The big Witcher 3 Thread

[Arthmoor]

I don't think greyed out quests give you nothing. I've done a few of those here and there and still got points for them. I think being greyed out just means the game is telling you it'll be a breeze.

 

Right now the only minor annoyances I had left were one random treasure quest that told me to read a note but never marked which one it was in my inventory so I couldn't find it. It's still on the journal. The other was a quest in the Kaer Morhen map that glitched itself back on with an objective it shouldn't have pulled back up because I'd already completed it prior to that.

 

@Hana: There will come a point where you'll start rolling in levels and will be able to take on those other quests. Even though a lot of them say level 30+ you can tackle them as early as 20. I had all of the Ursine gear plans on me by the time I hit level 22. Sure, I couldn't USE the gear, but I had the plans, and was able to craft it the moment I gained enough levels.

[Jon]

A cool but potentially bad mechanic I found out about the other day is that boats' states are perpetual.  They stay where you leave them and remember their damage.  Dat realism...  Though I guess absolute realism would entail them drifting away since they're never tied down.  
 
I would avoid fast traveling with different boats to the same port too, because apparently they tend to pile up in the same spot.  Could potentially take out all your boats.
 
 

Jonwd7 -- Thanks for the ini setting!  Seems to have solved my issue. 

 
I don't think many others use controllers here, but I found out a cool trick for toggling Sprint instead of holding a button to Sprint.  However at the moment I can only figure out how to make it work indoors to toggle between walking/running.
 
So, if you have a controller,  inside input.settings you can find:

IK_None=(Action=SprintToggle)

and change it to:

IK_Pad_A_CROSS=(Action=SprintToggle)

It occurs in many sections and not everyone needs it.  The ones I've tried so far:
 
[bASE_CharacterMovementWithSprint]
[Exploration]
[swimming]
 
... But like I said for now all I have gotten it to do is let me run indoors without holding the Sprint button.  However, this is actually the most important part of the reason for my tweak... So that I can turn the camera while running indoors.  Now it's much easier controlling Geralt while running indoors and you don't have to stop running, adjust the camera, start running, adjust the camera.  Turning Geralt with the Right Analog is just more accurate than with the Left Analog.
 
I'm still considering swapping the A button with something else when it comes to Sprinting.  You can't sprint while using Witcher Senses, so I could swap the two. Actually, bad idea since I'd need to press A to Examine/Interact while in focus mode. So, some other button then.  Luckily the input.settings file lets me do this without affecting what Left Trigger does for other control schemes, like Combat, Swimming, etc.
 
 

I hope they change their minds about that hotfix.  I stopped getting experiance after one side quest today. (I'm at level 11.)   I guess I'll stick with treasure hunts since those don't give much experiance anyway.  I really don't want to quit playing, but I also don't want to miss out on the experiance.  Like Hana, nearly every quest or contract I pick up requires a much higher level.

 
Yeah, I was pretty conflicted until I realized that for at least 6 or 7 quests I'm going to be pretty overleveled.  I'm 16, and there are a ton of main quests that are level 12 and 13.  If the glitch wouldn't have happened to me, I would have actually not gotten XP for some of the level 12 quests because I would have reached level 18 quickly.  And then I'd be on the verge of being overleveled for the remainder of that chain of quests.

 

But if they delay it a day or two to work on pushing 1.05, I guess that's OK.  Wrapping up a patch for release twice in one week is probably way more work than we realize. 
 
 

I don't think greyed out quests give you nothing. I've done a few of those here and there and still got points for them. I think being greyed out just means the game is telling you it'll be a breeze.

 

Greyed out quests are designed to give you *less* XP according to the guides, but according to the devs themselves, greyed quests are designed to give *no* experience.

 

But you are correct that at least some greyed quests give XP, as I've seen others claim as much.  It's greatly diminished according to them.  Like 25-75 XP.  I've personally not gotten any XP from greyed quests, and I think I've done 3 or 4. 

[Arthmoor]

Either way I made it to level 35 so I don't think getting hosed mattered much if I ever did get hosed.

