Cyberpunk 2077 RT: Overdrive Mode Seemingly Cripples RTX 4090 Without DLSS 3

It’s been a couple of years since CD Projekt Red (CDPR) launched Cyberpunk 2077 and in spite of a rocky launch riddled with bugs, glitches and unplanned disappearing acts of vehicles, the studio has already brought the game up to an acceptable enough level, and is still constantly adding on new improvements, patch after patch. In fact, in its next update, the game will be getting a patch that gives players access to an upgraded version of ray-tracing mode, known as RT: Overdrive Mode.

We first wrote about RT: Overdrive Mode back in March, when GDC 2023 was in full swing, and both NVIDIA and CDPR gave a technical session regarding the technology. The mode, also known as Full ray-tracing, which is also known as path-tracing, is actually just one of the two popular methods used by game developer whenever they wish to simulate the behaviour of light in-game. With the more conventional ray-tracing, the in-game engine traces the path of light rays and their interaction with different objects; this processing method requires a lot of graphical power but the end results are images and environments with very accurate reflections, refractions, and shadows.

 

With path-tracing that is used by the RT: Overdrive Mode, the lighting calculation is randomly computed and involves the path of lights that are sampled within an environment. It’s a less complex and demanding process but as a trade-off, the final product is an image with higher noise levels. NVIDIA, in this case, seems to have successfully mitigated that issue, as evidenced by its latest teaser video, showing off the mode in all its glory. In the brand’s words, “full ray-tracing models all properties of light from an unlimited number of emissive sources, delivering physically correct shadows, reflections, and global illuminations on all objects.”

There is a very clear and obvious trade-off for the new RT: Overdrive mode, and that’s an increased strained or processing power by the GPU, and NVIDIA actually shows it in the product demo. With full ray-tracing activated and its DLSS upscaling technology turned on, the feature effectively kneecaps an RTX 4090, with the GPU just able to churn out 16 fps on average, and at 4K resolution. Of course, flip the switch on the brand’s DLSS 3, and the framerate ratchets back above the 100 fps mark and stays there for the remainder of the short tech demo. Honestly, we’re not sure if that massive drop in frames is actually legitimate, but if it is, it does feel a bit soul-crushing, especially given the power a GPU such as the RTX 4090 commands.

CDPR Created Cyberpunk 2077 Bug Montage Before Game’s Release

CD Projekt Red has been churning out fixes for Cyberpunk 2077, which launched in quite the state. Unsurprisingly, a game that launched with that many bugs will have enough for a montage video or two. And a few of those have made their way online.

VGC reports that the leaked videos were part of the files stolen from CDPR during the major hack it suffered earlier in the year. The videos show various bugs of Cyberpunk 2077, edited for comedic effect.

On its own, a bug montage is not necessarily a bad thing. CDPR probably intended to also include it with Cyberpunk 2077 as a sort of bonus material, the way it did for The Witcher 3. But considering the state it launched in, it’s probably understandable why the developer decided against it.

One of the producers of Cyberpunk 2077 also confirmed that the bug montage is legitimate on Twitter. The tweet has since been deleted, also for obvious reasons. To say that it would have been taken poorly would be an understatement. But to be fair, it was a reply to another tweet by Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, which was also deleted.

If you want to see the video montage for yourself, you can do so by heading to VGC’s report, linked below. But be warned that the second video opens with extremely NSFW bugs.

Cyberpunk 2077 Limited Edition OnePlus Watch Launching In China

Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that was unexpectedly met with infamy from both gamers and critics due to its constant delays, troubled launch, and disappointingly unpolished release. Despite its mixed reception, it appears that certain brands are still banking on the CD Projekt Red-developed game to market limited edition products to consumers. One such brand is none other than Chinese tech company OnePlus.

After launching a special edition of the OnePlus 8T last year, the company has announced that it will be releasing another Cyberpunk 2077-themed product in China next week. This time around, the device in question is confirmed to be a limited edition of its first ever smartwatch, the OnePlus Watch.

