Witcher 3 Question about Graphics Settings

[Aleksbgbg]

I use an R9 390

 

All settings are maxed, except Nvidia hairworks, that one is completely off.

 

I run it at 45 - 60 FPS with max settings

 

However, whenever I turn nvidia hairworks on for Geralt only, I drop to 20FPS so I don't even want to try it for everyone.

 

Why is this drop in frames? Nvidia technology compatability issues or what?

[Morgan MLGman]

No, HairWorks is just garbage. It does the same on a GTX 970.

Turn down foliage visibility range from ultra to high and get free 5-10FPS with no difference in looks basically

[eLucid]

Set foliage to low and you should be good.

[Sauron]

It's because hairworks doesn't like amd gpus. Whether it's on purpose or just a coincidence, that's a different matter.

[MilkJugg24]

Even though hairworks is under Nvidia's name it still runs like garbage on both. 

[eLucid]

If you want the best possible experience. Set foliage to low and the rest of your settings to high. There's no real discernible difference between high and ultra.

 

Edited January 21, 2016 by eLucid

[eLucid]

While I agree with your opinion for OP's settings, there is a pretty noticeable difference between High and Ultra for view distance. Like for me it's pretty easy to see the foliage distance, even on Ultra it's really obvious. But that's just my two cents on that one.

 

Please be serious. Instead of your opinion, why not post screens for hard evidence?

[eLucid]

I'm at my campus sitting in a lecture hall listening to the professor telling us about the syllabus and handing us our first homework assignment.

 

Well, when people "play" games they generally aren't focusing on such minuscule details. That is unless you have your face pressed up against the monitor.

 

 

[eLucid]

I actually sit really close to my moniotrs. I also am really nitpicky about detials.

 

It's pretty hard to see the difference man. http://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/comparisons/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-texture-quality-interactive-comparison-1-ultra-vs-high.html

 

To each their own.

 

Also, I'm pretty sure this is in the wrong sub-forum.

 

@Godlygamer23

Edited January 21, 2016 by eLucid

[mathijs727]

Since no one has actually answered the question:

Nvidia hairworks renders the hair strains using 64x tesselation.

Nvidia cards are faster at tesselation and as such perform less bad when hairworks is turned on (Nvidia cards loose some FPS too, just not as much).

AMD added a setting in Catalyst (and now in Radeon Settings) to force a lower tesselation level.

Forcing 16x tesselation looks almost the same as 64x while having way better performance.

8x is even faster but does give a descrease in the quality of the hair.

 

If you are running the latest AMD drivers (Crimson):

1. Open Radeon Settings
2. Click on Gaming (bottom menu bar)
3. Click on The Witcher 3
4. Change tesselation mode to "Override application settings"
5. Set "Maximum Tesselation Level" to 16x or 8x.
6. Enjoy higher framerates

[eLucid]

 

Since no one has actually answered the question:

Nvidia hairworks renders the hair strains using 64x tesselation.

Nvidia cards are faster at tesselation and as such perform less bad when hairworks is turned on (Nvidia cards loose some FPS too, just not as much).

AMD added a setting in Catalyst (and now in Radeon Settings) to force a lower tesselation level.

Forcing 16x tesselation looks almost the same as 64x while having way better performance.

8x is even faster but does give a descrease in the quality of the hair.

 

If you are running the latest AMD drivers (Crimson):

1. Open Radeon Settings
2. Click on Gaming (bottom menu bar)
3. Click on The Witcher 3
4. Change tesselation mode to "Override application settings"
5. Set "Maximum Tesselation Level" to 16x or 8x.
6. Enjoy higher framerates

 

 

And what vague question would that be? You chimed in with helpful advise. As did, @Morgan MLGman.

[mathijs727]

I use an R9 390

 

All settings are maxed, except Nvidia hairworks, that one is completely off.

 

I run it at 45 - 60 FPS with max settings

 

However, whenever I turn nvidia hairworks on for Geralt only, I drop to 20FPS so I don't even want to try it for everyone.

 

Why is this drop in frames? Nvidia technology compatability issues or what?

 

 

And what vague question would that be? You chimed in with helpful advise. As did, @Morgan MLGman.

 

 Seems like a pretty clear question to me...

[afyeung]

 Seems like a pretty clear question to me...

It's because hairworks uses an extreme form of tesselation. AMD GPUs aren't built for tesselation. They are however built for Asynchronous compute which is a HUGE DX12 feature that Nvidia does not have. You can get decent performance with hairworks by forcing tesselation to 16x from crimson menu. It'll look almost as nice, but your averages will drop to the mid 40s @1080p.

[Morgan Everett]

Hairworks is a pretty intensive setting. For AMD cards, and most Nvidia cards, I'd leave it off completely. I'd also recommend dropping shadow quality from ultra to high, as the difference in quality is small but the difference in performance significant. In fact, my overclocked 290 (effectively your 390) could get mostly 60 FPS with everything on maximum, save shadows and hairworks (which was off). 

[eLucid]

 Seems like a pretty clear question to me...

 

Not really. Nobody uses hairworks because it simply isn't worth the performance hit, period! He wanted to improve his frames and most of us here answered his questions that would otherwise greatly improve his performance.

Edited January 21, 2016 by eLucid

[mathijs727]

It's because hairworks uses an extreme form of tesselation. AMD GPUs aren't built for tesselation. They are however built for Asynchronous compute which is a HUGE DX12 feature that Nvidia does not have. You can get decent performance with hairworks by forcing tesselation to 16x from crimson menu. It'll look almost as nice, but your averages will drop to the mid 40s @1080p.

Thats exactly what i posted, scroll up pls

[mathijs727]

Not really. Nobody uses hairworks because it simply isn't worth the performance hit, period! He wanted to improve his frames and most of us here answered his questions that would otherwise greatly improve his performance.

No, he literally asked "Why is this drop in frames? Nvidia technology compatability issues or what?" referring to the Hairworks.

Everyone answers about which OTHER settings to lower instead of answering the real question: why is hairworks slow?

[afyeung]

Thats exactly what i posted, scroll up pls

Yeah. I quoted the wrong post lol. He hasn't replied yet but you all definitely gave him a good explanation

[App4that]

Not really. Nobody uses hairworks because it simply isn't worth the performance hit, period! He wanted to improve his frames and most of us here answered his questions that would otherwise greatly improve his performance.

I use Hairworks and love it, please don't speak for me.

[eLucid]

I use Hairworks and love it, please don't speak for me.

 

Aww, how cute. You got offended enough to reply with such a weak ass remark. Most people that care about performance don't use hairworks. There, you happy? Christ, the overly sensitive beta's are out in full force tonight.

 

@mathijs727 - I'm pretty sure everyone on here was thinking he would disable HW completely after many stated their reasons behind it. Truthfully, I had no idea AMD driver settings would be the culprit since I don't own an AMD card.

[App4that]

Aww, how cute. You got offended enough to reply with such a weak ass remark. Most people that care about performance don't use hairworks. There, you happy? Christ, the overly sensitive beta's are out in full force tonight.

@mathijs727 - I'm pretty sure everyone on here was thinking he would disable HW completely after many stated their reasons behind it. Truthfully, I had no idea AMD driver settings would be the culprit since I don't own an AMD card.

When did I say I was offend? You assumed, bad habit that. I was correcting you. I've read your posts and you seem to think that your view is fact, what you have is an opinion. Which is fine, but your argument caries more weight if you present your opinions as such.