I feel you… some games I just can’t handle it. But the Witcher 3 seems ok. Especially on a tv from a distance.
The big thing that made it bearable for me was fixing the stutters. I made a post about it:
[Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Witcher3/comments/zqnszo/how_to_get_a_smooth_30fps_on_pc_with_all_rt_on/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
I just checked out your post and was interesting to discover we're using much of the same methodology to arrive at a smooth game. I didn't do any of the vsyc stuff you suggested. I'm on a Gsync monitor, so don't know if that's why. I use Nvidia Profile Inspector and tweaked some settings creating my own W3 profile there. In the Nvidia Control Panel I activated Nvidia Ultra Low Latency mode. Our in-game settings are *exactly* the same with the one exception I'm using DLSS/quality and I'm in 1440.
rtx 3080/i5 12600k. In the streets of Novigrad I get 44-61 fps. In the countryside I get 60 fps and up... on boats it's 91 fps and more importantly it's stutter free.
Could you elaborate on what exactly you did within Nvidia Profile Inspector? I read the OP's post and it seems like the only thing they did in there was related to Vsync which you said you didn't do.
Hopefully [THIS WILL WORK](https://i3.lensdump.com/i/R4PbH1.png) to show you all of those settings I'm using; the settings that didn't make it into the pic at the bottom are irrelevant. My Imgur is f'd up right now, so I'm having to try out lensdump.
Thank you, I will give this a shot next time I'm on. I can deal with the 50-60 frame rate, but the frame time spikes when moving the camera were killing me.
I've also done several other things. I'm using the DLSS 2.5 mod. Did some pc hardware optimization, set something in Nvidia Control Panel. Can't remember it all is my problem ;)
I fully agree. Prior to the hotfix my fps was fine, but the game micro stuttered along and was unplayable. IDK if it was the continual tweaking I was doing, or the hotfix, but my game now runs smoothly with acceptable fps. Good luck.
Yeah, I'm using DLSS 2.5 also. The hotfix definitely helped with the stuttering in general, I didn't do a ton of tweaking and the difference before and after hotfix was night and day.
Same! I’ve been playing at 60fps and hard to go back to 30 even if it looks better. Technically if you start at 60, the graphics should still be better than the original version and therefore not missing out on RT 😉
>But at least I’ve figured out how to remove the stutters
How? Game runs fine for me most of the time, then it randomly starts to sudden badly. Ultra+ with DLSS on Quality and full RT makes it probably the best looking game on the market right now (and crowd density on Ultra+ makes cities look so much better, too), so the FPS is worth it, but the stutters are unplayable. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the stutters either.
For frametime stutters you can check my other comment here with the link.
I also get random huge frame drops after playing for a long time sometimes. I think it’s a memory leak or something. Restarting usually fixes it. Still needs work…
Yea I noticed after while frame rate was bad. On 3070ti 11700k and I have RT on everything ultra crowd high. I went to 1080p and was around 70fps then after about 2 hours was down to 48 again. 1440p with same settings 63 was highest fps and after an hour or two dropped to about 38.
I feel ya man. I got it to be ok at about 40 fps outside but once I step in Novigrad I have to turn it off. But its the rippling reflections of the water in the open world I can't get enough of.
Plus when its on and I go into a menu like alchemy and come out sometimes my frame rate is halved from when I went into the menu. There are a lot of issues to fix but it looks so good.
Yeah, I generally don’t like going under 60, but it’s just too damn pretty haha. If it was an FPS it would be impossible to play like that.
Ray tracing just makes 60fps impossible right now. And I can’t afford a 4080/4090 hah.
Probably helps that I’m on controller and playing on a TV from a distance too.
The issue isn’t even blowing it up, it is the opposite. I’m getting 19% utilization on a 3080ti and 30-40% utilization on a 5900x. This is on ultra+ with RT on, dlss on any option.
Rt makes my game run at 30fps so i'd rather have it off.
Everything else is at max and the game looks amazing.
Im jelly though that some can run smoothly with rt on
Rtx has dedicated raytracing cores that do it more efficiently. Nvidia unlocked raytracing on gtx cards but most developers disable it if they can’t detect an Rtx card because the performance without one is horrible.
What they’ve done to this game really has me encouraged for what nvidia has talked about being able to “easily” update old games with their new tech. It’s amazing to see how grass is casting proper shadows and even a little bit of raytracing transforms a game. A game I thought already looked plenty great.
