The Witcher 3 Modded on Switch: Enhanced settings? Boosted resolution? 60FPS?

[@Joel-eq1ur]

I can't believe this game is 5 years old already

[@warrenanderson6155]

5 years old and still one of the best games graphically

[@will3641]

And it does not have DRM with no micro transaction, still bring in big money for the dev. Learn how to make game all the dev that put in all the DRM and p2w..... (I understand it is not always the fault of dev, so Wall Street, also look at this🤑)

[@MadOrange644]

I can’t believe my dad left me

[@warrenanderson6155]

@@MadOrange644 I still can't believe it's not butter

[@invanorm]

Feels like it came out maybe 2years ago at most 3. Time is moving waaayyy too fast these days. I guess that’s how it goes when you hit 30.

[@GordonGordon]

Toss a coin... To the DF team!

[@rk3340]

Marcel all Witcher fans are like this

[@GordonGordon]

Oh yeah, man... I'll be cringy for the things I think are rad. Witcher 3 and Digital Foundry are waaay up there. Go DF!

[@Saltymedpac8008]

@@GordonGordon meh the games are way better than the series. The songs are more clean and Geralt looks better.

[@manuelsales1021]

Key question missing in this analysis: what are the overclocking gains on Gwent gameplay?

[@Zapharus]

Truly the ONLY question we needed answered, tbh.

[@gamerxt333]

a rock solid(tm) 60fps 720p

[@ModernVintageGamer]

what took you guys so long :)

[@jimmelton5846]

Hey Digital Foundry, recruit this guy.

[@mmert138]

I love your videos, man. You are the best

[@Catgodray]

Kept you waiting, huh?

[@johnnyn6022]

Jim Melton Nah, he’s too busy porting Doom onto a Furby.

[@OrinSorinson]

Everytime you start the game you end up having to finish it. That's the only acceptable excuse.

[@pastqr]

Still playing on the Switch and im having so much fun.

[@pizzagateisreal]

Loser

[@Killbill1933]

@@pizzagateisreal 🤢🤮🤮🤮

[@glorious240fps6]

@@pizzagateisreal your mom

[@pastqr]

@dyy Fethiiyhn i got 3 switches. He has his own

[@kimjuanjun7124]

Nice

[@Richard-dt4ft]

Sabre have stated an update is on the way “it’ll be worth the wait” they have said.

[@uniquenamegames9112]

They've since said nothing in over a month

[@ArthurvanEggermont-pm5sn]

i fucking hope it's crossave. i booted the witcher on pc again and am truly dissapointed by the switch graphics. i wouldn't be if i could load my switch save on pc since i've lost all my progress on pc and would love to continue my 45+ hours of playtime on switch to pc...

[@AdvancePlays]

@@ArthurvanEggermont-pm5sn I'm sure they're just referring to increasing the visual quality and no real feature changes. As far as I recall, a couple changes in the debug settings made it look appreciably better without any performance impact, so they might just be doing some optimisation.

[@AdvancePlays]

Happily proven wrong! Cloud saves is awesome plus graphic update!

[@cringelord216]

I want to see how well Xenoblade 2 looks overclocked

[@mhannola]

For sure. That game got rough at times in handheld mode. Would love to see how it works boosted.

[@TeaBow]

Me too!

[@EyeCandyGaming]

XB2 gets a HUGE boost because Nintendo got stingy and used the old GPU clock limits and never bothered to update it with the boosted clocks later.

[@fatalist6663]

XC2 is one of my biggest disappointment on Switch, it's an exclusive title and yet it looks like a PS4 title ported to Switch with a lot of sacrifices made. As an exclusive title, it should have been a perfect match for the Switch. I liked the game but I stopped playing it because I mostly play in handheld mode and I was fed up of the very low-res. If Nintendo ever releases a Switch pro, XC2 will be one of the first game I'll play on it.

[@thewarky]

Ohh please somone do it

[@odinsplaygrounds]

Low res and blurry games on youtube makes it look even worse! So much video compression that doesn't handle that blur / resolution very well.

[@Masa-san]

Patrons have access to clean videos.

[@adaptorperish1322]

Jakob No, no, YT does compress videos a lot. Just like Facebook compresses photos a lot.

[@donbruceybruce2197]

@@Masa-san Ohhhh like Loot box : P

[@gamerxt333]

patreon = they offer whats advertised, so no, not like loot box

[@codo8584]

Yeah, the game is blurry with AA, but not *that* blurry

[@greendude0420]

Can’t wait to see an in depth tech analysis for the red engine 5 once Cyberpunk 2077 comes out

[@TheCocomunges]

Red engine was so impressive for Witcher 2 at the time... Witcher 3 was beautiful but not nearly as impressive. W2 seemed like a next gen title, witcher 3 is pretty average, if not below average at the time of launch

[@innos3997]

Lord Nexus Avarage? Only lighting is avarage, textures, meshes, vegetation are much better in witcher 3 than for example AC Odyssey.

[@nakedexposure964]

Lol.

