CD Projekt Red has released patch 4.02 for the “Next Gen” version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (test). This patch aims to improve CPU core utilization in the DirectX 12 version and fix issues with corrupted or deleted saves on consoles.
It is the second patch since the technically disappointing release of the free “Next Gen” update in December 2022, and there have also been several so-called hotfix updates that did not increase the version number. Patch 4.01 was released in early February. The patch comes for the PC as well as for the PlayStation and Xbox consoles. On PC, the size is 2.11 GB.
More FPS by optimizing CPU usage?
Since the free next-gen update, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has struggled with poor performance and bad frame pacing, especially under DirectX 12 with ray tracing. This patch now promises improved CPU core utilization for the DirectX 12 version and brings back HBAO (Horizon-Based Ambient Occlusion), which was previously only usable via mod in the game. All other improvements in detail:
- Optimized CPU core utilization under DirectX 12
- HBAO was restored. Players who had Ambient Occlusion disabled will now have to do so again (Options > Video > Graphics)
- A section in the REDLauncher was not localized
- Disabled Nvidia HairWorks could render the scenery in Make Toussaint flicker.
- Fixed a bug with particle optimization that could cause the game to stutter for a short time.
Better graphics for the PC and the next-gen consoles
A slider for motion blur has been added to the graphics settings. The appearance of water has been enhanced with SSR (Screen Space Reflections) and ray tracing. Stone arches were covered with black artefacts, this visual defect is now fixed with new brick textures.
Improvements on the consoles
In addition to an optimized performance mode, console players will primarily receive bug fixes related to cross-platform progression saves on Xbox One and PlayStation 5 with involuntarily deleted saves when manually saving. Other improvements on consoles:
- Optimized performance mode
- Fixed issue with blurred characters on PlayStation 5 during dialogue and cutscenes.
- With ray tracing the game could crash due to incorrect memory usage on Xbox Series X
- In the quest “What a man sows…” the game no longer crashes when Geralt walks away from Shani.
- Quicksaves could no longer be loaded when using cross-platform progression on Xbox One
- Added two missing “Premium Swords!” on older consoles.
- Fixed performance issues in Beauclair and Novigrad after loading a save.
- Fixed a bug that caused manual save overwriting on PlayStation 5 to delete the oldest save.
Quests and gameplay improvements
Bugs in the quests “Preparing for the Battle, Reason of State, and Treasure Hunt: Cat School Equipment Improvement Schemes – Part 1 have been fixed. It could also happen that the “New Game+” could not be started due to an incompatible saved game until the game was restarted.
For users of Korean, Arabic and Traditional Chinese localization, there is also good news, several small bugs have been fixed there.
The editors would be very happy to hear about the first experiences of players with the new patch in the comments.