Much like the smartphone, this version of the wearable also comes with similar design elements such as the neon yellow stripes, black on black lines, and the game’s branding. However, these are only limited to the straps. Its main body, on the other hand, is presented in the same gun metal black as the regular version of the smartwatch, which is somewhat disappointing.

OnePlus did not provide any details regarding the limited edition’s hardware, but it is believed that the specifications will be no different from the original. As a quick refresher, the OnePlus Watch features a 1.39-inch OLED display, 1GB RAM, 4GB of internal storage, and a battery that is capable of lasting up to two weeks. It comes with a rating of IP68 in terms of dust and water resistance. Unique to the limited edition is the onboard Cyberpunk 2077-themed watch face and user interface.

Last but not least, the Cyberpunk 2077 limited edition OnePlus Watch also comes with a display stand that is modeled after Johnny Silverhand’s, well, hand. It wasn’t revealed if the accessory would feature some form of charging capability, or is merely just for decoration.

Pricing for the smartwatch will only be confirmed by the brand when it launches in China next week on 24 May 2021. Whether OnePlus is planning to have the device see an international release after this is not known at this time. But seeing that the OnePlus 8T Cyberpunk 2077 Limited Edition did eventually make its way to Malaysia in December of last year, there’s a chance that we might see this version of the wearable released locally as well.

Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.2 Now Live; Addresses Hundreds Of Bugs And Glitches

CD Projekt Red (CDPR) has finally launched the long-awaited Patch 1.2 for Cyberpunk 2077 and it is massive. The patch is nearly 30GB in size and addresses hundreds of in-game bugs and glitches, literally.

As per the list on its official page, the patch fixes a myriad of issues that CDPR has thoughtfully divided up into different categories: Gameplay, Quests, the open world, Cinematic Design, Environment and Levels, UI, and its graphics, audio, and animation, to name a few.

One particular fix addresses how officers of the game’s Night City Police Department (NCPD) would suddenly appear out of thin air, whenever the player character, V. commits a criminal act. Now, a scout drone will appear in advance to give players the feeling that the local authorities are assessing the situation, before they start to swarm in.

Moving on, CDPR has also added a “Rocking/Rotating” feature for the game’s vehicle. This allows the players to cradle their in-game vehicles back and forth, should they find them stuck, beached, or flipped upside down.

If you already have Cyberpunk 2077 installed via Steam, Epic, or if you’ve got the DRM-free version of the game, you should’ve already received a prompt about the update. Once again, the list is incredibly long and detailed, so if you wish you check out all the fixes, you can do so by heading to the official page in the source below.

(Source: Cyberpunk 2077)

CDPR Details Upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.2

CD Projekt Red delayed patch 1.2 for Cyberpunk 2077 from February to the end of March. With that patch coming soon, the developers have released details about what players can expect in it. And it is pretty massive in scale, addressing a number of the biggest issues concerning gameplay.

The first is regarding the police spawning immediately behind you when you get wanted. Once the patch rolls out, they will stop materialising out of thin air. A scout drone will also appear in advance to give the impression that the police are assessing the situation.

On vehicles, CDPR said that the new patch will add a new Steering Sensitivity option. This will hopefully make your car more obedient to your inputs, rather than plowing straight ahead when you turn the steering wheel. The patch will also add an Unstuck feature to Cyberpunk 2077. And it kicks in when you’re hitting the accelerator paddle but not moving. In such situations, you can rock your vehicle to get it the right way up.

And finally, there’s a new option to turn off dodge by double-tapping a directional input. Which is great if you frequently get frustrated by dodging when all you wanted was to make quick micro-adjustments to your position.

You read the patch notes yourself by following the link below. CDPR has written it in a very tongue-in-cheek way with a TV news format. That could serve as its own form of entertainment. Though the devs did not say when will Cyberpunk 2077 actually get the patch 1.2.

Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.2 Delayed To March As A Result Of CD Projekt Hack

Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red delivered the first of two major patches for the game exactly a month ago. We’re supposed to be getting the second one this month, but it looks like that’s not happening anymore. And the company claims that this is because of the hack that occurred earlier in the month.

In a series of three tweets, CDPR explains that the effect of the hack and the extent of the Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.2 means the devs will have to push its release back. The tweet says that the devs are aiming for a release in the second half of March.

Though according to Bloomberg, one major detail that CDPR left out is the fact that “most” of its employees have been locked out of their work VPN. This means that they can’t get access to their work tools from home. To work around this, employees had to take their computers to the company’s IT department to screen for malware.

While CD Projekt may have backups to deal with the hack, it looks like it’s not a completely seamless recovery. No doubt that getting hacked is no laughing matter. But the problem of not being able to access the company VPN sounds a little ridiculous.

Indie Game Director Slams Cyberpunk 2077 Devs For Sensational Hype

Moon Studios director Thomas Mahler, who worked on much-celebrated game Ori and the Will of the Wisps, railed against “gaming snake oil salesmen” who, despite their lies and false promises, are continuously rehabilitated and rewarded in the gaming industry. In a Resetera forum post, he singled out the developers of Cyberpunk 2077 and No Man’s Sky for relentlessly overpromising and massively under-delivering.

On Cyberpunk 2077, he said, “Made by the guys that made Witcher 3, so this sh*t had to be good. Here’s our Cyberpunk universe and – trust us – you can do f**king everything! … Gamers were to believe that this is “Sci-Fi GTA in First Person”. What’s not to love? Every video released by CDPR was carefully crafted to create a picture in players minds that was just insanely compelling. They stopped just short of outright saying that this thing would cure cancer.”

But he noted that, ultimately, the game fell far short of its hype and could barely run on consoles.

Then, he explained his personal frustration with the game industry and game journalism. Back in 2014, he learnt that a major game publication had picked No Man’s Sky over the game he worked on (Ori and the Blind Forest) for the cover article only because the former was the ‘bigger game.’

“I really felt bamboozled once No Man’s Sky came out and it became clear that all this hype was really just built on lies and the honest guy who just showed his actual product really got kicked in the b*lls because the lying guy was able to make up some tall tales that held absolutely no substance,” he wrote.

The next day, Mahler apologised for his words, saying he “wasn’t thoughtful” in presenting his thoughts, and didn’t choose the right tone or platform for it. He added he was especially sorry to those he mentioned by name.

In many ways, his frustrations regarding Cyberpunk 2077 and No Man’s Sky still carry a lot of merits, given all the problems that gamers have experienced during the launch of both titles. Unfortunately, the tendency of overhyping will continue to be part of the industry whether you like it or not, especially when it comes to AAA titles which cost millions of dollars to produce and market these days.

Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.1 Now Available, But It Introduces A New Bug

The first of two major patches for Cyberpunk 2077 has been made available over the weekend. The patch notes that came with it is pretty extensive too. As you’d imagine, a vast majority of these are for stability and quest fixes. Unfortunately, it seems like this patch also introduced a new bug of its own.

Minor spoilers have to be included to describe the bug in question but you’ll probably prefer to be spoiled than have your progress spoiled instead. So here it is. One item in the patch notes is a fix for Takemura not calling as part of the Down on the Street quest. Now, he calls, but wouldn’t speak instead.

According to PC Gamer, reloading your save doesn’t work, as Takemura will continue this stalker-like behaviour. This will bork any save you make after the bug occurs. A workaround exists, and it involves waiting 23 hours immediately after V and Takemura leave Wakako’s office, and the two have the conversation outside. This should make the phone call happen properly, though it’s unfortunately still not guaranteed.

Not sure if there will be a hotfix for this new bug introduced with the first Cyberpunk 2077 mega patch. If not, then players will have to wait for the next big patch coming next month instead.

