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There is nothing separate to install for The Witcher 3’s official accessibility preset. In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered, open Settings → Accessibility and enable Bard’s Ballad. You can also start a new game on Just the Story and accept the Bard’s Ballad prompt. The preset is available on existing saves, can be changed at any time, and works independently of combat difficulty. It contains seven individually adjustable options for maintenance, travel, underwater breathing, vitality recovery and hold-to-use inputs. Changing any individual option changes the label from Bard’s Ballad to Custom; it does not lock you into a preset or require a restart.
Is Bard’s Ballad a mod or a built-in Witcher 3 setting?
Bard’s Ballad is native content in the Remastered build, not a Nexus installation package. Once your game has updated to Remastered, the controls live in the in-game Accessibility section. You do not need a mods folder, a third-party download or a separate accessibility installer.
CD Projekt Red describes Bard’s Ballad as a way to reduce cognitive load for players who experience mental fatigue or have difficulty concentrating. It streamlines maintenance and a few demanding inputs while leaving the story, quests and combat systems intact. Director of Player Experience and Safety Karolina Niewęgłowska explained the goal during CD Projekt Red’s Gamescom livestream, as reported by PCGamesN in 2026:
“We basically wanted players who are tired, or they are running out of attention, to be able to experience the game, follow the story, and immerse themselves in the world.”
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She also explained why the feature has a name rather than being presented as an anonymous switch:
“I wanted to give them a name, because people sometimes are shy to use accessibility settings. They think, ‘Oh, it’s not for me, I shouldn’t.’ Sometimes people want to relax, or just want to focus on something beautiful.”
The official Remastered notes describe one named preset, Bard’s Ballad. If you change individual controls, the game presents your combination as Custom; do not expect a menu of several separately named official loadouts.
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You need the Remastered version on the same platform ecosystem as your existing purchase. CD Projekt Red says the upgrade is free for anyone who previously bought any edition, physical or digital, when moving within that platform ecosystem.
- Own the game. Existing owners of a physical or digital edition can use the free same-platform upgrade. New players should look for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition or a Remastered store listing.
- Update to Remastered. The Remastered launch date was 29 September 2026. The official platform list is PC through Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store or Battle.net; PlayStation 5; Xbox Series X|S; and Nintendo Switch 2.
- Launch the updated game. A dedicated Accessibility section was added to Settings, and older accessibility-related controls were moved there. The former HUD Configuration area is now called Interface.
- Open Settings → Accessibility. This is the supported installation and configuration path. If the Accessibility section is absent, verify that the game has completed the Remastered update rather than running a 1.32 or older Next-Gen installation.
PCGamingWiki records a free conversion of all versions to the Complete Edition on 26 August 2026, followed by the Remastered release on 29 September. Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine are included with the Complete Edition and Remastered editions.
How do I enable Bard’s Ballad on a new game?
The new-game route is the quickest way to apply the full preset before you begin.
- Choose New Game.
- Select the Just the Story difficulty.
- When the Bard’s Ballad prompt appears, accept it.
- After the opening sequence, revisit Settings → Accessibility if you want to remove or adjust individual effects.
Choosing Bard’s Ballad here does not permanently select Just the Story. Difficulty and accessibility are separate settings, so you can change difficulty later and still keep the accessibility options you want.
How do I enable or change it on an existing save?
You can apply Bard’s Ballad during an existing playthrough without starting over.
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- Load your save.
- Pause and open Settings → Accessibility.
- Enable Bard’s Ballad, or turn its listed options on and off individually.
- Apply the change and return to the game.
If you alter even one item in the preset, the menu labels the result Custom. That label describes your current mix; it is not an error and does not disable the remaining options. You can restore the full Bard’s Ballad combination from the same menu.
What are the seven Bard’s Ballad options?
CD Projekt Red’s 2026 list contains seven effects. Each is independently switchable. The defaults below are the post-launch values recorded by Prima Games in 2026, not figures published in CD Projekt Red’s public change list.
