The Witcher 3 on Nintendo Switch is going to receive a new update soon, the developer confirmed.
On its social media page, as spotted on the Nintendo Switch subreddit, Saber Interactive confirmed that the team is working hard on a new update that will be ready soon.
Greetings! We're working hard on the update, everything will be ready soon!
No additional detail has been provided, so it will be interesting to see what this update does. Modders managed to unlock graphics settings that can be accessed on hacked consoles, so it would be nice for Saber Interactive to make these options available to all players.
Due to the Nintendo Switch hardware, a straight port from the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of The Witcher 3 wouldn't have been possible. Saber Interactive had to make some changes that do impact the visuals, but not as much as most thought. Finding new solutions to not change the game too much was extremely important, as the initial port ran at 10 FPS.
One of the things we knew we had to change for The Witcher 3 on Switch was how the engine calculates shadows from the sun. Shadows are obviously essential for creating a realistic look for huge outdoor levels, but the off-the-shelf solution was prohibitively expensive on Switch. We had to combine a blend of static shadowmap, terrain lightmap, and dynamic shadowmap to achieve a similar look to the original.
In outdoor environments, foliage can make up about 50% of all the visuals. We had to rewrite the algorithm for how grass is generated and rendered. We also had to change [levels-of-detail for] trees, lighting, and shadows to keep the overall look and performance as close to the original as possible.
The Witcher 3 is now available in all regions 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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