Analyst: Cyberpunk 2077 Troubles Could Make CD Projekt An Acquisition Candidate

If you’ve kept up to date with the whole situation with Cyberpunk 2077, you’ll know it has damaged the reputation of CD Projekt quite a bit. So much so that, according to market research firm DFC Intelligence, it is now one to watch for potential acquisitions.

VGC quotes DFC as saying that “CD Projekt stock dropped 50% in December. This in unacceptable for a company launching a flagship, defining product.” The reputation it built since the Witcher 3 days is in tatters. Ironically, this is despite the monetary success of Cyberpunk 2077, having sold 13 million copies as of 22 December.

DFC also says that the whole mess with Cyberpunk 2077 could have been avoided if it was handled by a larger company with more marketing and publishing experience. That being said, CD Projekt is still a valuable company. Even with its drop in value, it is pegged to be worth about as much as Ubisoft or ZeniMax. The former of which, CD Projekt overtook last year as the most valuable game publisher in the EU.

With that in mind, it would take a company as massive as Microsoft to make that kind of acquisition. But since it is still finalising the acquisition of ZeniMax, it probably is in no rush to make another one as big as this.

CDPR Staff Say They Knew Cyberpunk 2077 Bugs Were Bad Prior To Release

Recently, CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwinski came out in a video explaining the behind-the-scenes situation with Cyberpunk 2077. In it, he claimed that company management was not aware of the extend and severity of the game’s bugs. But some employees have said that they knew full well that the game was a mess prior to launch.

The new report comes courtesy of Bloomberg. Over 20 current and former employees have claimed that many of the common problems were discovered. But they didn’t have the time to fix them. They also painted a very unorganised workflow for Cyberpunk 2077.

An example in the report mentions the way the game’s engine was made concurrently with the game itself. One employee described this as driving a train while the tracks are still being laid in front of the train.

Then there’s the issue of Cyberpunk 2077 running on previous-generation consoles. The reports states that some engineers saw that the game was too complex to run on seven-year-old consoles. But management dismissed their concerns.

Most damning of all would be the focus that CD Projekt had with Cyberpunk 2077. Interviewed employees say that the company was “focused on marketing at the expense of development”. This went along with the many crunch allegations that we’ve heard countless times before already.

This is not a good look for CD Projekt, to put it lightly. This is especially when a leading figure in the company has to come out with an apology video of sorts, only for employees to say that those were lies. It’s probably tough for the employees themselves too, having to fix the countless bugs that were identified prior to the game’s release rather than move on to working on something new.

CD Projekt Co-Founder Explains Issues Behind Cyberpunk 2077 Development

You’re probably tired of reading this line: Cyberpunk 2077 is a hot mess. And the publisher, CD Projekt, has released a video with co-founder Marcin Iwinski “owning up” to it. And in the video, he also sheds some light on the development process behind the scenes explaining why the game released the way it did.

Iwinski explains that the company started developing Cyberpunk 2077 for the more powerful current gen consoles and PC. The devs would then make adjustments for the older consoles. Despite understanding the hardware differences, Iwinski admits that company management underestimated the difficulty of the process.

The main “culprit”, as Iwinski puts it, is the in-game streaming system for last generation consoles. Not the Twitch kind of streaming, but “feeding the engine with what you see on screen” kind. He then said that the CD Projekt’s internal testing “did not show a big part of the issues” that gamers are experiencing with Cyberpunk 2077 on older consoles.

While the transparency is nice, it all sounds too little, too late. This sounds like something that should be released alongside one of the earlier delay announcements. No doubt there are financial obligations to fulfil to shareholders and such, but at least the company wouldn’t find itself in its current situation. In fact, the same shareholders would probably appreciate the honesty enough to not take legal action against them.

Polish Consumer Protection Agency Launches Investigation Against CDPR

Investors have gone ahead with their lawsuit against Cyberpunk 2077 maker CD Projekt Red. And things are only getting worse for the developer, as it looks like government officials are also stepping in. The latest reports state that the company is now under investigation by the Polish competition watchdogs.