| Option | What it changes | Prima Games default |
|---|---|---|
| Vitality Regeneration Boost | Sets the Vitality percentage below which regeneration activates and sets the regeneration intensity. This is the only Bard’s Ballad item with two published sliders. | Activates below 50% Vitality; 50 Regeneration multiplier. |
| Infinite Breath | Geralt cannot run out of oxygen while swimming or diving. | On. |
| Unlimited Item Durability | Equipment no longer wears down, so ordinary craftsman repairs are unnecessary. Repair controls can still appear in the standard interface. | On. |
| Unlimited Boat Durability | Boats become indestructible, including against jagged rocks and sirens. This is separate from equipment durability. | On. |
| Ignore Item Weight | Removes the normal carry limit and the movement penalty for being overburdened. CD Projekt Red describes it as, “Travel the Path carrying as much as you want.” | On. |
| Faster Boats | Increases sailing speed for Skellige travel. It is a travel convenience, not a combat modifier. CD Projekt Red’s notes say, “The seas around Skellige just got a little bit smaller.” | On. |
| Toggle Witcher Sense | Lets you switch Witcher Sense on and off with a press instead of holding the normal input. This can reduce hand fatigue and the need to maintain a button. | On. |
Gamer.org’s later recap listed only six effects, but it omitted Unlimited Boat Durability. The official seven-option list is the complete one.
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There is no required “correct” mix. Start with the task that is tiring or distracting you, then leave unrelated systems unchanged.
Story-first, low cognitive load
Leave all seven options on. This removes equipment repair and carrying decisions, eliminates underwater oxygen management, shortens boat travel, adds vitality recovery and replaces the Witcher Sense hold input with a toggle.
Exploration comfort only
Enable Toggle Witcher Sense, Faster Boats and Infinite Breath. Leave durability, item weight and Vitality regeneration at their normal values if you still want the inventory and survival systems.
Inventory-only relief
Enable Unlimited Item Durability and Ignore Item Weight. This removes repair trips and encumbrance while leaving travel speed, swimming and combat recovery unchanged.
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Enable only Toggle Witcher Sense. It is the smallest change for players who can manage the rest of the systems but find a sustained button press uncomfortable.
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Does Bard’s Ballad change combat difficulty?
No. Bard’s Ballad and difficulty are independent axes. The normal difficulty choices remain Just the Story, Story and Sword, Blood and Broken Bones and Death March.
You can run Death March with Ignore Item Weight enabled, or choose Just the Story with every Bard’s Ballad option disabled. The preset changes maintenance, travel, breathing and input behavior; it does not replace enemy damage, enemy health or the combat-difficulty rules.
What other accessibility settings are available?
Several useful controls sit alongside Bard’s Ballad but are not part of its seven-effect list. Their exact grouping matters because some are in Accessibility while others remain under Interface or Gameplay.
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Color-Blind Friendly Witcher Senses changes the highlighting of objects, tracks and clues. PCGamingWiki describes the color-blind treatment as improving visibility of tracks, marks, footprints and scent clues. It is a visual adjustment, not a difficulty change.
Witcher Sense distortion and motion comfort
Witcher Senses Fish-Eye Effect disables the distorted view while Witcher Sense is active. The Remastered settings dump calls the corresponding control MotionSicknessFocusMode. An older PCGamingWiki instruction placed that key in the [Gameplay] section; the current Remastered 5.00c dump places it in [Accessibility], which is the section to prefer for current PC installations.
Blade oils, sword handling and looting
Prima Games’ post-launch settings table lists Automatically Apply Blade Oils, Manual Sword Draw/Sheathing and Quick Corpse Looting. These controls are separate from the seven Bard’s Ballad effects, so changing them does not represent a different Bard’s Ballad preset.
Minimap clutter filters
CD Projekt Red’s official path for hiding herbs, boats and corpses is Settings → Video → Interface, not the Bard’s Ballad panel. The relevant filters include Minimap: Hide Herbs and Minimap: Hide Corpses. Keep those options in Interface when following the official menu layout.
Loot grouping and loot-feed behavior
Grouped nearby loot and the loot feed are under Settings → Gameplay. They are distinct from Quick Corpse Looting and from the Ignore Item Weight effect.
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Next-Gen accessibility foundations
The 14 December 2022 Next-Gen update already added several controls that remain relevant in Remastered: photo mode, cross-platform saves, Quick Sign Casting, easier herb looting, a dynamically hidden minimap, minimap icon filters, scalable subtitles, expanded controller customization and pausable cutscenes. Remastered centralizes many of these controls rather than replacing them with Bard’s Ballad.
Other comfort changes in Remastered
- A horse-control input-sensitivity slider is under Settings → Controls.
- Canter and gallop use press behavior instead of requiring a continuous hold.
- You can collect loot without dismounting Roach.
- Quick combat disengage uses hold dodge (Alt/○/B), then sprint (Left Shift/X/A), with the exact button depending on platform.
Ukrainian text localization was added in the same Accessibility update block. It is a language option, not a Bard’s Ballad toggle. On PC, Remastered also supports DualSense haptic feedback; that is a controller feature rather than an accessibility preset.
