Exploration highlights in Witcher 3
Exploration highlights in Witcher 3
The issue mainly appears in Novigrad due to a high number of NPCs. It doesn’t seem like a major concern, but the population density settings could have been improved since medium-ultra feels similar.
It's definitely limited by your CPU at times, though I'm not sure it ever reaches a point where it stops gameplay unless other factors come into play. Witcher 3 is quite demanding on the processor, usually maintaining around 75 FPS in mixed conditions, with some high settings pushing to 1440p and still handling all cores and threads well. There are occasional drops to the mid-50s, but it never feels too much trouble. I believe the main contributors to heavy CPU use are draw/foliage effects and shadows, while NPC counts have a lesser impact on my experience. Check the screens below—same settings, but the first one shows a longer draw distance with foliage and shadows on rooftops, which pushes my 4790k close to 90% across all cores and threads. The second and third versions have more NPCs but shorter draw distances, no foliage, and around 50% usage on all cores.