The Witness news & patch notes

Fixed a crash on some modern macOS systems that was was caused by an outdated Steam SDK.

Fixed crash on macOS versions before 10.15 that got introduced in the recent update.

Fixed crash on macOS versions before 11.0 that got introduced in yesterday’s update.

This is the version that has been on 'future' for a while, with a few changes. 'default' and 'future' are now the same build of the game. Full list of changes versus the current public version:

• Added alternative "Click-to-Move" control scheme: Pause Menu -> Controls -> Mouse Control
  • Mimics the touch controls from the iOS version with the mouse
  • Left click to walk
  • Left double-click to run
  • Left click and drag to look around
  • Right click to toggle in/out of focus mode
  • Hold middle mouse or alt to strafe
• Remappable keys: Pause Menu -> Controls -> Customize Keys
• Remappable gamepad: Pause Menu -> Controls -> Customize Pad
• Ability to swap gamepad analogue sticks: Pause Menu -> Controls -> Pad Sticks Layout
• Fix to prevent players getting stuck after the rotating platform in the marsh
• Allow supersampling in fullscreen in High profile
• Improved early game control-hint UI
• Many small bug-fixes to art, gameplay, and performance
• Savegames are now compatible between Mac and Windows versions.

Windows only:

• Make sure Xbox gamepads work on a vanilla install of Windows 8/8.1/10 without needing to install the Windows 7 pad driver
• Fixed incorrect default language selection on Windows PCs set to Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese

MacOS only:

• Made default quality settings levels (High, Medium, Low) more in-line with other platforms on equivalent hardware
• Fixed some performance bugs
• These greatly improve performance on Macbook (including Air, Pro) especially older models

What's not included in this patch is a fix for the flickering issues on some Intel GPUs on MacOS High Sierra. High Sierra introduced a bug in the Intel graphics driver, Apple are aware of it and we're working with them, but unfortunately we're at the mercy of their update release schedule. Obviously we'll post on the forums as soon as there's any news on that.

This is the version that has been on 'future' for a while, with a few changes. 'default' and 'future' are now the same build of the game. Full list of changes versus the current public version:

• Added alternative "Click-to-Move" control scheme: Pause Menu -> Controls -> Mouse Control
  • Mimics the touch controls from the iOS version with the mouse
  • Left click to walk
  • Left double-click to run
  • Left click and drag to look around
  • Right click to toggle in/out of focus mode
  • Hold middle mouse or alt to strafe
• Remappable keys: Pause Menu -> Controls -> Customize Keys
• Remappable gamepad: Pause Menu -> Controls -> Customize Pad
• Ability to swap gamepad analogue sticks: Pause Menu -> Controls -> Pad Sticks Layout
• Fix to prevent players getting stuck after the rotating platform in the marsh
• Allow supersampling in fullscreen in High profile
• Improved early game control-hint UI
• Many small bug-fixes to art, gameplay, and performance
• Savegames are now compatible between Mac and Windows versions.

Windows only:

• Make sure Xbox gamepads work on a vanilla install of Windows 8/8.1/10 without needing to install the Windows 7 pad driver
• Fixed incorrect default language selection on Windows PCs set to Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese

MacOS only:

• Made default quality settings levels (High, Medium, Low) more in-line with other platforms on equivalent hardware
• Fixed some performance bugs
• These greatly improve performance on Macbook (including Air, Pro) especially older models

What's not included in this patch is a fix for the flickering issues on some Intel GPUs on MacOS High Sierra. High Sierra introduced a bug in the Intel graphics driver, Apple are aware of it and we're working with them, but unfortunately we're at the mercy of their update release schedule. Obviously we'll post on the forums as soon as there's any news on that.

The Witness is now available on Steam for the Mac. We sneakily put it up a week ago, but here's the official announcement. To celebrate the Mac release, the game is on sale for 50% off this week (for both Windows and Mac)!

The Witness is now available on Steam for the Mac. We sneakily put it up a week ago, but here's the official announcement. To celebrate the Mac release, the game is on sale for 50% off this week (for both Windows and Mac)!

We have now updated The Witness with support for NVIDIA's Ansel imaging tool. We did this because Ansel adds a lot of interesting ways to take images from the game; because The Witness is highly visual, this should be some good fun. Capabilities include: * Super-resolution screenshots (waaaay higher than your monitor resolution) * 360-degree panoramic screenshots * Image tweaks for brightness, contrast, color control * Postprocessing filters To use this stuff, make sure The Witness is updated, that you are running a supported NVIDIA GPU (GeForce GTX 600-series or later; for a list of compatible GPUs, see http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/ansel/supported-gpus ), and that you have recent drivers for your NVIDIA GPU, then press alt-F2 during gameplay. The Ansel control panel should appear. When in Ansel mode, you get a bit of control to fly a free-floating camera around. So as not to break the game, if you are in the entry castle at the very beginning, you can't fly very high; but once you turn off the force field and exit the courtyard, you can go much higher. Here's the announcement on NVIDIA's site: http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/nvidia-ansel-for-the-witness-available-now

We have now updated The Witness with support for NVIDIA's Ansel imaging tool. We did this because Ansel adds a lot of interesting ways to take images from the game; because The Witness is highly visual, this should be some good fun. Capabilities include: * Super-resolution screenshots (waaaay higher than your monitor resolution) * 360-degree panoramic screenshots * Image tweaks for brightness, contrast, color control * Postprocessing filters To use this stuff, make sure The Witness is updated, that you are running a supported NVIDIA GPU (GeForce GTX 600-series or later; for a list of compatible GPUs, see http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/ansel/supported-gpus ), and that you have recent drivers for your NVIDIA GPU, then press alt-F2 during gameplay. The Ansel control panel should appear. When in Ansel mode, you get a bit of control to fly a free-floating camera around. So as not to break the game, if you are in the entry castle at the very beginning, you can't fly very high; but once you turn off the force field and exit the courtyard, you can go much higher. Here's the announcement on NVIDIA's site: http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/nvidia-ansel-for-the-witness-available-now

