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

[@FSAPOJake]

I love when devs basically watch the DF analysis videos and specifically fix issues brought up in them.

[@lllULTIMATEMASTERlll]

They’re like an all-star QA team.

[@wile123456]

They spend over 2 years for this next gen patch. They are i competent if they only fix stuff when DF tells them the obvious

[@xicofir3737]

And broke the game on PC where it crashes after 5 to 20 minutes. Thos game is even in a worst state than The Last Of Us on my PC. No mater the settings the game stutters and crashes often and has tons of pop-in (assets, shadows and SSR ) The version 1.32 is far superior to this.

[@degenplanet]

and when devs make a remaster for free and work hard to patch it when some devs dont even fix the original game :o

[@DBTHEPLUG]

@@degenplanet And people still rolling on the floor crying

[@mikepolwort]

Thank you for making a video detailing update 4.02! Always good to see DF update its coverage when necessary.

[@Dorraj]

If only they did it with more games instead of only this one.

[@indo3052]

I heard u can play constant 60fps if u don’t update?

[@superluismigueL100]

Would love to know the PC situation as well tbh

[@Novskyy621]

Shit

[@fredpelledriver]

Its pretty good

[@abd1979o1]

It’s shit, the cpu utilization is still garbage.

[@mgsfanboy]

Digital Foundry wouldn't know what a PC analysis is if it hit them in the face.

[@macacoy2k]

@@Relex_92 what about the stutter with Frame Generation when you go to the menu or open the map?

[@DuudeWhatDoesMineSay]

00:08 intro & background 01:29 patch notes. New settings and visual features. 02:32 *PS5* performance restored to launch build in 60 fps mode. 05:32 *XBSX* performance 60 fps mode. Best XB build so far. 06:40 console performance comparison. *PS5* has slight advantage in Novigrad. 07:47 60 fps conclusion. Wedding scene problems in *PS5. XBSS* performance. 09:05 ray tracing mode. *XBSX* is the better performer. Input lag still an issue in this mode. 10:36 conclusion

[@kritizismmusics9737]

😊

[@rajinimohan1054]

Thanks

[@j0nnyism]

Xbox x and ps5 always seem to be almost identical to me when I play either console. I doubt most people could tell which version they’re running. The hardware is pretty much identical

[@AB-fr2ei]

​​​@@j0nnyismproblem is the default colors who are too washed up on PS5, you need to change the color settings to have good colors on PS5 Altough PS5 has better foliage and draw distance So the better version is PlayStation if you fix the color settings

[@andyward8430]

The difference on series x was immediately noticeable. After the last patch it felt so bad I stopped playing but with this one I didn’t need df analysis to know it was a big improvement. It just “feels” so much better.

[@indo3052]

Can i get 60fps on hdmi 2.0? 60hz tv?

[@andyward8430]

@@indo3052 yeah for sure. It won’t be completely locked to 60 but it will be close.

[@j0nnyism]

Yea it just goes to show it’s worth waiting awhile after release. Most games just aren’t worth getting as soon as they come out these days

[@j0nnyism]

@@indo3052yep you’ll get it on hdmi 1.0 too

[@davidpliskin3330]

@@indo3052yes…

[@mitchboland9591]

It’s great that the game is still getting improvements after all these years. One of my favorite games of all time

[@theotheronethere4391]

The TV series really gave it a 2nd life

[@platinum2905]

Because they are not releasing anything else.... They just go the route of live service games. To milk one game as much as possible before making a new one. Fuck live service games.

[@simulify8726]

For some reason tried this game but wasn't able to get into it. But for another reason RDR2 first chapter was longer and boring but still got me interested. Maybe I should try Witcher 3 later

[@austin2150]

@@simulify8726 Absolutely give it another shot. The reason you initially weren’t able to get into it was probably the combat, but they’ve added many more improvements to make it more playable and enjoyable.

[@boomingbasketball6272]

​@@simulify8726 first tried the game in 2017, within 2 hours,I quit. However, I gave it a second try in 2020. Absolutely amazed by the script of the game in my second try. Spent 1 month to clear every quest❤ Its quests are all equipped with interesting stories. You should definitely give it a shot if you are into good storytelling games😊

[@asniffer6532]

I remember a few months before this update was launched, I tried a go on my Ps5, and right off the bat felt sluggish fighting the ghouls right at the early start of the game with Vesemir. Felt like something was off with the FPS. I played a bit and stopped, felt weird on the Ps5. Then I heard about this update and decided to give a go, and boy, the difference, I believe even the gameplay has changed, literally everything feels way smoother and more fluid, also the graphics are looking way better. It used to crispy, now everything looks more polished. They did a great service for the last gen, and all for free. Amazing work.

[@mrsinister8943]

I paid $25 for the GoTY edition of Witcher 3 back in 2016. I never played a Witcher game but heard great things for part 3. 7 years later i just now got a series X and am still on my very first playthrough for Witcher 3 with almost 300 hours put into it. Ive gone a year or two without playing it and just slowrolled it but the game is amazing and one of the best games ive ever played in my 35 years of gaming as im 40+ years old and have been gaming since the nes came out. The load times are so much faster on new gen and the game does play a little smoother. Ill probably end up putting in over 500 hours with the DLC for this great game. Very satisfied with my series X so far.

