The Witcher 3 massive lag

[Thorwings]

Hello everybody,

Nice to meet ya all on this place.
I'm pretty annoyed by a massive lag that I couldn't fix on TW3.
I played the game 140h without any problem with high range graphics. I didn't played for some weeks but when I tried to launch the game a few days ago, everything went fine till I charged my last save. The game loaded but everything was just acting very slow, commands were taking some time to be considered and the game was just unplayable.

I already visited plenty of forums to find a fix (and searched a bit by myself) but nothing worked :
- I cleaned my PC / + defragmentation
- I updated my drivers
- I veryfied the game files via Steam (Founded one file to take care of but nothing changed)
- I tried to launched it without Steam
- I tried other saves
- I tried to launch a new game
- I put everything to low graphics (and then to Ultra as one of the forumers tried with success, but not for me), turn off hairworks - in vain
- I put the game on my SSD hardware
- I uninstalled - re-installed the game
(and for almost each step restarted my computer)
But nothing changed ...

FYI, I just finished XCOM 2 without any matter and I'm playing other games that ask kinda similar ressources as TW3. So I trully don't know from where it could come from as it just appeared from nowhere.

Can anyone help me please ? =)
You can find my computer details here :

Wishing you all a very good day !

 

[SigilFey]

0.) Any mods, or have you ever used any in the past?

1.) Check the game-specific settings for witcher3.exe in your Nvidia Control Panel. Try forcing the game to use only your GTX 970.

2.) Have you added or removed any hardware from your system since you played last?

3.) Have you tried rolling back your GPU drivers? 385.69 are a good bet.

 

[Thorwings]

Hi SigilFey and thanks a lot for your answer !

0.) Any mods, or have you ever used any in the past?

-> Nope, never used any.

1.) Check the game-specific settings for witcher3.exe in your Nvidia Control Panel. Try forcing the game to use only your GTX 970.

-> I tried forcing it though there was no other possibilties than my GTX and it ended up by a never-charging save (the loading bar wasn't even moving from an inch) so I put it back as it was before.

2.) Have you added or removed any hardware from your system since you played last?

Nope, nothing changed, same config unless for the windows updates.

3.) Have you tried rolling back your GPU drivers? 385.69 are a good bet.

Just tried a few minutes ago, restarted everything and tried. Still nothing

I also tried to shut down VSYNC or - trying other strange fixes - turned off the steam overlay (hoping it could be the same as an old frame rate bug for GoG users ..).

For now, nothing worked ! I'm so sad ! ^^

 

[devivre]

Did you close every other non-essential program that’s running in the background?

 

[SigilFey]

^ This is worth checking on. Especially any anti-virus / firewalls you may be using.

4.) Go to ...Documents\The Witcher 3\... folder and be sure the Permissions are set to "Everyone".

5.) Try starting a new game and see if that loads up with any issues.

 

[Thorwings]

Thanks a lot for your answers guys !

Did you close every other non-essential program that’s running in the background?

I looked on the backgroung tasks and apps, turned off some but I'm not very comfortable with this section. I've made a repport if you wanna have a look maybe ?

4.) Go to ...Documents\The Witcher 3\... folder and be sure the Permissions are set to "Everyone".

That's already good

5.) Try starting a new game and see if that loads up with any issues.

It's bringing the same issues as any other existing saves.
What is strange is that the game launch itself quickly, menus are quick and working good, the save launch is fast but when I get in the game everything get lagged / slowed down / not responding quickly, even menus till I quit the game (with difficulties as the mouse movement is all lagged too) I'll try make a vid to show you)

 

[Hayashi.226]

I had a similar problem - game very laggy all of a sudden. Eventually I found out that my C: drive (SSD) was almost full. Freeing up some space did the trick.
Sometimes when Windows updates it doesn't delete the temp files.

