CD Projekt RED Warns PC Players to Disable This Option in The Witcher 3 Remastered

Introduction to The Witcher 3 Remastered Performance Hurdles

The release of The Witcher 3 Remastered has once again brought fans together to experience the legendary 2015 RPG and its 2022 "Next-Gen" updates with a fresh coat of paint. However, just like the original launch, this updated version hasn't been completely smooth sailing for everyone. While players dive back into the Continent, some graphical aspects have sparked debate—ranging from overly bright or blurry exterior visuals to surprisingly dark interiors. Fortunately, PC players have access to a wide array of graphical settings to fine-tune their experience. In light of this, developer CD Projekt RED has issued a specific warning regarding a legacy feature that continues to cause problems.

CD Projekt RED Recommends Disabling NVIDIA Hairworks

During the era of the original The Witcher 3 release, technologies aiming to render hyper-realistic hair and fur were all the rage. Similar to AMD TressFX in the rebooted Tomb Raider trilogy—which frequently caused optimization bottlenecks—CD Projekt RED opted to integrate NVIDIA Hairworks into The Wild Hunt. Unfortunately, even on high-end NVIDIA graphics cards, enabling this setting could result in catastrophic frame-rate drops.

History seems to be repeating itself with the remastered edition. CD Projekt RED has officially taken to social media channels like X.com to warn the community that NVIDIA Hairworks is still plagued by optimization issues that can significantly tank performance on certain PC configurations. Until a hotfix or official patch is deployed, the Polish studio strongly advises players to turn off this specific setting.

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Disable NVIDIA Hairworks

If you are experiencing stutters or sudden frame-rate drops while exploring the remastered world as Geralt of Rivia, disabling NVIDIA Hairworks is a straightforward process. Follow these simple steps:

• Launch The Witcher 3 Remastered on your PC.
• Navigate to the main menu and select Options, then go to Video settings.
• Locate the NVIDIA Hairworks option and toggle the slider to Off.

By turning this option off, you will notice that the hair of characters like Geralt, as well as the fur of various monsters and animals, will look slightly less detailed and more rigid. However, it is a small price to pay to reclaim smooth gameplay and stable performance, especially if your hardware is struggling with the current build.

Conclusion and Future Outlook

If your high-end PC handles The Witcher 3 Remastered without breaking a sweat even with NVIDIA Hairworks enabled, you are free to leave it turned on. Nevertheless, turning it off remains a wise precautionary measure to prevent hardware strain and unpredictable performance hiccups until CD Projekt RED releases a dedicated optimization patch.