CD Projekt RED seem to be perfectionists. While most people have probably played about as much Witcher 3 as they’re going to, they’re still patching and fixing the bugs and issues that can still be found in their expansive RPG. If you plan on playing the new Hearts of Stone expansion that coming next well, you’re going to have to update.
A word of warning. That patch is 15GB. Or at least it is on consoles. On PC, it could be from 6GB to 15GB depending on the version of the game you have, how much content you own and which languages your game supports.
15GB is a rather monstrous patch. The Hearts of Stone DLC is a separate download – though it will be smaller than this update. That said, it does bring with it over 600 fixes and updates, and likely fixes that one broken quests that’s been bugging you, and importantly, comes with performance tweaks.
“It’s the largest collection of fixes, improvements and various enhancements we’ve brought to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to date,” CDPR PR Marcin Momot wrote. “All told, it packs a pretty impressive 600 changes, including fixes for a load of quests, optimisations that’ll make things smoother on PC and consoles, over 150 stability improvements to iron out hiccups, additional conversations with key characters that will enhance your relationships with them as well as the story as a whole, and a major and much-awaited fix that should take a good bit of the pain out of dealing with items in the inventory by improving how items are ordered and sorted.”
The list of changes clocks in at 13 pages, so it’s best to link to them rather than paste them here. You can read the entire list of changes in this lengthy PDF.
Are you still playing the Witcher 3? Are you planning on picking up the game’s imminent expansion – or have you moved on to new things?
Last Updated: October 9, 2015
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 07:43
O_O And here I thought I’d finished downloading all my W3 files in anticipation of the expansion.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 08:06
Still playing it, but haven’t patched it in a while since GOG Galaxy is a bit iffy. Still think it would have been better with a Steam activation on the physical copy.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 08:35
Yeah, my Galaxy is also a bit iffy, if by iffy you mean, gives me that FUCKING SERVER ERROR MESSAGE every time I try installing W3… but everything else works fine. Not impressed one bit by that. I’ve been forced to download all the offline installers.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 08:40
My Galaxy client keeps requesting an update, I then start said update and after about 15 minutes nothing happens, the Free DLC bits that I’ve tried to download, all start downloading as a 24MB file and have descriptions like%>(*@&()patch something something*&(#^&…. I’ve managed to download the offline installers for the patches, but after struggling with that client (probably put more time into that than actually playing TW3) I’ve given up, taken a sip of beer and moved on….
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 08:47
W3 is the only game that gives me shit on Galaxy, everything else works just fine. And it only started giving me this problem when I tried to install the NG+ DLC, the very last one – before that it was perfect. Pisses me off because it’s a common problem, and one they can’t seem to solve.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 08:49
I’ve had this problem from the start, I’m assuming you’ve gone through your firewall to check for port blocking and still haven’t found anything odd?
Edit: I’ve done this to no avail…
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 08:54
Yip.
Installed game, no problem, patched game, no problem, installed 15 DLCs as they’re released, no problem, try install 16th DLC, server error, try verify game files, server error, try reinstall game, server error. Nothing changed on my side.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 08:56
For all the good CDPR has done, the worst idea was to release Witcher 3 on a BETA client.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 08:58
Yeah, and I HAD to use Galaxy because I got the CE.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 08:59
Same here. Even though BT advertised it on their site that it has Steam activation.
Was a bit upset when I found out that was a lie.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 08:57
Oigh… I’m sorry to hear that man… Does the game at least start up?
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 08:59
Yeah everything ran just fine, even after I started getting server error msgs. Just couldn’t download the last free DLC.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:00
Still better than Uplay. We were playing online Wednesday night and Uplay just “lost connection” and kicked everyone out of their games. Couldn’t get back in for a while, so gave up and playing something on Steam instead.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:03
Uplay… how many times have I wished for that piece of fermented faecal matter to just dissolve into thin air….
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:05
Same here. And then they still release games that are “always online” and somehow thinks it’s a good idea.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:06
Hehe, the worst still is a Uplay game on steam… just why?
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:09
I know. At least EA took their games off Steam completely.
Granted, I haven’t bought an EA game in a very long time because I never open up Origin.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:11
That’s true! I’ve also not played an EA game in quite some time, now that you mention it…. I’m also sure I won’t be playing one in the foreseeable future….
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:12
Same here. I just might get into ME3 sometime, since I’m only playing ME2 now. But I’ll see. By that time I’ll have Fallout 4, so then I’ll probably forget about Mass Effect.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:14
That was actually the last game I played on Origin, now that you mention it… and it was, shoh, maybe last year somewhere…
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:01
That’s good at least! In a weird way…. I’ve managed to install 4 of the DLCs, the rest either don’t download, or are downloaded as the exact same 24 MB file and it drove me mad…quite hysterically mad….
