Witcher 3 Next Generation Patch

[Laser]

Thanks for the reply.

If the changes applied only to graphics I´d be fine playing the old version, its not like I would be using raytracing in vr anyway :) , but there are also many changes related to gameplay/features.

Z-Normal mode for next gen would be great also, but if it is not possible or too much work I understand that too.

[Ralf]

I’ll definitely check it out. Just wanted to give you an immediate solution. With a bit of luck ‘only’ a profile database update will be required.

Out of curiosity: what gameplay changes does the next gen patch bring that could potentially outweigh the fairly substantial DX11 gfx downgrade? I played through the entire game relatively shortly after release in 2016 or so and didn’t really miss anything. IIRC the only noteworthy annoyance was the original inventory management, but that has been fixed ages ago.

[Florian-83]

Hello, good to hear that we may get a working profile soon. I tried a Steam downgrade to the Classic Version 1.32 as well, but VorpX refuses to start the game. “This Version of VorpX only works with The Witcher 3 4.0 or higher. Please make sure you have the latest The Witcher 3 version.” I don’t see any other official (Classic) profile in my local VorpX database. My VorpX Version is 24.1.0.

There are two interesting Gamestar test videos about the Witcher 3 Next Gen v4.0 update:

Beside the graphic aspect and some new features of the next Gen Version, isn’t it also about bug fixing (v1.32 ==> v4.04)? I have a VR potato anyway (Nvidia RTX 3060 mobile bottleneck), soo I’m fine with a working Classic profile as well.

[Ralf]

Unfortunately the ‘Witcher 3 wird schöner’ (‘Witcher 3 gets prettier’ for non-German speakers) part is only true for RTX raytracing. For non-raytracing the exact opposite is true – probably intentionally to make raytracing stand out more in comparisons.

The first video you linked explitely demonstrates one of the issues, the downgraded shadows, at 5:48. And that’s not the only thing they did to make non-raytracing graphics look worse than before.

That aside: I didn’t recall that I already updated the profile for the next gen patch as the error message you get suggests… Thanks for the heads-up. :) Not sure why it’s broken again then, but I’ll have a look.

[Florian-83]

Thanks for looking at the profile. I really appreciate that.
There is another good IGN video about the Next Gen Update which is more focused on the new features:

Gervant First Person MOD (Next Gen):
https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/5706?tab=description

[Ralf]

All good, you don’t have to convince me. Personally I couldn’t care less, the game was perfect in its original state already. Whatever tweaks they may have made gameplay wise could never outweigh the serious graphics downgrade for me, which quite obviously makes the “next-gen” version worse than the original unless you turn on raytracing. But who am I.

Judging from the vorpx error message you got (“This version of vorpX only works with The Witcher 3 4.0 or higher.”) the current profile already is for the next-gen update (which is 4.0). I just had forgotten about that apparently.

No clue why it’s broken again now, thus I can’t promise anything before I checked, but I will do that.

[Florian-83]

I tend to agree with you, as Raytracing will not work on my VR Potato (RTX 3060 mobile) anyway.

[dellrifter22]

Quick tip: Witcher 3 on steam is one of those rare games that allow you to launch directly from the exe, even without steam running. Or at least my classic install does.

I stored a full backup of Witcher 3 classic before installing the Next Gen update, and renamed to something like witcher311.exe. I assigned this renamed exe to a copy of the old vorpX profile, and now I can run classic and next gen on two separate profiles.

But I just play classic really. I agree, it was perfect already, and looked better. I already had HD texture mods and over the shoulder camera mod.

[Nigebik]

Now it works with the classic version of witcher and vorpx no beta. The only problem is errors in g3d. Probably the next gen version with direct VR should work better, so we’re really looking forward to it)

[Laser]

Ralf wrote:

Out of curiosity: what gameplay changes does the next gen patch bring that could potentially outweigh the fairly substantial DX11 gfx downgrade?

Others have already posted about the features, mainly the new quest/gear and some minor improvements. I wasn´t aware that the next gen version has such big downgrade on DX11, so maybe for VR I´ll try playing the “classic” version if new profile isn´t going to work.

Never finished old version of the game, because when I heard of the new version I decided to wait for it.

[Ralf]

Turns out the latest game patch broke the connection mod scripts for DirectVR FOV adjustment and DirectVR 3D (modifies the actual game camera for 3D instead of ‘normal’ G3D/Z3D). Luckily since a while stuff like this can be updated independently from main vorpX.

Next time you launch the game with vorpX active you should receive a message about some missing/updated profile components. This message may appear twice in some cases. Make sure to do click ‘Yes’ when this message comes up.

IMPORTANT: vorpX 24.1.0 and the latest Witcher 3 version are required!

[Laser]

Seems to work fine now, thanks!

[Florian-83]

I successfully launched the game and played a few minutes. Looks good.
Thanks for the profile update.

[BerZerker96 ph]

works and looks great in 3d , but the headtracking doesn’t seem to work

[BerZerker96 ph]

and in cutscenes and dialogue 3d doesn’t seem to work

[Author]

Posts