[@j0nnyism]

25 is amazing value. The game is about 100hrs with dlc

[@j0nnyism]

@user-cf5uc2xd3mno it’s not. The specs are near identical

[@marszciano]

Nice

[@hashkhalid5153]

Witcher 3 getting update after update while Bloodborne suffers in silence :(

[@Novskyy621]

Context? They will absolutely, sooner or later, bring a remake/remaster

[@troy8420]

@@Novskyy621 probably later

[@sirmi9868]

To a game tha didnt sold that great. Its a great game but a niche one,a game that fanboys bragg about it but never played it saddly

[@platinum2905]

Because Bloodborne is not a live service game. You get what you paid for. FromSoftware used that time to create 3 new incredibile games, imagine us not getting Elden Ring, Sekiro, or DS3 just because the whole team was relegated to create patches and keep one specific game ""alive"". I'm not a fan of this aproach. Just release finished games and then move on to something else. I don't know why CDPR changed this much.

[@bigt4135]

Just make a 60 fps update.

[@bearpuns5910]

I’ve actually been enjoying the next-gen version. I use a 40 FPS cap, have everything set to Ultra+, and play with a controller. I know that’s not the experience most people would want, but the RT stuff looks really cool

[@michaeljohn2826]

Nothing wrong with 40fps as long as it's with a controller and appropriate motion blur settings etc are employed

[@TheNerd]

@@Vsprivate not with a 40 FPS cap. Setting a FPS cap is legitimate way of saving money and electricity 🙂

[@ApfelSgt]

To be honest, 40fps is fine to play a singleplayer game in ultra! thats what i want an consoles too… they should atleast make 4 graphics mode in any game in my opinion, one with fps open to 120fps, performance mode with 60fps, a quality mode with 30fps and one „quality balanced“ mode with 40fps for those who have an VRR Monitor… they should drop things like shadow quality from „extreme high“ to only „high“ or a little less view in draw distance or something that‘s fine by me, but please make the quality mode to 40fps… I like singleplayer games in the best graphics who are possible, but i want a smooth experience too and target 40fps would be perfect in this case! That’s my biggest problem in the most games, 60fps is smooth, but the graphical upgrade to the quality 30fps mode is big… but 30fps is a little too stuttery and doesn’t feel smooth enough… Look what hogwarts legacy has done… the „balanced“ Mode was really perfect for a singleplayer game like this! Looked almost as nice as the 30fps mode, but with 40-45fps in average with an VRR Monitor it was really the best singleplayer experience which i got in an console game till this day…

[@thebigfootking]

Interesting, I've only ever heard people play at 30 or 60, never even thought a midway point was an option but of course it is!

[@Knuffol-j9m]

@@ApfelSgt 40 fps locks are an upgrade for 120hz monitors, not necessarily for VRR screens. In fact, PS5 VRR doesn't even work below 48 fps.

[@purebaldness]

I really hope input latency readings become a standard for DF. It's crucial to know IMO. Doom 2016 on Xbox is laggy as hell, for example.

[@razorbackroar]

didn't feel laggy to me

[@echinas0908]

I noticed that too with the RT mode in Doom Eternal on PS5, it had so much input lag

[@bromax360]

Didn’t notice it with 2016 but eternal with rt definitely added some input lag

[@xXLilSmurthXx]

I didn't notice any lag on my One X with Dome 2016. And I play on Ultra-Violence difficulty.

[@purebaldness]

@@razorbackroar On PS4/5 it's much better but on Xbox One/Series it's pretty delayed, especially when you remove the aim acceleration or 'smoothing'. Back in 2016 I played it on PS4 and didn't really notice, but now it stands out like a sore thumb, especially when us console players have finally been exposed to higher framerates.

[@itsmatt517]

Do digital foundry not cover the intermittent glitchy Geralt model on PS5 in the equipment menu screen, which is still no closer to being fixed?

[@TheGusBus1989]

nor are the blurry faces during dialogue and cutscenes-- PS5 version has been incredibly frustrating

[@TVPInterpolation]

it also looked like flickering in the early game cutscene is a problem on PS5 - it just looked absolutely off. seen around 9:52 in the vid

[@lucasponce3349]

I have these issues... the menu screen glitch, the blurry faces, clouds flickering all the time in toussaint... sad

[@Xiorcal1987]

Love all of DF's videos, and thank goodness you guys and gals are around! So many patches have been introduced by companies, no doubt because of all of you looking in to these problems, asking devs about them, and giving us consumers answers. Will always be a supporter of your kind of journalism. All the love!

[@eSKAone-]

Motion Blur off gives you performance back 💟

[@BenGoodsonModular]

I'm glad the patch for the patch improved the patch that patched the patch.

[@seizonsha]

Welcome to 202x.

[@sammy10001]

you shouldnt be. This performance should be expected at launch. Not 4 months later. Anyone that cared to play the game over again in new game + or for their first time, already played it after the first 2 patches. They've brainwashed you into thinking this is okay behaviour. Its 4 months late buddy

[@ApotheosisDivine69]

Tom's reviews are always so well done! His voice is great also! He has a superb style, and his reviews are genuine!

[@ignacio6454]

Oh yeah! His voice is very soothing, I really like his videos! Now Dave on the other hand... snorefest.