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 08:51
Same here. I just don’t use Galaxy anymore, just start the game from the executable. Sure, no achievements, no gametime tracking, but at least it lets me play the game.
Since I got an SSD and had to clean up a bit Galaxy doesn’t recognize my backups at all. So either I have to attempt to download everything again (while it tells me there’s a server error) or just play form the executables.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 08:56
The client managed to wipe my game files in a previous excursion… A word of warning, if you haven’t logged in for a while, the client has a tendency to “lose”/”remove”/”cremate” your user account details… Oh, and restoring from a “copy paste” backup proves to be absolutely worthless…
Steffmeister
October 9, 2015 at 08:09
Will be playing the expansion….sooo glad I got uncapped internet now.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 08:11
500Gb HDD is enough, said the console gamers.
WitWolfy
October 9, 2015 at 08:32
Fair enough 2TB 2.5″ HDD are a tad pricey…
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 08:54
500gb is just archaic and small.
For the slight price difference between a 500gb and a 1tb on a console it shouldn’t really be anything to worry about.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 08:55
But then they wouldn’t be able to sell branded storage expansion drives.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 08:55
Very true
WitWolfy
October 9, 2015 at 09:54
And thats why need external drive support. like the Xbox one!
VampyreSquirrel
October 9, 2015 at 08:12
Lol… that patch is bigger than a lot of games.
WitWolfy
October 9, 2015 at 08:34
All the patches released since launch COMBINED are bigger than many games too!
JP
October 9, 2015 at 08:13
I have the game. It is sitting on my shelf. This Geralt fellow keeps scowling at me whilst I play The Sims.
Ottokie "Yahtzee"
October 9, 2015 at 08:19
13 pages of patch notes O.o
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 08:19
I read that in an excited Finn voice. 😀
Ottokie "Yahtzee"
October 9, 2015 at 08:20
Good way to start a Friday xD
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 08:22
Quite.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 08:55
So your normal voice then? ;P
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 08:57
Well, it’s better than sounding like the Earl of Lemongrab
Jonah Cash
October 9, 2015 at 08:28
Played it for 13 hours and haven’t returned in over a month and a half… but you know me and open world games… So I don’t count
WitWolfy
October 9, 2015 at 08:32
Nice, bought this expansion while playing the main campaign… Here I go again…
Valenlord
October 9, 2015 at 08:50
Eish I must first get my uncapped fixed… But for now I’m BATMAN….
oVg
October 9, 2015 at 09:09
WTF? Just leave it already. I pumped 250hours into the Vanilla version V1.00 and had no problems.
Ive heard of fan service but this is just silly, 7gigs for the V1.07 version and now 15? really???????????????
They just beat the 21gig Halo patch. Thats bigger than the 3 DVD 9s of Mass Effect 3 for fcuks sake.
P.S. The 7gig update took Rincethis 3 days to download and he has fast internet.
Viking Of Science
October 9, 2015 at 09:11
define “fast internet” it only took me 4 hours on 4mb line…
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:12
Same here.
Maybe he means, fast…compared to Rince. ;P
Viking Of Science
October 9, 2015 at 09:22
Ha, Sick Burn! ;P
oVg
October 9, 2015 at 09:14
He has a 2mb line uncapped. But Hellkom just give him shit all of the time, they re-prioritize your speed according to the usage or some shit. Still in the dark ages in South Africa. Maybe one day we will get to play Titan Fall.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:14
I agree with you to some extent here. They are pushing it a bit and I don’t want them to tire out the game by adding more and more than most probably won’t even get around to playing. Different to Skyrim, Witcher 3 is story based and story-heavy, you don’t just jump into it for 30min or an hour like you do with Elder Scrolls games.
oVg
October 9, 2015 at 09:17
Rince told me that he noticed huge changes in the game since the last auto update like people popping in and out.
What have they done to the latest update? Has the frame rate improved?
Apparently the Vanilla version has the best draw distance but the slowest frame rate.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:18
I haven’t updated mine in a while, since GOG had issues with my backups. So I just play it directly from the executable on my pc. Runs perfectly fine for me. No frame rate issues (that I know of) and I honestly can’t find fault with it.
oVg
October 9, 2015 at 09:19
I wish I had a PC just for this game. These modern next gen consoles just cant hack it.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:20
It’s just GOG Galaxy that’s the problem. The game itself is stellar.