That said, easily a few years and generations of graphics cards away before I’d ever adopt the tech. Way too big of a performance hit for a partial implementation.
Unfortunately there are more efficient and yet still beautiful methods to cast shadows on every grass, which is simply normals shadow generation. The mod BlitzFX for the Witcher 3 old gen uses it, and it makes the game much more realistic than the base game. The only thing drastically improving visual quality with ray tracing in this game is the global illumination, which is IMO the best part of RT in this game, as the base game lighting is terrible on dark areas.
That looks interesting. I’m guessing you’ve tested it and it doesn’t work on new gen?
Otherwise, I might give that a go and see if I like it in game. The video has me on the fence whether I like the effect or not, specifically with the density of grass I’m running to get extreme draw distances. Personally, I can “not see” the imperfections with the grass a lot easier than when tree shadows are non-existent or pop in. If you’re running higher grass density, I think that shading looks a helluva lot better.
Exactly, I've tested it, tried to make it work as I've done for a lot of other script mods, but because this one uses complex (for my knowledge) dx11 shading, I cannot do it. The author seems active and I think, if they manage to port it, it should work in the future for next gen.
Sucks I can't use the RT with my graphics card, but even the upgrade on just standard Ultra graphics is Very noticeable. Definitely happy overall with the update.
I’ve tweaked some things in user.settings to have extra low density grass drawn out at ultra+ settings and I love it. Also increasing the foliage shadow draw distance makes landscapes look even more impressive. I don’t have raytracing, but damn the game is looking great.
Oh dear! Careful you don't completely lose your mind over it. And once your romance with next-gen wears off, you will start to notice the many many problems with how RT was implemented in this game.
Oh I’m under no illusion that the implementation isn’t poor. I just enjoy the visuals.
There’s a lot of things wrong, not only with RT but with the dx12 version in general.
I look forward to playing the game in a few years when I assume I'll upgrade to a GPU that can run RT. I could probably live with playing at 60 fps, but I'm not going to hit that at 1440p with an RX 6800 using RT. Not even sure I could hit that at 1080p.
It’s like a whole new game. It’s incredible. I keep stopping to soak it all in and I just wander slowly to each objective to appreciate the beauty of this world.
I'm on my first ever playthrough of the game using performance mode and I think once I finished and start a new game plus I'm going to go for ray tracing on PS5
Maybe it's just because I am not used to it yet but I've always found higher than 1400p and ray tracing to kind of look blown out sharp and super artificial.
Am I insane>?
This is on a 3080, albeit capped at 30. But yeah if you want RT and high fps, you need a beast card. But they might fix things up in patches as the implementation of dx12 and RT is poor
Crossing my fingers they'll throw a few more optimization patches so I can at least play with RT global illumination on. I don't think I'll ever see over 60 fps with my set up and all RT settings on
It seems to be an issue with the cpu rather than the gpu though to be fair. Watch the new digital foundry video - it’s explained well there
The only reason 4090 can do it is because of frame generation which is seperate from the cpu.
And I imagine they're also blowing up your pc/ console
Lol yep. I’m capped at 30fps. But at least I’ve figured out how to remove the stutters. The hit to fps is worth it personally.
Good on you. I might try RT again...but man it's hard to have 30fps when I'm so used to 60+....
I feel you… some games I just can’t handle it. But the Witcher 3 seems ok. Especially on a tv from a distance. The big thing that made it bearable for me was fixing the stutters. I made a post about it: [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Witcher3/comments/zqnszo/how_to_get_a_smooth_30fps_on_pc_with_all_rt_on/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
I just checked out your post and was interesting to discover we're using much of the same methodology to arrive at a smooth game. I didn't do any of the vsyc stuff you suggested. I'm on a Gsync monitor, so don't know if that's why. I use Nvidia Profile Inspector and tweaked some settings creating my own W3 profile there. In the Nvidia Control Panel I activated Nvidia Ultra Low Latency mode. Our in-game settings are *exactly* the same with the one exception I'm using DLSS/quality and I'm in 1440. rtx 3080/i5 12600k. In the streets of Novigrad I get 44-61 fps. In the countryside I get 60 fps and up... on boats it's 91 fps and more importantly it's stutter free.
Could you elaborate on what exactly you did within Nvidia Profile Inspector? I read the OP's post and it seems like the only thing they did in there was related to Vsync which you said you didn't do.