[@dannonyogurt98]

I actually don't like him nearly as much as the other reviewers. He allows his preference for PlayStation to come through a lot. I don't get the same feeling from the rest of the team other than Alex for PC, but that makes sense as he supposed to make PC specific content.

[@OneLastScholar]

Tom didn't even test all of this on his own, neither did he write the script himself. He mostly just reads it.

[@Jonderski]

It's my 3 time with Geralt story... this time on my PS5... 140h and still not even finished main story line 😀 game is fantastic !!

[@silviosantannajr]

I did it with 4 hundred. A long road awaits for you witcher.😅

[@razorbackroar]

360 hours lol

[@wildego04]

I never played it 😅 On my frist play through

[@vampiszon6620]

How? Even if you do all the quests and upgrades, it doesn't take half of this time

[@TheHobbitFTW]

Ps5? Ew you can’t even play Witcher 2 on that

[@themassmauler]

I’m currently playing this game for the first time on my Xbox one x and love it.

[@cliverosfield69]

Me too

[@cliverosfield69]

❤

[@razorbackroar]

lucky i put in 360 hours on base xbox 1

[@chriswright8074]

@@razorbackroar why

[@spiltcoff33]

@@chriswright8074 because the games old and originally came out on those consoles first???? i also originally played on the OG xbox one, now PS5.

[@theodanielwollff]

want to gain 10 FPS instantly? Turn off motion blur. I hate the effect anyways, it will boost your FPS as well when off. so win win. It was used on consoles 20 years ago when PS2 and XBOX so games could "fake" higher FPS. But it isn't takes a performance hit. Kinda weird that it still enabled by default these days.

[@FEWGEE1]

I was hoping we'd get a 120hz 40 fps ray tracing quality mode.

[@SolarMechanic]

Why do you constantly swap the colours for the graph between versions? It HAS to be more work than just keeping it consistent.

[@teacherfromthejungles6671]

Usually dev teams hire testers to find these overlooked things, but DF does their job for free

[@Hannuraina]

"restoring it to the launch day framerate" classic!

[@djayjp]

Looks like they fixed the reduced foliage draw issue on SX.

[@lorankatoran8856]

Apparently that was an issue only for people who upgraded from the One X version. Something about the game importing the One X vegetation setting? Which is why some reviewers on Series X experienced it and some didn’t. Really weird bug

[@djayjp]

@@lorankatoran8856 Ah interesting, thx for letting me know.

[@redhunter1535]

Yeah, now the Series X version is the best one pretty much in everything

[@elche8461]

​​​​​@@lorankatoran8856funny..i upgraded from one x version but draw distance was alright from the beginning only some type of grass was loading too late until i saved and loaded that location...now in patch 4.02 most of it is repaired but still some places are bugged until now..so its a bug that is not even consistent😂 only cdpr can do this😂i also tried delete and install new version and started new game but the same behavior remained

[@miikasuominen3845]

I was almost horrified, that we wouldn't hear the classic Crookback Bog, but thank heavens I was wrong and we got it!

[@uteausmunchen7235]

Well, it certainly is not "the best it has ever been" on PC. It is more or less the worst it has been for many years on PC: Crashes every other minute, stuttering, low FPS performancewise. And flickering of shadows and textures in the short moments one can actually play. On PC patch 4.02 has been a major step backwards.

[@jhon_jdgamer]

Native 1440p 60fps on performance mode would be the best option,is that so hard?

[@J.R.Swish1]

I recommend everyone here watching Neon Knight's video exposing the issues that this exact patch still hasn't fixed covered in this DF video. The game is nowhere near "fixed" and is still downright unplayable in some situations. CDPR, if you're reading this, please don't make it so that the only way for the Witcher 3 to be the masterpiece it used to be is by reverting to the old versions. If you guys really thought this new edition of the game was needed, make it work. Don't make this Cyberpunk V2

[@recordatron]

It does run better on PC especially in densely populated areas now too and uses a lot more of my 5900x cores. It had some crashing issues initially but I think they must've hot fixed it since as it's been very stable over the last few days.

[@NeovanGoth]

I have a 5900X too and I've noticed that when limited to 30 fps, the game finally doesn't drop frames anymore, which is good. Still no way to get stable 60 fps tho as soon as at least one ray tracing effect is enabled, even though the busiest CPU core barely goes over 80%. Interestingly the CPU load doesn't reduce _at all_ when capped to 30; I've even seen 95% on one core, which is _more_ as when capped to 60 for some reason (I've observed this behavior on the last two versions also).

[@GameslordXY]

​@@NeovanGoth Well it also depends on the overall settings and the GPU.

[@NeovanGoth]

​@@GameslordXY No it doesn't, at least not on my system. I have an RTX 4090 and performance doesn't change at all when choosing different DLSS settings or lowering resolution. It's purely CPU limited.

[@matthias6933]

the older version ran on CPUs from a decade ago. Quite absurd to me, that “running fine on a CPU from around half and a year” is now the bar for broken overhaul updates

[@NeovanGoth]

@@matthias6933 Admittedly, having real-time ray traced global illumination would have been completely unthinkable a decade ago. ;) But yes, The Witcher's engine originally wasn't built to scale well on many CPU cores, CDPR apparently uses a DX11-to-DX12 wrapper (to enable support for FSR/DLSS and ray tracing) that has a lot of CPU overhead, and building the BVH structure isn't cheap either. In combination with more geometry, denser foliage, and so on, it becomes extremely heavy even for contemporary CPUs.

