Wednesday, November 23rd 2022
The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Update Adds Higher-res Textures, Ray Traced GI, DLSS and FSR 2
CD Projekt RED announced an unexpected content update for the now-7 year old "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt," an immensely popular AAA game that continues to be a favorite among GPU reviewers and PC enthusiasts. The content update, dubbed simply "Next Gen Update," is expected to go live on December 14, 2022. The free update adds several visual enhancements that would normally be marketed as a "Remastered" title, and sold separately.
To begin with, CDPR has increased texture resolutions, and redesigned the foliage to be more realistic. It gets new real-time ray traced global illumination (RT-GI), which should significantly improve the lighting throughout the game. The game also gets super-sampling performance enhancements, namely NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR 2. Thanks to the higher-resolution assets and RT-GI, the graphics settings now include a new preset called "Ultra+," which maxes out everything, including the new assets. The game's UI now offers more camera perspectives. For next-generation consoles, the update adds a new "Performance" mode that runs it at 60 FPS, and a new "Quality" mode that enables RT-GI along with FSR 2.
The trailer for the new content update follows.
To begin with, CDPR has increased texture resolutions, and redesigned the foliage to be more realistic. It gets new real-time ray traced global illumination (RT-GI), which should significantly improve the lighting throughout the game. The game also gets super-sampling performance enhancements, namely NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR 2. Thanks to the higher-resolution assets and RT-GI, the graphics settings now include a new preset called "Ultra+," which maxes out everything, including the new assets. The game's UI now offers more camera perspectives. For next-generation consoles, the update adds a new "Performance" mode that runs it at 60 FPS, and a new "Quality" mode that enables RT-GI along with FSR 2.
138 Comments on The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Update Adds Higher-res Textures, Ray Traced GI, DLSS and FSR 2
I have played quite a lot of pc games but few come close to this game in terms of storyline and the beautiful open world it has not to forgot it's 2 vast DLCs ( Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine) both of which can be separate titles on their own.
plus this is free
From the bright side, yeah, this is for free.
One thing is certain, it still does not look as good as the infamous pre-drowngrade E3 trailer, fire effects especially.
If this sometimes hard to spot next gen upgrade suddenly requires RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XT then it means CD project is getting some Nvidia and AMD sponsoring money.
Any improvements in the romance scene ? :)
Should I try it, even now that’s 7 years old or forget it and move on to elden ring directly.
The game is well-written (but I have to say the final 2-3 quests are a tad less qualitative, to be fully honest), the lore is coherent, complex and rich... what else can I say? If you're the kind of player who loves turning all the stones in an open-world game, and considering that the price is quite low (10$ on Steam for the game + its addons), I'd say to give it a shot...
But i did buy it last year or a couple of years ago, when this update was announced to play it when it's out :D
"improved Screen Space Reflections"
.......oh, nevermind... hope we can turn these off, I hate screen space garbageflections
I struggle to see a real improvement here, what stood out most, in between the higher texture resolutions, is that asset level of detail / geometry is not improved. At some points in the trailer that feels more unnatural than it should be; a bit like running WoW at a very high resolution; texture res doesn't match with geometry detail anymore. Too much art for simple shape.SSR is not RT.Tried this one?
www.gog.com/game/baldurs_gate_2_enhanced_edition
You'll clock 100+ no problem ;) Complexity = TW3 x10 and its a nice prep for part 3 (in dev atm). Writing is legendary, almost every party character you can get is memorable, even more so if you've also played Baldurs Gate 1 (also has an enhanced edition). Combat is clunky, though, unless you mash the pause button every step of the way (or cheat your characters to godhood. Good fun, too).RT pubic Hairworks?
nb. Just saw that both were on sale... I guess I'll have to retry and see if (my) aging helps enjoying the game :D
Looks like a good opportunity now :)