Changes: * Switched default vsync mode to 0 on Nvidia and AMD now that their drivers seem to be fixed; this should eliminate microstutter for many people who had it. * Fixed crackling audio that happened on some AMD processors. * Added translations into many languages for the menu options added in the previous update. * Increased frequency of automatic backup save games. * Minor gameplay tweaks to several puzzles. * Bugfix: Prevent the player from being able to fall off the boat in a particular location. * Bugfix: Fix bug where boat path could become corrupt in save games. * Bugfix: Prevent the player from outrunning the streaming. * Bugfix: Several minor audio fixes. * Bugfix: Several collision fixes. * Bugfix: Many minor art fixes.

Changes: * Switched default vsync mode to 0 on Nvidia and AMD now that their drivers seem to be fixed; this should eliminate microstutter for many people who had it. * Fixed crackling audio that happened on some AMD processors. * Added translations into many languages for the menu options added in the previous update. * Increased frequency of automatic backup save games. * Minor gameplay tweaks to several puzzles. * Bugfix: Prevent the player from being able to fall off the boat in a particular location. * Bugfix: Fix bug where boat path could become corrupt in save games. * Bugfix: Prevent the player from outrunning the streaming. * Bugfix: Several minor audio fixes. * Bugfix: Several collision fixes. * Bugfix: Many minor art fixes.

Fixes some small weirdnesses in the launcher, and makes sure the game launches with consistent graphical options.

Fixes some small weirdnesses in the launcher, and makes sure the game launches with consistent graphical options.

This includes some new launcher options (more control over graphics settings, for example) and tweaks for various GPUs, in addition to a fix for the savegame-deletion problem. The patch is 1GB, as are any patches that change the state of objects in the world; sorry about the size!

This includes some new launcher options (more control over graphics settings, for example) and tweaks for various GPUs, in addition to a fix for the savegame-deletion problem. The patch is 1GB, as are any patches that change the state of objects in the world; sorry about the size!

This will result in another 1GB patch for those who downloaded the upgrade already yesterday. (For people who didn't download that, there should be no change at all). This patch isn't anything new, it is just undoing the difference between the Feb 11th version and the Feb 4th version. We apologize for putting yet another big patch up, but a number of people are reporting problems with savegames disappearing, and until we work this out we don't want to keep making problems. So, please be sure your copy of the game is updated before running. If you have a problem with your savegame not loading, pop into the tech support forum and we will see what we can do.

This will result in another 1GB patch for those who downloaded the upgrade already yesterday. (For people who didn't download that, there should be no change at all). This patch isn't anything new, it is just undoing the difference between the Feb 11th version and the Feb 4th version. We apologize for putting yet another big patch up, but a number of people are reporting problems with savegames disappearing, and until we work this out we don't want to keep making problems. So, please be sure your copy of the game is updated before running. If you have a problem with your savegame not loading, pop into the tech support forum and we will see what we can do.

We have found workarounds for the driver crashes that were happening with certain Intel HD Graphics chips. HD Graphics 3000 probably still crashes a little but, but it is much more rare and should enable people to play the game pretty reasonably (say, typically a crash after 60-90 minutes of play). We have instituted a number of other good changes in this build as well -- content tweaks/fixes around the island, as well as a safeguard to savegames that should prevent them from being corrupted if the game crashes while saving, or power to the computer gets killed, or whatever. If this goes well for everyone then in a couple of days we will promote it to the main build.

We have found workarounds for the driver crashes that were happening with certain Intel HD Graphics chips. HD Graphics 3000 probably still crashes a little but, but it is much more rare and should enable people to play the game pretty reasonably (say, typically a crash after 60-90 minutes of play). We have instituted a number of other good changes in this build as well -- content tweaks/fixes around the island, as well as a safeguard to savegames that should prevent them from being corrupted if the game crashes while saving, or power to the computer gets killed, or whatever. If this goes well for everyone then in a couple of days we will promote it to the main build.

The fix for driver crashes on AMD R9 GPUs (and other models) has now been pushed to the default branch. Default and 'future' are currently the same now. If you don't like big patches, you can get off 'future' and back onto default, because the next patch on 'future' is likely to be another 1GB patch coming on Monday or Tuesday or so. Here again are the changes: We changed the depth format for shadow maps from D16 to D24, which seems to avoid a bug in the R9 drivers. We also added some menu features people are asking for: Added Invert X Axis to the options menu. Added FOV slider to the options menu. Added gamepad sensitivity to the options menu (if gamepad is plugged in).

The fix for driver crashes on AMD R9 GPUs (and other models) has now been pushed to the default branch. Default and 'future' are currently the same now. If you don't like big patches, you can get off 'future' and back onto default, because the next patch on 'future' is likely to be another 1GB patch coming on Monday or Tuesday or so. Here again are the changes: We changed the depth format for shadow maps from D16 to D24, which seems to avoid a bug in the R9 drivers. We also added some menu features people are asking for: Added Invert X Axis to the options menu. Added FOV slider to the options menu. Added gamepad sensitivity to the options menu (if gamepad is plugged in).