Performance

Kiwi · Post by **Kiwi** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 3:50 pm

According to the System Requirements, I can't, but I did . .

Tricky wanted to know about Lower Power PCs versus Witcher; so did I. But I gambled that one PC or another here would work, and started out with a middle level one (maybe low to some folks), with only a 3000+ AMD performance rating, a GB of memory, and a Geforce 6800 GT 256 MB card. So far, so good.

CD Project Red says that AMD's XPs aren't supported, but the game doesn't really seem to care about that after all. It's still early testing so far, however.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:03 pm

Couple of Clarifications Please

OK, I should be able to play The Witcher by the end of this week. From browsing around [url="http://www.thewitcher.com/community/en/game/system_requirements.html"]various places[/url] I have noticed a discrepancy between the system requirements posted on the web and in the manual..
The manual states that the recommended processor is an Intel Pentium 4, 3.0 processor. In numerous places, I have seen the recommended processor listed as a Core 2 Duo...

I'm not worried, the new system will be Core 2 Duo, I'm just puzzled. Does anyone know anything about this?

Also, I have seen a lot of people reporting that SATA drives are causing the following error message:
"CD Projekt Red"
Please insert original DVD of "The Witcher" !"

This has me concerned, because my system will have a SATA Optical Drive.
Again, any information would be much appreciated, thanks!

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:04 am

Such things are very subjective.
Never heard of the "requirements" differentiations.

The SATA problem I've heard rumours of, but I run SATA as well and have had no problems with the disc, then again I've had no problems with the game either, where other's have experienced crashes.

So I basically think it is pretty much like most games out there. It'll cause issues for some, but not for others.

Claudius · Post by **Claudius** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 4:02 am

What sorts of things on my system can I do to improve crashing?

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 4:59 am

Claudius wrote:What sorts of things on my system can I do to improve crashing?

That is pretty difficult to say because crashes in itself is only a symptom of issues and rarely the issue itself.
Crashing can occur from all from faulty hardware
combinations of hardware
insufficient hardware (compared to settings in the game)
faulty (installation of other) software
faulty (installation with the) crashing software
combinations of otherwise working software
problems with the disc in regards of the crashing software
and so on...
and especially driver problems (which of course would fall under a number of the categories above). Some times the "newest" driver isn't always the correct answer, and downgrading drivers is a better solution.

Crashes in a game like this I would likely attribute to problems with the hardware vs. the game interaction, but it depends on the crash itself - any error messages might help lead towards the cause, but sometimes error messages aren't even existing.
The only way to "debug" such issues is to start eliminating possible issues.

Try tinkering with the settings of the game, of windows and so on - running everything on low. Avoid running in windows, compability modes etc.
Disable Internet connection and after that all antivirus (especially if you have auto protect type features), firewalls etc.
Test your memory for problems using a tool for that - could be read/write issues such as the game trying to read the wrong memory or bad memory. Make sure your CPU isn't over heating, or other components over heat.
Make sure you have enough hardware, try adding more RAM, if you have possibility and also try a different graphics card (again if you have the possibilty).
If you can - try running your game on another computer - a friends, family etc - and see if you have similar issues there.

There are simply way to many factors for giving prober advice right off the bat :/

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:27 am

Xandax wrote:Such things are very subjective.
Never heard of the "requirements" differentiations.

The SATA problem I've heard rumours of, but I run SATA as well and have had no problems with the disc, then again I've had no problems with the game either, where other's have experienced crashes.

So I basically think it is pretty much like most games out there. It'll cause issues for some, but not for others.

True, this stuff can be very subjective, and all sorts of factors (and a combination thereof) can cause problems...
I have also read that a lot of the "original CD" errors occur when people have piracy software installed. Since that won't be a problem for me, I'll just keep my fingers crossed. I saw your system specs somewhere and they are fairly similar to those that will be on my new machine, the major difference being that I'll have XP, so I'm hoping for a smooth ride.

Funny how that happens. I remember how when NWN came out, at least one person here had incredible trouble getting it to run, whereas most people were fine.

Ulfang · Post by **Ulfang** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 10:38 am

Yea virtual drives can be a problem and programs like D-tools depends on what security the game is using if any. I also have sata drives and have experienced no problems...

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 10:45 am

Ulfang wrote:Yea virtual drives can be a problem and programs like D-tools depends on what security the game is using if any. I also have sata drives and have experienced no problems...

Well, I don't use virtual drivers and similar tools, so hopefully I won't have any problems there. It's good to hear you have no problems with your sata drives, makes me feel encouraged. I should find out today or tomorrow, though, since the new rig is "out for delivery" and slated to arrive at my door November 22, according to UPS

I was perusing the official Witcher Forums, and my impression is that whether or not people have problems is pretty hit and miss. Interesting how that always happens with games.
I'll have a Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz processor, 8800 GTS vid card, 500 GB hard drive space, and 3.5 GB RAM.. so I'm keeping my fingers crossed with regard to the notorious lag and save times. We'll see...
As you can tell, I'm rather excited about this upgrade.. I'm switching from an old P3

Ulfang · Post by **Ulfang** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 10:49 am

dragon wench wrote: I'll have a Core 2 Duo, 8800 GTS vid card, 500 GB hard drive space, and 3.5 GB RAM.. so I'm keeping my fingers crossed with regard to the notorious lag and save times. We'll see...

Nice setup! You should't have any performance problems with that kit but ... well... famous last words

I have a Pentium 3.4 ghz (single core) with an 8800 card and 2gb of ram and have no performance problems so as long as you don't have any hit and miss problems your machine should run the game very well.

