The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s been out long enough now that you’ve probably seen, oh, say about five per cent of what it has to offer. I anticipate wrapping up the story somewhere around space year 2428.
In terms of questing and content then, CD Projekt has us covered, but that doesn’t mean the endlessly creative PC modding community has had nothing to keep them occupied. There are already dozens of mods, tweaks and graphical improvements available that help bump the game’s already pretty visuals up near the standard of its jaw-dropping E3 trailer debut, and tidy up some annoying UI quirks. Here’s our favourites.
Last Updated: 26/10/2016
Friendly Meditation / Created by wghost81 aka Wasteland Ghost
Every wish you didn’t have to stare at a sad, boring menu with a clock winding down every time you meditated? Wish there was a more immersive and visually appealing alternative? This mod allows you a new meditation option where you can see time fast-forward in real-time as you wait. Moreover, where regular meditation removes all effects, buffs, and debuffs when you do it, this new form of a meditation will consider the advancement of time on the status of any effects you have going at the moment of meditation.
Various Video Replacements / Created by Mezziaz
Playing through Witcher for the umpteenth time, no doubt you’re probably tired of seeing the same splash art every time you load up the your game. You could remove them altogether or you could spruce them up into something more interesting. With this mod, you can replace the main menu screen and various recap story slide shows with various cinematics. Swap and replace them as you see fit to ensure that you always watching something a little more interesting than the regular vanilla settings.
No time for Gwent / Created by Fluffy82
Gwent is a pretty enjoyable card game if you have time for it. Unfortunately, you’re a professional monster hunter and there are definitely more pressing matters to attend to! Fortunately, you also have runic magic at your disposal for just such an occasion. If you’re in a hurry (or just feel like cheating your way to victory), this mod now provides the option to use Axii to influence your opponent to let you win. You’ll score a victory through your mind controlling magic and be off on your way in far less time than usual.
Durable Weapons N’ Armors / Created by Marvoc
Ever tire of having to put your adventures on hold to make your way back to a town and find a blacksmith or armorer to repair your gear? Don’t want to have to keep pounds of weapon and armor repair kits on you all the time? Then why not just raise the durability so you don’t have to worry about it as much? This mod raises the durability on all weapons and armor by quite a bit to ensure that you won’t be having to run back to civilization on a regular basis if you don’t want to.
Open menu during dialogues and cutscenes / Created by Fluffy82
You’ve been playing Witcher 3 for an extended session and probably have to go to the restroom, got a important phone call, or someone’s at the door, but you’re in the middle of a cutscene, and the only way to get out is to skip the cutscene! Pretty unfortunate. If only there was a way to put it on pause for a second. Well, good news. With this mod, you can do just that. During dialogue and cutscenes you can pause at any point, bringing up the menu screne at your leisure.
Character Lighting Fix / Created by Wzol
Characters really shouldn’t glow in the dark. It’s a simple fact, but in most lands and in most light of your Witcher game, your characters will glow like a Witcher’s eyes even in the darkest of shadows in ways that make it seem absurd that any of them could keep a low profile under any circumstance. No longer. This mod extensively removes the fake lighting and glowing affects throughout the game, ensuring a realistic level of detail to compensate for the level of light on any given character.
Better complete Assassin’s armor and weapon set varieties / Created by CorbinDallas
There are some seriously good stats on the assassin’s set of armor and weapons, but it’s hardly the most visually appealing looking gear in the game. If you’d like to take advantage of some fantastic critical hit buffs, but not look lame doing it, then this is a fantastic mod to have. This mod takes bits and pieces from numerous other armors and weapons to craft new gear with common, relic, and Witcher gear tiers of stats offered.
Grandmaster Legendary Undvik Armor / Created by Orchalion Orchaldir
One of the most visually awesome armors in all of Witcher 3 is undoubtedly the Undvik Armor set, but it’s stats will run shy of Witcher gear you can craft to Grandmaster tiers. Wouldn’t you like a way to keep the Undvik Armor strong well into your late games? Then check out this mod, which adds a Grandmaster improvement to the set. The buff on stats and resistances ensures that the Undvik Armor will stay on par as one of the best armors you can get in the game, even in comparison to proper Witcher gear.
Better Roach Control / Created by LordCucumber
Roach is pretty good about being able to take you wherever you need to go, but that horse definitely has its limitations. Roach will stop at cliffs, turn at hills, and avoid other obstacles. Well, if you’re looking for full control over Roach, this mod is what you need. It removes a test script from the game that notes objects or obstacles in front of Roach and responds accordingly. That means if you want to take Roach careening off a deathly cliff you can. If you want to climb a mountain with Roach, you can try. You decide where you go, not Roach.
