Unplayable FPS on any settings from ULTRA/high to LOW

[deomanus]

Unplayable FPS on any settings from ULTRA/high to LOW

Good day,
I completed TW3 all the way through once (@1080p) vanilla and again (@1440p) with HoS added (though I don't suppose the resolution details really matter, because both times it ran VERY well, only difference being I got a better monitor intra play-throughs, all other equipment remained the same.) Read all the books (that have been translated into English) in the meantime waiting for my chance to jump into BnW - it killed me waiting until today to fire it up, but I wanted to have enough time off work to dive into it completely (technically, irrelevant, but w/e, I was psyched)!
When I started it up I chose the new game "Blood and Wine Only" choice - knowing I'd eventually do another complete play-through with HoS and BnW installed. Everything appeared fine at first, though a little choppy but with big audio problems. I looked around for about 7 hours online concerning my staticy/stuttery audio problems (believing the framerate problem wasn't major and could eventually be looked at) and attempted several solutions (drivers, usual suspects, etc.) I have two higher-end headphones (Harman-Kardon, and Bose) and a mid-cheapy SkullCandy. And I attempted with all three sets, even though this is the only game I experience this audio issue with. Videos, music, even TW3 menus and load screens have no issue. It's similar to static, but also cuts out at times,
When I approached the knights for the "Wine Boys, Envoy Boys" quest (first of BnW) it became most pronounced, and the combat following was unplayable both for FPS and listening to the knights' speech.
I'm running Windows 10 Home 64bit, both the game and OS are on a Samsung evo 850 SSD. Using a Gigabyte z97x gaming mobo, i7 4970k, evga GTX 980, and 16gb ram. Though, as mentioned, I played the game at least twice entirely without issue. I have the GoG version.
Is there anything I can do? I looked through my old saves and they range efrom 1.08 to 1.12 for the games I remember playing with no issues.

 

[nfi42]

Try verifying your game files.

 

[SigilFey]

Also ensure the game is using your GPU in Nvidia CP under the game specific settings for witcher3.exe. Check that all power settings for Windows and the GPU are at Maximum Performance; disable any screen savers, sleep / hibernation modes.

I find 1440p is very demanding on my own 980 ti, even though I play with Hairworks completely off. Perhaps the new and improved graphics for B&W are just bogging down your system. See if switching to 1080p helps.

 

[bunsenbrenner]

same here played first 1.05-1.08 without any issues, with 1.22 on NG+ the cinematics and cutscenes stutter. but the gameplay is okay. As I love to watch the cutscenes I just hope they will fix the engine some day - no matter what i try cant tame the stutter and vsync anomalies - the internal vsync is good enough to tame the cinematics when you use an external framepacer but additionally i need to add nvidias vsync to tame the gameplay vsync but this combo still doesnt tame the cutscenes for me. the better the vsync the worse the microstutter.

so far the best working is borderless window (omits internal vsync) and uses windows desktop vsync + triple buffer in combination with the TRSS framepacer but it has disadvantages and introduces lags.

the engine got serious issues

too bad i cant get the pre 1.10 installer from gog anymore

 

[nfi42]

same here played first 1.05-1.08 without any issues, with 1.22 on NG+ the cinematics and cutscenes stutter. but the gameplay is okay. As I love to watch the cutscenes I just hope they will fix the engine some day - no matter what i try cant tame the stutter and vsync anomalies - the internal vsync is good enough to tame the cinematics when you use an external framepacer but additionally i need to add nvidias vsync to tame the gameplay vsync but this combo still doesnt tame the cutscenes for me. the better the vsync the worse the microstutter.

so far the best working is borderless window (omits internal vsync) and uses windows desktop vsync + triple buffer in combination with the TRSS framepacer but it has disadvantages and introduces lags.

the engine got serious issues

too bad i cant get the pre 1.10 installer from gog anymore

I too have stutter with cutscenes but its minimal and always been there witlh all frame limiting methods. I dislike input lag intensely so always play with unlimited frame rates even at the expense of screen tearing.

Fortunately I don't get tearing in gameplay I do get minimal tearing in cutscenes, and the gameplay is smoother, no input lag and physics works perfectly. Just wish the cut scenes were just as good.

But choppy cut scenes seems to be a common problem across all modern games these days. CDPR aren't alone in this.

 

[bunsenbrenner]

as a 60fps/980ti user you experience the things slight different - all i can tell is that on my first play all cutscenes and cinematics ran smooth as butter on my 30fps/960 setup there was no need to optimize stuff in the nvidia control panel, just used internal framepacer and vsync with excellent results - even the shadowplay recordings were perfect - one could watch without getting seizures in the eyes only thing that runs really smooth for me is toussaint but as soon i go back to velen/novigrad/skellige it sucks big time

 

[deomanus]

Appreciate the responses. I have tried everything suggested e.g. revalidate files, even did a clean install of game.. Also went on to do a fresh driver install (DDU, whole bit) which at first glance appears to may have possibly helped<br>
However, no matter how much eyecandy I turn off (AA - not needed at 1440p, for example), shadows, hairworks, etc. even dropping down to 1080p...I get the same performance, but with crappier visuals. I can deal with the extreme chop (though unexpected, and most would find it unplayable) even though the 980 is still considered a decent GPU.<br>
I could possibly drop in an old GTX 660 to devote to Physx and add in a spare 1300w g2 PSU, but that seems like overkill because the game ran what I would consider flawlessly back when I first played through the original game and then again with HoS. Admittedly, I don't play too many graphics intensive games recently (mostly been on a Point&Clink adventure binge the last few months.) But last night loaded up MGS5 and DA:I mostly just to see if maybe I jacked up my GPU since my last playthrough, and they both still run beautifully.<br>
More irritating, I think, is the audio breaks/cracking that ruin immersion (they don't appear in any other game or music, etc. except TW3)- I can probably force myself through the combat, if only the dialogues are coherent...I have 18 R9 380xs powering my mining rigs, also that I'm half-tempted crossfiring a few to see if I can get any relief (though from what I've read the latest patch isn't giving CF much love either at present)