[@siddharthkhattar1297]

Lol

[@festive5476]

Lol

[@teehundeart]

It amazes me that such a significant overclock leaves us with such negligable gains. Seems like Nintendo made the right move with going 1ghz CPU and 760mhz GPU.

[@morganwhaley9119]

They likely tested for what the sweet spot would be between power draw and performance.

[@princesslolabean6406]

I’ve seen more improvements to doom with a cpu overclock. But perhaps the framerate is more closely linked to the cpu in that game.

[@teehundeart]

From what i've heard a big issue on the Switch is actually bandwith. That could explain the disappointing gains

[@StarmenRock]

@@teehundeart yeah, it for 4gb of very slow ram. Its the largest bottleneck for the whole system and the one mistake that cost Nintendo a shiitload of ports and games

[@StarmenRock]

@A World Under A Spell This is why i hope the next switch is just a dock with hardware. Then older systems will be able to play good games on dock mode, its not that bad.

[@AcidDotDrop]

Last time I clicked so fast on a Video, it was MVG who made this experiment.

[@aoelp]

My first thought exactly. Also I already played many hours of the Switcher modded and overclocked. ;)

[@ModernVintageGamer]

always great to see DF analysis though. Ive been waiting on this one for a while

[@kristianutomotobing9719]

@@ModernVintageGamer Still you're one of the first mate!

[@klurikon3004]

@@ModernVintageGamer quality content

[@darcrequiem]

@@ModernVintageGamer Found you via the Spawn Cast. You do great work 👍

[@Bobby0wnz]

This just makes me even happier with the quality of the port, and what they managed to do with what they had.

[@max_the_german4989]

A major reason for poor gains of overclocking seems to be the low memory bandwidth. Would increasing RAM clock speed from 1333 to 1600 MHz help smoothing out framerates in portable play (CPU and GPU clocks unchanged)?

[@leonthesleepy]

Lowspecgamer: "dis is next GEN"

[@TROBassGuitar]

It's actually far more impressive than you think

[@leonthesleepy]

@@TROBassGuitar I do find it impressive, but its still not how i would recommend most people to experience the game for the first time.

[@ThibautMahringer]

Can't wait for the big patch saber is working on.

[@victordelossantos6984]

@@ConsoleAuthority Saber confirmed on the Nintendo subreddit they are releasing a big update for the witcher 3 on nintendo switch

[@max_the_german4989]

Victor De Los Santos I expect cross-saving with Steam and/or GOG, which would be great.

[@Tofuey]

@@max_the_german4989 expect? That would be incredible and very unexpected.

[@quentinadoult3105]

When is this patch launching ?

[@ThibautMahringer]

@@quentinadoult3105 No idea, they teased us 2 months ago.

[@KizaruB]

This is one of those games where you can the LOD line moving with you

[@Lewdology]

I wish I could run switch lite at full speed, it would be such huge benefit for some games. Battery life isn't an issue when you're plugged. :\

[@joesterling4299]

Yeah, that's something that could easily get added in an update to all Switch units. Change the condition for the processing boost to having AC power, rather than being docked. I don't know why they didn't do it this way to begin with. You can set TV res to 720p already (same as the Switch screen), so I know that docked resolution isn't a showstopper here.

[@XDLugia]

@@joesterling4299 Because it's sketchy when it's not in a dock. Nintendo doesn't know if your Switch is laying in a bunch of blankets or on a table. If they boosted the handheld Switch/Switch Lite, it would produce much more heat and could potentially destroy the system or even start a fire. They require the dock because they are 100% safe.

[@joesterling4299]

@@XDLugia I think the official dock traps heat. It sandwiches the Switch in thick plastic. Pull yours out of the dock right after some play time. You may be surprised about how warm it can get. That's one thing the small 3rd-party docks avoid. No one can cure stupidity. If someone lays the Switch on top of blankets, they only have themselves to blame. Plus it isn't ever going to catch fire unless the battery is broken, or something like that (which the dock wouldn't prevent). It will just shut itself down if it overheats.

[@XDLugia]

@@joesterling4299 It does trap heat to some degree, but it stays loosely and it gets air from the sides and on the top as well, so it's usually better than the average handheld setup. Of course people will always be stupid, but Nintendo doesn't want to risk anything. There was a kid that got massive burns because his PSP burnt through his pocket, and that's not really good PR.

[@rekoj08]

@@joesterling4299 The major problem with higher clocks is that they require more power to keep up, and thus adding higher temps into the story, which is something that doesn't go with electronics. You could get something burned in the hardware, or compromise stability even. As mentioned, Switch's dock helps to overheat the system, and on top on that, the console's ven system aren't exactly top notch.

[@TheDarq0n]

This game is a true miracle that it even runs on Switch. Your video only proves it further Tom. Amazing work!

[@Crazelord91]

This is cool but I'd be a lot more interested in how well it can run on portable mode, since there are so many better options to play the game at home

[@DrKrFfXx000000000000]

The same theory applies, only that you will be heavily limited by battery life when overclocking the Switch.

