Modding in the Witcher 3 Next-Gen Update

[Gabriel424]

In response to post #118721838. #118722318, #118736613, #118750988, #118758088 are all replies on the same post.

LiloLila wrote: Interesting that they incoorperated bug/glitch fixing mods into the game instead of fixing the bugs themself. But to be fair why should the same work be done twice.
But it's sad that they haven't choosed to incoorperate BiA

I also wold like to know how many individual bugs they gonna fix on their own. Hope these get listed in the update log.

Gabriel424 wrote: Definitely sad that BiA didn't make it in. Now I have to choose between nicer graphics, or 5k+ bugfixes? Easy choice, making a new non-Steam game entry in my library right now. Go figure, CDPR chooses form over function and goes for the graphics update... screw that.

LiloLila wrote: true. They basically just cleaned up the facade.
Sadly I only have Steam and therefor can't downgrade later. But I have backed up a fresh installation of the entire game plus ducuments folder already. Just to be save.
I guess I will test the new stuff but depending on the mods, I might not stay on the next gen for long without BiA.

Gabriel424 wrote: I also only have Steam, that's what I meant... after backing it up, I added it to my library (+ sign in the bottom left corner) as a non-Steam game and called it The Witcher 3: Brothers in Arms. This way I won't have to go offline to actually play; if you leave it with the default name, it'll try to update every time you start up the game while online. Easy to let an update slip in and break the game like that, I went through that nightmare with Skyrim enough tyvm.

LiloLila wrote: I didn't knew you can add local games to your steam library. I have to investigate this.

Can this also be used as a save point to go back to, when you screw up while modding? In that case, if you import the vanilla game, it wold be the ultimate game saver.

I assume so, unless I'm confused about what you mean... anything you can do with a backup of the game, you can do with a renamed copy. This just allows you to exempt that copy from forced updates, unlike renaming directories with a batch file which is what people used to use. If you wanted to, you could keep as many copies of the game as your disk space allows and have all of them playable via Steam; e.g. a copy of both 1.32 and next-gen in vanilla, then 1.32 with all your preferred mods as you have them now, and finally a next-gen copy to experiment with new mods on. Just make sure you keep the next-gen vanilla as the one Steam recognizes. It's quite easy to tell - the non-Steam games will have no pictures, achievements, links to the forums/guides, etc. Those are the ones that will be exempt from updating.

[ThyAlex]

lol welp i guess its time for my 5th 100 percent play through haha. it has been a year exactly since i last played it too !

 

[LiloLila]

In response to post #118721838. #118722318, #118736613, #118750988, #118758088, #118770353 are all replies on the same post.

LiloLila wrote: Interesting that they incoorperated bug/glitch fixing mods into the game instead of fixing the bugs themself. But to be fair why should the same work be done twice.
But it's sad that they haven't choosed to incoorperate BiA

I also wold like to know how many individual bugs they gonna fix on their own. Hope these get listed in the update log.

Gabriel424 wrote: Definitely sad that BiA didn't make it in. Now I have to choose between nicer graphics, or 5k+ bugfixes? Easy choice, making a new non-Steam game entry in my library right now. Go figure, CDPR chooses form over function and goes for the graphics update... screw that.

LiloLila wrote: true. They basically just cleaned up the facade.
Sadly I only have Steam and therefor can't downgrade later. But I have backed up a fresh installation of the entire game plus ducuments folder already. Just to be save.
I guess I will test the new stuff but depending on the mods, I might not stay on the next gen for long without BiA.

Gabriel424 wrote: I also only have Steam, that's what I meant... after backing it up, I added it to my library (+ sign in the bottom left corner) as a non-Steam game and called it The Witcher 3: Brothers in Arms. This way I won't have to go offline to actually play; if you leave it with the default name, it'll try to update every time you start up the game while online. Easy to let an update slip in and break the game like that, I went through that nightmare with Skyrim enough tyvm.

LiloLila wrote: I didn't knew you can add local games to your steam library. I have to investigate this.

Can this also be used as a save point to go back to, when you screw up while modding? In that case, if you import the vanilla game, it wold be the ultimate game saver.

