User:Neovalen/W3R - The Wild Hunt Revisited

W3R: The Wild Hunt Revisited
A STEP hosted mod guide created and maintained by Neovalen.
Last Update: 7:28:36 11 June 2016 (UTC)

- Visit the comment and feedback thread on the STEP forums to submit any feedback or support questions related to this guide.
- This guide is graciously hosted by STEP and solely maintained by Neovalen in his spare time. Contributions directly to the author, or alternatively to STEP for site hosting are welcome.

Template:Notice Small Template:TOC right

Introduction and Summary

W3R: The Wild Hunt Revisited is a mod guide designed to keep up with the ever changing Witcher 3 mod landscape. Key tenets of this mod guide include:

Increased Immersion and Realism including but not limited to blood/gore, intense combat, nudity/sex, realistic needs, and survival.
Maintained Lore Friendliness meaning remaining true to the majority of The Witcher lore - but not in a purist sense - some liberties will be taken.
Maintained Stability with Maximum Functionality including conflict resolution, mod ordering, and more.

Author's Development System

The system used for the creation of this guide is as follows:

Processor: Intel Core i5 3570k @ 4.4 Ghz
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1 Sniper 3
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600
Video Card: Gigabyte GTX 980 G1 Gaming 4GB @ +135 Core + 350 Memory
Hard Drive (OS): Samsung 840 PRO 256GB SSD
Hard Drive (Games): Samsung 840 PRO 256GB SSD
Hard Drive (Data Backup): Western Digital Black 500GB 7200RPM

Prerequisites

Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation. --Robert H. Schuller

To use this guide to it's fullest extent, the following software must be installed and configured as specified.

Official CD Projekt RED Content

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt v1.21
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Free DLC Program
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Expansion Pass
The Witcher 3 Modkit (23 October 2015)

Tools

7-Zip v9.20

The function of this tool is to open archives manually when not using other tools as it handles most modern compression schemes and is free to use.

ModKitchen - GUI for The Witcher 3 ModKit v1.0.1

The function of this tool is to provide a wrapper for the command line functions of The Witcher 3 Modkit.

Nexus Mod Manager v0.61.23

If you use Mod Organizer to handle nxm links for other games: uncheck all file association options in the installer then configure Mod Organizers nxmhander to point to NMM for witcher3.
The function of this tool is to manage mods and is the mod manager of choice for this guide.

Witcher 3 Script Merger v0.5.11

The function of this tool is to check the mods folder for conflicts and displays them in the UI. If the conflict is a .ws script or .xml file inside a .bundle package, then this tool can merge the different versions.

All Journeys Begin With The First Step...

The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days. --Voltaire

The road of the White Wolf begins slowly yet with purposeful resolve.

Configure The Witcher 3

Upon downloading The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt there are no settings files pre-generated. Thus, it is imperative to run the game once to generate the initial set of configuration files and do basic setup.

Start The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt directly or via the game manager of your choice (GOG Galaxy / Steam).
Navigate to Options > Gameplay.
Set Manual sword draw/aheathing to On.
Set Turn off Witcher Senses "fish-eye" Effect to On.
Set Movement Response to Alternative.
Navigate to Options > Video > HUD Configuration.
Set HUD Size to Small.
Navigate to Options > Video > PostProcessing.
Click High preset button.
Set Ambient Occlusion to HBAO+.
Navigate to Options > Video > Graphics.
Click Ultra preset button.
Set Vertical Sync to Off.
Set Maximum Frames Per Second to Unlimited.
Set Hardware Cursor to On.

Template:Notice Small (Optional) Experienced players may also want to set the following:

Navigate to Options > Gameplay.
Set On-Screen Tutorials to Off.
Set Enemy Upscaling to On.

(Optional) Lastly, configure the DLC content so that the more lore-friendly default character outfits are used.

Navigate to Downloadable Content > Options.
Set Alternative Look for Yennefer to Off.
Set Alternative Look for Triss to Off.
Set Alternative Look for Ciri to Off.