[@timytimeerased]

If you wanna fry your battery go ahead. Overclocking means no portable play

[@angelus5135]

Not much difference because of the sub 720p res in portable AND docked mod. Dynamic res would have kicked in long before reaching 720p

[@Crazelord91]

@@angelus5135 From what I've seen you can turn off dynamic res with tweaks

[@angelus5135]

@@Crazelord91 what I was saying was that putting all the presets to low in docked mode would be equal to play in portable mode because the game was running sub 720p. Boost in portable with overclock is only possible on games that have different res target between dock and probable

[@Lofzy1]

Great game, a real technical achievement on the switch.

[@Lofzy1]

The switch is a little bit like the old days on the PC, you know you can't have maximum settings no matter how powerful your hardware but you bloody enjoy every moment of it.

[@donbruceybruce2197]

Really couldn't see a PSP running this , hehehe wipeout was juss OK

[@WelcomeToLaMatanza]

@@donbruceybruce2197 What are you talking about? The PSP is 15 years old. But the Switch Lite is basically the PS Vita AAA games on the go dream come true.

[@donbruceybruce2197]

@@WelcomeToLaMatanza Agree Iker , had a vita when it 1st dropped

[@gatraidris]

Cant wait for Cyberpunk 2077 on Switch.

[@Akshay-ji9nt]

You are joking, right

[@YourPalHDee]

@@Akshay-ji9nt I'd assume

[@ogikay7056]

Cyberpunk 2077 on Switch 2 5 years later downgraded

[@jacobjordan8340]

@@Akshay-ji9nt I mean, you probably would have said the same about witcher 3 but here we are.

[@MadOrange644]

Lol

[@Bushidounohana]

It’s fun to watch this again while playing through the classic version of Witcher 3 on Steam Deck. While Valve’s newer hardware is of course superior, it’s still impressive to play the game on Switch. It may be lost these days just how remarkable the port is for Nintendo’s hybrid console, but it still amazes and I may have to fire it up again just for kicks, and do a little overclocking on my early release Switch.

[@godslim]

Me and my gf are playing the witcher 3 at the same time but on seperate platforms. Shes on the switch and im playing on my pc in 4k max settings with a 2080ti. The difference between the two is crazy but im so very impressed with it running on such a small portable machine.

[@Simplystimulating]

godslim weird flex

[@godslim]

@@Simplystimulating ty its very big

[@Zapharus]

The fact that this game is even running on the Switch at all is already impressive. The Switch reminds me of the PSP and PS Vita, portable systems that were quite close to home console quality.

[@gogokmoggok24]

Михаил Михайлов true

[@paulshinji5251]

Он даже больше.

[@desmondbrown5508]

The reason, as it seems, that the overclock doesn't help much is because the way they've programmed the game is to target the resolution around that 30 - 32 FPS target. So essentially what happens is instead of giving significant performance boosts at similar resolutions, the game is simply boosting the resolution more often because it's staying above that target FPS more frequently. You're gaining more resolution but the programmed target FPS is draining any FPS gains you would've seen by boosting resolution instead. As a result, sadly, without mods and/or otherwise patching the engine code, it's not likely you'll see an FPS boost that's substantial enough to give above 30 FPS significantly. Now, as for the reason that Novigrad seems to get a good boost... My opinion is that it's probably because at stock clocks the devs realized that they weren't going to get a nice FPS there, so they likely stabilized the resolution changing (never leaves 600p - 680p range) so that it wasn't as wild and inconsistent as out in the open world (jumped between 548p - 702p all the time). It still happens but you can tell that the resolutions don't jump so dramatically, and as Digital Foundry said, Novigrad is more CPU intensive anyways with all the drawcalls and NPC logic. And if anything, CPU overclock was FAR more significant than the GPU clock boost. It's nice, but still pretty unfortunate gains for such a sharp CPU boost. That said, between all the differences the fact you can maintain 30FPS always is still a decent tradeoff for something like the Switch.

[@gamerxt333]

why would you want to boost the fps with a resolution thats less than 720p though ? lol

[@awdrifter3394]

A fully clocked Tegra X1 is not too shabby, it can push 512gflops at peak, that's 40% of the Xbone's performance. I wish Nintendo would've allowed this on docked mode from the factory.

[@alexj0101]

The Witcher 3 just keeps on giving

[@rickeejay6363]

its so amazing overclocking on handled mode i can not believe that every thing is run in real time, reminds of when i used to steam my games to my phone without the bad response time and with crystal clear graphics, Nintendo unlock all performance for all bigger battery and better cooler = switch on my dreams

[@sev2300]

Of course I’d love to see Zelda Breath of the Wild running at 60fps

[@madwaii3558]

Tom Riddler You can see it on PC ^^ But on Switch not yet I suppose

[@wiskymo9687]

the overclock doesn't help here, the memory bandwidth is the bottleneck.

[@mariogar1477]

You can see it at PC with 4k, 60 fps and even better illumination

[@sev2300]

Mariogar 1 how can you play the game on PC?! It’s a Nintendo exclusive! If you’re talking about emulation and whatnot, that won’t count.