Gabriel424 wrote: I assume so, unless I'm confused about what you mean... anything you can do with a backup of the game, you can do with a renamed copy. This just allows you to exempt that copy from forced updates, unlike renaming directories with a batch file which is what people used to use. If you wanted to, you could keep as many copies of the game as your disk space allows and have all of them playable via Steam; e.g. a copy of both 1.32 and next-gen in vanilla, then 1.32 with all your preferred mods as you have them now, and finally a next-gen copy to experiment with new mods on. Just make sure you keep the next-gen vanilla as the one Steam recognizes. It's quite easy to tell - the non-Steam games will have no pictures, achievements, links to the forums/guides, etc. Those are the ones that will be exempt from updating.

Rn I have a copy of a fresh installation in a folder on my desktop. At the moment I would have to copy that folder to another place if I want to mod it to not effect the copy I made as a backup.

My question ist, If I upload that unmodded copy into my steam library, do I still need a backup copy or can I just do something similar like "verify files" (or how it is called in english) to roll the game back to the point when I uploaded it? Because in that case I could save some space (over 50 GB) on my own hard drive.
But if it would effectifely just create an extra "Start Game" button in my library I would still need both the backup and the modded copie on my hard drive. And I could just create a shortcut to the modded exe to play the game that way without steam too.

But another question.
Does a separate library list entry also use a separate documents folder? This alone might be enough to use this feature.
Because rn the old version and the next gen version would write to the same docs folder since both are the same game. And that's a problem if I want to have both versions.

[Gabriel424]

In response to post #118721838. #118722318, #118736613, #118750988, #118758088, #118770353, #118772443 are all replies on the same post.

LiloLila wrote: Interesting that they incoorperated bug/glitch fixing mods into the game instead of fixing the bugs themself. But to be fair why should the same work be done twice.
But it's sad that they haven't choosed to incoorperate BiA

I also wold like to know how many individual bugs they gonna fix on their own. Hope these get listed in the update log.

Gabriel424 wrote: Definitely sad that BiA didn't make it in. Now I have to choose between nicer graphics, or 5k+ bugfixes? Easy choice, making a new non-Steam game entry in my library right now. Go figure, CDPR chooses form over function and goes for the graphics update... screw that.

LiloLila wrote: true. They basically just cleaned up the facade.
Sadly I only have Steam and therefor can't downgrade later. But I have backed up a fresh installation of the entire game plus ducuments folder already. Just to be save.
I guess I will test the new stuff but depending on the mods, I might not stay on the next gen for long without BiA.

Gabriel424 wrote: I also only have Steam, that's what I meant... after backing it up, I added it to my library (+ sign in the bottom left corner) as a non-Steam game and called it The Witcher 3: Brothers in Arms. This way I won't have to go offline to actually play; if you leave it with the default name, it'll try to update every time you start up the game while online. Easy to let an update slip in and break the game like that, I went through that nightmare with Skyrim enough tyvm.

LiloLila wrote: I didn't knew you can add local games to your steam library. I have to investigate this.

Can this also be used as a save point to go back to, when you screw up while modding? In that case, if you import the vanilla game, it wold be the ultimate game saver.

Gabriel424 wrote: I assume so, unless I'm confused about what you mean... anything you can do with a backup of the game, you can do with a renamed copy. This just allows you to exempt that copy from forced updates, unlike renaming directories with a batch file which is what people used to use. If you wanted to, you could keep as many copies of the game as your disk space allows and have all of them playable via Steam; e.g. a copy of both 1.32 and next-gen in vanilla, then 1.32 with all your preferred mods as you have them now, and finally a next-gen copy to experiment with new mods on. Just make sure you keep the next-gen vanilla as the one Steam recognizes. It's quite easy to tell - the non-Steam games will have no pictures, achievements, links to the forums/guides, etc. Those are the ones that will be exempt from updating.

LiloLila wrote: Rn I have a copy of a fresh installation in a folder on my desktop. At the moment I would have to copy that folder to another place if I want to mod it to not effect the copy I made as a backup.