After all settings have been set:

Exit The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

These settings have now been saved into the configuration files. These settings have accomplished the following:

Setup the user interface for minimal obstruction and maximum responsiveness.
Setup the graphics for maximum fidelity.
(Optionally) Setup the DLC to be lore friendly. Some mods may use the alternative looks at various points in the game as needed.

Configure Nexus Mod Manager

With The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt properly configured, the next step is to initially set up our mod management utility. When starting Nexus Mod Manager for the first time, it will scan for any supported games. Once this process has finished, perform the following:

Verify any game paths found by clicking the checkmark icon by each game then click [OK].
In the "Game Selection" window, select "The Witcher 3", check the box to prevent being asked on the next time, then click [OK].
In the "The Witcher 3 Setup" window, modify any file paths as desired. Default is recommended for ease of use.
In the "Category Setup" window, select [Yes].
Click through any news or warnings until you are at the main UI screen.
Click the bottom icon on the left side of the mods tab to switch view from category to files.
Exit Nexus Mod Manager.

Nexus Mod Manager has now been configured to install mods for The Witcher 3. When downloading a mod for the first time a prompt will appear asking for a Nexus username and password. Enter valid credentials, check the box to save them, and click [OK].

Mods for The Witcher 3 are installed to the <The Witcher 3>/Mods folder for use by the game. Each mod is installed with its own folder prefixed with "mod". Mods for The Witcher 3 generally consist of bundles for textures or .ws files for script changes. Mods are loaded in alphabetical order and use the first instance of each file found.

Configure Graphics Driver

Template:Notice Small With the base game and mod manager setup, it is now time to begin tweaking the graphics. Modern graphics drivers can be used to enhance a games built in functionality and add additional features. Perform the following:

Open Nvidia Control Panel and navigate to the Mange 3D Settings page.
Click on the Program Settings tab.
In the top drop down box, select The Witcher 3 (witcher3.exe).
In the window below, set the following:
 Anisotropic filtering: 16x
 Antialiasing - Gamma correction: Off
 Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimisation: Off
 Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias: Clamp
 Texture filtering - Quality: High quality
 Texture filtering - Trilinear optimisation: Off
 Vertical Sync: On
Close Nvidia Control Panel.

These changes have accomplished the following:

High quality anisotropic filtering will now be provided by the driver improving image quality.

ReShade Graphics Modification

Crosire's ReShade is an advanced, fully generic post-processing injector for games or alike. Imagine your favorite game with ambient occlusion, real high quality bokeh depth of field, color correction and more ... ReShade provides a generic way to access both color and depth information (latter is automatically disabled during multiplayer to prevent exploitation) and all the tools to make it happen.

TBD

Initial Configuration Tweaks

The following tweaks aim to increase gameplay and visuals in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt by tweaking the game engine to provide a better than vanilla experience. If a section exists, simply add the tweak to the bottom of that section or update existing parameter if present. If a section does not exist, add it at the bottom of the file.

PlatformGameplay.ini

This file can be found in the <The Witcher 3>/bin/config/platform/pc folder.

Movement Responsiveness Tweak

This tweak will increase the movement responsiveness of the player.

[Gameplay]
LeftStickSensitivity=1.0

user.settings

This file can be found in the <My Documents>/The Witcher 3 folder.

Disable Anistropic Filtering Tweak

This tweak will disable the games internal Anistropic Filtering as it is now being handled by the driver.

[Rendering]
MaxTextureAnizotropy=0

High Quality Mipmaps Tweak

This tweak will force the game to use much higher quality mip textures, improving the visual fidelity of the game at little to no performance cost.

[Streaming/Textures]
UseMipRefiner=true

HUD Position Tweak

This tweak fixes the position of HUD elements at aspect ratios higher than 16:9.