[@Blubididar]

@@sev2300 Asks how you play the game on pc, but says the only way you can play it doesn't count

[@MauroSanna]

Aaaand the battery goes downhill.

[@bjornkraaijer3355]

Great work DF, love the video! Curious what Doom (2016) on switch will do with an overclock

[@sandman8993]

Vaseline covered doom. Very blurry on switch. Hopefully it would be a lot sharper

[@ajsingh4545]

Wolf2 looks shitter

[@HermesderWetterbote]

it would be really neat to add the sharpening and anti aliasing options per update. Especially while playing on the tv that would make a big difference

[@HenrikoMagnifico]

"the only way to bypass this is by over clocking the system." - this is not true. By modding the game itself you can simply graphics, remove clutter and greatly improve performance without over clocking.

[@jponz85]

@Rich Scales here we go with the grammar police on the internet as usual...

[@MoonSarito]

I still can't believe that a game years ago choked to run on Xbox One today can run acceptably on a simple tablet. It's amazing how the technology has evolved so much in such a short time that we can have console-quality games on a portable console and be able to play it wherever you go.

[@mauryj.3415]

Yes, I'm running the witcher 3 on my Surface Go tablet which is thinner than a switch, Technology moves fast, every 6 months there's something more powerful.

[@MoonSarito]

@@mauryj.3415 And it costs much more than a simple Switch Lite, it is less convenient and less practical. The Switch for me is as impressive as the PSVita was in 2011. Seeing a portable console, small, practical and affordable console running a big home console game is surreal for me.

[@mauryj.3415]

@@MoonSarito my surface go only costs me $300...and it doed so much more than a switch lite,.and it has free online with no monthly or yearly subscriptions, and steam sales etc...in the long run it's actually 20x cheaper than owning a switch. The vita was impressive for its time, the switch not so much as there was plenty of more powerful phones and other portable devices much more powerful than a switch at the time, at least at the time the psvita cameout laptops or cellphones were no where near as powerful as a Psvita. Seeing these affordable Tablets and laptops running AAA third party games os surreal to me, plus I just discovered Nvidia Geforce Now Streaming service, is so surreal how well games actually run on it.

[@mauryj.3415]

@@MoonSarito actually a surface tablet does 10000x more than a switch is in infinitely more practical than just a plain close platform gaming device, A surface tablet is so much versatile and more practical

[@nocfox3050]

@@mauryj.3415 You're honestly trying way too hard, my guy.. If you like to play games on your surface tablet, that's fine.. But others wouldn't really buy it for that reason or use it.. For people who own a Switch, it definitely suffices and it runs fairly well.. Definitely stretching here..

[@marcw3852]

Switcher needs stability on the performance more than anything. The blur is fine in portable it's the frame rate that hurts exploration. Zelda and Dragon Quest are consistently 30 fps and it makes such a difference when traversing the game world. I'd crank down a few options to get that while sitting in the coffee shop or on the train

[@chrisrichfield8906]

I remember that one village in BOTW where the framerate drops under 20 fps.

[@weaverquest]

I remember Zelda BOTW on Switch dropping to 20 fps even in early areas not sure if Nintendo fixed that though.

[@cunnyman]

Botw is 720p smh

[@tenthirtyseven-v1]

Consistent is pretty far fetching. Whether in most villages or especially the lost woods, BotW drops constantly. Dragon Quest 11 has small drops almost everywhere, but in the big town or the wheat field area it goes waaaay below 30. I don't think I've seen any 3d switch game not have frame drops.

[@ThibautMahringer]

@@cunnyman BotW is 900p on Switch.

[@BenjiDWJ]

Thank you for highlighting this. 😁 👌 Cheers! 🍻

[@prpltchk]

I'm really looking forward to a test of Doom and Dark Souls with 60fps. Thank you.

[@enriquepinero707]

This further proves that most of the Switch games are made scalable so that if played on better hardware; we would see improvement in a manner that is similar to when you buy steam games and a new PC. Eventually, the games we buy now; will run alot better. The push in digital purchases would suggest that they working on making the current eShop (while upgradeable) the definitive one where your account and purchases should carry over.

[@AdvancePlays]

I hope so, Nintendo still makes its baffling decisions here and there but I think they've smartened up regarding their general infrastructure. I'd love to get the Switch 2.0 in a number of years and plug in my old Witcher cartridge and have it run as well as it did on the last ten home consoles

[@hercules3845]

The switch is a really cool portable

[@Keepskatin]

Carnivorous The iPad is cooler and much more power💪🏾🙇🏾‍♂️😙

[@Thebossstage1]

@@Keepskatin Enjoy those microtransaction filled "games"

[@pageone8512]

@@Keepskatin cooler to play what? candy crush 😂

[@rage2387]

@@Keepskatin So why is the witcher not on the "cooler and much more powerful" Ipad

[@cuttinggems4387]

Keepskatin have fun playing witcher 3 on it

[@AllieStrange]

I'd love to see Resident Evil 5 overclocked, considering the framerate on that is barely 30.