[Jon]

Question:  Do you run into the ingredients to make White Gull (Cherry Cordial, Mandrake Cordial) as lootable stuff later in the game?  Like anywhere in Skellige or later areas?  Or are you just expected to buy them? 

 

If you don't, I'll just start buying them when I see them.  I have so much money and I'm eventually going to need to use them for alchemy.

 

---

 

Was messing around with more INI tweaks.  I wanted better distant trees, even with the Ultra settings for Foliage Distance.  Like I said in this post, I did have to halve the GrassRingSize to alleviate some weird "chugging" motion while running.  Otherwise the values are all the Ultra preset.

 

So I upped FoliageDistanceScale and FoliageShadowDistanceScale to get higher quality trees a bit further out than Ultra preset does.

 

The relevant settings compared to Ultra:

[Rendering]
CascadeShadowDistanceScale2=2.5
CascadeShadowDistanceScale3=2.5
[Rendering/SpeedTree]
GrassDistanceScale=1.5
FoliageDistanceScale=2.4
FoliageShadowDistanceScale=72
GrassRingSize=8388608 

 Gallery Comparison (it's easiest to click the All link and then Fullscreen so that you can view them fullsize)

 

Basically the distant trees aren't shadowed nor do they cast shadows unless you up FoliageDistanceScale.  FoliageShadowDistanceScale is for smaller foliage like bushes.  I upped CascadeShadowDistanceScale2 and CascadeShadowDistanceScale3 to make certain that the shadows reached as far as the higher quality foliage.

 

I think it's definitely worth the 3-4FPS cost in those images.  FPS is from a GTX 980 at 1440p.

[Arthmoor]

Best buy those when you see them. I don't recall ever getting any as loot.

 

Also fair warning, grab any mistletoe you run across while out wandering. That seems to be relatively rare and I don't recall any herbalists stocking it. You'll likely need it to make components for crafting the Witcher school gear.

[Jon]

Best buy those when you see them. I don't recall ever getting any as loot.

 

Also fair warning, grab any mistletoe you run across while out wandering. That seems to be relatively rare and I don't recall any herbalists stocking it. You'll likely need it to make components for crafting the Witcher school gear.

 

Some do stock mistletoe.  I've bought the rare ingredients every time I've seen Herbalists/Alchemists stocking them.  That includes Mistletoe, Bison Grass, Ergot Seeds, Allspice, Green Mold.  Basically all the stuff I never run into while picking.

 

I would go check who all does, but I'm lazy and also I'm not sure if it's been more than 5 days since I cleared them out of their rare stuff.  Meditating for 5 days is a pain.

 

Now I have to travel the globe to buy up all the cordials.

[Hana]

Overheard while passing by a brothel, one of the ho's... "It's a material world and I am a material girl."

 

 

(Madonna song, for those that don't know)

[Jon]

Overheard while passing by a brothel, one of the ho's... "It's a material world and I am a material girl."

 

Yeah, the first time I ever went into a brothel I heard one of the strumpets say this.  I had a giggle.

 

There's also a Fallout easter egg in the NPC banter that I came across.  

[Jon]

If you've seen the shadows cast in interiors from the sun look weirdly cutoff and dithered, I believe I've figured out why.  Example (Not my shots, but look at how part of the shadow goes away in the 2nd image)

 

So it would appear when you go indoors the outermost shadow cascades get turned off.  This makes sense performance wise.  But the closest shadow cascade doesn't stretch very far.  So in user.settings you can find:

CascadeShadowDistanceScale0=1

and change it to:

CascadeShadowDistanceScale0=2

... or any value higher than 1 if you would like to test how much is necessary. 

 

CascadeShadowDistanceScale0=1

CascadeShadowDistanceScale0=2

 

That dithering effect is normally used to blend between each cascade, but since the other cascades get turned off, it just ends up dithering with the rest of the scene.

