The Witcher Patched

[H.Bogard]

The long awaited 1.2 patch that is the address the horrible loading times has finally been released...
Grab it here. (http://www.fileshack.com/file_download.x/11351)
Mirror (http://www.thewitcher.com/registration/en/www/patch.html)


Code bugs fixed:
- Loading times are much faster!
- Saving is much faster!
- Another portion of stability improvements.
- Fix for rare "red rectangle" effect on loading bar.
- Quest tracking fixes.
- Some cursor fixes connected with finishers in tight places.
- Quest now won't update when Geralt is dead causing multiple problems.
- Autosave mechanism fixes (numeration).
- Savegame files fixes – some irrelevant information was sometimes generated inside.

Anyone who has been holding off this game needs to try it now. One of the only two flaws of the game (the other being the voice acting/trimmed dialogue) has been fixed, you owe it to yourself to try out this excellent game.

Also, CDP designer Kasia Kuczynska has started up a dev blog (http://blogs.ign.com/Thilnen)on ign.

[Devilturnip]

About time. Now I'll actually play it.

[Mortis]

Awesome. The load times put me off as well, gotta fire this up this weekend.

[Phanto]

I'm eager to play this game but I'm waiting for my new primary hard drive first..I don't have any more space..left :(

[YoungAlCapone]

Fuck yes! I will be playing more tonight. Finally. Now, where is that language patch (http://www.sendspace.com/file/oiuc5j)...

Another spot to get the 1.2 patch from. (http://www.thewitcher.com/registration/en/www/patch.html)

[Disgustipated]

This will help when I resume playing...

[LostToys]

Santa is rewarding all of my hard work. The load times were annoying as hell. If they improved that aspect of the game, they have my dedicated gaming attention.

[dubk]

This is great news as this was really the only thing that bugged me while playing the game. I will be revisiting this title soon now.

[Banacek]

I want to play this game so bad, but my video card died a while back and I just don't have the PC to play it. Oh well, at least I have Mass Effect to keep me busy till I can upgrade.

[MSUStud911]

Just in time for me to get this game for Christmas. Nice! The much derided loading times were worrying me a bit.

[Isamura]

Hey, maybe now I'll actually explore the world a little more instead of just doing quests.

[51|RandoM]

Buy this game. Even if you hate RPGs, buy this game. Even if you don't have a computer, buy this game. Buy 2-3 copies. Send a message with your wallet.

[Banacek]

Buy this game. Even if you hate RPGs, buy this game. Even if you don't have a computer, buy this game. Buy 2-3 copies. Send a message with your wallet.

Any game that gets 51|Random's heart a-flutter is a game I need to play. :)

[bean19]

Is this going to get a 360 port? I don't want to play it on PC as my PC is aging.

[Banacek]

Is this going to get a 360 port? I don't want to play it on PC as my PC is aging.

Me too. If it's coming out for the 360 I'd much rather get the game for that.

[H.Bogard]

Buy this game. Even if you hate RPGs, buy this game. Even if you don't have a computer, buy this game. Buy 2-3 copies. Send a message with your wallet.

What he said...

Its truely sad that the game's probably gonna be crushed under the big name holiday releases, but I still hear that its getting some healthy sales in Europe.

[flinxz]

This is what I was waiting for to play thru it a second time. Such a fantastic game, I might even give that dialog patch a go.

[biosc1]

Yay! I was just going to buy it today anyways :)

Played the demo the other day. The dialog wasn't as bad as I was expecting...does the that dialog patch make that much of a difference?

[NationalKato]

Alright, you fuckers. I'll pick this up - but if you're wrong and it's no good I'll hunt you all down and force you to play NWN2!! I mean it!!

[51|RandoM]

Alright, you fuckers. I'll pick this up - but if you're wrong and it's no good I'll hunt you all down and force you to play NWN2!! I mean it!!

I am playing NWN2 and it is good too. Has a few bugs, but still good. The campaign in the expansion pack is supposed to be outstanding. My wild elf ranger/thief (10/5 so far) is almost ready to move over.

