The Witcher 3 Next-Gen finally dropped at the tail end of last year, and it was a largely impressive port even if some performance issues did present themselves around launch. In the months since, CD Projekt RED has been working to improve the experience on Xbox Series X|S, and another fresh update is rolling out today, May 11th.
The Witcher 3 Update 4.03 brings several improvements to the game on Xbox Series X|S, including fixing some "performance drops on next-gen consoles". Here are the full patch notes:
The Witcher 3 Update 4.03 Patch Notes Xbox
Console-Specific
- The Cross Progression pop-up will now properly display which account is logged in.
- Fixed an issue where dark stripes or shadows appeared on Geralt in the inventory screen when Performance Mode was enabled on PlayStation 5.
- Fixed an issue where the game could briefly freeze or stutter when autosaving on next-gen consoles.
- Addressed the issue of performance drops on next-gen consoles while using Witcher Senses in Beauclair and Novigrad.
Visual - PC and Next-Gen Exclusive
- Fixed an issue where a grid of light spots could appear on the ground and walls in certain weather conditions with Ray Tracing enabled.
- Spider webs will no longer change color when moving the camera with Ray Tracing enabled.
- Fixed an issue where some textures on characters during cutscenes would appear as not fully rendered.
- Through Time and Space - Fixed an issue where the mist in the Poisoned Valley was pink instead of white.
Quests & Gameplay - PC and Next-Gen Exclusives
- Added the community-made mod Next Gen Script Fixes by Sergeanur.
Quests & Gameplay - Available on all platforms
- In the Eternal Fire's Shadow - The ambient music from the quest will no longer continue playing after completion. For players who have already experienced this issue, it may be necessary to enter the Novigrad or Oxenfurt sewers again to resolve it.
- Added an option to auto-apply oils in combat.
- With the exception of potions and decoctions, it's now impossible for Geralt to eat or drink underwater. // While the team agreed it might be possible to drink liquids from a corked flask, consuming pints of ale or grilled meats underwater is too much of a stretch.
PC-Specific
- Fixed an issue with ray-traced vegetation shadows “popping”, depending on Geralt’s proximity and angle.
- Fixed an issue where repeatedly disabling and enabling ray-traced reflections and shadows could cause black shadows to appear at the edge of objects.
- Addressed the issue where the DirectX 11 version of the game could crash on launch or after loading a save on certain AMD GPUs.
- Added support for Intel Xe Super Sampling, an upscaling technology that uses machine learning to improve performance and image quality.
- Fixed some lighting issues with Screen Space Reflections when ray-traced global illumination is off.
- Performance improvements to ray-traced global illumination and ray-traced reflections.
- Fixed an issue where purple splashes could appear on the screen when riding Roach through puddles of water.
Please note: these are only the most notable changes. The patch contains other minor fixes that didn't make it into this list.