This quick guide will help you remove the black bars from the cutscenes in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt, when played on an Ultrawide screen!
This guide is up-to-date for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen version (Update 4.04)
Today more and more gamers switch to the Ultrawide monitors as they have become much more affordable and are a great way to immerse yourself even more into the action and beauty of the fictional world of the game you play.
The Witcher 3’s world is a masterpiece and the more you see of it while playing, the greater your experience will be!
When playing The Witcher 3 on an ultrawide monitor all of the cinematics, story cutscenes and simple conversations, even when dealing with vendors and traders, will add black vertical borders on the sides. This is true for me with a monitor that is set to a 21:9 resolution, but it’s true also for the 32:9 setups.
This simple step-by-step guide will help you get rid of the black bars on Ultrawide! Make sure you read the notes section first!
Note that some of the scenes are pre-rendered and therefore they will remain locked to a 16:9 aspect ratio with black bars on the left and right sides.
How to fix Black Bars in The Witcher 3 Cutscenes on Ultrawide Screen
Instructions
- Please be sure to carefully read the full instructions and the notes below before you start the process!
- Download a small program called HxD. This is a hex editor took with an easy to use interface. You can get it from the following link: https://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/
- Open HxD. You will see a screen that looks like this one.
- Go to File and click on Open or use shortcut CTRL+O.
- Navigate to the folder where The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt is installed, then open the folder called "bin", then "x64" (or "x64_dx12"), and find the "witcher3'exe" file in there. Click on it.
- From the Search menu choose "Replace" or use shortcut CTRL+R.
- From the top choose "Hex Values". In the "Search for" field paste exactly this "39 8E E3 3F". In the Replace with field place one of the following, based on your current resolution (I have tested it myself only for 21:9 3440x1440p)
2560x1080 = 26 B4 17 40
3440x1440 = 8E E3 18 40
3840x1600 = 9A 99 19 40
5120x1440 = 39 8E 63 40
5120x2160 = 26 B4 17 40
6880x2880 = 8E E3 18 40
Choose "All" from the "Search direction" in the right and click on "Replace all" button. - The result should be 3 values changed. That was the case for me anyway. Save the file on top of the original by replacing it.
Notes
Copy your original exe files before you start this operation. There should be no problems at all, but just to be sure, it wouldn't hurt to have the backups.
I have used this tool to fix the black bars issues for Ultrawide resolutions for Mafia Definitive Edition, Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Horizon Zero Dawn and it has always worked fine for me.
Not I nor VULKK.com are in any way associated with this tool, its author or its development. I first used this software for the Mafia game on Steam and it proves to be working for me on all other titles I have tried it since.
Depending on when you use this guide, the version of the tool may be different. However the process should be identical always.
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt must not be opened while doing this procedure.
Some scenes, specifically related to the main storyline, are pre-rendered and will always appear with black bars on the sides. They are not too frequent, though and there is nothing that can be done to avoid or fix them.
Please note that the video demo is a part of the main story of the game. It is from the very first moments of the game and doesn't reveal anything interesting or important, but thought I'd warn you.
Below I have a few images from before and after I applied the Ultrawide resolution fix using this tool. I have included new images from Update v4.0, aka the Next-Gen update.
I hope this guide on how to fix The Witcher 3 Ultrawide’s issue with black bars has helped you. Enjoy your time on The Continent!
This is a method I found on Steam for Mafia: Definitive Edition. The same works for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (and for Horizon Zero Dawn, by the way).
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt has no problem supporting all kinds of weird resolutions and it keeps puzzling me why the developers have placed these bars in cinematics.
Having them appear and disappear so often breaks the immersion and The Witcher 3 is a game designed to immerse you into this fictional world inspired by Sapkowski’s books.
Check out the rest of The Witcher 3 coverage here on VULKK.com!
Vulkk
Vulkk (Alex) is the owner of VULKK.com. His passion for video games as well as his love for all things Star Wars are reflected in his news and in-depth guides available here!
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