 

[nfi42]

Try running physics from cpu if you aren't already. If you are using hairworks, try it without. Geralt's hair looks fine without it. Ther's also only very small differences with shadows on high/ultra with a large performance cost. Have a read of the following, it might help

http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-graphics-performance-and-tweaking-guide

http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/63999-The-compendium-of-tweaks-and-fixes-for-the-PC-version

Others have reported sound issues with the B&W release, so you're not alone, and can only wait for a patch.

 

[Brogan80]

OP, you have basically the same setup I have, except for a faster cpu and W10. Same exact evo SSD as well (500gb). I have had no performance change going from pre 1.20 to B&W 1.22. All I can think is you've either got something running that affects the visuals/sound.... or you've got corrupted game files.

I have my 980 running at the factory OC with the latest driver installed, without GF Experience, 3D, or HD audio installed. Physics on gpu. I have nothing specific set for it in NVidia Control Panel, including use game settings for AA, VSync, etc, don't have a config for W3, even took anisotropic forced 16x off, set the card for High Quality.

I run Witcher 3 with Unlimited frames, full-screen, VSync on, 1080p. I run everything on Ultra, 'cept Shadows on Medium, but with Water, Foliage, and Textures increased past Ultra via user.settings. I'm at a consistent 60fps in the game, except during the most gfx intense scenes.

Steam version.

 

[nfi42]

1440p is twice the resolution of 1080p so there will be a significant fps impact.

 

[Brogan80]

Agreed. I was more trying to give him my setup to help try and figure out what's causing the stuttering and sound issues, not so much the fps.

 

[deomanus]

Thanks for the response. I was most confused as to why my performance had diminished so far since 1.12 (I believe), and why a new altogether sound issue - I hadn't picked up the game since my playthrough right after HoS was released. And I don't generally play graphics-intensive games so I know I haven't screwed around too much with the settings elsewhere (no OC on CPU or GPU, for example.)<p>

In case it may help anyone else, I did manage to get everything working at 1440p again with some reduced settings (obvious hairworks, AA, grass, foliage, etc.) in a way that plays both very smoothly (to me) and very beautifully. It also eliminated the sound issue - I set affinity to only use 3 processors, and that seems to be the sweet spot, 2 processors seemed to slow things down a bit, and with 4 processors the audio issue remains. Prior to reducing processors nothing chance performance - e.g. dropped resolution, textures, etc. simply took my game from a beautiful slideshow to much uglier one!

 

[nfi42]

AA shouldn't be a big hit.

Thanks for the comment on affinity, I must remember to try it. But I get only marginally more sound drops than before.

 

[deomanus]

Funny thing is, I only decided to mess around with affinity because just before starting up BnW for the first time I completed the last book of Dreamfall Chapters (Unity engine) that was just released and it had the opposite affect, lol - reducing processors made the game run like butter but ADDED a sound problem, go figure ;p

 

[nfi42]

lol, pc gaming is sort off like Roach. got to love it.

---------- Updated at 11:43 AM ----------

Funny thing is, I only decided to mess around with affinity because just before starting up BnW for the first time I completed the last book of Dreamfall Chapters (Unity engine) that was just released and it had the opposite affect, lol - reducing processors made the game run like butter but ADDED a sound problem, go figure ;p

I tried disabling hyperthreading and set affinity to use 3 processes. I got 2 20 second freezes in 5 minutes. Must be processor/OS dependent.

 

[bkauf2]

I'm having the same issue. My first playthrough was done mostly on an FX 8350 and r9 270, 2nd was done on an fx8350 with a gtx 970. Both times, fps was fine, but i've upgraded to an i7 6700k and gtx 1070 and now all settings lag bad. I don't really know what to do to fix it, tried everything. My GPU usage doesn't go above 55%ish

 

[nfi42]

I'm having the same issue. My first playthrough was done mostly on an FX 8350 and r9 270, 2nd was done on an fx8350 with a gtx 970. Both times, fps was fine, but i've upgraded to an i7 6700k and gtx 1070 and now all settings lag bad. I don't really know what to do to fix it, tried everything. My GPU usage doesn't go above 55%ish

Got the latest driver? Don't overclock it.

Double check your settings, patch 1.21 reset some things.

If your on gog, there may be issues. I'll defer to the gog users to help you fix if that's your issue.

 

[verveg1]

Try this app it worked for me with the studdering.Battle Encoder Shirase 1.6.2.Run it hit target choose witcher 3 and choose limit this.Go to controll to change how much cpu gets used..Play with the percent to see what works for you.

 

[thelostdunmer]

Um have you tried using OLD GPU DRIVERS? I have a three-year old rig w/ only dual-core cpu (hyperthreading though) and almost ancient GTX 560 Ti and can run the game well using original Witcher 3 settings and low post-processing, sharpening: low.

I tried using newer GPU drivers but I noticed increased load times and FPS loss so I always revert to geforce 352.86. I've asked too much from my rig but hey it can still play Witcher 3 whereas other top of the line rigs can't.

Just try using this old driver 352.86.

 

[bkauf2]

I don't overclock, settings are how they were, latest drivers, on steam. Even with everything on low I still lag.