Topic: The Witcher 1 thread.

[idolminds]

Demo released. 2GB. Contains the prologue and all of Act 1. Which sounds like a big demo.

[MysterD]

Demo released. 2GB. Contains the prologue and all of Act 1. Which sounds like a big demo.

That is a good amount, actually -- WAY more than most demos.

I wonder if you can use your saves from the DEMO when you buy the full version....

If so, that'd be great for gamers that all they need to do is buy the full version and move their saves over to the correct folder for the full installed game,

[Quemaqua]

That's really strange.  That's like the original Doom having 3 episodes, the first of which was free.  Well, not quite like that, but that's still a huge chunk of game.  That seems almost ridiculous to me, but I guess you sort of have to be a bit ridiculous with an RPG demo to get a good feel for it.  Unfortunately, I think the prologue is, thus far, the worst part of the game, so that may turn some people off right there.

[MysterD]

I thought the Prologue was pretty good for what basically is a long tutorial mission, Que...

[Quemaqua]

Eh.  It was okay, and nothing abysmal, but it really doesn't set you up for how good the rest of the game is going to be.  Just pretty standard stuff.  And maybe a little too long.

[MysterD]

I don't expect much from game-tutorial levels, Que -- usually, they teach you the game mechanics, introduce you to the world and story; and yeah, not too much more than that -- like say Deus Ex. I dunno, but I think Witcher did the tutorial level better than most games do.

Witcher really kicks into gear in Act 1.
Yeah, even more so w/ Act 2.

Y'know, IMHO -- this is one of those games that just keeps getting better and better as it goes along.

And The Epilogue is one easily of the most memorable (ending) chapters in gaming in my recent memories.

[MysterD]

Que, you might like to know this, since you were once curious of 1.1 saves might or might not working w/ upcoming Patch 1.2.

Some good info on  upcoming Patch 1.2

According to your questions about the patch i will try to answer some of them.

All 1.1 saves will be compatibile with the 1.2 patched version.

That's good!!!

When you upgrade from version 1.1 to 1.2 it won't be necessary to start the game from the beginning.
However, in some specific situations, the single act should be restarted.

[Quemaqua]

Huh... that's interesting.  I wonder what those situations are.  I haven't spent much time in Act III, so it wouldn't kill me to restart.  But it would kinda' suck a little.

[MysterD]

Huh... that's interesting.  I wonder what those situations are.  I haven't spent much time in Act III, so it wouldn't kill me to restart.  But it would kinda' suck a little.

At least if you have to restart an Act, it won't be Act 2.
Witcher's Act 2 is like REALLY HUGE -- kind of like how BG2's Act 2 was HUGE.

I wonder what those situations are, too...

[idolminds]

The 1.2 patch is out. Changelog:

Gameplay and text bugs fixed:
- Fixes for Alina not being at her home when she should (Act 4).
- Wife's Tears Potion fixes.
- Fixes for usable doors on the swamps (Act 5).
- Fixes for Alchemist in manufacture giving quest items to Geralt (Act 3).
- Fixes for some items to be found in Fields (Act 4).
- Fixes for a disappearing enemy in quest Haunted House (Act2).
- Fixed problems with Alvin's spawn (Act 1).
- Few minor text fixes for all languages.

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.
- The game won't make an autosave if Geralt has an effect preventing him from talking (like knockdown, stun, push) - the result would be no talking at all for the rest of the game.
- Now you can't attack neutral NPCs if you input the second (etc.) sword sequence in them, while first attacking a hostile.
- Dandelion's music won't be 'echoed' while changing location twice.
- The game can handle broken savegames now – it returns to main menu.
- Motion blur effect won't stay active despite Blizzard potion wearing off – drinking, then changing location, then cutscene.
- Final fixes for weapons disappearing from enemies’ hands.
- Grass and small stones being multiplied – fixed.
- Fixes for receiving damage from Striga while being far away.

Art bugs fixed:
- Few level decoration fixes.
- Fixes for barghest attack animation.

[MysterD]

Wooohooo for the patch being released.

[Quemaqua]

Awesome and a half.

[Xessive]

Sweet!

While I haven't seen it on any of the usual download sites yet, I found the official link: Patch v1.2.1160

EDIT:
It's up on Gamer's Hell now too.

[Xessive]

The Witcher is still unavailable out here, however I was able to download the demo and man was I taken aback!

CD Projekt have done a hell of a job with this! Quite frankly it makes Obsidian look like they were mucking around with the development of the NWN2 engine! I was expecting it to look better than NWN2 but not by this much! This is a gorgeous game with a lot of depth.

I finally get what everybody meant about the translation issues, but it's bareable.

I'm buying this as soon as it's available. If the demo is a good representation then this is a game to own. Easily the best RPG of the year.

Geralt is badass. Now I'm interested in reading Sapkowski's books!