I also play with a controller on my pc, it just handles so well with it.
oVg
October 9, 2015 at 09:22
Is it 60fps?
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:24
Honestly. I don’t know.
I’m not one of those pc gamers that runs my FPS counter in the top of my screen.
But runs as smooth as my eyes can handle it. And compared to other games that I play (and know to run at 60fps) it seems pretty much on par.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:24
On mine, yep! if you make use of nVidias’ DSR you might run into a slower frame rate, but otherwise it’s good, oh and it’s a GTX 970
oVg
October 9, 2015 at 09:25
I cant update mine 🙁 otherwise I void the warranty 😛
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:23
I also play with a controller, simply because it’s more comfortable and bar the fact that I have hands that reach from F1 to Numpad enter, I find controls on a keyboard to be a little ridiculous nowadays….
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:25
Especially for RPG games. Even ARPG games I now find more fun with a controller. But sadly, only a small amount of them have controller support.
Van Helsing is about the best you get in terms of ARPG with controller support at the moment.
oVg
October 9, 2015 at 09:27
I wonder what the frame rate is for Fallout 4, considering they are not focusing on graphics but gameplay. Should hit 120fps on a normal PC.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:28
I’ve always enjoyed that about Bethesda games. They weren’t trying to make the prettiest games, but the ones that are most fun to play. Skyrim got pretty after the mods came rolling in, but the vanilla Skyrim is actually rather bland. But who cares? It’s a brilliantly fun game.
Fallout 4 will probably run beautifully smooth (with a few typical Bethesda bugs of course).
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:29
*Bethesda crashes
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:31
I’ve only really had problems with Fallout 3 to be honest.
Skyrim crashed once or twice, but that was when I started running around 30 mods on it. Now I stick to under 30. Some of them just brighten up the game so nicely.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:34
I have a very bad track record with Fallout 3 and Skyrim… On my previous rig I had a 20-30 minute window for those two titles, if I didn’t save within those times it would crash and I’d have to start over…Every damned 30 minutes…
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:35
Oh wow. That’s really bad. I’ve got that on Fallout 3 now. Haven’t tried it since I got Win10 though, so might give it another try.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:40
That’s how you spend about 300 to 400 hours in a game… by crashing….constantly….and to be quite honest, it broke my Fallout fanaticism…
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:41
I can understand that. Fallout 3 was my favourite, but the crashes also broke it a bit for me.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:29
I’m sure it should be optimised to hell and back, it is Bethesda after all…
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 09:35
It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:37
LOL
Sorry you had to see that. I’m becomming the next gen pc gamer…a blend of console and pc to create the ultimate master race! 😉
But it’s true. Controller is nicer for me on some game types.
Obviously FPS and Strategy and such are still unmatched by the KB and Mouse.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:19
You have to hand it to them for dedication, but I agree, 15GB is a little ridiculous… you can’t tell me that when a game is launched and it totals 24GB that a 15GB patch is necessary to fix issues, that is like rewriting the whole game engine and then some….
oVg
October 9, 2015 at 09:21
Will they compress that code for the GOTY edition? An artist should now when to finish his painting because once you go past that point you end up ruining it.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:21
Exactly!
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:22
Agreed
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 09:35
You’re right, but it’s not just fixes, it’s also changes. It’s what they did with the previous Witcher games as well when they released the enhanced editions.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 9, 2015 at 09:37
I understand if it’s texture packages that have been giving issues, needing to be resized etc. but by the time these patches roll out the artistic side of things should be done, surely?
Peter Pan
October 9, 2015 at 09:19
I’m near the end of the Witcher 3, but I haven’t finished it yet. I can’t bear to say goodbye to it, so I’m buying my time until the expansion, and then I will finish it!
oVg
October 9, 2015 at 09:29
lol I was the same, I had to go onto the internet to make sure the mission I was about to start was not the start of the end game. I did not want to leave 🙂
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 09:32
I hope you get the ending I did, because damnnnnnnnnnnnn…
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:38
We still talking about a game here, right? ;P
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 09:40
Yes, because it wasn’t happy.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
October 9, 2015 at 09:42
Oh wow.
I…uhm….
I need to go play some more Witcher 3 tonight.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 9, 2015 at 09:47
😀
Aries
October 9, 2015 at 10:37
Mine was
Yondaime
October 9, 2015 at 09:26
I stopped playing after version 1.07…..it ruined my life.
Brady miaau
October 9, 2015 at 10:11
I need to finish this game at some point. Sigh