The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, in case you haven't heard, is getting a free next-gen update releasing on December 14th and it might make it even better on Steam Deck.
While it is already Steam Deck Verified, a few additions to the new version sound like they might improve it. The big one is FSR 2.1, which should allow you to get some better performance and battery life with it. It's worked wonders for other games, like Dying Light 2 and Cyberpunk 2077. Another nice addition is the ability to scale up subtitles, dialogue text and NPC chatter (things all games should have!).
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Some of what's been announced includes:
- Improved visuals - Ray Tracing, improved Screen Space Reflections, improved foliage, better textures and more visual improvements are coming to the game. Enjoy them to the fullest thanks to FSR 2.1 and DLSS 3 support!
- Camera, controls and UI changes - Rediscover the Continent from a new perspective — we've added an alternative camera option that'll bring you closer to the action. Combined with the alternative Quick Sign Casting option, map filtering and the option to dynamically hide the minimap, it will make exploration even more exciting than before!
- Photo mode - Capture the moment with the added photo mode! Does that mean there will be a The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt photo mode contest in the near future? Maybe.
- Integrated mods - We've included some community-made favourites in addition to our own modifications.
- Quest fixes - You've been asking for them — and we couldn't say no! The next-gen update has also been an opportunity to revisit some of the issues in the quests. The free next-gen update brings fixes to From Ofier's Distant Shores, Scavenger Hunt: Wolf School Gear and more!
- Netflix DLC -We have a very special treat for all of the fans of the Netflix show! Enjoy alternative looks for Dandelion and Nilfgaardian soldiers, as well as a new quest, inspired by the show, where you'll be able to get diagrams for new equipment for Geralt. What's the quest? Shhh! No spoilers!
- Cross-progression - A feature you know from Cyberpunk 2077 — play the game how you like, wherever you like and carry over your latest save between platforms.
Maybe I'll finally do a full play-through thanks to all these additions coming. Sounds quite exciting! Nice to see that's it's going to be a free update too, not some kind of "remastered" edition you have to pay extra for.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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So we expect a performance boost from FSR 2.1, but we do not know how much performance is decreased by the engine switcheroo.
That's true! Guess we'll find out on December 14th though.
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mZSq7Fq3qs Nov 26, 2022
So we expect a performance boost from FSR 2.1, but we do not know how much performance is decreased by the engine switcheroo.
I am prepared that this is one of those updates that will just ruin completely fine game. Just now enjoying it with my deck and it is running completely fine at 40hz. Is this that kind of update that you cn opt out of?
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Is this that kind of update that you cn opt out of?
If you have the GOG version you can backup the offline installers to be on the safe side.
Otherwise you have to hope. There is a chance that the updated version could be added as a new game, but that seems to be the publisher's/developer's choice. I've seen that happen on Steam more than on GOG, so it seems that they (GOG/CD Project) don't want to keep old versions. You might be able to revert to previous versions via Steam/Galaxy unless they choose to remove them.
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Otherwise you have to hope. There is a chance that the updated version could be added as a new game, but that seems to be the publisher's/developer's choice.
They said way back when they announced it that it would be added as a separate game.
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There is a chance performance of the new game would be actually better if it will go through vkd3d-proton.
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TheRiddick Nov 27, 2022
This may require a NVIDIA card to play since AMD/Intel ray tracing support is ULTRA experimental!
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I wouldn't count on ray tracing working with AMD yet, but radv is getting there.
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I wouldn't count on ray tracing working with AMD yet, but radv is getting there.
IIRC it works quite well with the AMDGPU-PRO driver, less so with the fully open-source AMDVLK, and the performance is quite mediocre (but steadily improving) with RADV, the community-ran driver that's part of mesa and that everybody uses (which is better for other things... raytracing was not a priority).
One good thing about RADV/mesa is that they added software-based fallbacks, so you can test raytracing even if you don't have a fancy GPU (just get ready to expect single-digit FPS) just with `RADV_PERFTEST=rt` (works on my R9 fury -- FIJI/GNC with Quake 2 RTX, although the game dips below 1FPS when I fire the weapon).
Edit: perf figures for various drivers here: https://www.phoronix.com/news/RADV-RT-XDC-2022 October 2022
Last edited by MayeulC on 28 November 2022 at 2:35 pm UTC
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They said way back when they announced it that it would be added as a separate game.I haven't been able to find a reference, only a text that is vague and even that point towards no separate game. That would be a shame and disappointing.
When Zenimax merged Wolfenstein 3d and SoD into a single game (without the SoD mission packs), the original SoD (which had the two mission packs) was removed retroactively from GOG accounts (after an accound refresh that is unavoidable in the long run) while it was kept on Steam for previous owners.
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When Zenimax merged Wolfenstein 3d and SoD into a single game (without the SoD mission packs), the original SoD (which had the two mission packs) was removed retroactively from GOG accounts (after an accound refresh that is unavoidable in the long run) while it was kept on Steam for previous owners.
On GOG at least they keep a few previous versions on the Galaxy server, so hopefully if they overwrite the game, one would be able to access the previous one with lgogdownloader. But I'd still recommend making backups.
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I've made backups, but the installers in question take up a lot of space, so I don't keep multiple copies on different external HDDs. Keeping copies of SoD on multiple drives is no problem at all, but I still think that we should not have to do that.
On GOG at least they keep a few previous versions on the Galaxy serverUsually you can go back a few versions on Steam as well, unless the history is purged.
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