For 16:10 aspect ratio:

[Hidden]
uiVerticalFrameScale=1.1253

For 21:9 aspect ratio:

[Hidden]
uiHorizontalFrameScale=1.3125

Shadow Occlusion Culling Tweak

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt makes heavy use of occlusion culling to improve performance but sometimes this leads to visual bugs such as shadows popping in very close to Geralt or sunlight streaming through windows that disappears while moving in-doors. This tweak alleviates some of these issues.

Note: The in-game "Shadow Quality" slider will reset to "Low". This is expected and the game will use the tweaked values appropriately as long as the slider is not moved in game.

[Rendering]
CascadeShadowDistanceScale0=1.5
CascadeShadowDistanceScale1=3
CascadeShadowDistanceScale2=2.5
CascadeShadowDistanceScale3=2

Alternatively, for even higher fidelity at higher performance cost:

[Rendering]
CascadeShadowDistanceScale0=4
CascadeShadowDistanceScale1=4
CascadeShadowDistanceScale2=3
CascadeShadowDistanceScale3=2
CascadeShadowQuality=4

Shadow Performance Tweak

This tweak can improve performance without a significant loss in visuals.

[Rendering]
CascadeShadowmapSize=2048

Shadow Pop-In Tweak

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has some issues with shadow pop-in on character held objects such as boxes, clothing, and weapons. This tweak makes the distance where this pop-in occurs to be further away from the player.

[Rendering]
CharacterShadowsFallbackDistance=40

The White Wolf Comes

Ooh a man - nay - a wolf, gray, but not old. 'Tis he the pellar awaits. "They shall come whose stench is rape and death, but the wolf shall disperse them. The White Wolf." --The Pellar

With the start of the journey complete, the Butcher of Blaviken strides strongly into the hunt for his adopted daughter Ciri. The important points to remember when installing mods are as follows:

Mods are sorted into categories; however, the order of installation does not affect the final result.
The recommended option/texture size will be specified next to the version number when required.
The recommended configuration changes and file(s) to edit will be specified directly after the mod notes.
Backup a copy of the original mod archives in case a mod is ever taken down.
To install/uninstall a mod, select the mod(s) and click the second icon on the left bar indicating a puzzle piece with either a green right or red left arrow respectively.
If Nexus Mod Manager prompts if you wish to upgrade a mod, always select [No].

Reshaping The Continent

The Continent is the location and setting of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This section is dedicated to mods that improve it and all its inhabitants.

The Armaments

This sub-section is for mods dedicated to improving armor, weapons, and any number of other usable items found around The Continent.

All NPC Scabbards

Author: vinh1998/eguitar01
Version: 1.1
Special Installation: Download the main file manually and perform the following:

Extract the contents of the archive to a temporary directory.
Navigate to the temporary directory and compress the Mods/modNPCScabbards folder into a new archive.
Copy the resultant archive file into the <NMM Path>/Witcher3/Mods folder then install using Nexus Mod Manager.
Copy the DLC folder into the base game folder and merge with the existing DLC folder if prompted.
Delete the temporary directory to save disk space.

Mod Notes: Adds sheaths needed for every sword in the game.

Horse DLC Equipment Fix

Author: Rivianbleidd
Version: 1.0
Mod Notes: This mod fixes some mesh visibility issues with the DLC horse equipment. The LOD and visibility settings were way more conservative than the non-DLC equipment.

Lore-Friendly Silver Sword

Author: ErdnussSpass
Version: 1.0 (NMM Version)
Mod Notes: The books of Andrzej Sapkowski describe silver swords as very special and unique weapons. This mod aims to account for this by enhancing the optical appearance of silver swords, clearly distinguishing them from steel swords.

The Enhancement System

Author: Mangekyoumadara1987
Version: 2.75 (Light Version + Hearts of Stone Add-On)
Mod Notes: This mod is to enhance the RPG feeling of the game by adding more depth, functions and possibilities into many aspects of the game. It started as simple weapon upgrade mod and became what it is now: a huge Overhaul for The Witcher 3. Many mods were integrated in TES to deliver the best possible experience.

