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Witcher 3 PC Performance Thread

So I can confirm that 2k downsampling the game, while on Ultra, makes it look incredible. I get a stable 30fps (locked) all throughout the game except some drops when it zooms in on Geralt's hair as I have hariworks on.

Is this normal for a GTX 980, 2500k 4.5OC, and 8GB RAM?
 

ciddative

Member
Upon experimenting with turning PhysX to CPU, I noticed it does have a graphical effect: certain PhysX will just take longer to stream in/render.

To test I started a new game, and looked out the balcony at Khaer Morhen.

The distant fog (maybe trees too) seemed to visibly load layer by layer, as opposed to almost immediate and all-at-once with PhysX set to Auto or gpu.

Now I'm not perceptive/knowledgeable enough to tell whether that fog is volumetric, a mip-map or just a flat transparency moving across the land, but it definitely behaved differently. Perhaps instead of any gpu-exclusive physx effects, the same effect is just accelerated by a gpu.

It may be that this is the only place in the game where that effect is noticeably different, but I'm going to keep PhysX settings to gpu, even if its just a placebo.
 
Almost self-explanatory, super simple. Just pick the exe of the game you want to address, then just use the frame limit option and set it to your desired value!

Sorry if I'm being a bit thick but what tab do you need to go to on RTSS to be able to find the exe files to begin with? The launcher tab?

Edit: My bad I had basic rivatuner launched and not the statitcs server! Found out how to do it now :)

Edit2: Ok tried using Rivatuner(d3doverrider) to force vsync at 30fps and I'm still experience frame pacing issues. Every second like clockwork there is a slight judder. Really interested to see what other peoples settings are who aren't experiencing this judder. No matter what gfx settings I use, I still get it. I swore it was an engine issue and nothing to do with my end, but if that's the case, then everyone should be experiencing it. It's not bad by any means but definitely noticeable.
 

Thrakier

Member
Sorry if I'm being a bit thick but what tab do you need to go to on RTSS to be able to find the exe files to begin with? The launcher tab?

Edit: My bad I had basic rivatuner launched and not the statitcs server! Found out how to do it now :)

Edit2: Ok tried using Rivatuner(d3doverrider) to force vsync at 30fps and I'm still experience frame pacing issues. Every second like clockwork there is a slight judder. Really interested to see what other peoples settings are who aren't experiencing this judder. No matter what gfx settings I use, I still get it. I swore it was an engine issue and nothing to do with my end, but if that's the case, then everyone should be experiencing it. It's not bad by any means but definitely noticeable.

Its an engine issue, tw2 had the same problems. Back then someone wrote a dx9 wrapper which made it smooth. Sadly this is not an option this time.
 

The Cowboy

Member
AMD 15.5 Beta drivers (official release).
http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/latest-catalyst-windows-beta.aspx
Crossfire Profiles updates for:
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Performance Improvements for the following:
• The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt: Up to 10% performance increase on single GPU Radeon R9 and R7 Series graphics products.

Known Issues:
• The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt: Crossfire users may experience poor performance or random flickering. As a workaround we suggest disabling Anti-Aliasing from the game’s video - post processing settings. If the issues persist further, we suggest disabling Crossfire while we continue to work with CD Projekt Red to resolve this issue..
 
I honestly don't see any difference whether hairworks are on or off. Is it hairworks a very notable thing when it is off? Because I can't see it.
 

jorimt

Member
Sorry if I'm being a bit thick but what tab do you need to go to on RTSS to be able to find the exe files to begin with? The launcher tab?

Edit: My bad I had basic rivatuner launched and not the statitcs server! Found out how to do it now :)

Edit2: Ok tried using Rivatuner(d3doverrider) to force vsync at 30fps and I'm still experience frame pacing issues. Every second like clockwork there is a slight judder. Really interested to see what other peoples settings are who aren't experiencing this judder. No matter what gfx settings I use, I still get it. I swore it was an engine issue and nothing to do with my end, but if that's the case, then everyone should be experiencing it. It's not bad by any means but definitely noticeable.

IF you are using a 700 series Nvidia card, along with the 30 fps RTSS cap, you can try disabling in-game vsync/framerate limiter, enabling 1/2 refresh rate vsync and setting Maximum pre-rendered frames to "1" via Nvidia Inspector, setting PhysX to the CPU, and running the game fullscreen.

Before I set the PhysX to the CPU, I was getting a similar stutter issue in the larger towns every 1-2 seconds.

If you don't have a 700 series Kepler, I'm not sure beyond that.
 
Sorry if I'm being a bit thick but what tab do you need to go to on RTSS to be able to find the exe files to begin with? The launcher tab?

Edit: My bad I had basic rivatuner launched and not the statitcs server! Found out how to do it now :)

Edit2: Ok tried using Rivatuner(d3doverrider) to force vsync at 30fps and I'm still experience frame pacing issues. Every second like clockwork there is a slight judder. Really interested to see what other peoples settings are who aren't experiencing this judder. No matter what gfx settings I use, I still get it. I swore it was an engine issue and nothing to do with my end, but if that's the case, then everyone should be experiencing it. It's not bad by any means but definitely noticeable.

Here are my settings. No FPS stutter. There will be judder/strobing though, you really can't avoid that with lower framerates. It's not a defect or the fault of CDPR or Nvidia/AMD. Maybe some motion-blur tweaking can fix judder though. Before all that though, what is the refresh rate of your display? Regardless of what you cap FPS in RTSS, it has to be evenly divisible by your refresh rate, so 30FPS cap will only work (or be best suited) for 60hz and 120hz displays. If you are 144hz, you might try a 36fps cap.
 