 

[Thorwings]

I had a similar problem - game very laggy all of a sudden. Eventually I found out that my C: drive (SSD) was almost full. Freeing up some space did the trick.
Sometimes when Windows updates it doesn't delete the temp files.

Yep, that was one of the first thing I tried ! I cleaned and now have 100+GB free / 230GB. Even tried more to put the game on it and be faster. But it didnn't change anything at all.

At least this problem is making me clean my computer as hell ! ^^

 

[SigilFey]

Thanks a lot for your answers guys !



I looked on the backgroung tasks and apps, turned off some but I'm not very comfortable with this section. I've made a repport if you wanna have a look maybe ?



That's already good



It's bringing the same issues as any other existing saves.
What is strange is that the game launch itself quickly, menus are quick and working good, the save launch is fast but when I get in the game everything get lagged / slowed down / not responding quickly, even menus till I quit the game (with difficulties as the mouse movement is all lagged too) I'll try make a vid to show you)

If the game was working earlier, and now it's not, that's a sign that something on your system changed...somewhere. Can you try to remember any changes you may have made to the computer since you last played the game?

1.) Did you install or uninstall any programs?
2.) Install new drivers, firmware, etc.?
3.) Windows updates?
4.) Any new peripherals added/removed (gamepad, joystick, camera, iPad, etc.)?

I'm leaning toward it being the drivers for the GPU. Rolling back to something from 2017 / 2018 might be a good thing to try. I'd recommend Nvidia Reference v385.69. Just use Display Driver Uninstaller to completely remove all Nvidia stuff, and install the drivers using the CLEAN installation option.

 

[Thorwings]

If the game was working earlier, and now it's not, that's a sign that something on your system changed...somewhere. Can you try to remember any changes you may have made to the computer since you last played the game?

1.) Did you install or uninstall any programs?
2.) Install new drivers, firmware, etc.?
3.) Windows updates?
4.) Any new peripherals added/removed (gamepad, joystick, camera, iPad, etc.)?

I'm leaning toward it being the drivers for the GPU. Rolling back to something from 2017 / 2018 might be a good thing to try. I'd recommend Nvidia Reference v385.69. Just use Display Driver Uninstaller to completely remove all Nvidia stuff, and install the drivers using the CLEAN installation option.

I tried but nothing more; I'll try in other clean ways but right now it's not working any better !
I played months ago to the game so yes, plenty of new programs / drivers / updates ... Shall I try to uninstall some one by one to check ?
Thanks again for your time !

 

[Badunk]

Just wanted to say that I had the same problem and fixed it by putting the HDMI cable in a different slot. One slot was attached to the integrated graphics and the other to my Nvidia graphics card.

 

[Thorwings]

Just wanted to say that I had the same problem and fixed it by putting the HDMI cable in a different slot. One slot was attached to the integrated graphics and the other to my Nvidia graphics card.

OH MY GOD ! This is it !!!! I may have switch the HDMI port while moving away ....
Man, I don't know you but I love ya :-D
Is there any way for me to pay you a beer ? ^^

Many thanks to SigilFey for your time !
And to you as well Hayashi.

You've made my night Badunk.

 

[Hayashi.226]

Lol glad it's all sorted.

 

[Badunk]

You're welcome, buddy. I haven't played this game for 2 years because I did the exact same thing. Moved the PC to a different room, must have put the HDMI in a different slot, encountered lag, googled and tried everything, then gave up. Just happened to accidentally disable the Intel graphics driver while doing something else recently and I got black screen. More googling, couldn't access BIOS, couldn't get into safe mode, and was getting really annoyed because nothing worked. Then someone said I should stick the HDMI in the Nvidia slot, which I didn't realise I wasn't using, and that worked, which led me to trying Witcher 3 again lol.

 

[SigilFey]

...putting the HDMI cable in a different slot.

YUP. That sounds like computers, alright! Nice catch!

(They really should make it more clear on GPUs and audio cards which jacks are the direct lines and which ones run to slave boards or the mobo.)