The Lands

This sub-seciton is for mods dedicated to improving the environments of The Continent.

ALL

Author: ramccoid
Version: 2.0 (Unreleased Stuff Optional Only)
Mod Notes: This mod includes some additional textures such as: bees retextured to bumble bees, flies to bluebottle flies, some fire texture replacers, dandelion seeds and water replacers.

The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project

Author: Halk Hogan
Version: 3.31
Mod Notes: This project aims to improve the graphics by reworking models and textures to better quality.

The People

This sub-section is for mods dedicated to improving the people of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Chest Hair For Geralt

Author: Rivianbleidd
Version: 1.5.1 (Mutantism White Misc File Only)
Mod Notes: This mod improves the chest hair on Geralt and makes it white.
Mod Dependencies(As Configured):

Lore-Friendly Witchers

Geralt HairWorks Colors and Beard Styles

Author: Rivianbleidd
Version: 1.1 (GeraltHairWorks_realBeard + GeraltHairWorks_realHair Optionals Only)
Special Installation: The "Real Hair" file must be extracted manually and not directly installed through Nexus Mod Manager.

Extract the contents of the zip file to a temporary directory.
Navigate to the full_all-Hairs folder in the temporary directory and compress the modGeraltRealHWhair folder into a new zip file.
Copy the resultant zip file into the <NMM Path>/Witcher3/Mods folder then install using Nexus Mod Manager.
Delete the temporary directory to save disk space.

Mod Notes: This mod provides whiter alternatives for Geralt’s HairWorks beard and eyebrows. With the optional "Real" Beard/Hairs, this mod drastically improves the quality of the HairWorks hairs.

Lore-Friendly Ciri

Author: Wzol
Version: 2.0 (Full)
Mod Notes: This mod changes the appearance of Ciri making it more lore-friendly.

Lore-Friendly Witchers

Author: DazzlingDjango
Version: 0.7 (All Three Main Files)
Mod Notes: This modification series aims for a more lore-friendly appearance of Geralt and the other witchers. By "lore" I mean the previous games, references in the current game itself and Andrzej Sapkowski's books. So far, three mods have been realized:

The Weather and Effects

BLOOD

Author: ramccoid
Version: 1.0
Mod Notes: This mod retextures the blood effect when in combat to have a more spray appearance. It also retextures the blood puddle effect when an enemy is killed in water to appeared to have more movement.

Improved Sign Effects

Author: Lunayah
Version: 1.21
Mod Notes: This mod increases the visual intensity of the Aard and Igni signs.

More Blood

Author: KNG
Version: 1.21
Mod Notes: This mod adds more blood effects to trigger during combat.

Pesky Sword Trails Begone

Author: Christoffer
Version: 1.2
Mod Notes: This mod removes the fake vapor trail effect from sword swings and projectiles.

Skellige Ice Breath

Author: CAPA
Version: 2.0.1 (Menu + Scripts)
Special Installation: Download the menu file manually and extract it to the main game directory. If prompted to merge folders, select Yes.
Mod Notes: Enables Ice Breath FX to Geralt, Roach, and NPCs while in Skellige.

SPLASH

Author: ramccoid
Version: 1.0
Mod Notes: This retextures the splash effect which can be seen when swimming, moving through water, when boating, waterfalls and any other situation which uses this effect.

WEATHER

Author: ramccoid
Version: 3.0
Mod Notes: This mod retextures the snow and rain effects.

Reshaping The Game

This section is dedicated to mods that affect the gameplay of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Experience and Leveling

Always Full Exp

Author: Tommy1984
Version: 1.3 (Always Neovalen Exp Optional Only)
Mod Notes: This mod removes the quest system limits for exp gain so that it is never a waste of time to do an outleveled quests.

Reshaping The User Interface

This section is dedicated to mods that affect the user experience in controlling Geralt of Rivia on his adventures throughout The Continent.

The Camera

This sub-section is dedicated to mods that alter the camera effects and position.