[@just_that_guy_who_draws]

I'm surprised you guys haven't mentioned the broken spider webs when you switch on ray tracing on ps5. It's hilariously awful, every cave you enter still has these bright magenta webs everywhere where the textures they used just has no idea what to do with themselves when ray tracing is active.

[@chriscarson4608]

Completely purple? Same on PC

[@elche8461]

​@@chriscarson4608yes same on xbox

[@mandrews6282]

It was like that on Series X as well. Just noting on here for anyone coming across it that this was fixed in patch 4.03 I believe. DF did not do a recap on that one.

[@oceanedetotes]

The grass is so bad now, all blurry and without interaction on PS5. The water is still not as good as it is on PC. I hope they will fix that in 4.04

[@uteausmunchen7235]

Nobody knows if there will ever be a 4.04 ... and if there should be one, I certainly would prefer them to fix the game breaking bugs that can hit anytime during a playthrough with this mess of an update.

[@oceanedetotes]

@@uteausmunchen7235 There is a 4.04 and they fix the grass but I cant see any difference...

[@dr.loomis4221]

This is one game that I feel like I should love, but have never been able to get into for whatever reason.

[@andyward8430]

I think if you are patient and allow yourself to get dialed in with the combat it will really pull you in. I had the same experience the first time I played, but when I gave it another shot I refused to quit until I’d at least gotten thorough the opening region and at some point it just clicked. Other than inventory management I now love every aspect of it, including the combat.

[@kiaraneves8852]

Honestly, I bought it on sale and didn't care much for it... Until I played through the Witcher 2, and it finally clicked. I started 3 with a lot more knowledge, both of the world and its characters as well as gameplay mechanics. Also the slower worldbuilding made more sense, at least to me.

[@andyward8430]

@@kiaraneves8852 yeah I agree with that. I already had the Witcher two and it really does give the story better context.

[@TheOrgil220]

You lucky bastard. All these new updates i want to start a new save but then again i completed the game like 10 times throughout the years.

[@chilly6470]

I've tried about 5 times now and it just feels like a chore. Even the voice acting seems so dull.

[@macias1236]

God bless DF, but PS5 still has issues with blurry cutscenes on 4.02 patch. Had to put it down until they fix it.

[@verdomtnochmal]

Now I just need a patch to transfer my Switch save to the Series S...

[@Moonfaster]

I want to replay it but I don't have the tiiiiime!!

[@cristi8183]

It's just 2 - 3 fps and rarely. Nothing tragic. Of course it would be best if they manage to lock it to be everytime at 60.

[@cj8489]

Great video Thom. I wish I heard more of you on the podcast. 👊🏽

[@elche8461]

there are still weird purple/blue colour splashes in rt mode which DF havent even mentioned

[@Gwynbleidd_117]

Best looking performance so far, on PlayStation, only when not inside of conversation cutscenes where the characters look like they are constantly blurring like the scene is being aggressively resolution scaled or some shit. And as long as your not in Toussaint where the clouds constantly flicker. Neither issue is present on Xbox so little weird they still haven’t fixed it. For me it is unplayable on ps5, too immersion breaking in an immersive rpg.

[@realjoecracker]

Would PS5 and XSX benefit with like an Ultra Preformance mode that’s 1440p or 1080p 120fps?

[@apexsosapex1014]

cpus are too slow for this

[@Transport4ThatDumpTruck]

@apex sosapex lmao what?this game isn't that demanding..it's just shit optimization..if the ps5 can run gta7 at 120 near 4k or games like cod or warzone..it can run this at 120fps 1080p

[@realjoecracker]

@@apexsosapex1014 yeah. Maybe not possible on Series S without going down to 720p and 120fps might be easier on PC

[@realjoecracker]

@@Transport4ThatDumpTruck If the next gen version is using RED engine 4 it might have the same limitations as Cyberpunk 2077

[@lordspalse0062]

All games should have a 120fps mode even if it's 1080p. When mid gen consoles releases , that mode can be patched with an increase in resolution to native 4k or 1800p worst case scenario.

[@trippydelights]

I have a visual glitch on pc ray tracing mode where cob webs are a bright purple. Really sucks and breaks the immersion because there are cobwebs everywhere in this game.

[@dimitriskotsis9254]

I am always waiting for your performance review before I play any game. I have 3 kids and no time to spend without a reason

[@KEVBOYMUSIC]

Honestly at this point I'd love to have a version of The Witcher 3 that's just the PS4 Pro version running at a perfect 60, maybe with a resolution increase and better AA if it doesn't make it dip below 60. All the extra graphics changes they made are not worth it to me when it's regularly dipping below 60.

[@berserkguts6212]

Its not even that its the next gen version , they just have to lower the resolution a tad bit like 1200p or 1080p at cities like novigrad would run smoothly but developers are soo fixated at shiny high "4k" resolution. Lets hope that the next patch 4.04 fixes it.( because 4.03 didn't 😡)

[@Stefantius]

you can do that on PS5, the PS4 version has a 60fps toggle

[@tememotti]

Can you guys go optimised settings for PC as part of next patch review for this game? I'm curious what settings are optimised for getting 60-90fps experience with atleast some raytraycing features on. It's not as bad it used to be but it almost feels like at dx12 there isn't really much to do. It runs poorly at low or ultra.

