PlayStation 4 patch The Witcher 3 degrades performance and graphics

CD Projekt Red, the developer of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, recently released a new patch for the game for the PlayStation 4. This now includes support for HDR, but players complain about low frame rates and a deteriorated draw distance.

On the developer’s official forum, a player posted a video showing that the draw distance in the game has become quite small after the patch has been implemented. For example, the various details in the grasslands and sometimes even trees only appear at a fairly short distance from the protagonist. The higher the draw distance, the further players can see and the more objects can be seen at greater distances.

Furthermore, trees in the game seem to disappear and return when the wind blows through them. In addition, significant drops in the frame rate are mentioned, up to 20 fps. Another user reports that supersampling on a full HD TV in combination with a PlayStation 4 Pro has disappeared and needs to be re-enabled in the system settings. According to him, the draw distance problems in the 4k resolution are much worse than in 1080p. Supersampling renders images at a higher resolution and then downscales them to a lower resolution, making lines appear less angular, for example.

The patch that is being complained about was recently released by CD Projekt Red for the PlayStation 4 and the Pro variant, which, among other things, adds support for HDR. In addition, the developer reports that various performance optimizations, stability improvements, bug fixes and minor visual improvements have been made.