Immersive Cam

Author: KCS
Version: 2.5.3 (Friendly HUD Compatible + GUI Setup)
Special Installation: Download the GUI setup file manually and extract the ImmCam GUI Setup/ImmCamMenu.xml to the <The Witcher 3>/bin/config/r4game/user_config_matrix/pc folder.
Mod Notes: This mod vastly improves the camera movements and control. It also adds player head tracking for a more immersive experience.

No Dirty Lens Effect

Author: RumenWest
Version: 1.0
Mod Notes: This mod removes the dirty lens camera effect when looking at a bright light source.

Remove Screen Water Droplets Effect

Author: FPSRazR
Version: 1.0
Mod Notes: This mod removes the water droplets camera effect during rain.

The HUD and Menus

This sub-section is dedicated to mods that improve the hud, interactions with the world, and the menu system.

Alternate Lightsources Interaction

Author: DJ_Kovrik
Version: 1.21
Mod Notes: This mod hides the prompts for all in game light sources unless you have the Aard (Extinguish) or Igni (Ignite) sign selected.

AutoLoot

Author: JupiterTheGod
Version: 1.7.4
Mod Notes: This mod allows the player to loot without having to click loot all on every container or plant.
Mod Configuration Required
Navigate to <My Documents>/The Witcher 3 and open input.settings in a text editor. Copy and paste the following text to the top of the file and save:

[Exploration]
IK_U=(Action=AutoLootRadius)
[Horse]
IK_U=(Action=AutoLootRadius)
[Swimming]
IK_U=(Action=AutoLootRadius)

Friendly HUD

Author: wghost81 aka Wasteland Ghost
Version: 10.4
Mod Notes: This mod is a feature rich user interface overhaul with additional must-have features.
Mod Configuration Required
Navigate to <The Witcher 3>/mods/modFriendlyHud then perform the following steps:

Move the bin folder to the main Witcher 3 game folder and overwrite the default input.xml when prompted.
Open input.settings.part.txt and <My Documents>/The Witcher 3/input.settings in a text editor. Copy and paste the contents of input.settings.part.txt into the top of the input.settings file and save.
Open user.settings.part.txt and <My Documents>/The Witcher 3/user.settings in a text editor. Copy and paste the contents of user.settings.part.txt into the top of the user.settings file and save.
Open content/scripts/game/modFriendlyHUDConfig.ws in a text editor and edit the following settings as indicated:

Under //---=== 3D Quest Markers Settings ===---
   const var userMarker0TextFont : string; default userMarker0TextFont = "<font face=\"$BoldFont\" size=\"15\" color=\"#3CB371\">";
   const var userMarker1TextFont : string; default userMarker1TextFont = "<font face=\"$BoldFont\" size=\"15\" color=\"#B22222\">";
   const var userMarker2TextFont : string; default userMarker2TextFont = "<font face=\"$BoldFont\" size=\"15\" color=\"#1E90FF\">";
   const var userMarker3TextFont : string; default userMarker3TextFont = "<font face=\"$BoldFont\" size=\"15\" color=\"#FFFF00\">";
   const var currentMarkerTextFont : string; default currentMarkerTextFont = "<font face=\"$BoldFont\" size=\"15\" color=\"#FFD700\">";
   const var otherMarkerTextFont : string; default otherMarkerTextFont = "<font face=\"$NormalFont\" size=\"15\" color=\"#EEE8AA\">";

The World Map

This sub-section is dedicated to mods which affect the world map.

All Quest Objectives On Map

Author: Wolfmark
Version: 1.21.8 (Full)
Mod Notes: This mod displays map icons for all quest objectives in the players journal instead of only the active quest.

Colored Map Markers

Author: DJ_Kovrik
Version: 1.21 (All Quest Objectives Compatible)
Mod Notes: Replaces world map and mini map markers with some colored variations.
Mod Dependencies(As Configured):

All Quest Objectives On Map

All Good Things Must Come To An End

We come to the last leg of the journey, the road was long and hard but the end worth it.

