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The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Patch 4.02 - The Best It's Ever Been - PS5 vs Xbox Series X/S




"The path towards optimal performance has been long - and we saw a set-back in patch 4.01 - but the fact is that CD Projekt RED has regrouped, sorted the issues of the last update and delivered the best Witcher 3 console experience yet. It's not without its remaining issues but this is a welcome step in the right direction."
 

Topher

Gold Member
Write up on eurogamer:

The 2022 revamp of The Witcher 3 set out to be the best version of game possible, tapping into the performance and features of the new consoles and modern PCs - except, this next-gen release also brought its own issues. Performance problems and crashes proved problematic and since then, CD Projekt RED has been intent on gradually ironing out the kinks and getting the game into shape. It hasn't been a smooth sailing, though: the last patch 4.01 actually worsened the frame-rate in the performance mode, while at the same time improving frame-rates in the RT quality mode. The good news is that the recently released 4.02 update now delivers the best experience we've seen yet. It's not quite the finished article, but it's much closer to the ideal.

Developer CDPR's patch notes are as exhaustive as usual. Right at the very top - for console - we have a note that performance mode frame-rates are improved, which we can confirm. Other highlights include the return of the HBAO option on PC, and improved CPU optimisation on DirectX 12. There's a motion blur intensity slider on all formats now, as well - which solves another problem at launch with the sheer intensity of the effect when enabled. Lastly, there's a subtle improvement to screen-space and ray-traced reflections on all formats, with the addition of refraction to reflections across water bodies.

Looking at PlayStation 5 to begin with, the good news is that the hit to performance in the 60fps mode has been reversed. I wish I could say it's a perfect 60 across the board now, but some areas do still consistently drop beneath the target - so yes, Novigrad City still has trouble locking to 60. On balance though, for PS5 it's a net improvement overall, putting Novigrad aside at least. The optimisation is achieved with no noticeable hit to the game's visual feature set, either.

Xbox Series X is where there's an even bigger uptick in performance gains. In every area it's an outright improvement: from battling to horseback riding, the new patch restores us to 60fps. But what's especially encouraging is that Novigrad city is also clearly improved in the same breath, unlike the PS5 version. It's worth saying that Series X started at a far worse point here, performance-wise, and so there was much more ground to cover. So again, the latest update puts The Witcher 3 in a better place than ever before. Performance mode at 60fps is still my recommended way to play - by a long stretch - even sacrificing the ray tracing features at 30fps. For Xbox Series X users it was a shame to see frame-rates struggling to hit 60fps before, where it often fell below PS5's level, but now it's a much easier choice to make.

So where does that leave us in the console comparisons? Bearing in mind both premium consoles get an upgrade here, how do they rank side-by-side on the latest patch? Interestingly the game is now 60fps locked for a bulk of play on both PS5 and Series X and where it dips - Novigrad, again, in particular - the two are practically matched in their readings. And, if we're to split hairs on this, Series X does run marginally worse in a horseback run across Heirarch Square - by 2-3fps on average. Series X also plays with infrequent flashes of screen tearing, right at the top of the frame, unlike PS5. But in general? It's a decent turnout if you have variable refresh rate support - VRR - on your TV. VRR deals with these 50-60fps readings nicely. The only other thing to note is that select cut-scene's run better on Series X, interestingly - so it's not an absolute case of one being better or worse.

All of which leaves us with a quick note on the state of the 30fps ray tracing mode. In a nutshell, there are no obvious improvements on the latest patch. On PS5 it still broadly hits 30fps, though sub-30 drops stay in place in Novigrad. And it's the same story on Series X - no change whatsoever from patch 4.01, though this RT mode was always a more consistent 30fps on that machine anyway. In comparison between the two on the latest patch, then, Series X retains its lead all round. In Novigrad, PS5 drops as low as 26fps for consistent stretches, in the Heirarch Square, where Microsoft's machine pushes through at 30 without much issue. It's even the case for GPU-intensive cut-scenes, where Series X takes a lead again.

So, if you do want to see ray traced ambient occlusion, and global illumination in effect, Series X is still the better performer as of the latest patch. Combined with motion blur the RT mode is much more palatable to use, too. But I will say - on PS5 or Series X - the input latency using this mode is still noticeably high, and personally that's been a dealbreaker in using the mode at all. Even on patch 4.02, latency comes in at 140ms on PS5's RT mode for example, compared to a much lower 74ms using its 60fps performance mode. That's a huge difference, and it's immediately felt in the camera movement while switching between the two.

Is this the ultimate version of The Witcher 3 then? Well, we're not 100 per cent there, let's be honest, but it's great that the effort from CDPR continues unabated. Performance mode receives all the love on patch 4.02, and it pays off - especially on Xbox, where frame-rates are boosted by as much as 10fps. The Complete Edition has never performed better on Xbox. As for PS5, it's again promising, restoring it to the launch day frame-rate level, or better. The only lingering issue is the ray tracing mode: a mode that looks gorgeous, benefits from a new motion blur slider - but still suffers sub-30fps drops on PS5. I'd say the game's in very good shape now, overall, and I'll be intrigued to see if it's 'job done' from CDPR or if there's more to come.
 
