The Witcher 3 patch makes Geralt less obsessed with candles

Geralt of Rivia has a problem. No matter how much he wants to open a tempting-looking treasure chest or flip an important switch, he feels compelled to show off his fire magic by repeatedly lighting, dousing, and re-lighting nearby candles and torches first. Thankfully, the latest patch for The Witcher 3 should help him overcome that compulsion.

The Witcher 3 Patch 1.05 is live on PC right now, and, aside from adjusting Geralt's torch-versus-treasure-chest priorities, it's packed full of fixes: it improves his somewhat-floaty movement, particularly while swimming; clears up issues that could prevent him from mounting his trusty steed, Roach; and it "deploys the Bovine Defense Force Initiative." Cow slayers, you have been warned.

Unfortunately, the consoles are a bit further behind on updates. CD Projekt Red says work on Patch 1.04 for PS4 and Xbox One is "ongoing," and it can't yet say when you should expect the update to roll out.

Until then, you can covet the extensive set of tweaks and fixes PC players are enjoying in Patch 1.05.

The Witcher 3 PC Patch 1.05 change list

- Fixes a possible exploit by preventing certain drowners from respawning infinitely.
- Improves the distribution of experience points gained by completing quests with recommended - levels lower than the player character level.
- Merchants now offer more weapon types.
- Rebalances the prices of maps that can be purchased from merchants.
- Clarifies a number of crafting diagrams.
- Fixes an exploit whereby players could buy sea shells and sell the pearls inside them at a higher price.
- Increases the variety of loot dropped throughout the game.
- Increases the variety of items available in shops.
- Shops now only offer weapons with levels matching or exceeding the player character level.
- Slightly reduces the amount of coin dropped from chests and monsters.
- Deploys the Bovine Defense Force Initiative.
- Fixes an issue where runestones could not be upgraded to greater runestones.
- Reduces the spawn time of selected groups of NPCs.
- Geralt no longer interacts with candles placed near chests and other openable objects.
- Improves the smoothness of camera movement.
- Fixes a number of issues related to horseback riding.
- Fixes an issue where the player could not deflect arrows/bolts at longer distances.
- Introduces a number of fixes in in-game communities.
- Introduces a number of fixes related to combat.
- Vitality begins to drop if Toxicity exceeds 80%, as originally intended.
- Fixes an issue where Geralt was sometimes unable to mount Roach.
- Improves Geralt's movement, especially when he swims.
- Fixes an issue whereby Geralt could be attached to a sinking boat while aiming his crossbow.
- Fixes a number of issues related to Vitality regeneration.
Fixes an issue whereby certain actions could be randomly blocked during gameplay.
- Fixes a rare issue whereby Geralt could not mount Roach after fast travelling between points.
- Fixes a number of minor tooltip and wording bugs.
- Adds a series of color-blind friendly features. Improves visibility of tracks, marks, footprints and scent clues. Color-blind friendly features can be enabled in the Options\Gameplay submenu.
- Introduces a number of additional fixes to alt + tabbing.
- Fixes an issue where The Witcher 3 process did not close properly if the user did not have - XAUDIO installed.
- Introduces a number of general stability and performance improvements.
- Fixes an issue where in certain situations the game could crash while a save was being loaded.
- Adds some missing translations in localized versions.
- Ciri can no longer unlock fast travel points.
- Improves the behavior of sails when viewed from longer distances.
- Improves performance in selected scenes and cutscenes.
- Fixes an issue where clouds and fog could flicker on some hardware configurations.
- Fixes an issue where Geralt could pass through walls in the fish market in Novigrad.
- Removes repeated sound cues on entry into GUI panels a second time.
- Adds a collision near Kaer Gelen that could cause the player to be blocked inside the building.
- Improves the scale of selected elements of the GUI and HUD.
- Introduces a number of bug fixes and user experience improvements in the GUI panels.
- Introduces a number of small changes in the UI for gwent.
- Improves the alignment of the HUD for the 21:9, 4:3 and 5:4 screen ratios.
- Disables "Input device changed" messages and adds options to disable on-screen combat feedback and floating tags above NPCs.
- Adds an information prompt and Journal entries related to new DLC packages.
- Fixes an issue where some formulae were not displayed in the Alchemy panel when the player possessed level 1 of said formulae.
- Introduces a number of fixes in key bindings.
- Introduces new filters for the Alchemy and Crafting panels.
- Fixes a number of minor issues where music tracks were not triggered in their designated locations.
- Fixes an issue where some players could not interact with an object during the Pyres of Novigrad quest.
- Fixes an issue where some players could not make Geralt run after the Wandering in the Dark quest.
- Fixes an issue where players could not talk to Octo after the Lord of Undvik quest.
- Reduces the number of Wild Hunt minions spawned during the Ciri's Story: Fleeing the Bog quest.
- Fixes an issue where Keira could sometimes fall beneath the terrain during the Wandering in the Dark quest.
- Fixes an issue where certain actions were blocked during the Blindingly Obvious quest.
- Fixes an issue where the player could not activate a portal during the Wandering in the Dark quest.
- Fixes an issue where the player could get trapped in the ruins of Tuirseach Castle.
- Geralt can now always play gwent with Madame Serenity.
- Fixes an issue where Vernon Roche would not appear at the Hanged Man's Tree during the Eye for an Eye quest.
- Fixes an issue where the player could not talk or otherwise interact with certain NPCs.
- Fixes an issue where the sirens in the Lord of Undvik quest could be invincible.
- Fixes an issue where the player could not perform certain actions after the Carnal Sins quest.
- Fixes an issue where some players experienced an infinite loading screen during the King's - Gambit quest.
- Fixes an issue where the player could experience a progression break after choosing a certain dialogue option when talking to Dijkstra in the Count Reuven's Treasure quest.
- Fixes an issue where Simun did not spawn properly during the Unpaid Debt quest.
- Fixes an issue in the Contract: The Oxenfurt Drunk quest where the katakan was not hostile after being lured.
- Fixes an issue in the Contract: Shrieker quest where the shrieker was not hostile in certain situations.
- Fixes an issue where the player could not perform certain actions in the Master of the Arena quest.
- Fixes an issue where wolves were not visible in the Contract: Mysterious Tracks quest.
- Fixes an issue where the player could not fast travel under certain rare circumstances.
- Fixes an issue where the player could not interact with Hattori during the Swords and Dumplings quest.
- The player can no longer take on the Apiarian Phantom contract multiple times.
- Fixes an issue where some players could not progress during the Broken Flowers quest.
- Fixes an issue whereby the "Novigrad, Closed City" entry might have remained in the Journal indefinitely.
- Fixes an issue in the Return to Crookback Bog quest where monsters were spawned inside a building.
- Players can no longer prematurely obtain a key from a halfling, thus blocking the Contract: The Apiarian Phantom quest.
- Fixes an issue in the Greedy God quest where the player could kill a monster twice.
- Adds fail-safes for players being unable to obtain gwent cards after Dijkstra or Lambert can no longer be found in the game.
- Fixes an issue whereby Triss could get stuck on a set of stairs after a scene during the Now or Never quest.
- Fixes an issue where Ermion could not leave Lugos' area during the Sunstone quest.