Texture Mod Merging

There is a hard limit of texture mods that can be loaded by the game at any one time. In order to bring the texture mod count down, some of these must be merged. In order to do this, we will use the official The Witcher 3 Modkit along with a third party GUI called ModKitchen. Setup a working area with the following folder structure, this working areas path should contain no spaces:
TW3ModMerging

Input
Raw
- Cooked
- Modded
- Packed
- Uncooked

Perform the following to configure ModKitchen:

Execute ModKitchen.
Under wcc_lite location click [Browse].
Select the x64 folder inside <The Witcher 3 Modkit>/bin and click [OK].
Under uncooked file location click [Browse].
Select the TW3ModMerging/Raw/Uncooked folder created earlier. This is where all of the extracted mod files will be placed by the tool.
Close ModKitchen.

The top two folder selections are the only settings saved by the ModKitchen tool. The remainder of the tabs/settings are used for each individual run. To merge mods, perform the following:

Place the extracted mod<Modname> folders of the texture mods to be merged in TW3ModMerging/Input.
Execute ModKitchen.
On the Uncook game files tab, select the TW3ModMerging/Input folder.
Select [Uncook] then [OK] to the pop up window. This will extract the files from the input mods into the TW3ModMerging/Raw/Uncooked folder.
Copy and paste the new contents of the Uncooked folder to the Modded folder.
On the Build a mod tab of ModKitchen, fill in a mod name adjacent to the Name Your Mod text. This name must begin with mod. (i.e. modMergeX)
Adjacent to Mod Working Directory, click [Browse]. Select the TW3ModMerging/Raw folder.
Click [Build!], this will take a while to complete.
After completion, close ModKitchen.
Use an archive tool to create an archive of the output in the TW3ModMerging/Raw/Packed folder.
Move the resultant archive to <Nexus Mod Manager>/Witcher3/Mods for installation and activate.
Disable the source mods in Nexus Mod Manager.
Clean up the contents of all folders inside the TW3ModMerging folder to prepare for another merge.

The following sections will detail mod merges that must be completed to successfully complete this guide.

modALLNoWhites

Mods To Combine:

ALL
BLOOD
SPLASH
WEATHER

modLoreCharacters

Mods To Combine:

Lore-Friendly Ciri
Lore-Friendly Witchers

Special Instructions: After Uncooking, delete the characters/models/geralt/coif folder. Do this only if using Hairworks!

Conflict Resolution

Various mods will conflict with each other in one way or another, when this happens it must be dealt with. This is essential for bug free game play.

Script Merger

Perform the following:

Run Witcher 3 Script Merger.
Click the [...] adjacent to the "Witcher 3 Directory" text box.
Navigate to the Witcher 3 main directory and click [Ok].
A list of conflicting scripts will appear in the left pane.
Select all conflict check boxes and select [Create X Selected Merges].

If a merge has a conflict, a GUI will open asking you to solve each conflict. The following section(s) will show how to resolve any known script merges that require action on the users part. Note that some non-script based mod conflicts are not able to be merged and these will be noted by the tool. These conflicts will be handled in the Mod Asset Conflicts section and unless otherwise specified, these conflicts are known and can be ignored.

scripts/game/player/r4Player.ws

The mods Friendly HUD and Immersive Cam have minor script conflicts and need user intervention to be merged.

Conflict 1: Select Line(s) From C

scripts/game/gameplay/damage/damageManagerProcessor.ws

The mods Immersive Cam and More Blood have minor script conflicts and need user intervention to be merged.