DesR85 · Post by **DesR85** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 8:10 pm

Cielaqu's right. In chapter 3 right now and encountered lots of stuttering in the Trade Quarter, no matter how many times I tinkered with the settings. Appears that 1GB of memory isn't enough to play it smoothly.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 2:06 am

Ulfang wrote:Nice setup! You should't have any performance problems with that kit but ... well... famous last words

I have a Pentium 3.4 ghz (single core) with an 8800 card and 2gb of ram and have no performance problems so as long as you don't have any hit and miss problems your machine should run the game very well.

Dunno - I have about similar spec (E6600 and 4GB ram - although my RAM isn't the top of the line, but am still to cheap to pay to change 4GB working memory for 4GB+ top of the line, cause if changing, I'd go above 4GB).
And I had to turn off grass for various areas (swamp especially), cause otherwise it would "lag" quite a bit in those areas.
Load times weren't much of an issue, but still long enough to annoy me at times

cielaqu · Post by **cielaqu** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 2:15 am

Trade Quarter is the only location I've encountered slow downs. There may be some more problems in chapter V, but I am unable to tell, because by that time I had 4GBs. Trade Quarter is larger and have more occupants than Clerical Quarter. More scripts, more textures …
And the game runs better on XP.
I had in mind SATA DVDs, not HDDs. On official forum there’s a link to Tages download section. Maybe newer version of copy protection system will solve that problem (when and if they release one). I was unable to run game with SCSI DVD too, but since I have IDE DVD it didn’t matter to me.

Ulfang · Post by **Ulfang** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 5:24 am

Xandax wrote:Dunno - I have about similar spec (E6600 and 4GB ram - although my RAM isn't the top of the line, but am still to cheap to pay to change 4GB working memory for 4GB+ top of the line, cause if changing, I'd go above 4GB).
And I had to turn off grass for various areas (swamp especially), cause otherwise it would "lag" quite a bit in those areas.
Load times weren't much of an issue, but still long enough to annoy me at times

Seems everyone's experiences are different. Wierd. I've never had a single problem on full settings!

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 9:21 am

Hmmm...
Well one thing to bear in mind is that I'll be upgrading from a truly ancient system (P3, 384 GB RAM etc.), so I suspect I'm likely to be impressed even with a bit of lag and longish load times

I was trying to run a fully modded Morrowind on the above system, and if I got more then 10 FPS anywhere, it was reason for celebration

Plus, if it's indeed true that The Witcher runs better on XP, that won't be a problem for me because I had the guys at the shop install XP Pro...

I'll still have to see about the SATA drives though, as I haven't been able to play yet.. I think Xandax (see my recent blog entry) was responsible for jinxing the delivery of my new machine, one of the packages was left behind in a UPS warehouse...

The discrepancies in experience seem to be quite striking, so I'll be interested to see how things go for me.

DesR85 · Post by **DesR85** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 9:47 am

cielaqu wrote:Trade Quarter is the only location I've encountered slow downs. There may be some more problems in chapter V, but I am unable to tell, because by that time I had 4GBs. Trade Quarter is larger and have more occupants than Clerical Quarter. More scripts, more textures …
And the game runs better on XP.

I also encountered lots of stuttering in Kaer Mohen as well aside from the Trade Quarter. I hope the other levels after chapter 3 aren't that demanding.

phelot43 · Post by **phelot43** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 1:33 pm

Funny that, I also get stuttering when in the Trade Quarter and I've got a pretty beast machine (8800 GTX SLI) That is, so far the only location I've encountered any issues and its pretty minor. I think it might be because there are so many NPCs wandering around?

I get the "insert original CD" error from time to time. It's usually fixed my starting the auto-launcher from the CD or by ejecting the CD and reinserting. And yes I do use virtual drives... for evaluation purposes only, of course

so maybe that's what causes it.

cielaqu · Post by **cielaqu** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 1:53 am

DesR85 wrote: I also encountered lots of stuttering in Kaer Mohen as well aside from the Trade Quarter. [...]

Have you started game after few hours of other work, or right after restarting? I didn’t have any problems with Kaer Morhen when started on freshly rebooted system.

DesR85 · Post by **DesR85** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 2:36 am

cielaqu wrote:Have you started game after few hours of other work, or right after restarting? I didn’t have any problems with Kaer Morhen when started on freshly rebooted system.

I did try that (both fresh boot and restarting the system). Same results. Anyway, there was some stuttering at the Kaer Mohen level but the worst for me is still the Trade Quarter.

P.S. In case you're wondering, I've defragged my hard drive before playing the game for the first time, by the way.

cielaqu · Post by **cielaqu** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 3:06 am

No, I wasn’t wondering

. Haven’t done that even once in five years. Maybe there is some more demanding process running in background? Don’t pay too much attention, I’m just thinking aloud

. I didn’t have problems with Kaer Morhen on 1GB after restarting (without I had). In what places did you have most slow downs?

DesR85 · Post by **DesR85** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:29 am

cielaqu wrote:I didn’t have problems with Kaer Morhen on 1GB after restarting (without I had). In what places did you have most slow downs?

During the introduction scene, it stuttered at some parts. Inside Kaer Mohen, in the corridors, I did encounter some slowdowns and stuttering. I suspected that it had something to do with the texture details. Lowered it and found that it greatly reduced the stuttering in the Trade Quarter. Still have a bit, though.