[@TheUltimateBlooper]

This HEAVILY depends on your hardware. I'm getting more than what you're asking for with a 4090 at 4K already, for example, meanwhile I have no clue what hardware or res you're even playing with.

[@brainrot4919]

@@TheUltimateBlooper How much you pay for your 4090?

[@TheUltimateBlooper]

@@brainrot4919 My 4090 is the FE model and I paid the UK MSRP of £1599 back in December. I refuse to pay inflated partner prices and I prefer the FE look, so I just buy straight from Nvidia.

[@brainrot4919]

@@TheUltimateBlooper How? There's never no cards available when I look on the Nvidia site, I'd love to get a 4080 at MSRP. Also UK here.

[@TheUltimateBlooper]

@@brainrot4919 man, I don't know why but I posted a reply to you like 5 times, edited and still it kept being deleted by dumb youtube... trying AGAIN, but a super short version (must be because I mentioned particular websites). I basically bookmarked Nvidia's shop and kept checking it randomly as I browsed the net. After about 2 months of random and really not even adamant checking - I found some stock! This worked for me in 2020 when I wanted a 3090 and worked this year for the 4090.

[@wojciechpiosik302]

I dont get dat rockstar didnt update red dead redemption with 60fps btw i was playing the witcher 3 in about 80-90 fps on max settings in 2015 and consoles in 2024 cant even reach it

[@JonasLiljegren]

All the "next-gen" version has been worse due to jarring LOD pop-in. The older version did a smooth fade. Seeing the grass jumping around breaks my immersion.

[@ardasevmis7583]

I have a VRR capable tv but it is getting annoying how almost non of the newly released games have locked 60 fps performance modes on consoles but rather “50-60 fps which vrr will help against”. What about people without vrr? My previous tv was without vrr and let me tell you, 50-60 fps looks incredibly juddery and bad

[@adk4986]

Even with VRR i can still notice thr fps drops easily. VRR canr fix dropped frames because the game still runs at a lower fps. Idk why people keep acting like VRR is Magic that makes fps drops invisible. How about we start getting games with consitant fps

[@SeanLumly]

I can't wait to play an optimal version of Cyberpunk 2077 in 2077.

[@AB-fr2ei]

Why the colors are so washed up on the playstation version ? A lot of footage of the playstation version had washed up colors and too much brightness/white to the colors compared to the xbox version It had this problem on PS4 too

[@37654]

Probably something to do with HDR

[@stefankoopmans2200]

It's still not very good on PC, to think about the fact I played through this game multiple times on a 1st gen i7 970 with 290x (10 years+ old hardware) without any problems and good performance, it seems absolutely insane how we now are not even able to play it smoothly on current gen hardware! 🤣 And I don't think the visuals are that much of an improvement. Even on a 4090 I prefer to play in DX11 mode, it's just so much more efficient. Locked @ 120fps and energy consumption is golden. I wish it had proper HDR support though... enabling it though windows does not give a correct HDR presentation, especially weird since Cyberpunk has sublime HDR support.

[@TheUltimateBlooper]

4090 owner here too, but I'll NEVER go back to dx11 on this game... The difference in visuals is just too much to justify playing that old flat version. I've seen enough of that bland raster when I originally finished the entire game with both expansions anyway.

[@stefankoopmans2200]

@@TheUltimateBlooper Sure that's fine, I like the DX11 visual improvements enough and I don't agree that the visuals re so much better with raytracing, definitely not enough to justify the performance loss imho. Now the latest Cyberpunk with RT overdrive, that is what I would call a real visual improvement. You talk about raster, but almost everything is still rasterized in the Witcher with raytracing. If I take a massive performance hit, I expect a massive visual improvement, The Witcher does not do that, and besides all this, I played that game enough anyway...

[@TheUltimateBlooper]

@@stefankoopmans2200 LMFAO I wholeheartedly disagree on The Witcher 3. The RT GI pass makes a HUGE difference and the only way I could explain that you're not seeing it is if you were playing on an older GPU with potato settings/res or whatever, but you're a 4090 owner, apparently, so my face remains confused. If you think the DX11 version looks anywhere near as good - we don't really have much more to discuss here, lol. One look at foliage and I was sold, but hey-ho - not everyone can see the same things.

[@stefankoopmans2200]

@@TheUltimateBlooper Oh I see a lot of things I'm a coder & graphic designer lol, It's just a matter of taste and preference. I'm not blind, I do see the difference, I just can't stand the amount of power consumption vs graphical fidelity, I'm weird that way. I also like to play at 1080p at a 4k tv just because I'm sitting too far away to actually see a noticeable difference and have the videocard do sub 40% power consumption. But that is because electrical/gas prices were SKY-HIGH in the Netherlands. It's starting to get better now though. I guess I got accustomed to having lesser graphics, I own the videocard because it's for work/hobby related stuff and I don't really play a lot of games anymore. I have my reasoning, you don't have to agree with me. I also come from a time where graphical improvements were a lot greater, like when the first voodoo cards came about I played a lot of Quake1/2 multiplayer tournaments and I guess I'm just becoming an old man now that just doesn't really care all that much anymore.