My question ist, If I upload that unmodded copy into my steam library, do I still need a backup copy or can I just do something similar like "verify files" (or how it is called in english) to roll the game back to the point when I uploaded it? Because in that case I could save some space (over 50 GB) on my own hard drive.
But if it would effectifely just create an extra "Start Game" button in my library I would still need both the backup and the modded copie on my hard drive. And I could just create a shortcut to the modded exe to play the game that way without steam too.

But another question.
Does a separate library list entry also use a separate documents folder? This alone might be enough to use this feature.
Because rn the old version and the next gen version would write to the same docs folder since both are the same game. And that's a problem if I want to have both versions.

Been experimenting with just that myself; apparently they'll both still use the same documents folder, which is a bit of a wrinkle. I guess there'll still have to be a batch file as the target executable, unless there's a way to change the save game location easily. I haven't found one. And yes, you do still need the disk space to keep multiple versions of the game on your computer. 

As far as restoring a modded version of 1.32 to a fresh install of the same version, I suspect verifying your file integrity would either not work at all or would update it to the next-gen version. You'd probably need to keep a backup copy, or just use a mod manager to easily uninstall the mods.  It's not a magic bullet, just a way to keep playing it without Steam auto-updating. :)

[LiloLila]

In response to post #118721838. #118722318, #118736613, #118750988, #118758088, #118770353, #118772443, #118779948 are all replies on the same post.

LiloLila wrote: Interesting that they incoorperated bug/glitch fixing mods into the game instead of fixing the bugs themself. But to be fair why should the same work be done twice.
But it's sad that they haven't choosed to incoorperate BiA

I also wold like to know how many individual bugs they gonna fix on their own. Hope these get listed in the update log.

Gabriel424 wrote: Definitely sad that BiA didn't make it in. Now I have to choose between nicer graphics, or 5k+ bugfixes? Easy choice, making a new non-Steam game entry in my library right now. Go figure, CDPR chooses form over function and goes for the graphics update... screw that.

LiloLila wrote: true. They basically just cleaned up the facade.
Sadly I only have Steam and therefor can't downgrade later. But I have backed up a fresh installation of the entire game plus ducuments folder already. Just to be save.
I guess I will test the new stuff but depending on the mods, I might not stay on the next gen for long without BiA.

Gabriel424 wrote: I also only have Steam, that's what I meant... after backing it up, I added it to my library (+ sign in the bottom left corner) as a non-Steam game and called it The Witcher 3: Brothers in Arms. This way I won't have to go offline to actually play; if you leave it with the default name, it'll try to update every time you start up the game while online. Easy to let an update slip in and break the game like that, I went through that nightmare with Skyrim enough tyvm.

LiloLila wrote: I didn't knew you can add local games to your steam library. I have to investigate this.

Can this also be used as a save point to go back to, when you screw up while modding? In that case, if you import the vanilla game, it wold be the ultimate game saver.

Gabriel424 wrote: I assume so, unless I'm confused about what you mean... anything you can do with a backup of the game, you can do with a renamed copy. This just allows you to exempt that copy from forced updates, unlike renaming directories with a batch file which is what people used to use. If you wanted to, you could keep as many copies of the game as your disk space allows and have all of them playable via Steam; e.g. a copy of both 1.32 and next-gen in vanilla, then 1.32 with all your preferred mods as you have them now, and finally a next-gen copy to experiment with new mods on. Just make sure you keep the next-gen vanilla as the one Steam recognizes. It's quite easy to tell - the non-Steam games will have no pictures, achievements, links to the forums/guides, etc. Those are the ones that will be exempt from updating.

LiloLila wrote: Rn I have a copy of a fresh installation in a folder on my desktop. At the moment I would have to copy that folder to another place if I want to mod it to not effect the copy I made as a backup.

My question ist, If I upload that unmodded copy into my steam library, do I still need a backup copy or can I just do something similar like "verify files" (or how it is called in english) to roll the game back to the point when I uploaded it? Because in that case I could save some space (over 50 GB) on my own hard drive.
But if it would effectifely just create an extra "Start Game" button in my library I would still need both the backup and the modded copie on my hard drive. And I could just create a shortcut to the modded exe to play the game that way without steam too.