The Witcher is the only PC game that didn't let me down this year, except perhaps for Portal.

Uncharted takes that slot on console.

Too many games to name fill that slot on portable, with Disgaea and Jeanne d'Arc being two standouts among an excellent group of games.

[KingGorilla]

I was planning on buying this after the Holiday, now that is just further confirmed. I am anxious to play what many are calling the best RPG of the year. With LOTRO and Burning Crusade's wild successes, that is saying a lot.

[NationalKato]

Yeah, I own NWN2 and loved the first game. But it just seemed like Obsidian dropped the ball on so much promise...

[KingGorilla]

I have heard that the expansion is really redemptive. But then again, I have heard the same of the Age of Empire's 3 expansions, and I still feel like "fool me once..." So I get it if people burned on the buggy and craptacular first NWN2 are skittish. I hear that the biggest thing that they changed was the pathfinding.

I was thinking of making a post in the PC forums to see if we have enough people playing or interested in NWN2 to run a full co-op campaign.

[Chainblast]

I got the demo on Friday and was both pleased and surprised with what was presented. I didn't expect to enjoy the combat system as much as I have so that's a great plus for me.

[KingGorilla]

I would love to see an interview with the design team and ask them why they took the Aurora engine for this game.

[Achilles]

Great news! I was really enjoying the game, but then in the second area there were so many fetch type quests that the slow loading, saving, and frequent crashes became a real game killer.

[torrefaction]

This game is AWESOME. The patch makes the loading times significantly better.

Still a little crashy if you change video options though.

[Grifter]

This game is AWESOME. The patch makes the loading times significantly better.

Still a little crashy if you change video options though.

What are your system specs? I haven't had the game crash once on me and I have had it since the European launch.

[captainstrombosis]

I would love to see an interview with the design team and ask them why they took the Aurora engine for this game.

I would assume cost.

Btw, an EvAv NWN 2 campaign would be strange. Who would be the backstabbing short guy with a chip on his shoulder? Does Johan even play RPG's?

[DubiousQuality]

Hooray! Now that I've been bumped out of the season finals by the Flyers in my NHL 08 Bruins Chise. I can actually play The Witcher! Awesome Xmas gift from CDP.

[syl_freak]

I really wanna play this game, but too worried my rig cant handle it at a decent quality level. Grrrr, have to wait till the new year when i buy a new PC

[Everlost_MI]

Ok - dumb question. Do I play this or Mass Effect first for my RPG needs?

[Johan]

Who would be the backstabbing short guy with a chip on his shoulder? Does Johan even play RPG's?

I love RPGs. Also, I like to stab in the face, not the back. I'm not shy! :D I'm also 6' 2" and over 200 pounds, for whatever that's worth.

I loved NWN. Haven't tried NWN2 yet...

[InfiniteAmmo]

Can anyone point me in the direction of the minimum requirements for The Witcher? I can't find it anywhere online. Just wanna know if my comp can run it before I buy it!

[flinxz]

http://www.thewitcher.com/community/en/game/system_requirements.html

Minimum requirements:

Microsoft® Windows® XP Service Pack 2, Vista (Operating System must be up to date with the latest fixes)

Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz or AMD Athlon 64 +2800

1 GB RAM for Microsoft® Windows® XP / 1536 MB for Microsoft® Windows® Vista

128 MB Video RAM or greater with DirectX9 Vertex Shader/ Pixel Shader 2.0 support (NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or ATI Radeon 9800 or better)

8.5 GB available hard drive space

DirectX 9.0c compliant soundcard, plus speakers or headphones

DVD-Rom



Recommended requirements:

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Vista (Operating System must be up to date with the latest fixes)

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13 GHz or AMD X2 5600+

2 GB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or ATI Radeon X1950 PRO

8.5 GB available hard drive space

DirectX 9.0c compliant soundcard, plus speakers or headphones

DVD-Rom

[captainstrombosis]

I love RPGs. Also, I like to stab in the face, not the back. I'm not shy! :D I'm also 6' 2" and over 200 pounds, for whatever that's worth.

I loved NWN. Haven't tried NWN2 yet...

