More recently, the continuation of the famous Polish project, The Witcher, has been released on all gaming platforms . The owners of the consoles did not have to suffer with the settings - the lucky ones immediately plunged into the fantasy world. But the question of how to run "The Witcher 3" on a weak PC came from many other gamers. The project has acquired a huge universe with excellent rendering. Consequently, the requirements for "hardware" are appropriate.
All the fans of The Witcher, including the owners of weak personal computers, wanted to play the final part of the trilogy. The network is filled with hundreds of tips on how to run The Witcher 3 on a weak PC. All of them are scattered on forums and sites, which is not very convenient. This article brings together the most effective methods for optimizing the game. We hope that after reading you will understand how to run "The Witcher 3" on a weak PC, and this question will become irrelevant. So let's get started.
Performance definition
You need to understand what kind of performance is needed before looking for the config for The Witcher 3. Weak PCs usually cannot boast of high fps, but it is worth measuring. Any program is suitable for this. You can use Fraps. Find it on the Web is not difficult, distributed free of charge.
The utility is easy to use. However, if you do not know English, you should not change additional parameters. To measure the frame rate, just run the program, and then the game. Yellow numbers will appear in the corner of the display, which will show the performance in The Witcher 3. Optimization for weak PCs is necessary if the game produces a low number of fps. The higher the number, the better, but 30 frames per second is enough for a completely comfortable game. Some gamers manage to play at 20, while not downloading the config for "The Witcher 3". Weak PCs, you must understand, will not be able to show very high performance even with perfect optimization.
Driver update
After measuring fps, the first thing to do is to check for updates for the video card drivers. New versions can be found on the manufacturer's website. Often, these manipulations are enough to make the game process smoother. After the update, we check the growth.
If the number of frames has become more than 30, you can stop optimizing and enjoy the game. Remember, following each tip of the manual, you lower the graphics in "The Witcher 3". Optimization for weak PCs will give a result, but not huge, but it will reduce the beauty of the world and characters.
PC cleaning
This step is not directly related to optimizing the game. However, the methods presented in it will help to clean the PC of garbage and speed up its work as a whole. Removing unnecessary programs, defragmenting the registry and disk will not be superfluous, even on powerful computers.
For these procedures, it is recommended to use the standard system capabilities and some additional utilities, such as CCleaner. The program does not take up much space and will make all the necessary settings for the user.
Patch installation
Now you need to download and install the latest patch for "The Witcher 3". For weak PCs, this is a must. In each addition, developers make changes that optimize the game. The main thing is that patches are installed in accordance with the instructions, otherwise errors may appear that are difficult to fix without reinstalling.
Graphics settings
So, let's move on to the graphics settings. This step will be useful to owners of powerful devices. By lowering the settings, you can significantly increase the number of fps, providing a smooth gameplay.
How to configure "The Witcher 3" on a weak PC? Go to the game menu, then "Settings" and go to "Video settings".
- First off NVIDIA HairWorks. The function is aimed at improving the quality of the hair of the main character. Not very optimized, therefore, requires a productive hardware. After that, fps will increase by several values.
- Turn off anti-aliasing.
- The range of visibility of plants should be set to low or medium level. In the open, brakes often occur precisely because of this parameter.
- Lower the quality of the shadows. A very demanding function that can be set to the minimum value.
Having disabled the given functions, check fps. If it is still low, set the remaining options to a minimum. Even at this level, the game looks pretty good.
FPS limit
Pay attention to the "Limit frames per second". If you have a weak comp, you should set the value to "30". In this case, the game will not occur sharp jumps fps and freezes. However, if your number of frames is more than 30, it is better to set the parameter to "60". This setting will not affect the graphics of game objects, but will help get rid of lags.
Permission change
Resolution has a huge impact on the smoothness of the game, especially if you have a weak comp. You can change it in the general parameters of the video. Switch between items and choose the resolution that suits you. For weak PCs, 1024 x 768 pixels are recommended.
If desired, the resolution can be reduced even more, but for this you will need to make changes to the game files. Remember, the lower this indicator, the worse the picture quality. You can find the configuration file along the path: C: \ Users: \ "name": \ Documents: \ The Witcher 3: \ User. Next, open the User.settings file and make changes to the line "Resolution =". At the end, save the document.
Removing clothing physics
Raise the number of frames will help change the physics of the clothes of the hero. This parameter does not play a decisive value, so its shutdown will remain invisible.
So, we go to the directory with the game, then to the bin / x64 folder. We send to the basket APEX_ClothingGPU_x64.dll. Attention! Before deleting, save a copy of this file, so that in case of problems return it to its place.
Editing game files
To this stage, we had a good set of settings, which should have already helped with the fps level. If the number of frames is still not impressive, move on to changing the game files.
We go to the game directory, then to the \ bin \ config \ base folder. Here we open using the notebook rendering.ini.
- The indicators MaxTextureSize and MaxAtlasTextureSize are changed from 2048 to 512. If necessary, set 256.
- The MaxCubeShadowSize and MaxSpotShadowSize indicators are changed from 512 to 256.
These simple manipulations will help to significantly increase the fps, reducing the resolution of the textures a little.
In the parameters below, you need to change true to false.
- AllowChromaticAbberation.
- AllowMSAA.
- AllowBloom.
- AllowAntialias.
- AllowFog.
Having done this, we will reduce the post-processing parameters and remove the fog, which seriously loads the PC.
Grass removal
At this stage, we remove the grass from the game - this significantly increases the fps, but it can spoil the overall impression. Turning off the grass will not affect the process in any way.
We go to the bin \ shaders \ speedtree \ shaders_directx11 folder and send to the basket: Grass_shadowcast_ps.fx11obj, Grass_vs.fx11obj, Grass_ps.fx11obj, Grass_shadowcast_vs.fx11obj.
Be sure to save the copy in a separate folder so that you can return to the place in case of errors.
Only grass, which is not important for passing, will be removed from the game. That is, bushes and ingredients for alchemy will remain.
Lower graphics
This step should be resorted to only when absolutely necessary. You will need to download an archive from the Internet with minimal graphics settings. Finding it is not difficult.
Open the archive and extract the files to a convenient location. The user.settings file should be placed in C: \ Users \ Name \ Documents \ The Witcher 3. If necessary, accept the replacement. Attention! Save the original file in a separate folder in advance.
The The Witcher 3 \ bin \ config folder from the archive is copied to the base with the replacement.
The graphics in the game will be terrible, but the increase in fps is huge. Of course, not everyone can play with such settings. Enjoy the world around you will not work, but you can go through the storyline.
Conclusion
That's all. We hope the above methods will help you understand how to run The Witcher 3 on a weak PC. The game deserves to be played by every gamer, and even one with a weak personal computer. If these measures are not enough, then the best way would be to purchase a more powerful PC that can easily launch new products.