[@TheUltimateBlooper]

@@stefankoopmans2200 well you could have started with "I prefer to save on power/compute" instead of saying it doesn't look much better. I'm a 3D artist by trade, which is why i facepalmed at what you said. As for power costs... If you're making a good living to afford a 4090 - does it matter that much? Power costs have been mad here in the UK too, but it's not like I'll stop using my 4090+3090 rig to render on or the 4090 to game at 4K on - it's all baked into the prices I charge lol.

[@SlipknotRevan]

8:07 Anyone else hear "the infamous crook back Bulgaria"? Took me by surprise lol.

[@DarkKnight-q2d]

I seriously can’t get over how they’re still continuing to work on this game and come out with new editions and patch updates. 8 years ago was when I first played this game on my PS4, and now I’m playing it on my Series X. The Witcher 3 will probably always be in my top 5 favorite video games.

[@uteausmunchen7235]

To be a bit more realistic: They worked together with Netflix when deciding to update and including Netflix stuff in the hope to increase sells of Witcher 3. In the end they messed up the game with the Next Gen update, especially the PC version ... so they simply had to fix at least the most urgent problems (like the game now crashing every few minutes on some PCs). Witcher 3 is - despite its age - still their cash cow. Alas after 8 months now they were still not able to restore the game to its former reliability. The game still is full of absolutely game breaking bug that destroy the playthrough for many players. This "Next Gen" is a sad chapter of the story of a masterpiece of a game ... and can very well be its final chapter, if they will not be able to fix what they did.

[@romeu8828]

Did they put the possibility to replay the new game plus with a new game plus save ?

[@Omnificuser]

I was looking forward to this performance update after the Next gen update, but now it wont even start on pc! Great job cdpr...

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

Wait what? *4.02 was weeks ago.* Is this accurate? I looked up the patch notes and they're totally different to what is shown here. Can anyone help on this?

[@nadeemb3300]

Performance mode is the best way to play. The game doesn't look good when moving around on quality mode.

[@brainrot4919]

@@lordspalse0062 I must be neurologically impaired then. Enjoying tf out of RT mode on SX, LG C2 display, playing HDR, look's amazing.

[@lordspalse0062]

@@brainrot4919 Ok I think that statement I made is a bit of an exaggeration. Honestly I'll take 480p 60fps over 4k 30 with super path tracing

[@brainrot4919]

@@lordspalse0062 Honestly 30 fps isn't so bad once you get used to it, and you have the hardware capabilities display wise to smooth it out to a degree. I could never go back to 480p gaming though haha, unless it was by artistic design like all the indie games that have unique art styles or retro art styles and don't require 4k or even 1440p to enjoy them visually.

[@bendlinf]

Looking forward to patch 4.03 video

[@lf170]

These videos show that there's always room for improvement in performance. Kudos to CD Project RED for putting the work in and shame on those developers/publishers that never bother to patch improvements in their titles.

[@lf170]

@Lee Jet Sure. Ideally, games would be released in perfect shape. But since that's not happening, the best we can hope for is that a company releases improvement patches soon after instead of taking our money and never addressing the issues.

[@stuartvandermerwe8548]

4.02 fixed some issues but also caused some issues, look into that when you can.

[@KingScotto.]

PS5 has a weird blur effect on character models

[@forrandomsites3336]

That might be the depth of field effect (probably) glitching out.

[@KingScotto.]

Could be but still isn't fixed I think it was like it on last gen PlayStation consoles as well

[@legendofgamer1995]

I've noticed this when in conversations.

[@KingScotto.]

@@legendofgamer1995 Yeah I think it only happens in cut scenes

[@VV-js4vd]

Did they fixed the NPC's clothing textures not loading?

[@busterr18]

I’m having disturbing pop-ins like asset loading problem especially in open areas on my PS5 which wasn’t there on launch. I’m surprised you didn’t mention it.

[@alexlyster3459]

They might not be having the issue. Not everyone has the same bugs

[@WickedRibbon]

Try rebuilding your database on PS5. I've seen that few people mention this as a fix for weird graphical issues.

[@busterr18]

@@WickedRibbon I just tried that and it still persists. It's not exactly a pop-in but more likely assets are changing while I move, whether it be rock and foliage. I uploaded a sample video on my channel.

[@dannonyogurt98]

@@WickedRibbon That's just the way it is with Tom, and his PlayStation bias. if there is an issue on PS5 there is a good chance he will not bring it up if xbox doesn't have it as well. In the past I have bought the PlayStation version of games based on his videos just to find out the capture was cherry picked.

[@fire-typhoon123]

I'm having foliage pop in across the board.. might need to reinstall

[@CLASSxACT]

I can’t even play the game! I have a series x and the game crashes over and over for me. I didn’t have this problem before the next gen update. I’ve deleted the game and redownloaded it 3 times and still it crashes. Anyone know how to fix this?!