But another question.
Does a separate library list entry also use a separate documents folder? This alone might be enough to use this feature.
Because rn the old version and the next gen version would write to the same docs folder since both are the same game. And that's a problem if I want to have both versions.

Gabriel424 wrote: Been experimenting with just that myself; apparently they'll both still use the same documents folder, which is a bit of a wrinkle. I guess there'll still have to be a batch file as the target executable, unless there's a way to change the save game location easily. I haven't found one. And yes, you do still need the disk space to keep multiple versions of the game on your computer. 

As far as restoring a modded version of 1.32 to a fresh install of the same version, I suspect verifying your file integrity would either not work at all or would update it to the next-gen version. You'd probably need to keep a backup copy, or just use a mod manager to easily uninstall the mods.  It's not a magic bullet, just a way to keep playing it without Steam auto-updating. :)

Ok, but goot to know that I should never ever delete or alter that backup from now on. I guess I have to finde 50gig of could space some how just to be extra safe.
I hope that someone reads this and creates a mod or tool to change the document folder direction. I have no Idea how that could work though.

[showler]

In response to post #118721838. #118722318, #118736613, #118750988, #118758088, #118770353, #118772443, #118779948, #118783053 are all replies on the same post.

LiloLila wrote: Interesting that they incoorperated bug/glitch fixing mods into the game instead of fixing the bugs themself. But to be fair why should the same work be done twice.
But it's sad that they haven't choosed to incoorperate BiA

I also wold like to know how many individual bugs they gonna fix on their own. Hope these get listed in the update log.

Gabriel424 wrote: Definitely sad that BiA didn't make it in. Now I have to choose between nicer graphics, or 5k+ bugfixes? Easy choice, making a new non-Steam game entry in my library right now. Go figure, CDPR chooses form over function and goes for the graphics update... screw that.

LiloLila wrote: true. They basically just cleaned up the facade.
Sadly I only have Steam and therefor can't downgrade later. But I have backed up a fresh installation of the entire game plus ducuments folder already. Just to be save.
I guess I will test the new stuff but depending on the mods, I might not stay on the next gen for long without BiA.

Gabriel424 wrote: I also only have Steam, that's what I meant... after backing it up, I added it to my library (+ sign in the bottom left corner) as a non-Steam game and called it The Witcher 3: Brothers in Arms. This way I won't have to go offline to actually play; if you leave it with the default name, it'll try to update every time you start up the game while online. Easy to let an update slip in and break the game like that, I went through that nightmare with Skyrim enough tyvm.

LiloLila wrote: I didn't knew you can add local games to your steam library. I have to investigate this.

Can this also be used as a save point to go back to, when you screw up while modding? In that case, if you import the vanilla game, it wold be the ultimate game saver.

Gabriel424 wrote: I assume so, unless I'm confused about what you mean... anything you can do with a backup of the game, you can do with a renamed copy. This just allows you to exempt that copy from forced updates, unlike renaming directories with a batch file which is what people used to use. If you wanted to, you could keep as many copies of the game as your disk space allows and have all of them playable via Steam; e.g. a copy of both 1.32 and next-gen in vanilla, then 1.32 with all your preferred mods as you have them now, and finally a next-gen copy to experiment with new mods on. Just make sure you keep the next-gen vanilla as the one Steam recognizes. It's quite easy to tell - the non-Steam games will have no pictures, achievements, links to the forums/guides, etc. Those are the ones that will be exempt from updating.

LiloLila wrote: Rn I have a copy of a fresh installation in a folder on my desktop. At the moment I would have to copy that folder to another place if I want to mod it to not effect the copy I made as a backup.

My question ist, If I upload that unmodded copy into my steam library, do I still need a backup copy or can I just do something similar like "verify files" (or how it is called in english) to roll the game back to the point when I uploaded it? Because in that case I could save some space (over 50 GB) on my own hard drive.
But if it would effectifely just create an extra "Start Game" button in my library I would still need both the backup and the modded copie on my hard drive. And I could just create a shortcut to the modded exe to play the game that way without steam too.

But another question.
Does a separate library list entry also use a separate documents folder? This alone might be enough to use this feature.
Because rn the old version and the next gen version would write to the same docs folder since both are the same game. And that's a problem if I want to have both versions.

