Witcher 3 Graphics

[kenjigreat]

I'm all for it, but that will take months or longer. Those glitches should have been fixed before release. Specially the hovering textures in Novigrad are REALLY obvious and in an area where you are running around constantly.

I seem to be the only one where the LOD for faces takes forever to pop in , I posted that in the Technical support but i guess thats under low priority considering the game has other issues some of which are gamebreaking.

Let the waiting game begin.

 

[Gerudon]

I seem to be the only one where the LOD for faces takes forever to pop in , I posted that in the Technical support but i guess thats under low priority considering the game has other issues some of which are gamebreaking.

I have pop in everywhere as well. People, objects, hair and so on, that seems to be more of an engine problem and who knows if that even can be fixed.

It is not like CDPR has a good reputation for fixing their games. Yeah, they mend some of the flaws with EEs, but the German version of TW2 EE still crushes all the time in Act I due to a small problem with the German letters like ä, ö and ü. There actually is a simple mod that fixes it, but no official patch was ever released, even though it would be very easy and fast to do.

 

[luc0s]

Make the game look similar on Consoles and PC so Console people will be happy. Mainly because consoles don't have the power to run the game with all the bells and whistles and are struggling to hit 30FPS.

There is a reason I can turn on my PS4 and PC , run the game at Ultra on my PC and see only minute differences between the two.

I don't believe CDPR would ever do that, most certainly not for that reason. If anything it's more likely that it's either a budget reason or a technical reason why CDPR decided to downgrade TW3's graphics. Time constraints could have been a factor as well. But "to please the console players" most certainly wasn't the reason. That just sounds like ridiculous tinfoil-hat conspiracy nonsense to me.

 

[Witcherman]

Could you elaborate on that?

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/delay-will-help-witcher-3-look-better-across-all-p/1100-6424378/
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/witcher-3-studio-responds-to-crunch-accusations/1100-6422841/
A couple articles to maybe give you perspective. Basically, for whatever conspirator-y reason, numerous developers refuse to visually optimize games for the high-end and they keep on removing graphical features from the final release. The most blatant example was Watch_Dogs in that they had amazing lighting and shaders in the game files but removed an option for them from the final release because it looked too much better than the "supercharged ps4" version. There was a lot of media coverage on it, you can read about it if you want but the main thing was that a game file had "this is PC only, who cares" in it beside a toggle for essentially E3 graphics. Literally an on/off kind of deal that defaulted off for an inexplicable reason.

As for CDPR and this game, in 2013 and 2014 they said that the PC version would be the way to play and some articles had them saying that they were having a lot of trouble getting the game running nicely and they even had an interview stating that there was a big gap between 900p and 1080p. It was very contrasting to the rest of the industry who was trying to say there was no difference at all. As time passed that tune changed however, a dev later said like many others that there was no difference between resolutions and some months after that they, even the CEO, started saying all versions of the game will look the same. "There is only one build of the game" which sparked initial downgrade worries.

From that I surmise they downgraded the game for parity, just like other companies do. I guess so nobody gets mad after realizing all versions don't look good? PC will always look better but right now the gap isn't nearly as big as it could be, looking at all these downgrades we've been seeing lately.

Added a screenshot.

There is also a horrible looking area north of Novigrad:

http://abload.de/image.php?img=witcher3_2015_05_25_14bbuu.jpg

http://abload.de/image.php?img=witcher3_2015_05_25_1phusi.jpg

And of course all the bad texture positioning IN Novigrad:

http://abload.de/image.php?img=witcher3_2015_05_25_1pesor.jpg

http://abload.de/image.php?img=witcher3_2015_05_25_18tsul.jpg

(look at his feet)

Texture setting is on Ultra of course.

So all the people that want the 2013/14 look back: How about we fix the stuff, that is in the game, before we ADD stuff?

I haven't noticed many bad textures like that but I think we can look forward to texture mods, I'm sure we'll have lots of them. One texture that did stand out to me was the logs when you first meet the orphans in the swamp ,those were scary . To me textures aren't a big deal though especially in such a massive game.