 

I haven't really tested yet if it causes any negative effects, but it's possible that changing the CascadeShadowDistanceScale values are stretching out each cascade level (there are 4 by default) so doubling CascadeShadowDistanceScale0 might be affecting the quality of the shadows since it's getting spread over a larger area.  But so far I can't really tell. 

[Hana]

OMG I CRIED SO HARD

[fierymarigold]

I don't think many others use controllers here, but I found out a cool trick for toggling Sprint instead of holding a button to Sprint.  However at the moment I can only figure out how to make it work indoors to toggle between walking/running.

 

So, if you have a controller,  inside input.settings you can find:

IK_None=(Action=SprintToggle)

and change it to:

IK_Pad_A_CROSS=(Action=SprintToggle)

 

 

 

Yeah, I was pretty conflicted until I realized that for at least 6 or 7 quests I'm going to be pretty overleveled.  I'm 16, and there are a ton of main quests that are level 12 and 13.  If the glitch wouldn't have happened to me, I would have actually not gotten XP for some of the level 12 quests because I would have reached level 18 quickly.  And then I'd be on the verge of being overleveled for the remainder of that chain of quests.

 

But if they delay it a day or two to work on pushing 1.05, I guess that's OK.  Wrapping up a patch for release twice in one week is probably way more work than we realize. 

 

 

 

Greyed out quests are designed to give you *less* XP according to the guides, but according to the devs themselves, greyed quests are designed to give *no* experience.

 

But you are correct that at least some greyed quests give XP, as I've seen others claim as much.  It's greatly diminished according to them.  Like 25-75 XP.  I've personally not gotten any XP from greyed quests, and I think I've done 3 or 4. 

I haven't been indoors much with Geralt, so I haven't really had time to check out the last settings.    But I defeniately have more control over him now.   Thanks much for all this info. 

 

I've been really impressed with Cd Projekt Red.  They've been jumping on the bugs, and the free DLC they've been giving away -- just wow, I never expected anything like that.    

 

On a side note, I started earning experiance points today on side quests and Witcher contracts.   

[Hana]

Really makes you wonder what this "no experience" bug is, and why some people have it and some don't.

 

I've not had it, so I hope any patch they make doesn't bugger my game, lol. In fact, following the MQ last night, I was raking in 1000 exp per quest and must have leveled about 5-6 times.

[Jon]

Really makes you wonder what this "no experience" bug is, and why some people have it and some don't.

 

I've not had it, so I hope any patch they make doesn't bugger my game, lol. In fact, following the MQ last night, I was raking in 1000 exp per quest and must have leveled about 5-6 times.

 

Whereas I didn't get any XP for Pyres of Novigrad, Novigrad Dreaming, Broken Flowers, and I would bet on Get Junior and every quest in that chain as well but I stopped playing until the patch comes out.  A lot of people weren't getting XP from side quests and contracts either.

 

My theory has been that because I did Family Matters and Ladies of the Wood when they were greyed out (give no XP), that I bugged other quests into behaving greyed out.  And then this might have a sort of domino effect, affecting each quest in the chain.

 

Like I said in an earlier post, I loaded an old save, turned in Family Matters and Ladies of the Wood (when they were greyed), then did Pyres/Dreaming and they were busted.   I loaded the save again,  skipped Family/Ladies and did Pyres/Dreaming and they gave XP correctly.  So for me I know exactly what triggered it.. Completing either Family or Ladies.  I'm just not sure if I'm correct in my theory.  Someone else theorized that it has to do with switching characters, and something random happening there.   You switch characters in both Family and Ladies.  But if that were the case it must be triggered in a very specific way, since everyone has to go through those two quests.

 

Also, someone supported my theory when they told me that while doing Family Matters, toward the end they did a greyed quest.  They had been receiving XP fine up until that point.  Then when they went to turn in Family Matters,  boom,  no XP. 

