The Witcher 3 fans who have considered rolling their games back to the vanilla version (1.32) may want to give the next-gen version one more chance before they call it quits. CD PROJEKT RED has released Patch 4.02 for the PC, PlayStation, and Xbox versions of the open-world RPG, and according to the patch notes, players should find a range of improvements for the game, including better CPU core utilization (DX 12) and the return of horizon-based ambient occlusion, something that had been mysteriously absent from recent versions. The patch also introduces some visual improvements, such as better-looking water thanks to the addition of refraction to SSR and ray-traced reflections, as well as a motion blur slider that might prove useful for players who may get nauseous from the effect but don’t want to turn it off entirely. That said, those who have updated to the new patch say that it’s introduced a new set of problems, including increased crashing and further instances of FPS drops, alongside shadows still being bugged.
From the official Witcher site:
PC-SPECIFIC
- Improved CPU core utilization in the DX 12 version.
- Restored horizon-based ambient occlusion. Players who had previously turned Ambient Occlusion off will need to do so again. You can find it in Options → Video → Graphics.
- Fixed an issue where the “My Rewards” section was not localized in REDlauncher.
- Fixed an issue with a flickering landscape in Toussaint that occurred when NVIDIA HairWorks was disabled.
- Fixed an issue related to particle optimization which could result in temporary stuttering.
CONSOLE-SPECIFIC
- Improved Performance Mode on next-gen consoles.
- Fixed an issue where characters could become slightly blurry during dialogues and cutscenes on PlayStation 5.
- Fixed an issue related to memory usage in Ray Tracing Mode which could result in crashes on Xbox Series X.
- Whatsoever a Man Soweth…Â – The game will no longer crash if Geralt runs away from Shani after starting the conversation on next-gen consoles.
- Fixed an issue where quicksaves couldn’t be loaded when using cross progression on Xbox One.
- Added two missing “Top notch swords!” on previous-gen consoles.
- Fixed an issue with overwriting manual saves where in some circumstances the oldest gamesave was deleted on PlayStation 5.
- Addressed performance issues in Beauclair and Novigrad that occurred after loading a gamesave.
VISUAL – PC and Next-Gen Exclusive
- Improved immersion of water appearance by adding refraction to SSR and ray-traced reflections.
- Fixed a visual issue with brick textures where black artifacts covered stone arches.
- Added a Motion Blur slider. It can be found in Options → Video → Graphics.
QUESTS & GAMEPLAY – Available on all platforms
- Battle Preparations – Fixed the lack of a dialogue option that would progress the quest during the objective “Let Avallac’h know everything’s ready.”
- Reason of State – Fixed an issue where the door to the warehouse could become permanently locked if the player knocked, entered and then immediately left the building.
- Scavenger Hunt: Cat School Gear Upgrade Diagrams Part 1Â – Fixed an issue where the quest could stay active even after the diagrams were looted.
- Fixed an issue where trying to start a New Game+ on an incompatible save would block the player from starting the expansions in standalone mode until the game was restarted.
LOCALIZATION – Available on all platforms
- Fixed an issue with the Korean localization of Ciri’s and Geralt’s Gwent card descriptions.
- Fixed punctuation issues in Arabic localization.
- Updated Traditional Chinese font.
Please note: these are only the most notable changes. The patch contains other minor fixes that didn’t make it onto this list.