New Witcher 3 patch hurts PS4 and Xbox One frame rate, other issues reported

Following the release of the feature-rich 1.07 update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt this weekend, a technical analysis has revealed that the update impacts performance, with other issues reported as well.

Digital Foundry’s technical breakdown of the 1.07 patch reveals that frame rate on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have been negatively impacted in some areas. On Xbox One, frame rate takes a hit in intensive areas such as the Crookback bog, the site discovered.

“Essentially, gameplay on Xbox One now appears to rely on a similar double-buffer v-sync set-up to the PS4 game, locking its frame rate to 20fps during these lulls in performance,” Digital Foundry explained. “This means that the reading on our graph is consistently lower on patch 1.07 as compared to 1.05, where it was free to waver between 20-30fps freely. On a matching route through the bog, frame-rate can be up to 8fps slower on the latest version of the game.”

The PS4 version of The Witcher 3 also locks at 20fps during this section, and that’s not all.

“On top of that, even traveling through simple countryside roads (or Novigrad’s central city) continues to produce single-frame stutters every few seconds — a rough point we had hoped would be ironed out by now,” Digital Foundry wrote. “Overall, little has improved in PS4’s bid for a smooth 30fps reading here, and in fact, the tail-end of our Novigrad test shows dips to 25fps as we hit the marketplace — something not seen on the last patch.”

Digital Foundry says the gap between Xbox One and PS4 performance has narrowed as a result of the new patch, but the PS4 edition still struggles where the Xbox One version excels. “And in cutscenes, Sony’s console produces the lower readings overall,” the site says.

Frame rate for The Witcher 3’s PC version does not appear to be affected by the new update. However, some PC players, who bought the game through developer CD Projekt Red’s own GOG.com as well as Steam, are reporting that achievements are not working as they should. On top of that, the new patch is not showing up at all in some European countries. CD Projekt Red is thankfully on the case.

@Marcin360 Does this include achievements not working (Steam specifically, although I’ve heard GOG has problems too)?

— Chris (@Cozzy_92) July 20, 2015

We’re looking into the reports gamers have been sending us regarding patch 1.07 issues (including update’s availability on PSN in Europe).

— Marcin Momot (@Marcin360) July 20, 2015

Though there may be some technical troubles with The Witcher 3’s new 1.07 patch, the update also introduces a host of welcome changes and fixes to the role-playing game. There is a new movement system for Geralt, horse behavior has been optimized, and the inventory system has been changed for the better. And also bug fixes; lots of bug fixes. Get the full patch notes here.

Have you installed the new Witcher 3 update? Share your thoughts in the comments below.