- Better Torches - / Created by Syynx
Torches are pretty important in Witcher 3 if you don’t have the Cat potion to allow you to see in the dark and even then, sometimes the warm glow of a torch is just plain more appealing than the visual filter that Cat applies. Unfortunately, torches can be annoying in this game in that there are just far too many actions that will put your torch away. This mod makes torches easier to use in most situations. You’ll be able to climb, cast signs, ride roach, and guard against attacks with a torch in hand, making it far more practical than ever before.
All NPC Scabbards 1.22 including DLC / Created by eguitar01
Every sword ought to have a place to put it when people aren’t trying to sheath them in their enemies, so this mod fixes that. With it, not only specialty characters will have scabbards for their weapons, but in fact, every sword in the Witcher 3 universe will have an appropriate sheath, including those that can be found in the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine DLCs. It’s just common sense and basic blade care after all.
PhotoMode / Created by CAPA
The world of Witcher 3 is beautiful and you can make it even more beautiful with a slew of visual mods on this page. So don’t you wish there was an easy way for you to freeze frame on the most spectacular of moments and collect otherwise impossible screenshots? With this mod, you’ll be able to do just that. With it, you can freeze the game and free the camera to collect the most brilliant, exciting, and/or serene screenshots you’d like at any time in game.
More Realistic Wind Effect / Created by hoeness23
If you look at most of the foliage in Witcher 3 no matter the weather, it gives an effect that there’s practically always a dust storm going on, making trees sway rapidly and erratically. This simply is not how nature intended. With this mod, the wind effects in all weathers have been adjusted so that sway and feel look more natural than in the vanilla game.
TradeMan / Created by GiecuMan
Want to live in a Witcher world where you don’t feel like you’re having to scrap and scrape for every single crown and floren you can get your hands on? Want life to be even more difficult for the traveling warrior than ever and live like a monk as you travel the lands? With this mod, you can do both. It offers you several options to completely revamp trade statistics on most merchants. Whether you make it easy to live like a king or cripple yourself to the state of a pauper is up to you.
Better Trophies / Created by fnexus
The trophies are pretty nifty eyecatches in Witcher 3, but the so-called bonuses they give you are as boring as sin, so what’s the point in worrying about what Roach wears? If you want to actually give trophies real weight as viable equipment, you simply must have this mod. It changes the trophy bonuses so that each trophy provides a bonus when fighting its kind and each has a very specific new bonus as well. No more catch-alls that apply to all the bird heads or all the demons. Now these trophies will matter in your travels.
Always Full Exp / Created by Tommy1984
It’s a common occurrence in most RPGs to eventually find yourself at a place where you’re overleveled in an area and every quest left ends up amounting to a pittance because of reduced experienced for ease of completion. No longer. You’ve done the work. You should reap the reward. This mod offers you several options for how to handle this concept, allowing you full control of where you should reap the rewards of a quest well done and when.
High Quality Faces / Created by Holgar96
The faces of most citizens in Witcher 3 do what they can, but if you’ve found yourself bored or a little annoyed at their overall appearances in dialogue or cutscenes, here is a good option. This mod revamps most of the faces in the game with some marked improvements to brings more life and overall realism to all denizens, citizens, nomads, and scoundrels you’ll meet in your travels.
Increased Creature Loot / Created by mindkiller316
You have a potion recipe. You need some particularly hard to find ingredients, but the monsters you keep hunting to get your hands on those precious components simply won’t give up the goods! What do you do? Well, you could waste your time waiting and respawning them over and over again like a sucker or you could get this mod. It provides several flexible options that amount to ensuring that enemies always drop a bit more loot than they do in the previous game. Quit wasting time. You’ve got crafting to do!
First person mode / Created by SkacikPL
Oh, but to see the world through the eyes of a witcher must be a most amazing experience. In fact, why not do it for awhile? With this mod you can. It will bring you an extra mode that will allow you to switch between the regular third person view and a first person view from Geralt’s perspective. Whether you ride on the trails, mosey into the townships and cities, or slip into your favorite pub, you can take on a new and interesting perspective with this mod: That of the famous White Wolf.
