2861

The comparison video was posted earlier. The funny thing is I never knew they used so much colored lighting on PC.

I was about to ask how they fit all the textures into the console release, but Google tells me the installation size is 15 GB. That might make the biggest impact.

2862

Thats interesting - I could have sworn there was some restrictions in place by MS on that every game should be playable directly off the discs and not require installation?

2863

It does not require installation, but it runs better with it.

2864

Eurogamer does some great tech analysis, with comparison footage between the current Witcher 2 on PC (Version 2.1, not the Enhanced Edition) and the Enhanced Edition coming on 360 and PC on Tuesday:

Key graf:

“Compare and contrast with a comparable technology - such as Anvil, the Assassin’s Creed engine, which has gradually evolved across four games thus far. On its first attempt, CD Projekt RED has bested it in virtually every way, from characters to environment detail to lighting to effects work - and it runs more smoothly to boot. Combine what is a landmark technological achievement with an intriguing story, enormous amounts of depth and a fun combat system and we have the complete package, well worth its Eurogamer 9/10 review score.”

2865

It looks like the textures are still a little worse than PC.

Eurogamer implies they’ve changed the lighting design even for the PC release, making it more natural and less bloomy and fake. Sounds great to me. But no one’s seen it yet so it’s unconfirmed. I’m eager to check it out.

2866

According to someone on thewitcher forums who played PC EE that was already released in some retail stores, the lighting changes are not present. Which is not to say it cannot get patched later.

2867

But in pc it wasn’t bloomy. At least it wasn’t in my case, because I directly turned off the bloom…

2868

Right, but as the Eurogamer tech article points out, there were still some very interesting choices made with the lighting in the PC version that it would be nice to have the chance to get rid of–like the artificial lighting on Geralt and his companions’ faces, for instance.

2869

I’m really hoping the PC version gets the 360 controller improvements. Only played the tutorial since I’ve been waiting for the patch, but it’s pretty clunky. I want the analog sticks to have full range of movement. I could get used to it…but still.

2870

Anyone know how the patch preload is going to work? I downloaded the 10GB file using the downloader and didn’t move the files per the site instructions. Is the normal launcher going to download the final files or will I need to go somewhere else?

Edit: EE is up now!!!
Edit 2: If you downloaded the preload, you just start the launcher. Once it connects to home, it downloads another 300MB file and installs the whole thing.

2871

Haha! Everyone is getting this error:

Might as well wait until this gets sorted out.

2872

Looks like the GOG.com page will let you put your retail key in to associate TW2 with your GOG.com account, which I did and that’s a relief to have out of the way (it’s nice to not have ONLY a retail copy).

I am pulling down the (very awkward) 10 seperate piece download now (I’m on file 3 of 10, where files three through ten are 2GB each).

Does anyone know if what I’m pulling down is the EE edition all ready to rock n’ roll or do I need to pull the 10GB EE patch down in addition to what I’m grabbing now from GOG?

EDIT - In case anyone wanted the link to GOG to enter their key, here you go!

2873

Telefrog and others with the same problem,

Try manually downloading Part 1 and Part 2, replacing those files in the patch folder then run TW2EE_Patch.exe. Worked for posters on Neogaf and I downloading them now.

2874

Am I missing something? The launcher is telling me the patch is ready to install and… nothing else. I don’t see any option to install the patch, and launching the game does nothing.

2875

I have the same problem. The instructions for this patch are extremely confusing.

2876

Yeah. I just manually downloaded TW2EE_Patch.exe, TW2EE_EN_Voiceover.exe, TW2EE_Patch-1.bin, and redownloaded TWN2EE_Patch-2.bin then ran TW2EE_Patch.exe. Seems to be working so far.

edit: It failed for me. Same problem as Telefrog.

2877

I got the same error around 5:45 and decided to uninstall the regular game and re-download the whole Enhanced Edition.

Finished up about a half hour ago, installing now.

2878

I’m confuzzled. If I pre-downloaded the patch last week, it doesn’t have a setup file or anything. Where can I just get the last bits to install?

EDIT: NM. I see it’s smart enough to just download the last bits, but yeah errors for me as well.

2879

Here’s how the pre-load is supposed to work. Launch the game. The Launcher should recognize the pre-download and then fetch the 300mb in files that complete the installation, and then it installs.

Lots of us finding a corrupted file for whatever reason…so if need be just uninstall, keep your saved games, and redownload the whole thing. (Without needing to patch, the EE of TW2 is about 15gb.)

2880

It looks about the same to me. I think the lighting changes in that Eurogamer article are from lack of bloom. I already ran without it my last time through the game. I prefer it that way.

Everything else seems the same in the first 15 minutes. I forgot how good the game looks: vibrant, crisp textures and soft SSAO. In this game I catch myself looking at the art and graphics more than the talking heads. But the graphics are still way ahead of the editing, direction, and animation transitions. I think CD Projekt needs one more game to get that stuff up to Bioware’s level (though they slipped a little with ME3).

No major change in performance either. I can’t hold 60 fps with my preferred settings, so I’ll wait until my next videocard as planned. For now I’m content to play it vicariously through all the new console gamers.