The Witcher 3 received a few very good lighting mods, such as the Super Turbo Lighting mod and the Phoenix Lighting mod. Things can always be improved, however, a new ReShade preset that has been released this week makes some improvements to the Phoenix Lighting mod that make everything look better and more realistic.
The Realistic Quality Booster for Phoenix Lighting boosts the mod by adding sharpness to the image, depth to shadows and some de-saturation to give a more realistic look to the game. The preset also introduces MXAO, a screen space ambient occlusion technique
This Reshade is meant to improve the final image quality of the game while still being 100% playable in all situations. This is achieved with a combination of subtle, yet effective, techniques:
- Increase the sharpness and definition of objects on screen with AdaptiveSharpen
- Desaturate slightly the image to obtain a more realistic color output with Colourfulness
- Create more depth on objects and characters to help reading the image better with MXAO - a screen space ambient occlusion technique.
You should not have any impact on The Witcher 3 performance - or pretty low one - 100% tied to your machine specs. Remember to check the box "Performance Mode" in the Reshade in-game menu. Saves you a couple of frames per second.
MXAO introduced by The Witcher 3 Realistic Quality Booster is an SSAO algorithm designed to be a replacement for faulty AA implementation in modern games.
MXAO is a SSAO algorithm designed to be the perfect replacement for faulty AO implementations in modern games. To spice things up, it can also calculate Indirect Lighting. The performance and scalability allows almost GI-like scenes in some cases.
Some comparison screenshots showcasing the improvements introduced by The Witcher 3 Realistic Quality Booster have also been shared, and you can find them below.
The Witcher 3 is now available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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