HomeFeaturesThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Best The Witcher 3 modsToss a mod to your Witcher
Toss a mod to your Witcher
Almost five years and a surprisingly good TV series later, andThe Witcher 3is still going strong; a surprising turn of events given how static the game has remained these past few years. Beyond a round of free DLC and two excellent expansions, Geralt Of Rivia’s grand quest to become a cool step-dad and maybe settle down at a vineyard in the south of fantasy France remains largely timeless. Still, there’s always room to tweak, tune and expand. This week on Modder Superior, we’ve got quality of life tweaks, re-textures, re-balancing and a Cavill-cade of faces fresh from TV.
Modding The Witcher 3: harder than you’d think
Despite CD Projekt Red putting out an official tools, modders have found themselves limited in what they can easily do. Users also need to be careful when combining mods for your next playthrough, lest the game spit out a wall of script conflict errors and fail to load. Older mods (pre-GOTY edition) often have compatibility issues, and even later mods can kick up a fuss unless you have theCommunity Patch, which makes all editions of the game (assuming you own the DLC) equal. Note thatthis patch needs to be manually installed, as mod managers mishandle it.
For more detail on all of this, I recommend at least skimming throughWasteland Ghost’s Witcher 3 Modding Guide. How much you’ll need the guide depends on just how ambitious you’re feeling. Here’s a few choice mods to tempt you to download far too much all at once.
Toss a mod on your textures
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
For all it size and scope, this is a doddle to set up. No mod managers or prerequisites needed. Just run the numbered Part 1, 2 and 3 installers in turn and point them to your Witcher 3 directory. You’ll likely get more mileage out of this mod if you’ve got a 1440p or 4k monitor, but it’s a more dramatic change than you might expect, especially when the camera gets wedged up near rocks or bricks. The mod also comes with an optional ultra-high graphical configuration mode, pushing the game to its visual limits. A nice extra, if you’ve got the hardware for it.
Quality of life mods
Witchering isn’t easy. Here’s a handful of little mods that, with a little alchemy, might breathe some more life into the game if you’re looking for a smoother ride.
Reworks and overhauls: The Witchers re-code
No matter how good you are, returning to The Witcher 3 means you’re going to be spending a lot of time stabbing monsters. Here’s a trio of mods that change the fundamental flow of battle in a few interesting ways.
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There are few Witcher 3 mods with the same pedigree as Andrzej ‘Flash’ Kwiatkowski’sFCR3, latest in his series-wide Full Combat Rebalance series. Normally I’m leery of people’s attempts to completely overhaul an RPG, but Flash—a key gameplay designer on the second and third Witcher games—likely has a better idea of what to do than most. In fact, this is the least ambitious of the FCR series, acting less as a total rework of the combat and more of a subtle ‘directors cut’ style tuning, similar toJosh Sawyer’s personal tweaks modforFallout: New Vegas.
Most of the changes FCR3 makes can be filed under ‘common sense’. Abilities that were wildly over/under-powered are brought in line. NPC allies do full damage in this mod, and over-levelled enemies (marked with a skull symbol) no longer get huge stat bonuses in FCR beyond what their level should confer. There are also a couple of lore-based improvements, like Geralt’s mutant eyes giving him natural night-vision.
It should go without saying that you’re only meant to install one major mod like this at a time. The FCR3 mod’s Nexus page also lists compatibility packs to make it play nicely with some popular QOL mods like Friendly Stash and Friendly HUD, I couldn’t get them to launch in parallel without a wall of script errors. Your mileage may vary, though if you’ve a foolproof way of making everything behave, do share with the class.
Watch on YouTubeA potentially spoileriffic boss fight. Be warned.
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Wasteland Ghost (ala WGhost81) has been working on Witcher stuff for ages, but was also instrumental in picking apart Firiaxis' XCOM: Enemy Unknown so the Long War mod could live. It’s no surprise, then, that this goes the further than most Witcher 3 gameplay reworks. As well as re balancing almost everything and adding control panels to tune how levelling and progression works, more recent versions of this mod change combat to be entirely stamina-based. Not quiteDark Souls, but it’s more demanding, as Geralt can’t hack away all day long without a pause for breath.
Feature-wise, Ghost Mode is generous - not too surprising for the creator of the Friendly HUD above. There are several pages of customisable variables and features tucked away inOptions/Mods/Ghost Modein-game, ranging from tweaking level scaling to manually re-balancing the stamina-based combat system - although it’s probably best to go with the Recommended preset at first.
While Ghost Mode does give combat a different rhythm - especially as signs now have to be weighed against your ability to stab and dodge - there’s no massive fundamental changes. Attacks are still a little bit unpredictable and fights against swarms of monsters can get messy. Still, if you’ve played the game to death and want to refresh the experience, this is the mod to go with.
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
The Witcher 3: Netflix edition aka make Geralt look like Henry Cavill
You’ll have to take my word that she looks significantly less nightmarish in every other scene. Still, if I’m going to look at Geralt’s mug for 60 hours, I’d rather it fit the feel of the game a little better, and several other artists have re-skinned Cavill of Jersey too. A quick search on Nexus Mods for ‘Cavill’ will give you a half-dozen options to pick from.
Of course, it’s not all about the look. Modder “BoxManLocke” has produceda little modadding Jaskier/Dandelion’s all-too-catchy song about paying your Witcher to the game. The current version replaces the main menu and ending credits themes, and lets street musicians sing it as well. Simple enough, but there’s another version in the works that promises a “more discreet/atmospheric” implementation. With a second season confirmed, I’ve got my fingers crossed for more bardic antics to port over. That, and a faint hopethey cast Mark Hamill as Vesemir.