Polish newspaper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reports that the Poland Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) is looking into the situation around the game’s launch. Spokesperson Malgorzata Cieloch said that the organisation has asked CDPR for an explanation as to what happened, and what the devs will do to fix them.

Should the UOKiK find CDPR guilty of being misleading prior to the release of Cyberpunk 2077, the company could be fined up to 10% of its annual income. This also applies to if the company’s efforts to fix the problems found within the game have been deemed inadequate. The overall refund policy organised by the company is also taken into consideration, which didn’t exactly go smoothly.

Things have certainly been bumpy for Cyberpunk 2077 and CDPR. The experience, even on the most powerful gaming PCs seem to be a dice roll. Plenty of bugs still plague the game. And the company has just last month fixed one that corrupts save files that got too big.

Cyberpunk 2077 Player Down Nearly 80 Percent On Steam Since Launch

You may probably know this already, but the reception for CD Projekt Red’s flagship title, Cyberpunk 2077, has been less than stellar, primarily due to a plethora of bugs and glitches, with some proving to be game breakers. To that end, it should also come to no one’s surprise that the game has already lost a big chunk of its player on Steam, since its launch.

The statistics of the first-person action RPG was analysed by GitHyp, who showed that interest in the game fell dramatically, with the current number of players just barely hovering at 225000, which is nearly 80% of the players that were actively playing the game at its launch, which was a record-breaking one million players.

As mentioned, one of the major issues that contributed to the game’s rapid decline in interest was the numerous bugs and gameplay issues that virtually killed the immersion for players. While it can be argued that most games suffer from such issues at launch, it didn’t help CDPR’s case since it delayed the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 no less than three times. All so it could deliver a polished games.

To be clear, the fall in numbers only accounts for players on Steam, and not those on Epic Games Store, GOG, or Google Stadia. Such a loss is not uncommon for single-player titles, but the rapid dwindling of players for Cyberpunk 2077 is clearly an exception; when CDPR’s last major title, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launched back in 2015, the game only had 40000 concurrent players, but it held on to half of those players for a month after launch, and eventually saw them dwindle by the same percentage over a period of three months.

However, the game saw a resurgence in popularity back in 2019, after the Netflix adaptation of the Polish series launched on the streaming service.

CD Projekt Red Investors Go Ahead With Cyberpunk 2077 Lawsuit

Last week, reports about CD Projekt possibly getting lawsuits from its own investors surfaced. This is due to the launch state of Cyberpunk 2077, particularly on last-generation consoles. Now, it looks like one of them has gone ahead with the lawsuit.

Manhattan-based Rosen Law Firm filed suit “on behalf of persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired publicly traded CD Projekt Red securities between 16 January 2020 and 17 December 2020”. Basically, it means that the lawsuit is filed on behalf of stockholders who bought the company’s stocks between those dates. The lead plaintiff is one Andrew Trampe, but the law firm is also looking for other investors to join.

A separate law firm in Los Angeles called Schall Law Firm also filed suit against the company. Both lawsuits are of similar nature, and for pretty much the same reason. And that’s alleging that CDPR management misled investors during the run-up of the release of Cyberpunk 2077, causing them to incur losses. CDPR has responded to the latter that it will “vigorously” defend itself against such claims.

That being said, in the legal realm where details are everything, the suit may have shot itself in the foot. This is because it makes a number of errors when referring to consoles, especially those by Microsoft. For one, the latter’s current-generation consoles were referred to as the Xbox X rather than the Xbox Series X. As for the last-gen machines, it’s referred to as the Xbox Series One instead of the Xbox One.

Cyberpunk 2077 PC Patch Lets Save Files Exceed 8MB

Among the myriad of bugs in Cyberpunk 2077, one of the more bizarre ones is its save corruption bug. And it’s caused simply by your save file exceeding 8MP. Which is very easy to do if you do a lot of crafting. Thankfully, this is one of the first bugs to get squashed.