Conflict 1: Select Line(s) From B and C
Conflict 2: Select Line(s) From B and C
Conflict 3: Select Line(s) From B

Mod Asset Conflicts

Conflicts between identically named mesh and texture files are resolved by the game engine in alphabetical order by default. To override this behavior, a mods.settings text file must be created in the <My Documents>/The Witcher 3 folder. The format of this file is easy to follow:

[mod<ModName>]
Enabled=1 or 0 (Yes or No)
Priority=# (0 - 9999, Mods With Lower Priority Win)

For the purposes of this guide, copy and paste the following text into the file:

[mod0000_MergedFiles]
Enabled=1
Priority=1
[modHDReworkedProject]
Enabled=1
Priority=10
[modALLNoWhites]
Enabled=1
Priority=11
[modSilverSwords]
Enabled=1
Priority=20
[modEnhancementSystemLight]
Enabled=1
Priority=21
[modGeraltChestHair]
Enabled=1
Priority=30
[modLoreCharacters]
Enabled=1
Priority=31

Post Install Configuration Tweaks

Some mods installed during the previous section require in-game settings tweaks for intended operation.

Rendering.ini

This file can be found in <The Witcher 3>/bin/config/base.

More Blood

This tweak effectively removes the decal limits to allow for More Blood to do its job.

[Rendering]
DynamicDecalsLimit=9000
DynamicDecalsChunkLimit=9000

In Game Configuration

Friendly HUD

Friendly HUD requires some UI elements to be hidden by default. Perform the following:

Start The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt directly or via the game manager of your choice (GOG Galaxy / Steam).
Navigate to Options > Video > HUD Configuration.
Set Minimap to Off.
Set Active Quests to Off.
Set Display Witcher Medallion and Stat Bars to Off.
Set Display Current Buffs to Off.
Set Control Hints to Off.
Set Additional Equipment to Off.

Next, the mod itself must be configured. Perform the following:

Navigate to Options > Mods > Friendly HUD > HUD.
Set Enable combat modules on sword unsheathe to On.
Set Enable witcher senses modules to On.
Set Hide modules delay to 0.

Once both of these are completed, perform the following:

(Optional)Exit The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Skellige Ice Breath

Skellige Ice Breath provides a convenient menu in game to configure the mod. Perform the following:

Start The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt directly or via the game manager of your choice (GOG Galaxy / Steam).
Navigate to Options > Mods > Ice Breath Settings.
Set Condition Selection to Cold Weathers.
(Optional)Exit The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Start Playing

Enjoy your time playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Remember to take your time as you only get to experience the game for the first time once. Play the game on Death March difficulty to get the full Witcher experience... anything less would be uncivilized. It is also recommended to switch the Gwent Difficulty Level to Hard after the game has allowed you to take control via the Options > Gameplay menu.

Tips, Known Issues, and Troubleshooting

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is not a bug free experience and is being patched often. Invariably, issues are going to occur in any adventure on The Continent. That said, this section will list any known issues and some troubleshooting tips any good Witcher should know.

Tips

The Enhancement System mod adds a copy of every Gwent card to The Bloody Barons quartermaster. To avoid this "cheat", simply do not buy any cards from him. In the vanilla game he does not sell any Gwent cards.

Known Issues

Gameplay

In some cases the full version of the All Quest Objectives On Map mod may add a pin for a merchant that already has one. This usually happens for the merchants that are involved in quests and change location. This happens rarely and duplicate / incorrect pins can be removed by double-clicking them without problems.
The radius loot feature of the AutoLoot mod activates in a sphere, therefore it can loot things above and below the player. In certain circumstances this can uncover hidden loot by accident. Limit your use of this feature to avoid this.

Visuals

The pony tail with shaved sides (as seen in the beginning dream sequence / tutorial) can sometimes appear too white at certain angles.

Troubleshooting

Low FPS

Changing Foliage Visibility down from Ultra to High can give a significant performance boost.
Nvidia Hairworks takes a lot of CPU and graphics horsepower to run. If experiencing FPS drops that affect your gameplay, disable it and the various hairworks only mods accordingly. The effect is quite good, so do so as a last resort.

Important Dates

06/03/2016 - Game Version 1.21 / Blood and Wine (Final DLC) Compatible Version
09/08/2015 - Comment thread created.
08/29/2015 - Development started.

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