Gabriel424 wrote: Been experimenting with just that myself; apparently they'll both still use the same documents folder, which is a bit of a wrinkle. I guess there'll still have to be a batch file as the target executable, unless there's a way to change the save game location easily. I haven't found one. And yes, you do still need the disk space to keep multiple versions of the game on your computer. 

As far as restoring a modded version of 1.32 to a fresh install of the same version, I suspect verifying your file integrity would either not work at all or would update it to the next-gen version. You'd probably need to keep a backup copy, or just use a mod manager to easily uninstall the mods.  It's not a magic bullet, just a way to keep playing it without Steam auto-updating. :)

LiloLila wrote: Ok, but goot to know that I should never ever delete or alter that backup from now on. I guess I have to finde 50gig of could space some how just to be extra safe.
I hope that someone reads this and creates a mod or tool to change the document folder direction. I have no Idea how that could work though.

Make a new Windows account to use the old game on and you'll have a completely separate Documents folder.  It's a pretty minor annoyance to have to switch back and forth and it ensures you won't have conflicts and can even have two entirely different Vortex setups, one for each version of the game.

[LiloLila]

In response to post #118721838. #118722318, #118736613, #118750988, #118758088, #118770353, #118772443, #118779948, #118783053, #118783283 are all replies on the same post.

LiloLila wrote: Interesting that they incoorperated bug/glitch fixing mods into the game instead of fixing the bugs themself. But to be fair why should the same work be done twice.
But it's sad that they haven't choosed to incoorperate BiA

I also wold like to know how many individual bugs they gonna fix on their own. Hope these get listed in the update log.

Gabriel424 wrote: Definitely sad that BiA didn't make it in. Now I have to choose between nicer graphics, or 5k+ bugfixes? Easy choice, making a new non-Steam game entry in my library right now. Go figure, CDPR chooses form over function and goes for the graphics update... screw that.

LiloLila wrote: true. They basically just cleaned up the facade.
Sadly I only have Steam and therefor can't downgrade later. But I have backed up a fresh installation of the entire game plus ducuments folder already. Just to be save.
I guess I will test the new stuff but depending on the mods, I might not stay on the next gen for long without BiA.

Gabriel424 wrote: I also only have Steam, that's what I meant... after backing it up, I added it to my library (+ sign in the bottom left corner) as a non-Steam game and called it The Witcher 3: Brothers in Arms. This way I won't have to go offline to actually play; if you leave it with the default name, it'll try to update every time you start up the game while online. Easy to let an update slip in and break the game like that, I went through that nightmare with Skyrim enough tyvm.

LiloLila wrote: I didn't knew you can add local games to your steam library. I have to investigate this.

Can this also be used as a save point to go back to, when you screw up while modding? In that case, if you import the vanilla game, it wold be the ultimate game saver.

Gabriel424 wrote: I assume so, unless I'm confused about what you mean... anything you can do with a backup of the game, you can do with a renamed copy. This just allows you to exempt that copy from forced updates, unlike renaming directories with a batch file which is what people used to use. If you wanted to, you could keep as many copies of the game as your disk space allows and have all of them playable via Steam; e.g. a copy of both 1.32 and next-gen in vanilla, then 1.32 with all your preferred mods as you have them now, and finally a next-gen copy to experiment with new mods on. Just make sure you keep the next-gen vanilla as the one Steam recognizes. It's quite easy to tell - the non-Steam games will have no pictures, achievements, links to the forums/guides, etc. Those are the ones that will be exempt from updating.

LiloLila wrote: Rn I have a copy of a fresh installation in a folder on my desktop. At the moment I would have to copy that folder to another place if I want to mod it to not effect the copy I made as a backup.

My question ist, If I upload that unmodded copy into my steam library, do I still need a backup copy or can I just do something similar like "verify files" (or how it is called in english) to roll the game back to the point when I uploaded it? Because in that case I could save some space (over 50 GB) on my own hard drive.
But if it would effectifely just create an extra "Start Game" button in my library I would still need both the backup and the modded copie on my hard drive. And I could just create a shortcut to the modded exe to play the game that way without steam too.

