Disable RED Launcher in The Witcher 3

How to never see the launcher added in the next gen update again

DX12 Disclaimer

It appears that this fix only works when you run the game in DX12. If you run the game in DX11, there are some very good tips from people in the comments section below you should try out.

The Fix

Step 1: Right click on The Witcher 3 in your Steam Library

Step 2: Click "Properties"

Step 3: In the "Launch Options" Section, paste the following line:

--launcher-skip

Step 4: Close the properties window. I like to open it again to ensure the line was added.

After this, you will boot right into the game just like before the update!

[Al Game]

Thanks for the information.
Certainly more useful than the one provided by CD Projekt network and Steam combined.
We need more people like you to help clumsy people like us.

Gracias por la información.
Sin duda más últil que la que proporciona CD Projekt red y Steam juntos.
Necesitamos a más gente como tú para ayudar a torpes como nosotros.

[Shkoop]

Step 1: Uninstall

[about 47 t-rexes]

Thanks for all the info, I had no idea. I added a little disclaimer to the guide to help clear up confusion.

[VikingNerdLad]

Witcher 3 does not actually run DX12 - Basically the game runs in DX11 API calls and is translated into DX12 API calls (which is not native DX12 API). It's known as d3d11on12.

The DX11 version has all the graphical upgrades (ie updated textures, shaders, models, assets....) but without Ray Tracing/Reflex/DLSS.

DLSS only functions correctly in native DX12 so its not working properly as reported by many players.

Testing the game in DX12 in different resolutions I see no FPS changes when running with DLSS enabled or disabled.

In TW3, because how DX12 was implemented, it has worse performance than running the game in DX11.

Hope this helps clear the air on DX11 vs DX12 for TW3 and why you should change it in the launcher before you use the steps in this thread to disable the launcher.

I WILL ADD: I did set the game to DX11 in the launcher and after an update it was changed back to DX12. Just a reason to maybe NOT disable the launcher.

[SalvorHardin]

If you need dx11, open the file "launcher-configuration.json" in the game directory and edit the line "fallback: DiretcX 12" into "fallback: DirectX 11"

[Milo]

i play this games with 80 mods so i prefer to use dx11 for better framerate, plus most Lighting mods and reshades are optimise for dx11

[Crumb]

Most people are running it on dx11 because of the performance issues on 12. If you don't have an rtx card for raytracing it's pointless to run dx12.

[Helix]

idk about other people, but some pcs have CPUs that don't have the AVX instruction set, which the dx12 version needs in order to run. without it, the game won't even open it. i'm one of them, sadly.

[about 47 t-rexes]

I didn't realize anyone wasn't using DX12, why would you use something else?

[Crumb]

Only works for dx12