See ellyloo's earlier post: if you did nothing to change the location the GOG edition automatically installs to, it will be:

On 64-bit Windows:

C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\The Witcher Enhanced Edition Directors Cut\System\witcher.exe

On 32-bit Windows:

C:\Program Files\GOG.com\The Witcher Enhanced Edition Directors Cut\System\witcher.exe

I'm having the same problem and have spent weeks looking for a solution. Here is a copy of what the shortcut looks like that I made. "C:\Program Files (x86)\The Witcher\System\witcher.exe" -dontForceMinReqs.
I am still getting this error.

That should work... make sure there's a space between the closing quote mark and the -dontForceMinReqs (looks like you have one) and make sure there's no period at the end. I'm not sure if you just put the period in when you posted here or if it's actually in your shortcut. If it is, remove it and it should work.

You may also need to ensure that you're running the shortcut as administrator. Not sure, but it might help.

Checked the shortcut there is a space in it and no period. Also tried running as an administrator and tried running it in XP compablity mode as an administrator still doesn't work. In tring to fix this I came accross fourms where people are having this problem with new alienware laptops which my machine is.

With an nVidia GPU, no doubt? The problem is some nVidia-developed crap called Optimus. Optimus conceals the nVidia GPU (ostensibly for power saving, but really because of a long and ugly dispute with Intel) until a program makes a Direct3D call that requires it. Alienware, ASUS, and a number of other laptop manufacturers use nVidia Optimus. Optimus defeats the ability of The Witcher to determine what GPU is present.

Since you can't get rid of Optimus, what you can do is be sure you are on the current nVidia Verde drivers (not the Alienware-supplied drivers), and go into the nVidia Control Panel and tell it to "use the high-performance nVidia GPU" when you run witcher.exe.

Let us know if you can get it working, Kevin. Optimus or not, I'm surprised that the command line option isn't preventing the error message.

Side note, whoever programmed this system requirements check was an idiot.

Cheap shot is cheap.

The alternative to the "System requirements not met" dialog is a crash to desktop, when the system requirements are in fact not met.

This is a 4-year-old game. When it was released, there were no GPU-switching laptops, there were no Intel GPUs that could run the game at all.

When the game was released, the likelihood of a customer attempting to run it on a grossly deficient computer, with, say, an Intel "Extreme Graphics" GPU or a deficient nVidia or ATI chipset was very real and worth defending against.

The only thing the developers are guilty of is lacking clairvoyance, and what is needed to fix it is revenue that this game is no longer capable of providing. Or are you willing to put up development funds to patch a 4-year-old game that sells at bargain basement prices?

I didn't think so.

I think the best option would be a "warning" prompt, something that says "Warning! You do not meet the minimum system requirements. Attempting to run the game may result in unstable performance and crashes. Would you like to run the game anyway? Y/N".

Of course, if they had done that, lots of people wouldn't have read the prompt and then would start complaining when the game crashes their computer, or otherwise messes something up. And there's always a chance that it's worse than just a crash and might actually cause something worse like messing up the OS or even over-stressing and damaging a CPU or GPU (although that's not very likely).

I think that the check that CDProjekt put it is perfectly reasonable, and in most cases you can bypass it with the method given in this thread, so in the end it's not a huge deal.

Back on topic, that behavior with Optimus is interesting. I hope cjgreen's solution works.

With the Optimus software mentioned on certain laptops you have 2 video chips one is usually an Intel HD chip for photo editing , watching DVD`s , etc and there is a second more powerful Nvidia chip for gaming or running higher graphic intensive applications The optimus software was broken for a long time until Nvidia released the 270.61 drivers i think which correctly fixed the problem . Anyway to make the Nvidia GPU work as it`s intended try the steps listed .
1. Open NVIDIA Control Panel
2. Select: Advanced View
3. Navigate to: Manage 3D Settings
4. Select tab entitled: Program Settings
5. Use the "Add" button to find and add the .exe file(s) for the game(s)
you would like to use the Nvidia card for
6. Select the option "High Performance NVIDIA Processor"
7. Click on "Apply"
8. Exit the NVIDIA Control Panel

Does this work for everyone? I've set it so the launcher uses the high performance thing and it still fails :(

Are you on at least the 275.33 driver? I'm not sure the 270 drivers fixed the Optimus issue completely.

And what hardware are you trying to run the game on? I'm concerned that there may be a different problem that is preventing the game from running.

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Hello all,

The solution with the -dontforcemin switch in the shortcut is rather unsatisfying as it makes the game run in a minimum graphics mode with all settings set to minimum (without the option to change them).

The reason therefore is that the launcher seems to check the amount of dedicated VideoRam of the graphics adapter that is currently in use (which is at this time the internal card - even if the game itself would then use the dedicated card) . If there are not at least 500 MB available then the check fails and the game refuses to start. The solution you mentioned bypasses this check but then forces the game to run in minimum graphics mode. So not really a solution..
In order to make it work as it should you just have to raise the amount of reserved VideoRam of your internal Graphic adapter.... Do the following:
1. revert the solution with the -dontforceminrequ switch in the shortcut. it is not needed and has the downsides mentioned above.
2. reboot, go into your bios and set the amount of VRam for your internal graphic adapter to a value >500 MB. (512 MB should be available). Then save and restart...

The game then should pass the check and run with full Graphics in normal mode as it should (and of course uses the dedicatd graphics card)

Thank you very much Simcali you saved us all! I was finally able to run Witcher 1 on a laptop with Windows 10 without an error about non-compliance with the minimum system requirements. I remember that earlier on the same laptop with Windows 7, the game started without problems. Apparently, after updating the BIOS, the parameters were reset and the VRAM value for the integrated graphics was 64 MB (minimum value). Your solution to the problem with the launch should be advised CD Projekt Red, because they are advised to use -dontforceminreqs and mod on textures. I spent a few days searching for a solution to the problem, but all I found was to use -dontforceminreqs and change the EmulationOnly value (1 change to 0) in the registry for DirectDraw. I also installed the old DirectX 9 libraries, but the game still didn't start.

You are right. The -dontforceminreqs option allows you to start the game, but there are certain problems with the settings.
1) If you use -dontforceminreqs, then you cannot change the quality of the textures and use anti-aliasing. On the Nexus Mods there is a mod that restores textures, but this does not completely solve the problem. Some textures are still of poor quality. Anti-aliasing can be activated in the Nvidia Control Panel, but the shadows in the game disappear. I tried to use ReShade instead and adjust SMAA or FXAA through it, but this does not suit me, since the fonts in the game become fuzzy.
2) Emulation Only for DirectDraw in the Windows 10 registry does not exist.
Therefore, to run the game in normal mode is the only solution.

I am very glad that I was able to run the game on the same laptop with Windows 10 as before on another OS. I knew that the game has a large community and it does fantastic things and helps people find a solution to the problem.


P.S. Sorry for my english.