Hah, good reply. So, obviously, you are the Barbarian. You'll scream gibberish while wielding a giant hammer, taunting people left and right.

[Bad_Buddha]

Hah, good reply. So, obviously, you are the Barbarian. You'll scream gibberish while wielding a giant hammer, taunting people left and right.

So, obviously, you are the Barbarian. You'll scream gibberish while wielding a miniature giant space hamster, taunting people left and right. :D

I just had a stereo installed in my daughter's car and picked up Sing Star '80s for my wife so I grabbed this to reward myself for being such an altruistic great guy! Downloading patches and defragging as I type!

[tonester]

While this game isn't horrible with regards to the scope of all comptuer games - it is horrible in the scope of computer games that actually get hyped up.

Definitely don't waste your money on this.

Clumsy controls.
Horrible voice-acting.

I give them credit for trying something different with the combat, but it falls short - especially early on.

Its a "meh" game. Wait until it hits the bargain bins and then pick it up.

[Bad_Buddha]

Its a "meh" game. Wait until it hits the bargain bins and then pick it up.

Gosh! I wish you had posted this before I bought this great game! It would have saved me from having so much fun! :rolleyes:

I've got the language patch and it looks like a registry patch. Do you just double click on the FinalEnglish (optimized).reg file to install it? Does it have to be located any place special? Are there any instructions by the author out there?

Edit: Found it!
***
Extract into your Witcher's Data folder. Make sure everything's in its default state.

In your Witcher's Data folder you'll find three files of particular interest:

English (original).reg - Double-click and select 'Yes' to load the original, uncut subtitles into the game. Journal entries are in english!
FinalEnglish (optimized).reg - Double-click and select 'Yes' to load the original, optimized subtitles into the game. This one's dialogues and entries are slightly different to the ones above - test both and choose the one more to your liking.
FinalEnglish_Short (default).reg - Double-click and select 'Yes' to load the default, cut dialogues (just in case you want to go back...but don't know why you would Razz ).

You can switch between each of the three whenever you like.

Enjoy!

[InfiniteAmmo]

Ah, thanks Flinxz!

My system can run it, woot!

[H.Bogard]

While this game isn't horrible with regards to the scope of all comptuer games - it is horrible in the scope of computer games that actually get hyped up.

Definitely don't waste your money on this.

Clumsy controls.
Horrible voice-acting.

I give them credit for trying something different with the combat, but it falls short - especially early on.

Its a "meh" game. Wait until it hits the bargain bins and then pick it up.

Clumsy controls? What the hell? There's 3 schemes in there and all are the finest that I have ever seen in a game!

[Å®ÇTÌ¢ VåmÞ‡®Ë]

While this game isn't horrible with regards to the scope of all comptuer games - it is horrible in the scope of computer games that actually get hyped up.

Definitely don't waste your money on this.

Clumsy controls.
Horrible voice-acting.

I give them credit for trying something different with the combat, but it falls short - especially early on.

Its a "meh" game. Wait until it hits the bargain bins and then pick it up.

How exactly is this horrible ?
Hype? Where have you seen HYPE for this game?
It NEEDS hype..

This is sooo what NWN2 should have been ( yeah I have MotB I can't get into it)..

[HotCod]

The voice acting is a bit bad in places but that's really not the games fault... sadly the publishers wanted to save costs on the voice acting which is why we have the horribly cut down script... what is surprising is that even when the acting is bad and the script was cut in a really bad way the game is still one of the most deep involving rpgs ever made... i can't wait to replay it with full text.

The controls are a matter of taste and there are a few bugs with it but for the most part ones you've get the hang of it its an interesting mix of "d&d" based combat and action combat... it rolls the numbers under the hood but still gives you a very clear feeling of interacting mixed with pulling off flash moves... that said i'm not a huge fan my self but its not bad.

Where the game is truly awesome is in the world and the fact you feel you have a real place in it. The world is one of the most "full" i've seen in a long time, when you look at it in terms of other rpgs there's hardly anything that puts you in a city that feels that "right"... just in local terms the city feels more "real" than anything in nwn2 oblivion gothic 3 or even what little i played of mass effect. The world is wonderfully lived in and what is truly stunning is how it makes you feel you have a true impact on the game.