[Quemaqua]

Frankly, from what I know about the demo's content, I'd say it contains most of what I've liked in the game *least* so far.  So... yeah.  If you dig the demo, you'll love the game.

[Xessive]

Sweet!

Y'know it's kinda like a deeper, more intense Fable. Not that they can be matched or anything, I'm just saying the things I liked about Fable are essentially the same things I like in The Witcher plus some more.

By the way, how much have the patches fixed? Is it a signficant leap from the base release?

[Quemaqua]

Yes, quite.  Lots of small fixes, some large ones, and improvements to the loading/saving times, etc.  It's much better.

[MysterD]

Definite improvement on the save/load times, to say the least.
Very much needed, right there.

[gpw11]

So I picked this up yesterday before heading out and just really had time to install it and play around for a few min.  Performance slows to a crawl during the cut scenes and it'll probably get annoying.  The thing is that I don't want to mess around with the settings because everything was fine in that first area you're running around in....it's just the cut scenes. I did have fraps running and the opening movie was like 10-20fps, while everything else was like 40-55+ fps.  It leaves me kind of in a tough position.

That said, I think this is the first game I've come across so far that makes me think I should probably drop the resolution from native on my monitor.  The trouble is that although my monitor apparently scales very well I still don't like effect it leaves at all.

[Quemaqua]

No no, what you need to do is turn off the Depth of Field effect.  It only comes up during cutscenes and for some people (like me) it utterly kills performance.  The game runs great for me with that one caveat, and turning it off was well worth it.  It's a nice effect to be sure, but hardly a necessary one given that it only comes up when you talk to people or view a scene.

[MysterD]

Yes, turning Depth of Field off saved cut-scenes performance for me.

B/c just like you, GPW -- game ran great until a cut-scene came.

Turned off Field of Effect, problem solved.

[gpw11]

Excellent, thanks for the info.

[gpw11]

I've only put in half an hour or so, but it rocks so far.  I have a hard time playing PC RPGs so we'll see if this one works out better, but from what you guys have been saying it seems like it's more of my type of thing compared to the bland D&D games that seem to dominate the PC RPG marketplace.

The depth of field thing helped out a lot, but it still seems to struggle with some cut-scenes.  I guess that's a sacrifice that needs to be made in order to run at 1680x1050 and it's not nearly as bad as it was before so I can totally deal with it.

One question:  what's up with the graphics engine?  It's hard to explain, but it almost seems like everything is made up of small "bars".  I almost want to say voxels, but that'd be wrong.  Like scanlines or some sort of filter or something.  It's only really noticeable in the cut-scenes as well.

[Quemaqua]

Wha?  I haven't noticed anything like that at all.  Odd.  Anyway, the engine is a highly modified version of the Aurora engine that was used for NWN2.  It's pretty amazing that it looks as good as it does.  There are some cool vids out there that show off some of the stuff.

Speaking of, if you want a potential copy of the Wiedzmin TV show, gpw (Polish Witcher show based on the books), let me know.  I've been putting together DVDs.  It's taking me forever, but the end result should be pretty sweet.

[gpw11]

I'll see if I can grab a screen of what I'm talking about.  As for the DVDs, thanks for the offer and I'll let you know once I'm further into the game and can more accurately judge if it's the kind of thing I'd be interested in.

I take it it's animated?

[Quemaqua]

Live action.  Polish language, English subs, full frontal nudity by episode 2.  Polish people hate it because they're obsessed with the books, but everybody else likes it pretty well.  DVDs will also have the crappy "making of" video stuff from the game's LE release spliced in with a bunch of good stuff I found on the internet to supplement, probably a few other things as well.

[gpw11]

Interesting.  I'll let you know for sure.




Anyways, hit the thumb to see what I'm talking about.  That's zoomed in, but everything seems to be made up of little 'bars' to say the least, and when people talk in cut scenes it's fairly noticeable.

[Quemaqua]

Definitely a bug, that shouldn't be happening.  Zoom over to thewitcher.com's official forums and check around.  Good community there, lots of helpful people.

[gpw11]

Interesting.  I will do that. 


On another note, do all the NPCs have their own schedules?  Because I'm looking for the Reverend right now and he's not in his house, nor does the game seem to have an Oblivion-esque time speed up feature.

[Xessive]

Interesting.  I will do that. 


On another note, do all the NPCs have their own schedules?  Because I'm looking for the Reverend right now and he's not in his house, nor does the game seem to have an Oblivion-esque time speed up feature.

SO far I've noticed that the NPC's have a schedule kind alike Oblivion. You cna use a nearby fireplace to meditate and pass the time.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, it can occasionally be a little annoying trying to find a specific person, but there's almost always so much to do in the game that you'll just say "Oh, he isn't here", and go do something else until you've got the right time of day.  I mean, time moves really slow in the game, so you can generally plan things pretty well in that regard.