Lore-friendly Silver Swords / Created by ErdnussSpass
Do you find yourself wishing that the special silver swords found throughout the world of Witcher 3 looked like something more than just a second sword Geralt will always carry on his back? Maybe it’s time silver swords looked like the monster-slaying tools of lore that they deserve to be in the Witcher universe. This mod gives new visual effects to all silver swords found throughout Witcher 3’s main campaign and all of its DLC. Let your blade shine in the darkness as it should and remind your quivering inhuman foes that you are the bane of their existence.
Skellige Ice Breath / Created by CAPA
With how vast and ripe the visual content of Witcher 3 is, you might not notice small little things that are missing. This mod addresses one of those small things. It adds a small effect to Geralt and other NPCs to produce misting breaths when in cold environments. Such a little thing, yet it does add just a bit more realism to the game and you can adjust different options for it to work in a variety of different locations and climates by extension.
Fantasy 4.0.1 / Created by CooliSushi
If you’re attracted to the vast, glorious sights and colors of fantasy-fiction worlds, this mod is built towards giving you a much more vibrant world to suit your tastes in Witcher 3. Specifically this mod is a reshade with a focus on color and lighting. It will offer more vibrance, slightly muting the colors of textures with age to them while making greens, blues, and reds stand out quite a bit more. Enjoy a world that pops with life and vibrance.
Ciri outfit better colours / Created by ziraelxx
In a world of mostly muted colors, Ciri stands out like a sore thumb with her vibrant clothing, which is strange considering how much she’s on the run and how inconspicuous she’s trying to be in most of the game. If you find this to be somewhat annoying, you’re not the only one. This mod takes aim at making Ciri’s colors more in-line with the drab world around her. From cloth to scabbard, everything on Ciri is recolored a little more reserved compared to her somewhat orange and bright colors.
All Quest Objectives On Map / Created by Wolfmark
Witcher 3 is generally pretty good at guiding you to your objectives in any given quest, but for those times when it offers a general area in which a quest must be solved, there’s this mod. It takes the guess work out of the search for your objectives by adding a marker on the map that specifically marks quest objectives for any quests you have active in your journal. Definitely a mod for those that are more into the destination than the journey.
AutoLoot / Created by JupiterTheGod
This mod is one of incredible convenience. Where normal looting requires you to go through the menus over and over again to either pick and choose or take all things within an object, this mod makes looting a one button press affair. You can use several filtering options to determine what it is you’ll take when you activate a lootable object and you can skip most of those menus forever more with this customizable streamline system.
Slots Slots SLOTS / Created by Zur13
This mod is dedicated to those who don’t wish to be bogged down in choice or limitations, it allows players to add up to an additional 80 skill slots for Geralt’s use. You can choose increments of how many slots you want to use and unlock those slots from the beginning of the game if you so choose. If you feel like rushing Geralt along to the bad ass you want him to be without major restrictions, this is a handy tool for it.
Indestructible Items / Created by SunBroDave
To be honest, there’s nothing particularly exciting or even noteworthy about repairing weapons and equipment in Witcher 3. With this mod, it won’t be a matter of concern anymore. It removes equipment degradation from the game, making your tools indestructible. No more having to rush over to your local blacksmith just to tap that annoying repair button on all your gear anymore.
The Enhancement System / Created by Mangekyoumadara1987
If you grow tired of the same old weapons and gear, we’ve got a mod for you. The Enhancement System allows you to dismantle relic blades and gain access to schematics for enhanced versions. In addition, Geralt can now use previously unavailable NPC weapons as his own. Wield Vesimir or Ciri’s unique blades or bash enemies with Imlerith’s Mace or Caranthir’s Staff. These are just the tip of the iceberg too. This mod is a comprehensive overhaul that brings new animations and features in addition to the core elements.
The Gwent Card Dealer / Created by Mangekyoumadara1987
If you savor the flavor of a good, relaxing game of Gwent in Witcher 3, but hate the idea of having to wait so long to build the deck you want to build, then this is a mod you’ll want. It adds a new NPC to the tavern at The Crossroads that will sell most any Gwent card. Fill out your lesser used decks or grab cards you may have missed on your way through the game. With this NPC and enough money, you’ll be able to make the perfect deck at your leisure.
Remove Weapon and Armor Level Restrictions / Created by SunBroDave
In Witcher 3, there’s not many things as demoralizing as looking at your schematics list and seeing it filled with way too many pieces of gear you’ll have to wait ages to make because you’re not the correct level to have them. This mod says “boo” to waiting and “yes” to cool gear now. It removes the level restrictions on all weapons and armor, making them usable anytime. Sure it will unbalance the game a bit, but if you have the means to track down the components of a choice piece or the piece itself, why not take the sword or armor you earned for an immediate spin?