[@uteausmunchen7235]

Same for many fans. This Next Gen was the worst that could have happened to the game

[@OhWell914]

Only thing left to fix is the autosave stutter during mission checkpoints, otherwise fantastic work patching this game, other devs should learn from this example...looking at you fromsoftware

[@yardh]

I'll finish Elden Ring soon, and I never completed witcher 3. Might be time for a revisit

[@wessen666]

give your PC frames feedback and your specs, want to know if i could run RT with 3070ti and 5600x 60 fps

[@imJUSTdusty1]

I’ve been wondering the same thing I have the same rig

[@wessen666]

@@imJUSTdusty1 hopefully we could run 60 at 1080p with ray tracing

[@RubyAcrobat09]

How do you show fps counter on ps5 and xbox series x? Does anyone know? Like the one shown in the video

[@princedizzy3506]

Thanks Tom, excellent content once again.

[@raresmacovei8382]

Is the FSR2 on consoles a mess like on PC? Where rain drops are almost gone, distant vegetation is a blur and there's almost no performance boost?

[@proesterchen]

There is only ever one correct motion blur setting: off. No slider needed.

[@rangokfunkazuul8344]

You should launch a DF Witcher 3 channel on its own

[@kostyabenson4308]

Is it just me or has the draw distance on XSX been getting reduced since 4.01? I feel like I’m seeing flickering and lower distant object detail where there was none before. Someone give me a sanity check.

[@BenLion99]

It is a bug since the release of the witcher 3 next gen update. sh the Digital foundry Review of the next gen update. I was hoping they would have fixed the problem by now.

[@Vsevolod3788]

It's crazy that Ratchet & Clank is two years old now and yet we struggle with Witcher 3, a game from 2015, on "next-gen" consoles in 2023.

[@rinaa6865]

Ratchet and Clank is only a simple linear game.

[@michaelspight1025]

Then that's the devs also not only how big the game is

[@n9ne]

are we getting a cyberpunk path tracing trailer review or do you guys have access to the patch already? :D the graphics are extremely impressive in that trailer how soft the lighting is i have never seen that before it looks so weird in a good way.

[@219SilverChoc]

Great video! Does anyone know hows the CPU peformance in DX12 mode now, with the patch apparently improving it? May just stick with the DX11 mode if it's not radically better, as CPU peformance is better there.

[@rileyjelinek3235]

It doesn't seems to be any better after the patch. (Tested with ray tracing and a 5800X3D CPU). Utilization seems to be the same in my case which it was supposed to improve.

[@219SilverChoc]

@@rileyjelinek3235 Ah damn, guess il stick with DX11 then. Sucks as the RT GI does wonders for the lighting, but the double whammy of being intensive on the GPU and CPU especially kills it for me.

[@ItsMeStrider]

@@219SilverChoc DX11 is actually worse now, in fact it runs worse than the original game with the mods CDPR installed and called an "update".

[@WickedRibbon]

​@@ItsMeStrider Is it just performance that is worse in DX11, or are there also graphical issues?

[@ItsMeStrider]

@@WickedRibbon there was a lot of pop in issues from far away objects, but not much more, it's mostly stuttering and crashing that's the issue.

[@TVPInterpolation]

9:52 - is it supposed to flicker like on ps5? that looks kinda off to me, but it also is quite a bit of time ago that i played the game on pc.

[@rokku87]

Fuck I was hoping for a PC overview

[@SEMARPE]

Neon Knight did a video on the PC version & it's not good at all

[@Kakarot803]

And you'd think they would add new game +++ That's my only complaint with the game. *EVERYTHING* else is flawless 😍

[@Jack958]

I can finally conduct my definitive play through…. I have been waiting for this fix, I appreciate cdpr sticking with it and fixing the mistakes. I still have ptsd from Bethesda next genning fallout 4 4 or so years ago, breaking it on Xbox then dipping. Happy to see cdpr didn’t go that route it speaks positively to the future of that studio.

[@NickScott86]

The game still needs more patching. Ray Tracing mode on XSX will reliably crash whenever autosaving or traversing the streets of Novigrad. Performance mode has crashed several times for me too. I've also gotten softlocked on stalagmites and griffin nests making it so Geralt can't ever touch the ground and making it so I can't open a menu to reload.

[@brainrot4919]

Not noticed this myself. Had a few crashes playing in RT mode but only after about several hours of gameplay in the most demanding areas such as Novigrad as you say, but that's about it and that's only due to the Xbox overheating, I get the overheating message upon restarting the Xbox despite my SX being very well ventilated, as RT mode get those fans spinning and gets the Xbox really hot, which is fair enough as the SX runs on AMD software not really made for RT and is the most demanding thing you can ask of either the PS5 or the SX, but the SX does edge the PS5 slightly. I now have a large fan blowing from a distance towards my SX's general direction to keep the air around it cooler and not had an overheating crash since. I also go into the menu, where your world map, inv, quests etc are as that gives the Xbox a break and you'll hear the fans power down as it's not utilizing RT'ing anymore and take my time doing inv managent or whatever and give it a couple of mins to sit in the menu and cool down abit, go take a piss or make a drink or something, or if I go do something like make food I'll save and quit out of the game and put the xbox into sleep mode, once again letting the xbox cool down. Can't say the game reliably crashes as I think outside of the Xbox overheating and shutting itself down, the games probably crashed 3 maybe 4 times? And I've also not noticed autosaving causing a crash, although it may have but if so extremely rare. Can't say I've been softlocked either, maybe if your using alternative Geralt movement style that can cause some problems maybe, as it's not the original way in that Geralt's movement is meant to be, I use the original default movement personally that I've completed two playthroughs using and am used to and perfectly fine with that movement, the alternative movement style is part of a mod and probably was incorproated for new players coming from the TV series and fresh players in general, that aren't used to movement from a game almost a decade old and used to more fluid movement of newer games. So maybe try switching back to default movement style, if not already, and maybe you won't get softlocked anymore, just a hunch though.