CD Projekt Red has rolled out Hotfix 1.06, which solves the Cyberpunk 2077 save file corruption bug. It’s a very small one though, consisting of only two other fixes. One is the improvement of memory management and stability of console versions. The other is a quest-specific one which you can check it out yourself if you want to in the official changelog. The official GOG Twitter account says the patch is about 500MB in size.

That’s one major issue with the PC version of the game out of the way, among many. Which is a good thing, especially for a game as large as Cyberpunk 2077. Crafting is such a large, even if not exactly core, mechanic in the game. So it’s baffling that doing just that can end up corrupting your save file.

But it is what it is, and at least a patch to fix it is now available. So be sure to download it before you continue your Cyberpunk 2077 escapades.

Cyberpunk 2077 Mobile Is Obviously Malware That You Shouldn’t Download

Despite its many issues, Cyberpunk 2077 is no doubt still one of the hottest games in the market. Naturally, there will be some who will be desperate enough to believe that the game is available on a platform that it’s not supposed to. Also naturally, this is spyware made to capitalise on this desperation.

Kaspersky malware analyst Tatyana Shishkova shared screenshots of a Cyberpunk 2077 Mobile on the Google Play Store. It even comes compete with a fake review claiming it’s still in beta to give it the look of credibility. And after downloading and installing, it reveals itself as malware called CoderWare.

The name denotes a variant of the BlackKingdom ransomware. And as ransomware, once it gets into your device, it encrypts its contents. If you don’t wire US$500 worth of bitcoin to the cybercriminals, all the files in your device is then wiped. The good news at least is that there’s a hardcoded key in the CoderWare type that allows a decryptor to recover the files.

As bad as things get for Cyberpunk 2077 on PC and consoles, at least you know they are legitimate versions. It you’re not willing to put up with its many problems, the last thing you need is to put up with ransomware on your mobile device.

Cyberpunk 2077 Save File Can Be Corrupted By Being Too Big

In a game with tons of different items like Cyberpunk 2077, it’s odd for a player to be punished for having too many. But that’s apparently what’s going on with the game. Specifically, a bug is causing your save file to get corrupted if it gets larger than 8MB. And one way to do it is to have too many items.

A post on CD Projekt Red’s forum has players chiming in, all reporting their Cyberpunk 2077 saves getting corrupted. The one thing most of them have in common is their save file being at 8MB in size or larger. And this is mostly achieved by players who spend a lot of time with the crafting part of the game. Or those that made use of an item duplication glitch.

If you’re wondering, the process involves buying a lot of items, disassembling them all, and using their parts to craft more expensive items. The end result is more money that you can use to buy more things to disassemble and repeat the process.

Though, it remains to be seen if the so-called item duplication glitch really is one. Because it sounds more like a poorly balanced economy in Cyberpunk 2077. Either way, both will need fixing. Though I suspect players will appreciate the save file size limit to be increased first.

Cyberpunk 2077 Devs Say Game Deadline Was Unrealistic

Just a couple of months ago, the behind-the-scenes development of Cyberpunk 2077 has a subject of debate. Fast forward to today, and gamers’ experience with the game is just as mixed, even at the best of times. At the worst, here’s the ways you can get your money back. And despite apologies from the heads of CD Projekt Red, it looks like the ground floor employees aren’t too impressed.

Bloomberg reports that CDPR employees voiced some of their frustrations to company management during a video meeting. They raised questions about the company’s reputation, the unrealistic deadlines of Cyberpunk 2077, and the “relentless overtime” leading up to the game’s release.

One employee even asked the board of directors why it said Cyberpunk 2077 was playable in January, when it wasn’t the case. Another noted the hypocritical nature of making a game about corporate exploitation, while being itself guilty of that. The report adds, this meeting came before Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that it’s pulling Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store.

A CD Projekt spokeswoman told Bloomberg the company wouldn’t comment on internal meeting discussions. But either way, it’s a messy situation for both players of the game and the developers making it.