[gpw11]

Yeah, I eventually found a fire, meditated, and then he was there.  Oh, and the official forums had a fix to the problem (have to force AF either on or off through the Nvidia CP rather then letting the application control it).  Looks about 100x better now, and I guess I didn't really realize the full effects of the error at the time (although the pixelated, voxel-like look was pretty cool in it's own way.  It could really work out for a different type of game).

[gpw11]

Ok, this game is pure awesomeness.  I'm in act 2, with a backlog of about ten quests, I'm pretty close to broke, and I'm still having fun.  Even the pointless quests seem worthwhile.

[Quemaqua]

Act 2 is pretty great.  A bit convoluted, mostly due to the truncated script, but still great.  The general end parts are brilliant.

[gpw11]

Are there any real penalties for skipping some of the quests?  It's getting to the point where I kind of want to get onto the main quest, but can't find some of the monsters I need to kill for the side quests and that sort of thing.  Or maybe I'll just give it a rest for a bit and hit it up fresh.

[MysterD]

Some of the Side Quests actually kind of bleed a little bit right into the Main Quest.

Act 2 takes a while; just like BG2, it's probably the LONGEST act in the game.
Yeah, by far.

[gpw11]

Yeah, it took a while but I finally finished act II a day or so ago.  Good stuff.

Quick question:  Can I still sell my Salamander badges after the second act?  That guy who used to buy them doesn't really show up in the Hairy Bear anymore.

[MysterD]

Y'know, I dunno.
I put all my badges in storage (at the Inns), actually.

[MysterD]

Toolset Interview w/ CDPR
From WitcherVault, some info here on D'Jinni Toolset (Witcher SDK) that'll be coming soon....

I put all of WitcherVault's questions in bold.

Modding The Witcher
CD Projekt Red Lets the Djinni Out of The Bottle
The Djinni Toolkit is due out soon and modders across the various forums and fansites have shown that they are anxious to get their hands on it! In light of that, we had a mini QnA with the devs to get a bit more info on what the community can expect from Djinni. The tool is basically a professional utility and it is the one used to build the rich environment and content we currently have in game. Below are a the replies from Engine Programmer Daniel Sadowski and Designers Mateusz Kanik and Kasia Kuczynska.

What was behind the decision to release a Mod toolkit for The Witcher?

    The Witcher was always a game with a lot of potential. We have always tried to do as much as possible with it and we feel that releasing the D'jinni toolkit to the community is a natural step for us to take. It's the only way to really let the game grow beyond anything we could do and imagine. There are many talented people in the community and it will be interesting to see what they can come up with. Personally, I'm very eager to see the results. - Daniel Sadowski, engine programmer

Since Djinni is planned to be released in a beta version, will there beupdates to it down the road?

    There will probably be some kind of updates down the road but how often and what they will contain - it's too early to say. Right now we're just trying to finalize the slightly modified version for the community to use. - Daniel Sadowski, engine programmer

You've said that D'jinni is a "Protool". Will there be a tutorial and examples released for those new to modding?

    Yes, there will be a comprehensive manual released, with lots of examples and illustrations. We'll also support the modders through our forums, trying to answer all the questions and to help with all the difficult matters. - Kasia Kuczynska - designer

Since the toolkit is a professional tool and not just a level editor, will fans be able to create total conversions with it, or is it primarily for creating add-on scenarios?

    Djinni includes dialog editor as well as quest editor, so you will be able to create conversations and quests in the same way we did in The Witcher. - Kasia Kuczynska - designer

If users want to create their own content other than new textures, what file formats does it support for models and sound?

    TGA and DDS for textures. OGG and WAV for sounds. - Mateusz Kanik, designer

It's been mentioned before that users could add their own cinematics to the game. Does the tool aid in the creation of cinematics or just allows the plugin of movies created by other means?

    All in-game cutscenes can be created in D'jinni - basically you will be able to use the same tool we used during the development of the game. - Daniel Sadowski, engine programmer

And lastly, The Witcher has won several RPG of the year awards, It has been on several top ten games of 2007 lists, and it was even nominated for the first ever WGA videogame writing award. Are you surprised at the critical success The Witcher has recieved?

    When we were making The Witcher, we wanted to make the best game possible, the one we ourselves would like to play. However we were not sure how other players would find our game and how such a mature RPG would be received. We're are really glad and a little surprised by the excellent reviews and positive feedback we get from our fans. We hope that our future productions will be received with the similar enthusiasm. - Kasia Kuczynska - designer

I'm very curious to see the ways in which the toolkit is used. Aside from a wide range of mods, I think we're likely to see some nice TCs and even some machinima come out of this. I want to thank the devs for a great game, the answers to these questions, and the upcoming release of the Djinni Toolset. Cheers!

[Pugnate]

So I got into the game again. It is pretty damn cool.

I think anyone who hasn't finished the game yet needs to get back into it and finish in time for the sequel.