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Kupfer

Member
Dropped out of the game in my 3rd attempt to finally enjoy and finish it two years ago. Got to the wedding with Jennefer, then it became some kind of boring. I don't know, this is a tough one, because I want to like it and I see why ppl like it so much, but this current gen update isn't impressive enough for me to try again getting hooked. I will probably never finish this game ..
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Xbox Series X is where there's an even bigger uptick in performance gains. In every area it's an outright improvement: from battling to horseback riding, the new patch restores us to 60fps. But what's especially encouraging is that Novigrad city is also clearly improved in the same breath,


Noice Thats Nice GIF
 

Lysandros

Member
It only restore the state of performance mode to the pre latest patch level, not a meaningful improvement in absolute terms. And Novigrad possibly performs worse now on PS5. Seem like a 'classical Cd projekt patch' to me.
 
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Neilg

Member
Have they fixed the hot pink cobwebs and cave interiors having super wacky lighting in RT? It was super distracting how the sun initially floods into a cave before the game realizes there should be something blocking it in the distance.
 

Luigi Mario

Member
It only restores the state of performance mode to the pre latest patch level, not a meaningful improvement in absolute terms. And Novigrad possibly performs worse now on PS5. Seem like a 'classical Cd projekt patch' to me.
I don't understand why they are praising them for fixing their previous performance fuck up when performance on both consoles has been better before the latest patch.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I keep forgetting that this is one of those games with the worst RT performance ive ever seen along with Hogwarts, Gotham Knights and RE4. Not because of the actual hit to framerate but just how poorly its optimized. i can run the game fine outdoors 60 fps in the wild but as soon as i enter a city, even tiny villages with like 20 people max, the framerate just takes a nose dives. Stutters galore. And whats worse is that reducing settings and resolution doesnt do much. The 1% lows are still really really bad.

do these people only test these games on 4090s and $700 CPUs?
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
I don't understand CDPR, at all. They rushed out this patch in December when nobody was asking for it and it was just garbage. It's not until April that it is acceptable. Why not just wait until April?
 

Darsxx82

Member
Nice improvement on Series consoles I think they mentioned DX12 CPU work so that's probably had that benefit on a unified GDK.
It would be interesting to know if the XSX version still maintains the advantage in resolution vs PS5 that it showed in the launch version in both modes (according to VGTech and DF)....
Know if part of the improvement in fps comes from changes in resolution?
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Ah ok but it’s 4k 60fps yea?

DRS, not static.

It would be interesting to know if the XSX version still maintains the advantage in resolution vs PS5 that it showed in the launch version in both modes (according to VGTech and DF)....
Know if part of the improvement in fps comes from changes in resolution?

The text article says this, didn't go into more detail.

The optimisation is achieved with no noticeable hit to the game's visual feature set, either.
 
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Darsxx82

Member
DRS, not static.



The text article says this, didn't go into more detail.
Well, it is a fact that would have been interesting to discuss. If the resolution has not been touched to achieve that XSX gain (According to VGtech) XSX would have an apparent resolution advantage in RT mode (up to 1800p vs up to 1620p) and better average DRS in performance mode...
I think it was an interesting fact to investigate and find out if part of that performance improvement in XSX was due to adjusting the dynamic resolution.

That said, the performance improvement in the different versions after previous not very successful patches is good news.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Just got around to actually watching the video and we're splitting hair between PS5/SX here.

Meanwhile Series S, as per DF, sees improvements of 8 to 10 FPS on average in Novigrad, the most stressful area of their testing.

The DX12 optimization really shone through there particularly.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Why no information on the Xbox Series S?

There is.

In the video they say the Series S gains 8, 10 FPS on average in Novigrad. It seems to have received the biggest boost from DX12 optimization among all the console versions.

The text article only talks about SX and PS5 tho.
 
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I don't understand CDPR, at all. They rushed out this patch in December when nobody was asking for it and it was just garbage. It's not until April that it is acceptable. Why not just wait until April?

I don't work in games, but I do happen to work in software development. I will assume the same things happen, albeit with different tech, budgets. In my experience, people/companies like dates. Dates you can plan around, can rely on, organise marketing spend on etc; "when it's done" is kind of orthogonal to that, and so you have people struggling to get a release out the door by some date. Sometimes the planning works, you were accurate, but sometimes snags happen, gotchas etc. Rarely, again IME, are companies super forgiving of that, so there's a need to "just ship something." It sucks, majorly, but that's been my experience.
 

Vick

Gold Member
Version 4.00 Performance Mode on PS5, always and forever for the best game ever (minus controls/gameplay/combat).

Or customized PC version. Fuck the rest.

I don't understand CDPR, at all. They rushed out this patch in December when nobody was asking for it and it was just garbage.
It was close to literal perfection at launch on PS5 Performance, looked absolutely stunning (1000+ screenshots) and performed perfectly for all 300+ hours.
Best LOD ever along with RDR2 v.1.00 with entirely absent pop-in (not the case at all with RT enabled no matter the platform/configuration).

Just three little issues: sporadic vegetation placement bug, Witcher senses in Novigrad brought performance issues, interiors SSAO not as good as old gen. That's it, for the rest it was the best experience I had and I'll probably ever have this Gen.
 
Version 4.00 Performance Mode on PS5, always and forever for the best game ever (minus controls/gameplay/combat).

Or customized PC version. Fuck the rest.


It was close to literal perfection at launch on PS5 Performance, looked absolutely stunning (1000+ screenshots) and performed perfectly for all 300+ hours.
Best LOD ever along with RDR2 v.1.00 with entirely absent pop-in (not the case at all with RT enabled no matter the platform/configuration).

Just three little issues: sporadic vegetation placement bug, Witcher senses in Novigrad brought performance issues, interiors SSAO not as good as old gen. That's it, for the rest it was the best experience I had and I'll probably ever have this Gen.

Is it really that different now? Don't tell me that they downgraded the performance mode?
 
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