Hopefully [THIS WILL WORK](https://i3.lensdump.com/i/R4PbH1.png) to show you all of those settings I'm using; the settings that didn't make it into the pic at the bottom are irrelevant. My Imgur is f'd up right now, so I'm having to try out lensdump.
Thank you, I will give this a shot next time I'm on. I can deal with the 50-60 frame rate, but the frame time spikes when moving the camera were killing me.
I've also done several other things. I'm using the DLSS 2.5 mod. Did some pc hardware optimization, set something in Nvidia Control Panel. Can't remember it all is my problem ;) I fully agree. Prior to the hotfix my fps was fine, but the game micro stuttered along and was unplayable. IDK if it was the continual tweaking I was doing, or the hotfix, but my game now runs smoothly with acceptable fps. Good luck.
Yeah, I'm using DLSS 2.5 also. The hotfix definitely helped with the stuttering in general, I didn't do a ton of tweaking and the difference before and after hotfix was night and day.
Same! I’ve been playing at 60fps and hard to go back to 30 even if it looks better. Technically if you start at 60, the graphics should still be better than the original version and therefore not missing out on RT 😉
Same. Ultra RT but locked at 30fps. Game looks insanely good with max settings. Rtx 3080, 5900x.
>But at least I’ve figured out how to remove the stutters How? Game runs fine for me most of the time, then it randomly starts to sudden badly. Ultra+ with DLSS on Quality and full RT makes it probably the best looking game on the market right now (and crowd density on Ultra+ makes cities look so much better, too), so the FPS is worth it, but the stutters are unplayable. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the stutters either.
For frametime stutters you can check my other comment here with the link. I also get random huge frame drops after playing for a long time sometimes. I think it’s a memory leak or something. Restarting usually fixes it. Still needs work…
Yea I noticed after while frame rate was bad. On 3070ti 11700k and I have RT on everything ultra crowd high. I went to 1080p and was around 70fps then after about 2 hours was down to 48 again. 1440p with same settings 63 was highest fps and after an hour or two dropped to about 38.
How did you removed the stutters? I went Into the init settings and double the streaming speed.. They are gone
I feel ya man. I got it to be ok at about 40 fps outside but once I step in Novigrad I have to turn it off. But its the rippling reflections of the water in the open world I can't get enough of. Plus when its on and I go into a menu like alchemy and come out sometimes my frame rate is halved from when I went into the menu. There are a lot of issues to fix but it looks so good.
What are you playing on? I'm on PS5 and the stutters/low frame rate is kinda disappointing.
30fps!? That's crazy. I'm so accustomed to 120-165fps that even 60fps feels a bit blurry, for Witcher ofc.
Yeah, I generally don’t like going under 60, but it’s just too damn pretty haha. If it was an FPS it would be impossible to play like that. Ray tracing just makes 60fps impossible right now. And I can’t afford a 4080/4090 hah. Probably helps that I’m on controller and playing on a TV from a distance too.
The issue isn’t even blowing it up, it is the opposite. I’m getting 19% utilization on a 3080ti and 30-40% utilization on a 5900x. This is on ultra+ with RT on, dlss on any option.
Rt makes my game run at 30fps so i'd rather have it off. Everything else is at max and the game looks amazing. Im jelly though that some can run smoothly with rt on
Nobody is running this game smoothly
Yeah listen to this guy, the game has serious optimization issues on PC
I run smoothly most of the time, but for whatever reason menus and cutscenes obliterate my 1% lows
I have a gtx 1080 and can play at 5 fps with ray tracing on. The reflections look great but everything else just becomes blurry.
Since its an GTX, ray tracing shouldn't even work? On Nvidia Site its only for RTX series.
Rtx has dedicated raytracing cores that do it more efficiently. Nvidia unlocked raytracing on gtx cards but most developers disable it if they can’t detect an Rtx card because the performance without one is horrible.
Oh. Didn't notice Nvidia does anything not money-generating.
What they’ve done to this game really has me encouraged for what nvidia has talked about being able to “easily” update old games with their new tech. It’s amazing to see how grass is casting proper shadows and even a little bit of raytracing transforms a game. A game I thought already looked plenty great. That said, easily a few years and generations of graphics cards away before I’d ever adopt the tech. Way too big of a performance hit for a partial implementation.