I guess a 7850 is not a R9 card (265 heh), but not a single fps improvement still is disappointing. Back to non beta drivers I go.

Why is it disappointing?

Single GPU performance was already pretty good with AMD hardware. It was the CrossFire folks that needed a new driver.
 

Anon67

Member
Sorry if I'm being a bit thick but what tab do you need to go to on RTSS to be able to find the exe files to begin with? The launcher tab?

Edit: My bad I had basic rivatuner launched and not the statitcs server! Found out how to do it now :)

Edit2: Ok tried using Rivatuner(d3doverrider) to force vsync at 30fps and I'm still experience frame pacing issues. Every second like clockwork there is a slight judder. Really interested to see what other peoples settings are who aren't experiencing this judder. No matter what gfx settings I use, I still get it. I swore it was an engine issue and nothing to do with my end, but if that's the case, then everyone should be experiencing it. It's not bad by any means but definitely noticeable.

Let me fix all of your problems. I was experiencing the same problem with the Wtitcher 2 and 3 and this solution worked for me.

Download NVIDIA Inspector and run it. Click on the wrench icon that is aligned with "Driver version." Change your profile to The Witcher 3 (or keep it as global. That's what I do). Change "Maximum pre-rendered frames" to 1, change "Vertical Sync Tear Control" to Adaptive, and change "Vertical Sync" to 1/2 Refresh Rate. Also, lock your FPS to 31 using Rivia Tuner.

Do not use the game's frame rate limiter or vsync.

Hope this works out for you. It feels like as smooth as 30 FPS console games.

Using a GTX 660 btw. Getting amazingly smooth 30 FPS... at 900p on my 1080p TV.
 

Skyzard

Banned
Thanks so much for suggesting to switch to cpu physx in the control panel for kepler cards. Improves the framerate in the hotspot I've been testing since the start (same one as the video abandoned village in WO facing one of the exits, kept a save file there to check changes) - about 8% gpu usage on my end there, time to bump up the framerate! When you're hovering above 30, every frame counts - got a safe 3 out of it (Oreton has some spots too).

-edits are bringing the percentage down and down :( let me try the dll fix too - nah same.

I wonder if that's going to be the same fix that we get from nvidia. I ended up dropping the framerate to 30, found some even worse areas while looking for a goat.
 
Let me fix all of your problems. I was experiencing the same problem with the Wtitcher 2 and 3 and this solution worked for me.

Download NVIDIA Inspector and run it. Click on the wrench icon that is aligned with "Driver version." Change your profile to The Witcher 3 (or keep it as global. That's what I do). Change "Maximum pre-rendered frames" to 1, change "Vertical Sync Tear Control" to Adaptive, and change "Vertical Sync" to 1/2 Refresh Rate. Also, lock your FPS to 31 using Rivia Tuner.

Do not use the game's frame rate limiter or vsync.

Hope this works out for you. It feels like as smooth as 30 FPS console games.

Using a GTX 660 btw. Getting amazingly smooth 30 FPS... at 900p on my 1080p TV.

Will try this. I'm using my TV which is 60hz so this seems like the best thing to try atm.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Well, damn. I can actually run Ultra on my 280x now. Granted this is only White Orchard, but it manages to keep a fairly stable 30 (biggest dip was a tiny blip down to 27), similar to console performance, but looking real good. Had to turn HBAO+ off of course. I'll settle for high/ultra mix, then it never dips under 45, and I imagine I'll have to lower the graphics for the later areas if this thread's anything to go by.
 
Damn, got my 970 in and loving it. But I'm also surprised how good my 670 did with the game, actually. But now I have everything pretty much maxed, even with Hairworks all on and I'm doing just fine (doesn't need to be full 60 for me to be set).

Also got rid of the microstutter by going into gc.ini and increasing one of the settings there.

How is everyone utilizing AA in this?
 
So, if I'm running everything on Ultra except foliage distance on high and shadows on high at 60 FPS, should I lower shadows to medium or nah, just leave it on high since I stay at 60?
 

FlyinJ

Douchebag. Yes, me.
Damn, got my 970 in and loving it. But I'm also surprised how good my 670 did with the game, actually. But now I have everything pretty much maxed, even with Hairworks all on and I'm doing just fine (doesn't need to be full 60 for me to be set).

Also got rid of the microstutter by going into gc.ini and increasing one of the settings there.

How is everyone utilizing AA in this?

The camera pan stutter? What!??? What setting??
 
They must have changed something with water in 1.04? I never noticed any hit or gain in performance, but now going from high to ultra costs 5-6 fps in spots.
 

didamangi

Member
How did you got rid of the stutters?

Edit: Anyone here manage to get a stable 60fps in Novigrad?

Just met Triss last night, feels pretty stable 60 fps for me and MSI Afterburner log agrees. 3570k + 970, 1080p. Hairworks off, foliage and grass density high, everything else Ultra or max.

Although I'm noticing there's a pretty high amount of npc pop in since the 1.04 patch. Not only in Novigrad but pretty much everywhere. Weird.
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
Havent even started this yet beyond the intro stuff. Just been waiting until more patches come out and i can eventually ask people what the sure-fire performance tricks are for my gtx 770. Seems like discoveries are being made and patches are coming.
 
running a 970 and an i5 2500k at 4.4ghz and i still can't really turn on hairworks. i get 60fps constantly in all situations with it off (and everything else maxed) but can't quite hold it indoors or in battles when it's on :(. it's barely noticeable anyways but still. those dips from 60fps annoy the piss out of me so i turn down what's needed to stay above lol
 
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