Fix The Witcher 2 Random Crashes, Mouse, SecuROM, Edit Config Settings & More

The Witcher 2 : Assassin of the Kings is finally released. This is an interesting PC video game title for several reasons. First, The Witcher 2 is one of the most anticipated games of the season and it’s been generating a lot of hype ever since it was first announced. Second, this is one of those rare PC exclusive titles which are almost non existent today. It’s after quite some time that PC gamers get to enjoy a popular game designed to take advantage of PC hardware, rather than a dumbed down console port (support the developers and buy this to show your appreciation – don’t just pirate it as usual). Either way here’s our routine troubleshooting articles for The Witcher 2. This post aims to help you with some of the common issues with the game, including random crashes to desktop (CTD), SecuROM doubts, mouse improvements, how to manually edit settings, etc.

Fix random crashes to desktop (CTD) in The Witcher 2

The Witcher 2 is known to crash on some Windows 7/Vista systems which are running the 32-bit version of the OS but have 3GB or more RAM installed. The crashes seem to be related to the way this game utilizes physical memory and enabling 3GB switch in Windows seem to fix the random CTD for most people. To enable 3GB switch, please follow the guide mentioned in this page. In case you want to undo the change, a step by step guide for this too can be found on the page. More on information on 3GB switch feature on Windows can be found here.

What’s the deal with SecuROM and is it affecting The Witcher 2 performance?

As most of you would already know, this game is protected by SecuROM, a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system that aims to repel pirates. There have been many controversies related to SecuROM in the past and these appear to have resurfaced with the release of Witcher 2. One of the main complains against the games’ DRM this time around is that it results in a noticeable performance hit. According to reports by several readers and from my own experience, the leaked version by GOG (which has DRM protection removed from both the game exe and paul.dll file, an integral part of SecuROM) seems to run smoother, with an increase of around 10 frames per second over the Retail version which has SecuROM embedded. This clearly is not a reason to pirate the game but hopefully devs would remove SecuROM at a later stage, possibly in a future patch. Until then the only resolution for legit buyers would be to use a so called crack, but note that this is still illegal in most countries even if you bought the game legally.

How to manually edit game settings in The Witcher 2

If you are one of the power users who will fine tune this game by tweaking advanced options, you’d most likely do so by editing the game configuration file.

1. Install The Witcher 2.
2. Navigate to folder C:\USERNAME\DOCUMENTS\Witcher 2\Config\
3. Open the file User.ini  with a text editor such as Notepad.

How to enable/disable mouse smoothing and invert mouse on The Witcher 2

Open User.ini file with a text editor, as highlighted in the previous section. Locate the string ‘smoothness’. Setting smoothness=1 enables mouse smoothing. Setting smoothness=0 disables this. Save and close the file once you are done.

Inverting mouse movement is also possible by editing configuration file. Open User.ini with a text editor and locate the MouseSensitivityY string. Add a minus sign before the numeric value to invert mouse Y Axis. Ex- Change MouseSensitivityY=0.2 to MouseSensitivityY=-0.2 . Doing the same to MouseSensitivityX will invert X axis.

What are the the best graphics drivers for The Witcher 2?

While the Witcher 2 will most likely play fine if you have video card drivers released within the last 6 months or so, the best performance might not be guaranteed. It’s highly recommended that you upgrade to the latest available drivers and if you are running new generation NVIDIA hardware it’s recommended that you upgrade to v257.27 beta drivers.
Latest official NVIDIA drivers : [Click Here]
Latest Beta NVIDIA drivers : [Click Here]
Latest official AMD drivers: [Click Here]

This article is a work in progress. Check back here for more updates.

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