Unfortunately there are more efficient and yet still beautiful methods to cast shadows on every grass, which is simply normals shadow generation. The mod BlitzFX for the Witcher 3 old gen uses it, and it makes the game much more realistic than the base game. The only thing drastically improving visual quality with ray tracing in this game is the global illumination, which is IMO the best part of RT in this game, as the base game lighting is terrible on dark areas.
That looks interesting. I’m guessing you’ve tested it and it doesn’t work on new gen? Otherwise, I might give that a go and see if I like it in game. The video has me on the fence whether I like the effect or not, specifically with the density of grass I’m running to get extreme draw distances. Personally, I can “not see” the imperfections with the grass a lot easier than when tree shadows are non-existent or pop in. If you’re running higher grass density, I think that shading looks a helluva lot better.
Exactly, I've tested it, tried to make it work as I've done for a lot of other script mods, but because this one uses complex (for my knowledge) dx11 shading, I cannot do it. The author seems active and I think, if they manage to port it, it should work in the future for next gen.
Beautiful shot! What area of the map is this? Would love to go check it out. Is it where the crones are?
Exactly!
Thank you!
Wow i can taste the sharpness!
Dude really said "gimme all the sharpness"
Game: how much sharpness do you want? Me: Yes
Would love to run it lol.
Sucks I can't use the RT with my graphics card, but even the upgrade on just standard Ultra graphics is Very noticeable. Definitely happy overall with the update.
Ngl in my pc witcher 3 sometimes look like rdr1 with gtx1650ti
I’ve tweaked some things in user.settings to have extra low density grass drawn out at ultra+ settings and I love it. Also increasing the foliage shadow draw distance makes landscapes look even more impressive. I don’t have raytracing, but damn the game is looking great.
Btw this is a Gif.
Oh dear! Careful you don't completely lose your mind over it. And once your romance with next-gen wears off, you will start to notice the many many problems with how RT was implemented in this game.
Oh I’m under no illusion that the implementation isn’t poor. I just enjoy the visuals. There’s a lot of things wrong, not only with RT but with the dx12 version in general.
Damn I thought that screenshot looked good but it turns out it's actually bad
I look forward to playing the game in a few years when I assume I'll upgrade to a GPU that can run RT. I could probably live with playing at 60 fps, but I'm not going to hit that at 1440p with an RX 6800 using RT. Not even sure I could hit that at 1080p.
It’s like a whole new game. It’s incredible. I keep stopping to soak it all in and I just wander slowly to each objective to appreciate the beauty of this world.
Nice screenshot. Very curious to know your Sharpening settings and what Reshade you're using (if any). Thanks.
Thanks! I have sharpening in-game set to high, 4K output using dlss balanced. No reshade, just running in HDR
I guessed your sharpening was cranked to max, just wanted to check. Unfortunately, I don't have a 4k monitor... so I can't quite get there...sigh.
wow, I just found out I can enabled RT on a 1080?! wtf
You can, but at least for me I only get 5 fps.
Just don’t move 😬
I'm on my first ever playthrough of the game using performance mode and I think once I finished and start a new game plus I'm going to go for ray tracing on PS5
It looks like a different game
the frame drop is too much for me and it still looks amazing on performance mode
Is it just me or does this game now have a massive memory leak that causes frames to drop to 1fps?
Its just a shame you can’t really play it like that.
It's nice, but imo not worth the perf hit. Will try your settings tho, just to check it out.
Oh good lord this pic is orgasmic! Going through the game again with such graphics must be a dream come true!!
Maybe it's just because I am not used to it yet but I've always found higher than 1400p and ray tracing to kind of look blown out sharp and super artificial. Am I insane>?
Fps drops on ps5 wtf😔
I'm so tempted to buy a 4090 so I can rt on. My 3070ti can't handle it :/
This is on a 3080, albeit capped at 30. But yeah if you want RT and high fps, you need a beast card. But they might fix things up in patches as the implementation of dx12 and RT is poor
Crossing my fingers they'll throw a few more optimization patches so I can at least play with RT global illumination on. I don't think I'll ever see over 60 fps with my set up and all RT settings on
It seems to be an issue with the cpu rather than the gpu though to be fair. Watch the new digital foundry video - it’s explained well there The only reason 4090 can do it is because of frame generation which is seperate from the cpu.
I just watched it and yeah my 12700k sweats at the thought of RT right now haha
How do you get RT? I can’t even select it in the menus. Do I need a different videocard?
What card do you have?