[@bananachild1936]

I'm really curious to see what Saber Interactive's upcoming *"Worth the wait"* game update does to Switcher 3.

[@jaxstr]

I see what you did there!!!

[@SwitchUpYt]

Let’s find out!

[@Poptartsicles]

A stable 30fps on Breath of the Wild would be pretty nice.

[@sandman8993]

Yes please. We really need more power. Although it is amazing what was achieved on switch botw would be better still if on pc for example.

[@devilmikey00]

@@sandman8993 If you've got a decent PC it already is available on PC via emulator at 60fps and 4k if you've got the horsepower. You do need a good modern CPU and a half way decent video card though.

[@MORJDK]

@@devilmikey00 Is the pc portable :D

[@woeffi7471]

@@MORJDK If it's a laptop................ yes? O_o

[@RFLCPTR]

@@MORJDK GPD Win Users: Are you f*cking kidding me?

[@Shadowninja1200]

This is why I really hope that Nintendo does have a switch pro in the work. I love playing on mine but I think third party support for it will fall behind when the next gen consoles comes out. I don't foresee dynamic resolution and VRS being able to offset the visual leap.

[@DioDurant]

How bout physically modding the switch for better cooling? Like cutting more air vents or putting a copper shim on the heat pipe? How bout those smaller docks where you just move the docks pcb to a smaller chasis?

[@mysticking16]

@@one_step_sideways the condensation from the fridge with fry the circuits

[@mauryj.3415]

That still wouldn't fix the issue with the weaker hardware, no amount of cooling can fix weak hardware.

[@Cheep5]

bro why is your switch heating just cut more air vents bro

[@declice]

PC owners be chucklin’

[@mrhoovy889]

Yep. Not crapping on PC owners but the Elitist seem to be the cluckiest

[@sempotaneous6090]

Modifying the settings to reach 60FPS wouldn't be so bad on the resolution side if you're playing on a CRT ;)

[@mrhoovy889]

A World Under A Spell Yeah sure

[@eslzack5490]

Amazing video thanks a bunch. Lots of effort was put in it.

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

Wish the Switch had been released with 8GB LPDDR4 instead of the 4GB that we got. wonder how much better the games would have ran

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

@@one_step_sideways Ram was a lie

[@andrewz4515]

@@tHeWasTeDYouTh Maybe 6 GB wouldve been better

[@YHUAN01]

Capacity wouldn't help anything in terms of performance.

[@Lock2002ful]

Now you officially have those graphics options plus cross save. Looking forward to a new performance comparison video by DF on that. ^^

[@Benri05]

Stem deck is the answer now

[@Lock2002ful]

Nah, no steam deck for me. Too clunky and too expensive.

[@RandomRandy]

more of this please

[@VideosbySteve]

Pretty cool stuff. Would like to see you guys do the same overclocking a PS4 Pro and Xbox One X with the Witcher 3 and do a mega comparison.

[@Radek494]

It's not possible on these systems

[@VideosbySteve]

@@Radek494 Why?

[@andreapalma2080]

I found this one really interesting, thanks Tom!

[@nocfox3050]

Very interesting video.. I've been playing this game for abit now.. It's such a good game and relaxing in bed or lounging around while playing this is just such a good experience..

[@CaptainWumbo]

I played through witcher 3 without mods on Switch. The graphics are appalling at first but after a few hours you get over it. With only one or two exceptions all the character models look good in conversation, and the audio is good as well. If the dialogue trees are part of what makes this game fun for you then it works. If you want pretty environments then it looks okay but BotW is better suited to the Switch. The loading time is pretty bad though, so I wouldn't play on anything other than just the story lol. All in all if what you've got is a Switch then it's quite playable and fun. Just have to adjust your expectations and tolerate a little jank (like fire loading in laughably late for a burning village scene, or trees sometimes popping into existance).

[@uniquenamegames9112]

@Rich Scales That's your opinion. When you get tired on bashing the Switch, do you actually play other games? Or just shamelessly defend them in KZbin comment sections by degrading Nintendo products?

[@AudioPhile]

@@uniquenamegames9112 guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Witcher 3 is my fave game this gen, platinuned on ps4. Botw is an amazing game in its own right. How sad you have to be to spend your time bashing or defending hardware companies. These people would have no social skills whatsoever. Hilarious.

[@CaptainWumbo]

@@AudioPhile I don't understand who either of you thought was bashing Switch.

[@uniquenamegames9112]

@@CaptainWumbo all you have to do is see the amount of comments Rich Scales makes and there's a clear pattern.

[@CaptainWumbo]

@@uniquenamegames9112 I see, makes sense.

[@Jinsh1911]

The Switch version just had an update to version 1.6 to 3.6. You can use your save files from PC version now, and most importantly the graphic improvement!

[@kobe1902]

Astral Chain has a 60 fps mod on the switch and it makes it SMOOTH with an overclock.