 

----

 

Also, GTX 980 Ti was announced and I've already signed up for a Step-Up (EVGA program).  It'll only cost $97 without shipping.  The reasoning, because the 980 Ti is nearly 30% faster than the 980 with Witcher 3.  On top of that, in the article I read they were able to overclock the 980 Ti so much that they increased the average FPS by 16%.  So, that's a potential 50% improvement.  The 980 was not overclocked though.  Mine is factory overclocked + some.  So let's say it's only 20% faster at stock, and then I can overclock it by 16%.   Still a 40% improvement.  

 

A 40% or 50% improvement would put me squarely over 60FPS @ 1440p (including Hairworks and HBAO+) in most areas, but not all.  I would still say my average is about 45FPS.   I basically never get 60FPS except for in a few specific areas.

[Hana]

Is that what the new NVIDIA driver update was for today?

[fierymarigold]

Hmm, my bug hit somewhere during the Bloody Baron and Ladies of the Wood questlines. (Both stayed green.)  I went all the way through both before I realized I wasn't getting the experiance.     

 

At that point, I did a quick test to see if side quests were affected and found out they were.   So I revereted the save to before the Bloody Baron and tried again.  Still no experiance.  I decided to leave both those questlines alone and just explore.  I was hoping they'd change their minds about 'If you're six levels above the recommended level, you don't get experiance' and patch that too.   And I didn't like one of the choices I made. 

 

Anyway, I played again later on Saturday after shutting down the game.  Still no experiance.

 

Sunday I tried again (after shutting down the pc) -- I stumbled on a quest that wasn't marked in a small village.  Tried it out, bam, all's fixed. 

[Jon]

Is that what the new NVIDIA driver update was for today?

 

Yes, plus improvements with Kepler cards (600 and 700 series).  I guess it had some performance issues with Witcher 3 and another game.   Even after the driver update, people still have to go into the control panel and manually select CPU for the PhysX processor.   Some people are even removing a certain DLL which does cloth physics. 

 

You're on a 700-series aren't you? 

[VaultDuke]

so apparently a gtx 750 TI handeles the game at 30 fps (which is supposedly not quite twice as fast as my GPU). i manage to overclock my gtx 765fuckingM by 20-30%. some settings about physX get you some more fps (and my CPU is stellar) and then the patches improve performance by a few percent as well. on top of that, ini tweaks.

.... maybe, maybe i'll get the game.

but on the other hand:

i'm currently having a blast with the satirical bard's tale by inXile

[Hana]

Omg, this kid is a seriously spoiled little brat and I wanna smack her so hard!!!!!

 

 

jon, yeah, I'm on a 760. Haven't updated drivers yet (this one or the last one either).

[Jon]

Sunday I tried again (after shutting down the pc) -- I stumbled on a quest that wasn't marked in a small village.  Tried it out, bam, all's fixed. 

 

The random stuff you come across has always worked for me.  All the Gwent sidequests I could do worked fine too.  I think all my Contracts worked.  Just the main quests for me.

 

Unfortunately 1.05 isn't coming out today either.

 

jon, yeah, I'm on a 760. Haven't updated drivers yet (this one or the last one either).

 

Well, a lot of people with Kepler cards are getting a 10-15FPS increase, so you may want to try it out. 

[garthand]

Shameless plug for my ongoing effort to document all the bugs I run across here.

[Arthmoor]

Heh, nice. Not really that many considering. I did notice the one about Triss and the figurine though.

 

Geralt also comments about being able to ask her about Phillipa's megascope crystal if she's already left Novigrad. You never get the chance to ask her about it later either. Nor do you get the chance to give it back to Phillipa either once you're back in Skellige with all the sorceresses on the boat.

[Hana]

Oh yeah, that jumping bug.... like wtf. I've had that a couple of times.

[Jon]

Shameless plug for my ongoing effort to document all the bugs I run across here.

 

Do you want me to post stuff I find in there so you can confirm and add it, or is it just for you?  

 

Like I've seen a few floaters, and also there is missing collision in a rather precarious place..  Nearly fell to my death. 

[Hana]

And ... done with the MQ.

 

Have to say, a little underwhelmed with the ending.

[Jon]

This guy's screenarchery level is over 9000

 

 

Apparently it's actually his job.  

 

His Flickr