 

[kenjigreat]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/delay-will-help-witcher-3-look-better-across-all-p/1100-6424378/
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/witcher-3-studio-responds-to-crunch-accusations/1100-6422841/
A couple articles to maybe give you perspective. Basically, for whatever conspirator-y reason, numerous developers refuse to visually optimize games for the high-end and they keep on removing graphical features from the final release. The most blatant example was Watch_Dogs in that they had amazing lighting and shaders in the game files but removed an option for them from the final release because it looked too much better than the "supercharged ps4" version. There was a lot of media coverage on it, you can read about it if you want but the main thing was that a game file had "this is PC only, who cares" in it beside a toggle for essentially E3 graphics. Literally an on/off kind of deal that defaulted off for an inexplicable reason.

As for CDPR and this game, in 2013 and 2014 they said that the PC version would be the way to play and some articles had them saying that they were having a lot of trouble getting the game running nicely and they even had an interview stating that there was a big gap between 900p and 1080p. It was very contrasting to the rest of the industry who was trying to say there was no difference at all. As time passed that tune changed however, a dev later said like many others that there was no difference between resolutions and some months after that they, even the CEO, started saying all versions of the game will look the same. "There is only one build of the game" which sparked initial downgrade worries.

From that I surmise they downgraded the game for parity, just like other companies do. I guess so nobody gets mad after realizing all versions don't look good? PC will always look better but right now the gap isn't nearly as big as it could be, looking at all these downgrades we've been seeing lately.



I haven't noticed many bad textures like that but I think we can look forward to texture mods, I'm sure we'll have lots of them. One texture that did stand out to me was the logs when you first meet the orphans in the swamp ,those were scary . To me textures aren't a big deal though especially in such a massive game.

I think luc0s has enough information , its best not to add anything extra after this, the moderator has already chimed in.

 

[Witcherman]

I think luc0s has enough information , its best not to add anything extra after this, the moderator has already chimed in.

This really sucks, I just want to talk about the graphics in a graphics thread and I'm getting warnings left and right. I didn't see the moderator post though, does that mean I shouldn't talk about... what exactly? The visuals in the old footage?

 

[Gerudon]

From that I surmise they downgraded the game for parity, just like other companies do. I guess so nobody gets mad after realizing all versions don't look good? PC will always look better but right now the gap isn't nearly as big as it could be, looking at all these downgrades we've been seeing lately.

I haven't noticed many bad textures like that but I think we can look forward to texture mods, I'm sure we'll have lots of them. One texture that did stand out to me was the logs when you first meet the orphans in the swamp ,those were scary . To me textures aren't a big deal though especially in such a massive game.

That conspiracy theory is exactly that: a conspiracy theory.
A German PC mag actually interviewed and asked numerous developers from different companies (most anonymously) about that and they ALL debunked those rumors. The console companies simply don't have a say in this. This is also proven by the simple fact, that there isn't even parity between the consoles themselves. The XBone versions of a lot of games have to run on lower resolutions and/or detail levels.

Yeah, but I will be finished with the game long before those come out. It is a real shame as well. The game is great, but seeing such flaws and glitches every few steps really takes me out of it.

 

[luc0s]

Added a screenshot.

There is also a horrible looking area north of Novigrad:

http://abload.de/image.php?img=witcher3_2015_05_25_14bbuu.jpg

http://abload.de/image.php?img=witcher3_2015_05_25_1phusi.jpg

And of course all the bad texture positioning IN Novigrad:

http://abload.de/image.php?img=witcher3_2015_05_25_1pesor.jpg

http://abload.de/image.php?img=witcher3_2015_05_25_18tsul.jpg

(look at his feet)

Texture setting is on Ultra of course.

So all the people that want the 2013/14 look back: How about we fix the stuff, that is in the game, before we ADD stuff?

I agree, that does look really bad. But my game doesn't look like that at all. Are you sure your textures are set on Ultra? For some reason the 1.04 patch turned the texture settings back to low. You had to manually put them back on ultra again after the 1.04 patch. Did you do that?

Edit: Those textrures in Novigrad city look fine though. I don't see anything wrong with them.

Here is what the rocks in my game look like:

 

[Killgrow]

Nvidia admitted they screwed up Kepler GPU Drivers , people who used old drivers on their Kepler GPUs are doing better in terms of performance.

http://wccftech.com/nvidia-working-driver-updates-address-kepler-issues-witcher-3/

Do you seriously think a 960 outperforming the 780Ti makes sense when the 780Ti can compete with the 980 on most games. Please do some research before commenting on the topic.

Did I not say It is Optional , http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/download-the-crysis-2-directx-11-ultra-upgrade

ABOVE is the Optional Upgrade for Crysis 2 , a game that was released to have Console parity on Dx9 , OPTIONAL update above and Improves the game if you have the hardware .