[@TROBassGuitar]

I bet that's beautiful, the game already is as is

[@marionunes7025]

No it doesn't. The video you have on youtube on it achieves it through interpolation which absolutely doesn't mean the footage was recorded in 60fps. At the time there is no 60fps mod or hack for Astral Chain.

[@TexelGuy]

A lot of demanding 30 fps games have 60 fps mods on switch, but most of them don't hold that even with the max overclock in docked mode, with wildly fluctuating framerates. The only way to get close to a locked 60 is to use something called "ReverseNX" to use handheld mode resolution in docked mode combined with max overclocks. That means ~720p in docked mode on your TV, but close to 60 fps all the time depending on the game. Another way is to just plug in your switch to the official charger directly in handheld mode and use the same maximum overclock you used in docked mode. (Developers of the overclocking mod limited max overclocks to only work when plugged in to the official charger, probably for a good reason)

[@kobe1902]

I mean I have the mod and a cfw switch. There's a gbatemp thread about it somewhere. Yes it won't run at 60fps all the time but it generally keeps around 45.

[@TexelGuy]

@@kobe1902 That sounds like it fluctuates a lot, personally I'd take the 30 fps cap over that. Try using reversenx, it might get you a much more stable framerate, and I'd probably prefer that myself even if the resolution is lower.

[@NathanMichalik]

This gives a great demo of what a 'dock only' Switch can do. It would still be the worst way to play the Witcher 3 on a big screen, but it at least shows there's plenty of power left on the table limited by the current form factor/ thermals.

[@elzeus13]

Dynamic Resolution > Checkerboarding

[@Radek494]

No, if checkerboard is well made like in Death Stranding or Horizon Zero Dawn it looks awesome and almost like Full 4K. Are there even Switch games with checkerboarding to begin with?

[@jacobjordan8340]

Checkerboarding was my biggest problem with my ps4 pro and why I sold it

[@johnodaz1273]

Quality work DF. I do think The Witcher 3 looks n runs better than people thinks on the Switch, not perfect but still a very good Port. That is why I wanted a Switch Pro sooner rather than later just too make this phenomenon Ports look n run even better.

[@andrelegeant88]

Something that would be fun: lock it to SD resolution and connect it to a CRT. See the best overall picture you can get.

[@anasevi9456]

Tegra was very much designed with much of the mobile phone SoC mentality, even if on steroids. Overclocking is only half the puzzle; need to fix that godawful thermal situation inside, getting rid of the RF shield thermal paste sandwich. Overclocking without that helps a bit, but as a mobile minded SoC Tegra still controls itself via temps. You will get a lot less throttle stutter if you do both. The fan will never go above medium too which was nice.

[@Demonicide03]

I wish all consoles had full access to CPU/GPU settings, with a big red AT YOUR OWN RISK disclaimer...

[@YourLocalRaccoon]

That would give an unfair advantage to those willing to take the risk

[@Soulintent95]

They cant do that because of multiplayer. And multiplayer will never go away. Its also better for devs to optimize if every console is exactly the same.

[@Demonicide03]

@@Soulintent95 well devs could still do that, the users would still be free to do as they please, just like theyre doing with hacked consoles. As for multiplayer, you got a point, one way of doing things could be preventing people using OC to play online, or flat out disable the option to change any setting during online play... Anyway, it's just a personal wish, which is and will 100% be just that.

[@ekopermana7150]

Well that is PC you are talking about, there is a reason why console is not same as PC

[@TexelGuy]

Then you have a few idiots with 0 knowledge who'll set to max clock speeds from the get go and if something goes wrong, they'll blame the company who made the console. Even a disclaimer won't stop some.

[@amahon921]

I don't even own a switch and this was a must watch. Awesome work, DF

[@koilkondaraviteja9945]

this game used to be so hard to run even on my 8 core i7 back in 2015,but now this game is so optimised it runs even on a 4th gen dual core pentium and gtx 660 at 1080p 50-60fps,that is why CDPR is a darling and one of the best devs out there

[@TheFly212]

lol, a gtx 660 can't run this game that well at 1080p. A 690 could barely keep 60 at ultra at 1080p.... You need at least 6 gb vram to ultra this game at 1080p. It's way more gpu bound than cpu. You're i7 meant shit of you didn't have a beefy card. Even a 980 struggled to ultra this game at 1080p. A 980 to could tho. Again... Lots of vram.

[@TheFly212]

@inviernos Eh... Depends.

[@koilkondaraviteja9945]

@@TheFly212 did i say ultra once in the comment,settings are a mixture of low-medium,postprocessing on,ultra means shit if the framerate is not stable,anyways what i was saying was they optimised the game to the max

[@TheFly212]

@@koilkondaraviteja9945 okay

[@TexelGuy]

I think the reason your i7 had a hard time was due to poor IPC, maybe to the point where your dual core pentium had better multi core performance than an 8 thread i7. The game didn't get any drastic optimization patches IIRC, but maybe it was improved incrementally bit by bit.

[@benwynn-jones2405]

DF team are spot-the-difference pros!