[@staples6]

DF's videos have to be some of the best quality out there when it comes to video game and tech analysis. One of my most trusted sources

[@boroda985]

And not a word about the game being fucking broken on PC. On DX12 no more than 30 FPS (used to be 50-60), and DX11 doesn't run at all (used to be 60-70 FPS). People already run the game on Vulkan (-20 FPS). In Steam and the official forum, a huge number of posts about this problem, but no one seemed to care about the fact that the game is not playable from the word go.

[@jaynis304]

What about the graphic differences that you reported in your first review of the next-gen version? If I remember correctly, the PS5 version had a higher foresight than the SX (more smoke visible in Velen, denser grass or grass further away or less shadows popping up in Novigrad, etc)

[@GlowingOrangeOoze]

Yeah hearing about this is what I was most interested in.

[@paweczyrnek532]

Ye do we have any news about that ??

[@victorio681]

Jodete ahora es superior en series X xD

[@jasonportillo]

Its all the same but performing better on series x just look with your eyes at the video

[@Konk89]

CDPR needs to learn when to leave well enough alone. Like FromSoft with their ER patch they got too tunneled into adding RT to a title that didn't need it on consoles when long standing bug and stutter issues had largely been fixed and a little tune up is all that is needed. The "fake" shadows in both ER and W3 look better to me. The entire game and engine was made with those "fake" shadows. RT is just a contrivance in these titles.

[@m0nztam0nk]

Playing this on a 4090 witch DLSS3 in 80-90fps in 4k…its absolutely GLORIOUS! No stutters anymore, its fluid and another experience…especially in daytime where they rtx cannreally shine this game is simply breathtaking…

[@hassosigbjoernson5738]

Even a 4090 "needs" DLSS 3 with RT in 4K?! So no 60 fps without DLSS? Wow, thats demanding!

[@Iceburgslim_]

More of these Witcher videos please I love them

[@Dorraj]

Love how you guys make a video for every small update for this game but ignore updates for other games.

[@budlikycz2445]

What baffles me is how is it possible that developers doesnt have the tools to see the game runs like shit when they drop the patch? I mean you can just play it to see it runs like shit.

[@WllKiedSnake]

Fps dips in cutscenes nothing major. As long as its stable enough while your in control this is pretty good.

[@brainrot4919]

For me it only dips momentarily at the beggining of a cutescene for like a second, so it's not a major issue for me.

[@michaelblackman2252]

Did they fix the weird audio issue during combat?, it’s just immersion breaking for me

[@delonejuanderer]

"We won't cover a game multiple times during a heavy patch period" (The Last of Us Part 1) "Oh you want ANOTHER Witcher 3 Enhanced Edition video?"

[@callumdointhings5]

Imagine spending a week making a PC analysis video with console comparisons across PS3, PS4, PS5 and PC, attempting to get optimized settings when a 2080 can only run textures at Medium (worse than PS4) or else it crashes, then scripting, recording, etc the video and then after going through all that work a major patch comes out before the video drops that renders all the work useless

[@delonejuanderer]

@@callumdointhings5 then one could argue the video they made instead is also useless since the version they had shown is ALREADY out of date.

[@lordspalse0062]

If I buy the goty ps4 disc, do I have to redownload the entire game on my ps5 or simply an update patch to get the upgrade? Thanks.

[@KimBoKastekniv47]

What about PC?

[@ValeriNicolaev]

8:05 What did you say about Bulgaria? I couldn't understand you.

[@GenaroNeto]

I've play extensively both versions and noticed a very annoying jitter/kind of a motion blur in characters during cutscenes and dialogues in PS5. This never happens with XSX. Does anyone has the same issue?

[@KingScotto.]

Yeah it's like it for everyone but no one seems to mention it

[@GenaroNeto]

@@KingScotto. exactly! It baffles me why this wasnt even mentioned in all of those analysis

[@brainrot4919]

On the SX only at the beggining of cutscenes for like a second, no motion blur on the SX though.

[@ruijikisu]

hm i only a few days ago saw someone making a video about 4.02 and it looked quite grim tons of bugs with wrong lighting and flickering in both RT and non RT modes, both on console and PC along with tons of crashes this guy fully reinstalled his PC and still could not run the game for longer than 5-10 minutes. im a bit puzzled now in the difference in experiences

[@dsswooshy]

Completed it and all dlc after the last patch. Never had one issue on my series x. Didn't have any noticeable fps drops in performance mode. Was a great experience.

[@dan47483]

You did, you just didn't notice.

[@brainrot4919]

@@dan47483 I'm playing on FPS mode on the SX and also, having a great experience, wonder what I'm not noticing?

[@redveinborneo4673]

So i still haven't tried playing an updated ps4 game on ps5. Do you have to pay for the upgrade and if so will just playing the game normally still see some improvement in frame rate over the ps4 for games that haven't gotten an upgrade?

[@Ratedj86]

Each time I watch one of these, I get the urge to go for a new play through… 😅

[@oceanedetotes]

0:25 the difference is hughe !