So which driver gives the best results for a gtx 770? How far do I need to go back to get better performance?

 

[kenjigreat]

This really sucks, I just want to talk about the graphics in a graphics thread and I'm getting warnings left and right. I didn't see the moderator post though, does that mean I shouldn't talk about... what exactly? The visuals in the old footage?

I think its best you send a PM to Dragonbird and ask specifics.

---------- Updated at 06:31 PM ----------

So which driver gives the best results for a gtx 770? How far do I need to go back to get better performance?

I'm not sure , Its better to go to the Nvidia Forums and ask since I'm using a Maxwell Chip , I'm pretty sure 1 to 2 updates back or the one that was before the Witcher 3 Drivers should work fine .

This isn't the thread to ask about performance but then again performance in this game is wonky at the moment with people claiming gains and losses with different patches.

 

[Gerudon]

I agree, that does look really bad. But my game doesn't look like that at all. Are you sure your textures are set on Ultra? For some reason the 1.04 patch turned the texture settings back to low. You had to manually put them back on ultra again after the 1.04 patch. Did you do that?

Here is what the rocks in my game look like:

It doesn't look everywhere like this but in another forum someone didn't believe me either and look them up in his game.

Yeah, it is Ultra and you have bad textures as well, just look at the grey mess that supposedly are meant to be rocks in your first screen shot on the lower right and left.

 

[Witcherman]

That conspiracy theory is exactly that: a conspiracy theory.
A German PC mag actually interviewed and asked numerous developers from different companies (most anonymously) about that and they ALL debunked those rumors. The console companies simply don't have a say in this. This is also proven by the simple fact, that there isn't even parity between the consoles themselves. The XBone versions of a lot of games have to run on lower resolutions and/or detail levels.

Yeah, but I will be finished with the game long before those come out. It is a real shame as well. The game is great, but seeing such flaws and glitches every few steps really takes me out of it.

This is maybe too off-topic but the Watch_Dog incident proved it wasn't a theory for at least for one developer. http://www.dsogaming.com/news/watch_dogs-unbelievable-hidden-comment-shows-ubisofts-arrogance-towards-pc-gamers-or-not/
I'd like to read that article though. could you send it to me in a PM? Such things can't be trusted though, similarly to this article about TW3 since it's all conjecture and possibly nefarious. http://whatifgaming.com/developer-insider-the-witcher-3-was-downgraded-from-2013-list-of-all-features-taken-out-why
I also think pixel perfect parity will never exist but lessening the gaps is something we see often even just between console games let alone games that are also on PC. Just take a look at the recent Japanese games on Steam, those developers port the PS3 version of the titles instead of the PS4 version. That's beyond silly.

 

[Zat0ichi]

not gonna happen, even with mods, it require deep access to code, and even then you need somone with high level knowledge about that stuff and i dont know anyone at that level modding W3 right now ,not to mention its Nvidia tech wich is closed by nature

unless by some miracle the code is still there and its just tonned down/turned off ( highly doubt it )

the only realist expection are these :

higher view distance/lod, equivalent to E3 and even more ( once they unlock it )

better lighting for certain area , because ive already spotted very good lighting that look nearly exactly like the E3 demos, but they arnt widely used ( espcially indoor ) so if we have accesse to " per area lighting " settings we can get that

I'm not thinking of a modder. I'm thinking of the "PC gamers" that work at CDPR. (The combat rebalance in TW2 was the work of 1 guy!)
That's why I used that youtube clip. I don't know when it was from, the upload date is not necessarily when it was filmed but there was one guy who specifically said he was a "PC gamer" That broke my heart.


Obviously to add all that nvidia finery to the current build would be waaay too much. But we don't know how complete that 2014 showcase was. That was october and release was due February. 4 months. The world would have to be pretty complete by then...
So we have graphically gorgeous world build(2014) and a fully functioning quest build(release)
Do a complex copy and paste job, speed run the main quest and bug fix along the way, release it and let the community do the rest of the bug finding.