[@Wooperplus]

Dark Souls pls And Dragon's Dogma

[@rupertocampo8965]

This is an excellent analysis of just how CDPR and SABRE did what ppl never even thought of and blew it out of the water with what resources the Switch had. Amazing job

[@j.s.t.6515]

If I was CD Proyect RED investors, no doubt about it: The witcher 3 remaster in the new consoles, trying to catch the E3 original demo fidelity. This game can literally be milked like Skyrin was. But with CD PRoyect making the expirence worthwile. I would literaly pay for this game a 3rd time if the popping and other shit like that was fixed.

[@paul1979uk2000]

It wouldn't surprise me if they do remaster Witcher 1, 2 and 3 at some point and maybe as a single package, it would be easy money for them as it would sell by the bucket load and maybe we might see that for the PC and next gen of consoles but for now on the PC, we already have mods that can make it look a lot better, more so on the textures and lighting.

[@weaverquest]

I watched the E3 2014 demo and pretty sure it looks worse graphically. Not sure E3 original demo you are referring to.

[@j.s.t.6515]

@@paul1979uk2000 That's probably to muchj, and innecesary. 1 and 2 don't have the follow 3 haves. Just concentrate on making 3 better while the nteflix series is hot. Tons of money. Easy.

[@paul1979uk2000]

@@j.s.t.6515 I don't see why not, doing 1 and 2 will be much easier to do because those games are a lot smaller but if you are talking about just making 3 better with better lighting and textures then what is the point in buying that when that can be done for free already on the PC, it would also be a harder sell to console gamers because they still can play the existing Witcher 3 game on the next gen consoles. You only have to look on the PC how many remasters of games have been done, and they had to give it away for free or next to nothing because we already had access to the original game, so in other words, if they are going to remaster Witcher 3, it would have to be a big improvement over what we already have for many of us to bite, more so if they are asking a high price. We should remember that remasters did well this gen of consoles because there were no backwards compatibility, at least early on and that pushed many gamers to buy the remaster just to be able to play the game and get rid of the last gen of consoles, with the next gen of consoles, console gamers will be in the same boat as PC gamers and a remaster becomes a much harder sell unless the improvement are massive and if that, if they are going to do it like that, they might as well do all 3 of them and not just a texture, lighting pack for the existing game which good luck trying to sell that.

[@morkaili]

Great experiment DF, the modified version looks a lot better and TW3 should be played like that on the Switch for sure. Though I don't understand why you always take the PS4 or the Xbox as comparison and not the PC version, which would give you much more freedom and so to make the comparison more usefull. However now please test it again with a hardware modified switch, the inofficial super switch, the basically changed to the newest tegra chip, build in a better cooling system, soldered a 32gb ram stick on it and changed the nand flash storage with an ssd. Thus the perfomance is much, much better in any game and you can for example play mortal combat with the same settings as on the xbox 1 and ps4. Still far aways from the PC though (even on 1080p).

[@solidsnake9088]

You could have shown no aa footage thogh...

[@sjake333]

Just to point out - overclocking the GPU while unplugged in handheld is risky business because it puts more load on the battery hardware. 460MHz is the scene accepted maximum for the GPU on battery. For reasons I don't fully understand, the CPU has no such issues.

[@radry100]

Oh look PS Vita graphics 9 years too late.

[@disabledcable685]

Wish you would have included short clip of the fan noise...bet that thing was screaming bloody murder! Be interested to know just how much strain it put on the battery too running it modded like that,wish they gave consoles more options like this out the box...great video, was fun to see this!

[@pranavacharya3929]

1:35 disappointing, bring back the German

[@saints3824]

You PCbros are amazing. I envy the fact you can understand these technical things. Im a dumb person.thanks for sharing

[@ketchup7867]

That boost gives you only 4 fps more in average and about 8% performance improvement. You better save the battery

[@Akshay-ji9nt]

And reduce it's lifetime by 39%

[@DrKrFfXx000000000000]

8% more FPS and 30-40% more resolution.

[@dcphillips1991]

I think Dauntless would be a good one to look into, as a fast paced action game I bet it would benefit from a boost.

[@Mitchellato]

You should credit the mod author for his work; you act as if you have spent time/effort messing with game when you really haven't.

[@JunKurosu]

Just what we needed another witcher 3 video

[@STAN_LOONA]

Honestly if you bought a switch just to solely leave docked, you have bigger issues.

[@j.d.6915]

What if you wanted to play Nintendo only exclusives? Not much choice.

[@jacobjordan8340]

I mean, it would still make sense to get those juicy Nintendo 1st party games

[@YourPalHDee]

I totally disagree with that. If you're a Nintendo Fan, you're probably pretty used to playing Nintendo games on a home console. I only ever use my switch in portable when I'm travelling the country.

[@GENKI_INU]

You say 2-4 fps extra isn't a lot, but it IS a lot when you're only running under 30 fps.