But another question.
Does a separate library list entry also use a separate documents folder? This alone might be enough to use this feature.
Because rn the old version and the next gen version would write to the same docs folder since both are the same game. And that's a problem if I want to have both versions.

Gabriel424 wrote: Been experimenting with just that myself; apparently they'll both still use the same documents folder, which is a bit of a wrinkle. I guess there'll still have to be a batch file as the target executable, unless there's a way to change the save game location easily. I haven't found one. And yes, you do still need the disk space to keep multiple versions of the game on your computer. 

As far as restoring a modded version of 1.32 to a fresh install of the same version, I suspect verifying your file integrity would either not work at all or would update it to the next-gen version. You'd probably need to keep a backup copy, or just use a mod manager to easily uninstall the mods.  It's not a magic bullet, just a way to keep playing it without Steam auto-updating. :)

LiloLila wrote: Ok, but goot to know that I should never ever delete or alter that backup from now on. I guess I have to finde 50gig of could space some how just to be extra safe.
I hope that someone reads this and creates a mod or tool to change the document folder direction. I have no Idea how that could work though.

showler wrote: Make a new Windows account to use the old game on and you'll have a completely separate Documents folder.  It's a pretty minor annoyance to have to switch back and forth and it ensures you won't have conflicts and can even have two entirely different Vortex setups, one for each version of the game.

I guess you are right. Sounds light the only possible workaround for now.
but ... don't use vortex for TW3 mods. Edited December 8, 2022 by LiloLila

[mattcat]

I have over a hundred mods, an older PC with a videocard that doesn't support ray-tracing, and no interest in the new content. My copy is the Steam version of Witcher 3.

 

What can I do to ensure that I can continue to play the game without the update breaking half of my mods? It would be nice not having to go into Offline Mode each and every time I try to startup Witcher 3, and pray that I never make a mistake.

 

Will there be a deconversion patch that keeps the game at v.1.31, much like how there was a mod that reverted it back from 1.32 to 1.31?

[Pickysaurus]

In response to post #118721838. #118722318, #118736613, #118750988, #118758088, #118770353, #118772443, #118779948, #118783053, #118783283, #118783603 are all replies on the same post.

LiloLila wrote: Interesting that they incoorperated bug/glitch fixing mods into the game instead of fixing the bugs themself. But to be fair why should the same work be done twice.
But it's sad that they haven't choosed to incoorperate BiA

I also wold like to know how many individual bugs they gonna fix on their own. Hope these get listed in the update log.

Gabriel424 wrote: Definitely sad that BiA didn't make it in. Now I have to choose between nicer graphics, or 5k+ bugfixes? Easy choice, making a new non-Steam game entry in my library right now. Go figure, CDPR chooses form over function and goes for the graphics update... screw that.

LiloLila wrote: true. They basically just cleaned up the facade.
Sadly I only have Steam and therefor can't downgrade later. But I have backed up a fresh installation of the entire game plus ducuments folder already. Just to be save.
I guess I will test the new stuff but depending on the mods, I might not stay on the next gen for long without BiA.

Gabriel424 wrote: I also only have Steam, that's what I meant... after backing it up, I added it to my library (+ sign in the bottom left corner) as a non-Steam game and called it The Witcher 3: Brothers in Arms. This way I won't have to go offline to actually play; if you leave it with the default name, it'll try to update every time you start up the game while online. Easy to let an update slip in and break the game like that, I went through that nightmare with Skyrim enough tyvm.

LiloLila wrote: I didn't knew you can add local games to your steam library. I have to investigate this.

Can this also be used as a save point to go back to, when you screw up while modding? In that case, if you import the vanilla game, it wold be the ultimate game saver.

Gabriel424 wrote: I assume so, unless I'm confused about what you mean... anything you can do with a backup of the game, you can do with a renamed copy. This just allows you to exempt that copy from forced updates, unlike renaming directories with a batch file which is what people used to use. If you wanted to, you could keep as many copies of the game as your disk space allows and have all of them playable via Steam; e.g. a copy of both 1.32 and next-gen in vanilla, then 1.32 with all your preferred mods as you have them now, and finally a next-gen copy to experiment with new mods on. Just make sure you keep the next-gen vanilla as the one Steam recognizes. It's quite easy to tell - the non-Steam games will have no pictures, achievements, links to the forums/guides, etc. Those are the ones that will be exempt from updating.