It all seems so simple when you have no clue about game development

 

[Gerudon]

This is maybe too off-topic but the Watch_Dog incident proved it wasn't a theory for at least for one developer. http://www.dsogaming.com/news/watch_dogs-unbelievable-hidden-comment-shows-ubisofts-arrogance-towards-pc-gamers-or-not/
I'd like to read that article though. could you send it to me in a PM? Such things can't be trusted though, similarly to this article about TW3 since it's all conjecture and possibly nefarious. http://whatifgaming.com/developer-insider-the-witcher-3-was-downgraded-from-2013-list-of-all-features-taken-out-why
I also think pixel perfect parity will never exist but lessening the gaps is something we see often even just between console games let alone games that are also on PC. Just take a look at the recent Japanese games on Steam, those developers port the PS3 version of the titles instead of the PS4 version. That's beyond silly.

All that proves is, that the PC version wasn't important to them, which is very likely considering the sales on PC compared to XBone and PS4.

The "article" is actually a video and in German: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04gfC78tcaY

What people often mix up is the difference between being able to to something on PC and actually having the time and money to pull it of. The more details you put into the game, the more it costs you in an exponential curve. So just pushing the details of the game slightly for the PC versions produces costs that you don't make up, it is a waste of money, pure and simple.

 

[kissybyc]

What would anyone make of statements like this where CDPR confirmed SoD trailer-level graphic fidelity? I don't deny that the game looks pretty decent, but it is also indisputable that it looks nowhere even near the level of SoD. Was it a genuine misconception of our graphic expectations, or was it a deliberate lie, or a bit of both?

For me, I am willing to believe that it really was a miscommunication or misunderstanding and nothing more, if the game is eventually patched to upgrade its graphics till it looks close to SoD. Otherwise I'm afraid I will have to come to a very different and difficult conclusion.

 

[kenjigreat]

This is maybe too off-topic but the Watch_Dog incident proved it wasn't a theory for at least for one developer. http://www.dsogaming.com/news/watch_dogs-unbelievable-hidden-comment-shows-ubisofts-arrogance-towards-pc-gamers-or-not/
I'd like to read that article though. could you send it to me in a PM? Such things can't be trusted though, similarly to this article about TW3 since it's all conjecture and possibly nefarious. http://whatifgaming.com/developer-insider-the-witcher-3-was-downgraded-from-2013-list-of-all-features-taken-out-why
I also think pixel perfect parity will never exist but lessening the gaps is something we see often even just between console games let alone games that are also on PC. Just take a look at the recent Japanese games on Steam, those developers port the PS3 version of the titles instead of the PS4 version. That's beyond silly.

Definitely off-topic , DOA 5 though looks better on PC , google the comparison videos and you can see better textures etc.

Back on Topic , NO MORE CONSPIRACY THEORIES PLEASE.

 

[Witcherman]

I'm not thinking of a modder. I'm thinking of the "PC gamers" that work at CDPR. (The combat rebalance in TW2 was the work of 1 guy!)
That's why I used that youtube clip. I don't know when it was from, the upload date is not necessarily when it was filmed but there was one guy who specifically said he was a "PC gamer" That broke my heart.


Obviously to add all that nvidia finery to the current build would be waaay too much. But we don't know how complete that 2014 showcase was. That was october and release was due February. 4 months. The world would have to be pretty complete by then...
So we have graphically gorgeous world build(2014) and a fully functioning quest build(release)
Do a complex copy and paste job, speed run the main quest and bug fix along the way, release it and let the community do the rest of the bug finding.

It all seems so simple when you have no clue about game development

Keep in mind that the game was slated for Autumn of 2014 as well.

 

[kenjigreat]

What would anyone make of statements like this where CDPR confirmed SoD trailer-level graphic fidelity? I don't deny that the game looks pretty decent, but it is also indisputable that it looks nowhere even near the level of SoD. Was it a genuine misconception of our graphic expectations, or was it a deliberate lie, or a bit of both?

For me, I am willing to believe that it really was a miscommunication or misunderstanding and nothing more, if the game is eventually patched to upgrade its graphics till it looks close to SoD. Otherwise I'm afraid I will have to come to a very different and difficult conclusion.

If the game is patched close to SoD , I'll buy the PC version again. (3rd time buying the game)

 

[luc0s]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/delay-will-help-witcher-3-look-better-across-all-p/1100-6424378/
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/witcher-3-studio-responds-to-crunch-accusations/1100-6422841/
A couple articles to maybe give you perspective. Basically, for whatever conspirator-y reason, numerous developers refuse to visually optimize games for the high-end and they keep on removing graphical features from the final release. The most blatant example was Watch_Dogs in that they had amazing lighting and shaders in the game files but removed an option for them from the final release because it looked too much better than the "supercharged ps4" version. There was a lot of media coverage on it, you can read about it if you want but the main thing was that a game file had "this is PC only, who cares" in it beside a toggle for essentially E3 graphics. Literally an on/off kind of deal that defaulted off for an inexplicable reason.