[@tenow]

17:09 Answer to the video title

[@realjoecracker]

Shows you what games out there already could benefit from a Switch Pro. CPR could release a patch for Witcher 3 getting it up to 1440p or 1920p docked depending on what the chipset is

[@madfinntech]

Witcher 3: The Blurry Edition Strikes Back

[@Jason-ut3ou]

@Mike UK 1970 nah its blurry in handheld too I have it but still great fun

[@DrKrFfXx000000000000]

Honestly, next gen consoles, even portables, should make mandatory use of Variable Refresh Rate. 40-50 fps are very acceptable on games like this when using Freesync/Gsync. There is none of that nasty stutter when frames don't match the pacing of a typical 60hz screen.

[@devilmikey00]

Here's to hoping with more and more TV's having Variable refresh rate tech built in and every next gen console having the ability to use it devs can finally indulge in their obsession with pushing graphics but without the cost of having the games play like shit. Anything over 40 fps with freesync feels plenty smooth in my experience. I mean sure it's not 100+ smooth like on a PC but it's a hell of a lot better then an unstable 30 fps with vsync.

[@robertlawrence9000]

What a blurry mess. I wish Nintendo would quit with the gimmicks already and get serious into graphics power.

[@devilmikey00]

To those thinking that blurry mess at the end is nearly unplayable it's really not in actuality. In docked mode it is (but why aren't you playing on literally any other platform if you plan on playing on a TV?) but in handheld, on a tiny screen, it's still blurry but not THAT blurry. It normally dips down to that low a res anyway in handheld, on occasion.

[@monocore]

Copying Modern Vintage Gamer I see. Lmao.

[@samuraivader3814]

I’ve been playing Xenoblade with the GPU Maxed out for a while and the improvements are night and day, especially on handheld mode.

[@madphantom92]

Playing this game on the Switch sucks.

[@jacobjordan8340]

Handheld witcher is anything but sucky

[@jesuswasasausage9262]

Jacob Jordan it’s the worst way to play.

[@jacobjordan8340]

@@jesuswasasausage9262 that's a subjective statement friend

[@glorious720p_2]

I’ve got 80 hours in it and that’s wrong

[@ibonedayu]

so glad to have tom's precious pipes on the mic for this one.

[@Gshekela]

if switch could play games as good as regular ps4 does, I would have bought it by now.

[@sammiches6859]

It would cost $200 more too though.

[@ICEMANZIDANE]

@@sammiches6859 ? Nintendo already sells this SHIT HARDWARE for like 300 euros. Nintendo, for years, sells shit hardware for full console price. This shit can't even hit 720p/30fps with really really low ingame settings, textures, hell even sound quality is turned down. Thats 2005 performance. Ppl who pay these amounts for a switch are simply dumb

[@chillhour6155]

You're base PS4 still eats shit in that swamp buddy

[@chillhour6155]

@@ICEMANZIDANE and Sony charges you an additional $400 because of it's shit hardware, switch being portable at least as an excuse, 8th gen hardware has been pathetic all round and don't you deny that fact fanboy

[@Gshekela]

@@sammiches6859 so what?! 200$ is a waste of money, 300$ and more power than PS4 is well balanced

[@OldkidLivegen]

I have a hackable Switch, I ran Android on it a couple of times, and a mClassic adapter. I'm really tempted to apply the settings for max framerate while setting the console to output 480p and let the mClassic handle upscaling and anti aliasing entirely. The result should be even closer to 60 fps and visually better than what is shown in the video.

[@p3wx4]

I feel bad for people who have played this beautiful game ONLY on Switch.

[@TROBassGuitar]

It's still beautiful on switch

[@pizzagateisreal]

I agree they have no idea what they are missing

[@p3wx4]

@@TROBassGuitar LOL. It isn't. Don't lie to yourself. Mario Odyssey and Zelda are beautiful on Switch. This game looks terrible on Switch.

[@paul1979uk2000]

I played it on Switch and yeah it looks really bad compared to when I played it on the PC at ultra setting, hair works on and 60fps. Don't get me wrong, the game is still good on Switch but the cut backs are too great to want to play it on that platform unless you have to play it on the go but at home, PC and other consoles are the way to go.

[@nocfox3050]

@@p3wx4 Witcher 3 on Switch is still a beautiful game, my guy.. I have played really good looking games on other platforms, but Witcher 3 on Switch still has immersion..

[@dingo535]

Man I am very underwhelmed by the switch in general though as a strictly portable platform it does look quite good. Regardless this is pretty wild, I was shocked to see it hovering in the upper 50s for periods of time!

[@szpynda]

Booooring! Again The Witcher 3 is GOTY :P

[@Corleth]

Great work Tom.

[@VariantAEC]

Hyperbolic title: "No magic bullet to fix Switch's weak sauce hardware!"

[@khululyp]

Oh...

[@chillhour6155]

Maybe Nintendo should charge it's customers an addition $400 to get it half right the second time around and call it the switch pro

[@meh78336]

Nintendo missed a trick here, they could release a version with default nvidia clocks with better cooling and a bigger battery and call it the pro edition. Would be cheaper than going the way Sony and Microsoft did it.