LiloLila wrote: Rn I have a copy of a fresh installation in a folder on my desktop. At the moment I would have to copy that folder to another place if I want to mod it to not effect the copy I made as a backup.

My question ist, If I upload that unmodded copy into my steam library, do I still need a backup copy or can I just do something similar like "verify files" (or how it is called in english) to roll the game back to the point when I uploaded it? Because in that case I could save some space (over 50 GB) on my own hard drive.
But if it would effectifely just create an extra "Start Game" button in my library I would still need both the backup and the modded copie on my hard drive. And I could just create a shortcut to the modded exe to play the game that way without steam too.

But another question.
Does a separate library list entry also use a separate documents folder? This alone might be enough to use this feature.
Because rn the old version and the next gen version would write to the same docs folder since both are the same game. And that's a problem if I want to have both versions.

Gabriel424 wrote: Been experimenting with just that myself; apparently they'll both still use the same documents folder, which is a bit of a wrinkle. I guess there'll still have to be a batch file as the target executable, unless there's a way to change the save game location easily. I haven't found one. And yes, you do still need the disk space to keep multiple versions of the game on your computer. 

As far as restoring a modded version of 1.32 to a fresh install of the same version, I suspect verifying your file integrity would either not work at all or would update it to the next-gen version. You'd probably need to keep a backup copy, or just use a mod manager to easily uninstall the mods.  It's not a magic bullet, just a way to keep playing it without Steam auto-updating. :)

LiloLila wrote: Ok, but goot to know that I should never ever delete or alter that backup from now on. I guess I have to finde 50gig of could space some how just to be extra safe.
I hope that someone reads this and creates a mod or tool to change the document folder direction. I have no Idea how that could work though.

showler wrote: Make a new Windows account to use the old game on and you'll have a completely separate Documents folder.  It's a pretty minor annoyance to have to switch back and forth and it ensures you won't have conflicts and can even have two entirely different Vortex setups, one for each version of the game.

LiloLila wrote: I guess you are right. Sounds light the only possible workaround for now.
but ... don't use vortex for TW3 mods.

Unless you can provide an actual bug report, please don't tell people not to use Vortex. We've had almost no reports of it working improperly and thousands of users are playing Witcher 3 with it. If you can provide a detailed account of what you feel it isn't doing properly, with steps to replicate the problem we'd appreciate that. Most of the time when people say "don't use Vortex" like this, they haven't even tried it. 

[LiloLila]

In response to post #118721838. #118722318, #118736613, #118750988, #118758088, #118770353, #118772443, #118779948, #118783053, #118783283, #118783603, #118798543 are all replies on the same post.

LiloLila wrote: Interesting that they incoorperated bug/glitch fixing mods into the game instead of fixing the bugs themself. But to be fair why should the same work be done twice.
But it's sad that they haven't choosed to incoorperate BiA

I also wold like to know how many individual bugs they gonna fix on their own. Hope these get listed in the update log.

Gabriel424 wrote: Definitely sad that BiA didn't make it in. Now I have to choose between nicer graphics, or 5k+ bugfixes? Easy choice, making a new non-Steam game entry in my library right now. Go figure, CDPR chooses form over function and goes for the graphics update... screw that.

LiloLila wrote: true. They basically just cleaned up the facade.
Sadly I only have Steam and therefor can't downgrade later. But I have backed up a fresh installation of the entire game plus ducuments folder already. Just to be save.
I guess I will test the new stuff but depending on the mods, I might not stay on the next gen for long without BiA.

Gabriel424 wrote: I also only have Steam, that's what I meant... after backing it up, I added it to my library (+ sign in the bottom left corner) as a non-Steam game and called it The Witcher 3: Brothers in Arms. This way I won't have to go offline to actually play; if you leave it with the default name, it'll try to update every time you start up the game while online. Easy to let an update slip in and break the game like that, I went through that nightmare with Skyrim enough tyvm.