As for CDPR and this game, in 2013 and 2014 they said that the PC version would be the way to play and some articles had them saying that they were having a lot of trouble getting the game running nicely and they even had an interview stating that there was a big gap between 900p and 1080p. It was very contrasting to the rest of the industry who was trying to say there was no difference at all. As time passed that tune changed however, a dev later said like many others that there was no difference between resolutions and some months after that they, even the CEO, started saying all versions of the game will look the same. "There is only one build of the game" which sparked initial downgrade worries.

From that I surmise they downgraded the game for parity, just like other companies do. I guess so nobody gets mad after realizing all versions don't look good? PC will always look better but right now the gap isn't nearly as big as it could be, looking at all these downgrades we've been seeing lately.



I haven't noticed many bad textures like that but I think we can look forward to texture mods, I'm sure we'll have lots of them. One texture that did stand out to me was the logs when you first meet the orphans in the swamp ,those were scary . To me textures aren't a big deal though especially in such a massive game.

Wanna know the REAL reason why this happens?

Budget.

It's that simple. Making 1 build for all platforms obviously is less costly and less time-consuming than making a unique optimized build for each platform.

I'm actually a game developer myself. I haven't worked on any triple-A titles yet but I've done some stuff within the Dutch game industry. I also study game art & development at a Dutch university as we speak. I don't like to throw this fact around because it makes it seem like I'm trying to speak from a position of authority, which I don't want, but it's true and I can tell from experience that making a proper build of your game isn't easy, even when you're only developing for 1 platform.

Making a separate build optimized for each platform is taxing and time-consuming. With the older generation of consoles the devs had no choice though. The architecture of the PS3 and Xbox360 were so different from the PC that developers had no choice but to make seperate builds for each platform. The easiest way to develop a game during the previous generation was to develop for consoles first and then port it over to the PC. The huge benefit of the current generation consoles is that they're pretty similar to PCs with mid-ranged hardware, allowing devs to basically make 1 build and throw them on all platforms, saving them a lot of time and money. Obviously that approach will indeed hamper the potential of the PC version.

Yet CDPR already went out of their way to add some unique features to the PC version to make it look better than the console versions. Could they have done more? Perhaps. But judging by the fact that a lot of PC rigs already have trouble running this game, I'm not sure if it would be worth it for CDPR. People like you and me with monster gaming PCs with GTX 970s (in SLI) or GTX 980s are in the vast minority. I'm sure we don't even make up 5% of the entire consumer basis.

 

[kenjigreat]

Wanna know the REAL reason why this happens?

Budget.

It's that simple. Making 1 build for all platforms obviously is less costly and less time-consuming than making a unique optimized build for each platform.

I'm actually a game developer myself. I haven't worked on any triple-A titles yet but I've done some stuff within the Dutch game industry. I also study game art & development at a Dutch university as we speak. I don't like to throw this fact on the table because it makes it seem like I'm trying to speak from a position of authority, but it's true and I can tell from experience that making a proper build of your game isn't easy, even when you're only developing for 1 platform. Making a separate build optimized for each platform is taxing and time-consuming. With the older generation of consoles the devs had no choice though. The architecture of the PS3 and Xbox360 were so different from the PC that developers had no choice but to make seperate builds for each platform. The easiest way to develop a game during the previous generation was to develop for consoles first and then port it over to the PC. The huge benefit of the current generation consoles is that they're pretty similar to PCs with mid-ranged hardware, allowing devs to basically make 1 build and throw them on all platforms, saving them a lot of time and money. Obviously that approach will indeed hamper the potential of the PC version.

Yet CDPR already went out of their way to add some unique features to the PC version to make it look better than the console versions. Could they have done more? Perhaps. But judging by the fact that a lot of PC rigs already have trouble running this game, I'm not sure if it would be worth it for CDPR. People like you and me with monster gaming PCs with GTX 970s (in SLI) or GTX 980s are in the vast minority. I'm sure we don't even make up 5% of the entire consumer basis.

Can we not discuss the 'reason' this happened anymore , it is what is it , what has happened has happened. The mods have given their two cents , we don't need any more theories about this .