing because well.... maby hes not such a graphics nitpick as me />. I always notice stuff like that.

I think thats because I have been a gamer for a LONG LONG time and well, I have one rule for gaming. I want to play everygame I love, and I want to play it at MAX graphics settings, everything fully loaded maxed out. If I cant manage that, NEW COMPUTER! or components />. SO I really pay attention to things like that and thus I probally noticed the problem faster.

IF you want to test it out you might want to load a savegame of the prelude begining in Act2 where you chose Roche's path. SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT, if you walk with King Henselt to the meeting you should get the skeleton bones pop up thing I have described and what you can see in the youtube movies I posted.

Anyways thanks for all the input!!

 

[DrDeathhand]

I have exactly the same issues as in DrDeathhand's videos, on my GTX 580.

Dear Jerf,

I also had this problem with my previous rig whichalso had a GTX 580 in it.

 

[Dprelate]

Thanks for the advice dear DrDeathhand
I've shown your videos to my brother. he claims this has not happened to him but I'm reinstalling TW2 on his pc just to be sure.
I'll post the result ASAP.

 

[DrDeathhand]

Thanks for the advice dear DrDeathhand
I've shown your videos to my brother. he claims this has not happened to him but I'm reinstalling TW2 on his pc just to be sure.
I'll post the result ASAP.

YOU ROCK MAN!!!! Mannnn I wonder what will happen.

So you are reinstalling the Witcher 2 on your computer? With the AMD ATI vidcard??