LiloLila wrote: I didn't knew you can add local games to your steam library. I have to investigate this.

Can this also be used as a save point to go back to, when you screw up while modding? In that case, if you import the vanilla game, it wold be the ultimate game saver.

Gabriel424 wrote: I assume so, unless I'm confused about what you mean... anything you can do with a backup of the game, you can do with a renamed copy. This just allows you to exempt that copy from forced updates, unlike renaming directories with a batch file which is what people used to use. If you wanted to, you could keep as many copies of the game as your disk space allows and have all of them playable via Steam; e.g. a copy of both 1.32 and next-gen in vanilla, then 1.32 with all your preferred mods as you have them now, and finally a next-gen copy to experiment with new mods on. Just make sure you keep the next-gen vanilla as the one Steam recognizes. It's quite easy to tell - the non-Steam games will have no pictures, achievements, links to the forums/guides, etc. Those are the ones that will be exempt from updating.

LiloLila wrote: Rn I have a copy of a fresh installation in a folder on my desktop. At the moment I would have to copy that folder to another place if I want to mod it to not effect the copy I made as a backup.

My question ist, If I upload that unmodded copy into my steam library, do I still need a backup copy or can I just do something similar like "verify files" (or how it is called in english) to roll the game back to the point when I uploaded it? Because in that case I could save some space (over 50 GB) on my own hard drive.
But if it would effectifely just create an extra "Start Game" button in my library I would still need both the backup and the modded copie on my hard drive. And I could just create a shortcut to the modded exe to play the game that way without steam too.

But another question.
Does a separate library list entry also use a separate documents folder? This alone might be enough to use this feature.
Because rn the old version and the next gen version would write to the same docs folder since both are the same game. And that's a problem if I want to have both versions.

Gabriel424 wrote: Been experimenting with just that myself; apparently they'll both still use the same documents folder, which is a bit of a wrinkle. I guess there'll still have to be a batch file as the target executable, unless there's a way to change the save game location easily. I haven't found one. And yes, you do still need the disk space to keep multiple versions of the game on your computer. 

As far as restoring a modded version of 1.32 to a fresh install of the same version, I suspect verifying your file integrity would either not work at all or would update it to the next-gen version. You'd probably need to keep a backup copy, or just use a mod manager to easily uninstall the mods.  It's not a magic bullet, just a way to keep playing it without Steam auto-updating. :)

LiloLila wrote: Ok, but goot to know that I should never ever delete or alter that backup from now on. I guess I have to finde 50gig of could space some how just to be extra safe.
I hope that someone reads this and creates a mod or tool to change the document folder direction. I have no Idea how that could work though.

showler wrote: Make a new Windows account to use the old game on and you'll have a completely separate Documents folder.  It's a pretty minor annoyance to have to switch back and forth and it ensures you won't have conflicts and can even have two entirely different Vortex setups, one for each version of the game.

LiloLila wrote: I guess you are right. Sounds light the only possible workaround for now.
but ... don't use vortex for TW3 mods.

Pickysaurus wrote: Unless you can provide an actual bug report, please don't tell people not to use Vortex. We've had almost no reports of it working improperly and thousands of users are playing Witcher 3 with it. If you can provide a detailed account of what you feel it isn't doing properly, with steps to replicate the problem we'd appreciate that. Most of the time when people say "don't use Vortex" like this, they haven't even tried it. 

I have to admit that I got influenced to share this opninion. I have never used a mod manager myself, I only know how to install mods manually. So I don't know aka can't say what exatly it is but everytime this topic comes up under any comment, that vortex does not fully work with TW3 mods in generel and that it also depends how they are packed in the first place to be abble to get corretly installed by a mod manager. And from what I have heard (that's where/how I got influenced) does Vortex have the most difficulties from all mod managers with TW3 mods.

But to be fair, I googled it yesterday before posting this comment and according to a github bug report from september does vortex struggle with mods that has to make changes to the input settings or xmls so any mod that adds a mod menu or adds/changes the keybinds might better be installed manually.

I guess next time I should remember that one dokumentet error messege might not be enough to proof all other comments about vortex not being the best option for this game (info for: if its close to midnight again, sleep before commenting)