When The Witcher 3 launched for the original Xbox One back in 2015, it only ran at 900p (1600 x 900) resolution and had trouble maintaining a stable 30 frames per second. The same unpatched version of the game, running fresh from the disc, hits 60 frames per second more often than not on the Xbox One X.
While subsequent patches upped the resolution to 1080p and locked the game at around 30 FPS, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launched on the Xbox One with its framerate unlocked, which makes an excellent candidate for demonstrating the additional power available in the new Xbox One X. NX Gamer, who’s been following the game’s Xbox One framerates since launch, created a video demonstrating how the faster hardware affected the unpatched game. It’s pretty impressive.
Mind you, this trick only works on the disc version, before any of the game’s numerous updates are applied. And while a good amount of the game runs at 60 frames per second, crowded cities knock it down into the 40s.
Unfortunately, I own the digital version of the game, which automatically downloads patches when installed, so my copy of The Witcher 3 maintains its locked 30 frames per second on the Xbox One X.
There is an official Xbox One X update coming for The Witcher 3, which will allow the game to run at 4K resolution while adding ambient occlusion, texture filtering and higher resolution textures overall. While it’s likely the 30 FPS lock will remain in place at 4K, there seems to be plenty of power available if CD Projekt Red wanted to toss in a faster, lower resolution mode.
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34 responses to “The Xbox One X Runs The Witcher 3 At 60fps, If You Don’t Patch It”
Makes me wonder if the 4k game modes are going to be like default picture settings on a TV; best for advertising, not so great for the actual users.
That’s my experience with 4k on the pro. 1080p is a much more playable experience. Handsdown.
Depends on the game. Nioh benefitted greatly from it due to 60fps. Horizon I barely noticed a difference in performance between the modes.
If devs do 60fps goals for 1080p and 30 for 4K, that would be great.
I tested the latest tomb raider in 4k, saw the frame drop and just thought “nope”. I’ve always been a 60fps guy though. I really like the smooth movement. If I have a choice I’ll always reduce the visuals to have a smoother experience. That’s why I stick with 1080p.
When you see a 4k game on a good 4k tv ( I have an OLED) you never want to see anything less again.
I’m going to agree with this.
I just bought the Frozen Wilds DLC for Horizon: Zero Dawn last night and chucked it on for the first time in ages. I was again astounded at how good that game looks in 4k on my TV.
It’s astonishing and I want all my media in 4k at this point.
900p 60fps.
The future is here!
Most powaful eva!
My PC plays it @ 60fps and beyond?
Ummm yay?
Indeed.
And I bet it didn’t cost $650 either.
GPU alone probably cost more…
Hahaha not quite but I wish it did. I got mine for just under $580
I was being a little cynical but its not wrong 🙁 4K gaming on PC generally equates to a GTX 1080 or 1070 GPU, neither of which come cheap. Based on your $580 comment, I assume you have a 1070?
For me, the XBOX is still a decent deal at $650 given how close it gets to even a 1060 based rig, which is still going to be well over the $650 mark once you price everything in.
Don’t get me wrong I agree with you I guess the reason for my comment wasn’t to boast about PC performance but rather the lack of decent affordable hardware for consoles. Like I stated in another comment, for a game that is almost 3 years old and the latest console released struggles to keep it at 60fps just kind of makes me wonder. PS I think I managed managed to grab the 1070 TI on sale, currently at work so can’t look it up atm not that it matters.
1070 handles it no problem at a constant 60. 1060 can too.
But you still need to factor in the cost of all the other parts. Xbox One X is excellent value then.
Yeah, that’s what I was getting at. One of the biggest benefits consoles have is that they can buy in bulk, and get the savings from there. Buying millions of GPU’s isn’t going to be costing Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo $600 each, nor will buying the same amount of HDD’s, mobo’s, etc.
PC gamers meanwhile pay retail (or near enough) for each component, with the end result being they are paying over $1000 for something a console replicates for $650.
I prefer PC gaming myself, but I’ve spent enough time in recent months on the PS4 that I can see the benefits. And now I’m rebuilding, see that price differential up close.
You would be correct in assuming so.
And that is relevant to the article how?
Im a pc gamer but your post comes across as you having your head firmly up your own rectum.
Pretty sure that is physically impossible, but I can see how my comment comes across like that. I guess I just find it amusing that a next Gen console that has just recently been released with all the bells and whistles struggles to play an almost 3 year old game at 60fps. I guess it just goes to show how hardware intensive that game really is.
And thats why i made my comment. You come across as a smug ahole
Nah not smug like I stated the games almost 3 years old, just shows the technological gap between consoles sand Personal Computers. Heck I would probably have one of the most basic pleb set ups for my PC but it plays the games I want adequately.
The game hasn’t even been patched yet mate.
Look you’re comparing apples to oranges. It’s stupid. We’re all computer literate here. We all know PCs are more powerful. It’s really obvious. Most of us have nice rigs but we don’t go on about it cos it’s stupid and boring.
Ok mate, just as long as you know apples are better.
You can tell a man from what he has to say.
@rowan Meh judge me how you like from my comment doesn’t phase me in the slightest. That comment was just for fun not to be taken seriously but you know each to their own.
I guess it helps reaffirm for folks with even moderately powerful PCs (like… a couple years ago) that it’s still not worth getting one of the new consoles as a replacement if you like frames over 30.
If you give me the choice between 4k 30fps and 1080 60fps, I’m going to pick the 60fps. It just looks better to my eyes. But tragically, so many ‘pro-patched’ games for the PS4 don’t give the option. Best I’ve seen is Nioh and FFXV giving the option. And I absolutely switch it to 60fps on both of those.
Witcher isn’t the first to do this, either. Fallout 4 sans-PS4 Pro patch runs at higher frame rates (in boost mode) than after it’s patched. The patch instead adds visual effects, boosting god rays, draw-distance, shadows and shit. There is no option in the settings menu to switch between performance and visuals. And that just kinda sucks. I hate the 30fps default.
It’s definitely not a replacement. I have a good rig and a ps4 and they’re very different. I use them for different things. Someone who loves pc gaming is NOT going to be happy switching to console.
I really like my ps4 though. It’s just different.
Yeah, I like it for the couch, so I can hang with my partner on it, or play on the screens next to each other (we basically couch co-op Diablo 3 with two TVs and two PS4s).
My PC is ridiculously more powerful, but it’s not as easy using keyboard and mouse on the couch, and my 4K TV can be pretty temperamental about when it wants to play nice with my desktop vs in games. Still haven’t found an ideal set-up for that. Big Picture’s a dog, using wireless Link either through the Samsung app or plugging inputs into the TV means stupid input lag, resolutions look weird and don’t scale text/UIs very well…
So PC gaming for me right now still means being back at the desk in the still super-comfy but more upright chair.
I’d just be super happy if we got more powerful consoles that were actually replacements, though. Even if it meant paying double. That’s basically just PC rates.
Yeah me too. I do a lot of work on my PC so I don’t really love gaming on it, just because I’m in the same position, in the same room. Being able to semi-lie down on a comfy chair and zone out on the console is really nice.
They need to do what the PS4 Pro does for some games where you have the option of 4K or 60 fps. I mean, if its possible, its stupid to limit the consoles options. I know the Pro dropped the options on some games because it struggled (iirc TLoU dropped settings because it struggled). But if it’s possible, why limit it :/
They do