No Fall Damage / Created by SunBroDave
Fall damage in Witcher 3 is sensitive. Perhaps too much so. When you can take an accidental drop off a second story and die or lose most of your health, maybe it’s time for mod intervention. This mod will remove fall damage from the game, allowing you to take even absurd drops without fear of death. Parkour around the cities and mountains of Witcher 3 and roll away from death defying gravitational folly with impunity.
Auto Apply Oils / Created by SheepDarklord
“Is that a Cockatrice over there? Oh cool! Let’s fight! But wait, let me go into my inventory, find the appropriate oil, apply it to my weapons, and close out of the menu. Okay! Now we can fight!” Seems off doesn’t it? Not if you have this mod. When coming upon any given combat encounter, it will automatically apply whatever oil is appropriate for the situation. It will also reapply oils when their effects wear off. No more menu pausing for what ought to be a simple feature.
No Dirty Lens Effect / Created by RumenWest
Do you ever catch yourself looking into the sunset in Witcher 3, having a relaxing time enjoying the view, only to find it a little annoying that there seems to be a dust effect on the camera that dirties up the splendor of an otherwise glorious view? Then consider this mod. It removes the texture from the game altogether, ensuring that your rides into the setting sun won’t be marred by an immersion breaking dirty camera effect.
Clear Crap Weapons from Merchants / Created by ichkruchka
Tired of all the junk that merchants are selling? This mod changes all that by clearing any primary and secondary weapons (crossbows will be left untouched) which are of magic quality or lower and are about 10 levels lower than the player’s level. So now, when you visit a merchant, you’ll have stuff you actually want to purchase instead of scrolling through pages of cheap garbage.
School of the Roach Edition / Created by Overhaul
This is a big mod which has been in previous editions of The Witcher. Using dozens of new meshes and textures, thousands of lines of code (in over 60 files), and more XML edits than can be counted, this mod overhauls and tweaks all of the weapons, armor, combat and skills in the game. It even re-balances the economy and adds new craftable armor. One of the warnings is that this mod is still in beta, so be mindful of glitches.
Roach Wild Hunt / Created by Maykon Lexar
Geralt’s horse, the Roach, is kind of boring as is, so this mod adds two variations for the beast. One version gives her just the mantle, while the second version gives her armor, a cloak and a saddle for that regal badass steed look. The changes only apply to the Roach - all other horses are unaffected.
More Blood Mod / Created by KNG
Worried that the creatures and people that draw your ire are getting off easy? Do you feel your Witchering is a little bit too clean? Worry not. This mod will make sure that your enemies will squirt life juice like the arterial fountains they ought to be. Be warned, things will get messy.
Lore-friendly Witchers / Created by DazzlingDjango
This mod aims to take references from previous games, books, and the lore established about Witchers and apply them to Geralt. The mod corrects certain aspects of Geralt’s eyes, hair, skin, and scarring in order to regain a certain consistency to his appearances in previous Witcher games and knowledge about him from the inspiring books of Andrzej Sapkowski.
Over 9000 / Created by GiecuMan
This mod pushes the limit for Geralt’s capacity all the way to 9000. Got a ton of swords, armours, materials, and other such loots you’re not willing to be picky and choosy over? Well, this mod is here to enable you in taking all of it and more, you hoarding kleptomaniac, you.
Fast Travel from Anywhere / Created by JupiterTheGod
In vanilla Witcher 3, you have to find a sign post anytime you want to move long distances in short order, which can lead to some very tense and unfortunate situations when you’re out in the middle of nowhere carrying a hefty load of treasures and gear. With this mod, you’ll be able to fast travel from anywhere in the wilderness to one of those glorious sign posts.
Ultimate Engine Mod / Created by Extark
An impressive-looking tweak to the game’s lighting and shading system that aims to give The Witcher 3 a look more akin to the teaser trailers released during its early marketing push. Lighting is brighter outside, and darker indoors, with a more obvious contrast between the two.
Indestructible Boats / Created by Tommy1984
Do Geralt’s naval adventures keep getting interrupted by monsters sinking his little sailboat? Had enough of sirens swooping down to ruin your day? This mod makes every boat in the game indestructible, and stops sirens from attaching themselves like dangerous limpets. Makes exploring the island chain of Skellige far less irritating.
