The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - a game that won the hearts of many fans of the RPG genre. However, this masterpiece is also known for the fact that it causes a lack of FPS even on top-end machines. In our article, you will find a detailed optimization guide for The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings, as well as several other tricks that will improve the performance of your computer in the game. The information provided will be relevant for both novice gamers and professional PC users.
Game system requirements
Before proceeding with the optimization procedure for The Witcher 2 for a weak PC, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the system requirements of the game, since in most cases it is the lack of computer power that is a fundamental factor for the appearance of lags.
- Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ or better.
- RAM: 2 GB RAM (Windows Vista / 7).
- Hard disk: 16 GB of free space.
- Video card: 512 MB and Pixel Shader 3.0 (GeForce 8800 or better).
- Sound Card: compatible with Direct X 9.0c.
- OS: Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7.
- Internet connection required for installation.
If your computer does not meet these characteristics, then there can be no question of playing at maximum graphics settings without losing performance. However, do not be upset. Guide to optimizing the game "The Witcher 2" from our article will help you return your desired FPS with virtually no loss of image quality.
General system optimization
Before you start digging into the settings of the game, we strongly recommend that you check your operating system for normal operation. Quite often, crashes and slowdowns in the game are associated with incorrect Windows settings. For example, you should regularly update the drivers on the video card with new ones. You can do this via the Internet by going to the website of the company that produced the product you are using (the device manager will help you find out the exact model).
To check the quality of computer optimization, start the task manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del), then open the "Processes" tab and see how heavily loaded your system is. When applications are turned off, the load on the central processor should be no more than 3-4%. If this indicator exceeds the norm, turn off malicious processes by filtering them by the size of the load.
How is game performance measured?
To understand how a particular game setting affects performance, you must use any program that has a frame rate per second (FPS) function. For example, Fraps or Bandicam. In addition, you can monitor the CPU load through the device manager. If it reaches 100%, then lags and crashes are simply inevitable. However, the first option is a priority.
For a comfortable game, the frame rate in The Withcer 2 should be between 30 and 35 percent. However, if there are certain special effects on the screen (rain, magic, videos), this indicator can drop to 20-25 frames. For the second "The Witcher," this is within the normal range. If the FPS is below the specified mark, then the game will be uncomfortable, so the gamer will have to change something in the graphics settings.
Screen resolution
This parameter determines the number of pixels (horizontal and vertical) that can fit on your monitor. Maximum resolution allows for a clearer image. However, it will load your system the most. Of course, you can lower this figure to achieve good performance in the game. However, we do not recommend making such sacrifices.
There are other parameters that do not affect the visual component so much, but load the video card and the processor no less. So leave the resolution as best as possible (for widescreen screens, it leaves 1920x1080 pixels).
Texture quality
Every gamer knows that the quality of the textures that the player sees on his screen greatly affects the frame rate. In "The Witcher" there are four levels of settings for the described parameter:
If your monitor produces 10 FPS on ultra-settings, then at low graphics quality it will give out a stable thirty. Does picture quality not play a big role for you? Reduce this parameter by at least one point.
We also draw the attention of gamers to the fact that the “ultra” parameter is not much different from the high settings in the game, however, it can pick up FPS from 5 to 10. Therefore, it will be quite reasonable to use a high rate of texture settings, rather than the maximum.
Vertical sync
If you decide to optimize The Witcher 2 for a laptop or desktop computer, be sure to turn off vertical sync, which is also known as VSync. This parameter consumes a huge amount of computer resources and at the same time limits the refresh rate of your monitor to 30 Hz.
Of course, when disabling vertical synchronization, a phenomenon called “horizontal discontinuity” can occur - some parts of the image become uneven. However, activated VSync consumes between 20 and 50 percent of the computer’s resource. Therefore, on weak PCs, vertical synchronization is best off. For a person who does not properly understand the graphics settings, the absence of this parameter does not seem like a big omission.
The quality of shadows and light
This setting has a huge impact on the performance of your computer. Of course, shadows of poor quality can spoil the picture a little, however, this does not strike the eye so much as a decrease in resolution or texture quality. Therefore, it is recommended to set this parameter to a high or medium mark.
The same goes for the level of lighting. The decline in quality is almost not displayed on the visual component of the game. However, this indicator can consume from 3 to 4 FPS (especially in well-lit rooms). To increase productivity, it is recommended to lower the parameter to the middle mark.
Smoothing and blurring
During the optimization of "The Witcher 2", you should pay special attention to smoothing objects. In most cases, this option is enabled by default. However, you can turn it off for better performance. How will this affect the quality of visualization? The endings of objects will become jagged, which is not too noticeable if you do not look closely.
As for blurring, such an option is not always included, but only at certain game moments (not to be confused with blurriness when turning the camera). In most cases, a similar effect is used to display the disorientation of the protagonist. Blur is not used very often in the game, however, if turned on, it can “eat up” several FPS.
Other optimization methods
Today on fan forums you can find a huge number of graphic mods for optimizing The Witcher 2, which replace the old large-sized textures with new ones. If you decide to install such a mod, then be sure to follow the installation instructions, otherwise you risk "breaking" the game, after which only a complete reinstallation of The Witcher can fix the problem.
Also on the Internet there are special programs designed to improve game performance by analyzing your operating system and eliminating errors. One of the best optimizer programs is TGTC, which can be used to optimize the second Witcher.
We hope our article has helped you figure out how to fix lags in the game. If none of the above items helped you, we recommend reinstalling the operating system. Perhaps it has some undetected problem that consumes computer resources.