You get to make some 'real choices' not just "a: yes i'll save your cat b: i'll save your cat for money c:i'll kill your cat and you and take your money" but more than that the choices you make are not always instant, when something you've pops up to impact the game in a way you didn't expect when you'd all but forgotten about it... its a wonderful moment, the world comes to life beacuse it feels like things you have done have truly been having impacts on the grater world... have had effects that you've not seen that bubble away until it pops around you.

Most games like this you can tell almost exactly what would happen if you'd done things diffrently... take kotor for example... you pick one side over the other and you know for the most part you'll just do the same fight with a diffren skin... given i've not gone back and tried different paths yet i have to admit that its far more than likely that its almost exactly the same in the witcher... but thats not the point. The point is that you don't think that at all, it fall falls in to place in such a natural way that you don't even think about it the way you would in other games... and that makes you feel like your making real choices that have real impacts in a real feeling world... no other rpg has done this as well as the witcher has...

if you play rpgs for the ROLL PLAYING then you owe it your self to try this game

[Disgustipated]

While this game isn't horrible with regards to the scope of all comptuer games - it is horrible in the scope of computer games that actually get hyped up.

Definitely don't waste your money on this.

Clumsy controls.
Horrible voice-acting.

I give them credit for trying something different with the combat, but it falls short - especially early on.

Its a "meh" game. Wait until it hits the bargain bins and then pick it up.

Have you even played the game, fucktard? Quit pulling shit out of your ass and slinging it on the forums, just direct it back into your mouth where it should stay.

[deckard47]

Wow, the patch makes this game playable... I suddenly have a reason to stop playing COD4.

[dirtbag]

Buy this game. Even if you hate RPGs, buy this game. Even if you don't have a computer, buy this game. Buy 2-3 copies. Send a message with your wallet.

It's on my Xmas list -- if it sucks, Santa's bringing you coal next year!

[DigitalCowboy]

The game is just amazingly well made. It is very clear that this is game built with passion and commitment. It is just a disgrace that ATARI decided to save a couple of dollars and cut down on the voice recordings. Shame on you!

I can really recommend the game to any gamer, but if you are a fan of RPGs then it is a MOST. Go go buy it, support this fantastic game so we will see more of this type of games in the future.

[51|RandoM]

It's on my Xmas list -- if it sucks, Santa's bringing you coal next year!

That will be more than I get this year.

[ElPresidente]

Buy this game. Even if you hate RPGs, buy this game. Even if you don't have a computer, buy this game. Buy 2-3 copies. Send a message with your wallet.

One of the joys of writing for a gaming publication. You fall in love with a game and you can sell your love to thousands and thousands of people in one hit.

Slipped this puppy a 9/10 in the latest PCPP and I'm heartened to see at least see the readership on the magazines forum are supporting the game. The main thread went positively giddy when people were reporting back with their 1.2 load time experiences and a number of other folks have gone off to buy the game. Huzzah.

While I'm not a fan of the buggy state in which the game was released one can't deny that these bugs and areas of low polish just can't keep this great game down.

Everyone support CD Projekt damnit.

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

I picked it up earlier, played the demo last night. Its so damn goooooood.

[baggle]

I have the game and I want to play it, but unfortunately it runs like ass on my P4 3Ghz/2MB L2, 1GB Ram computer :(

Does this patch optimize the game at all so that it runs a bit smoother on people skimming the lower level of the minimum reqs?

[MacD]

@baggle: get a second gig of ram. I play on a p4 2.6c, 2gigs, 512mb7800 with everything high. Only place I get lag is the trade quarter.

@KingGorrilla: that specific info IS out there...I believe it was in one of their IGN blogs, iirc. They started out on a different engine, then swapped when they saw NWN and talked to Bioware during E3 or GDC.

@everyone: despite the loading times, this game is awesome. Now, it's awesomer. Add in the language patch, and this game takes full place in that pantheon of RPGs with Fallout, Planescape: Torment.