Random Encounters / Created by Erxv
This cool mod – which is not recommended for first time players or those who want an easy game – adds a chance for Geralt to bump into various roaming monsters while he’s out exploring the world. In a nice touch, there are several different options for monster difficulty and encounter frequency, so if you think you’re getting ambushed a bit too much you can tune it down a bit.
Increased Place of Power-Armor-Weapon Buff Duration / Created by FalloutGod
You can visit Places of Power in The Witcher 3 in order to receive temporary buffs to your skills and magic abilities, but they don’t tend to last very long. Essentially, you get into a cycle of running over to these areas before every boss encounter, which is a bit tedious. This mod bumps up the duration quite a bit, but the buffs still only last until the next time you rest.
W.T.R The Horse Kit / Created by Triskle and Feradiera
Ah, Roach, my loyal horse. I call for you, you charge off the edge of a cliff. Time to get a replacement. This mod adds a whole load of horses to the game, including several with some more interesting colour patterns. They’ll still control like a haulage truck with the brakes cut, but at least they’ll look nicer.
Witcher 3 Total Overhaul Created by Philozoraptor
A lot of the mods we’ve covered for The Witcher 3 are little tweaks here and there, that add a bit of flavour or fun without radically changing the game. This one’s a bit different. It tweaks nearly everything about the game’s skills, combat and enemy statistics. You’ll find reworked monster resistances and weaknesses, tweaked skills and magic, and much more.
Hood and Cape Recolor Created by CAPA
Geralt pulls off the cape and hood combination pretty damn well, so naturally you’ll want a nice selection of different colours to choose from. This mod allows you to choose from several different shades, each matching the various armour sets you can find in the game.
Steal Everything / Created by Zhior
One for the kleptomaniacs out there. Normally stealing everything that isn’t nailed down will result in the town guards attempting to cave your skull in with their favourite mace, but this little tweak makes them look the other way. Leaving you free to loot everything in sight.
Disable Intro and Storybook Videos / Created by Zander
We’ll start with a simple one. This handy little tweak removes the little animated cutscenes that play when the game is loading. Normally these are great! After dying for the sixtieth time and listening to the same snippet of plot exposition over and over and over again, they are not so great. The author also claims that this improves loading times in general, so there’s another bonus.
E3FX / Created by Drogean
As you might have guessed from the title, E3FX aims to get the game looking as close as possible to its debut trailer from E3 2013. You’ll need a beefy PC to run this one, of course, but if you’ve got the hardware this mod will get the game looking as good as it possibly can.
Hunter’s Config / Created by MelekTaus
Pretty much essential for tinkerers, Hunter’s Config allows you to mess with almost every setting in the game, even those you can’t alter via the in-game menu. If you’re the type who obsesses over every single dropped frame (guilty), this is the best way to fine-tune your performance.
Extreme Weather / Created by KNG
I like this one. The Witcher 3 is at its most atmospheric when you’re desperately fending off a horde of filthy Drowners in the middle of a raging thunderstorm, and this mod makes those storms and weather conditions feel much more violent and real.
Potion Length / Created by mindkiller316
In The Witcher 2 your crafted potions lasted a good ten minutes or so, but in the third game they tend to hover around the thirty second mark unless you pump all your skills into alchemy. This tweak increases their duration to Witcher 2 levels, which will be construed as cheating by all the other witchers in the game, who will silently judge you. Frankly, if it saves me dipping into the inventory screen every other minute, I can live with that.
Debug Console Enabler / Created by skomski
If you though your fellow witchers frowned upon extended potion durations, imagine how they’ll feel when you pop open the console and dump ten thousand gold into your medieval bank account. This is basically your first stop for cheating and messing around with the game-world.
Wealthy Vendors Created by GiecuMan
Another convenience tweak, this one removes the cap on merchant gold in the game, allowing you to sell your goods to even the most cash-strapped peasant lettuce salesman.
Books After Potions / Created by ghost
Oh my good GODS yes. I love The Witcher 3, but sometimes its UI choices leave me clawing at my scalp in frustration. Such as the way looted books go straight into your main inventory, slap bang in the middle of all your potions, bombs and reagents. Bad, CD Projekt, bad. Fortunately, a helpful modder has sorted out this oversight. I want to hug them.
There you go, a nice mix of convenience features, UI fixes and graphical bells and whistles that should make exploring The Witcher 3’s beautifully designed world even more enjoyable. We’ll keep our eyes peeled over the coming months for more must-grab mods. Do bear in mind that the game is being regularly patched, so some of these modifications might stop working, or even interfere with performance. Always backup, people.