Can I edit Witcher 3 accessibility settings in a PC file?
Yes, but file editing is optional and less safe than using the menu. PCGamingWiki places the settings files in %USERPROFILE%DocumentsThe Witcher 3. DirectX 11 normally uses user.settings; DirectX 12 uses dx12user.settings.
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A Remastered version 5.00c settings dump shared on GitHub Gist shows an [Accessibility] block containing keys such as:
[Accessibility]
NoAirDrain=false
MotionSicknessFocusMode=false
AutoLoot=false
DisableDurabilityBoat=false
FocusToggle=false
DisableDurabilityItem=false
ColorblindFocusMode=false
WeightlessItems=true
FastBoats=false
HideHerbs=false
HideCorpse=false
LowHPAutoHealOn=falseThese names are useful for inspection, but the dump is a player configuration, not a CD Projekt Red support document. The practical mappings inferred from the names are:
NoAirDrain— Infinite Breath.FocusToggle— Toggle Witcher Sense.DisableDurabilityItemandDisableDurabilityBoat— the two durability controls.WeightlessItems— Ignore Item Weight.FastBoats— Faster Boats.LowHPAutoHealOn— the Vitality Regeneration Boost master switch; threshold and intensity may be stored elsewhere or controlled only through the interface.ColorblindFocusMode— color-blind Witcher Senses.MotionSicknessFocusMode— the fish-eye or motion-sickness senses treatment.AutoLoot— an auto-loot control mentioned at Gamescom, not one of the official seven effects.HideHerbsandHideCorpse— minimap clutter filters.
Back up the file before changing it, close the game, edit only the intended key and then launch the game to verify the result. Do not replace your entire file with someone else’s dump: the Gist maintainer warns that a complete user.settings copy also carries over difficulty, language, DLC and graphics settings. If the menu and file disagree, use the in-game Accessibility screen as the supported source of truth.
When does a community accessibility mod make sense?
Use native Remastered controls first. A mod is useful only when you need behavior the official menu does not provide, such as hiding repair prompts after durability has been disabled or changing how saddlebag storage is presented.
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How to install the mod on PC
- Confirm that the game is Remastered, not 1.32 or the incompatible Next-Gen branch.
- Download the mod archive from its Nexus Mods page and unzip it.
- Drag the supplied folders into your Witcher 3 installation directory.
- Verify that
modLimitless.xmlis atbinconfigr4gameuser_config_matrixpcand that the mod folder is insidemods. - Launch the game and check the native Accessibility options before troubleshooting the mod.
How to uninstall it
Remove the modLimitlessBetterAccessibilltySettings folder and the supplied XML file from binconfigr4gameuser_config_matrixpc. Keep a backup of your original files so a failed update can be reversed.
On cross-platform Remastered editions, CD Projekt Red also provides an in-game Mods section powered by mod.io. That is the console-legal route for supported player-created content. Community overhauls advertised as fully blind-accessible projects are separate mods with their own input and high-contrast systems; they are not Bard’s Ballad and should not be treated as official presets.
What should I check if the preset is missing or behaves unexpectedly?
- No Accessibility section: confirm that the title screen identifies the Remastered build and that the update completed. A 1.32 installation will not have the Remastered menu.
- The menu says Custom: this is expected after changing any individual Bard’s Ballad option. Re-enable the preset or set the seven controls manually if you want the full default combination.
- Repair icons remain: Unlimited Item Durability prevents wear but does not necessarily hide repair UI. The Limitless mod specifically targets those visual and blacksmith prompts.
- Boat still breaks: Unlimited Item Durability does not protect boats. Enable Unlimited Boat Durability separately.
- Geralt still runs out of air: verify Infinite Breath rather than Faster Boats; they affect different systems.
- Minimap filters are hard to find: open Settings → Video → Interface. Hide Herbs and Hide Corpses are not part of the seven Bard’s Ballad effects.
- A copied settings file changed unrelated behavior: restore your backup. Full-file copies can alter graphics, language, DLC, difficulty and other controls.
Later patches can move labels. Patch 5.00c for PC was identified on 1 October 2026, and patch 5.01 for Switch 2 on 19 October 2026; the durable instruction remains to look in Settings → Accessibility on the Remastered build.
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What is the practical difference between the preset, Custom and vanilla settings?
| Configuration | What you get | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Bard’s Ballad | The seven official effects enabled as a named preset, including the Prima Games defaults of 50% Vitality activation and 50 regeneration intensity. | Players who want the broadest reduction in maintenance and input load. |
| Custom | Any personal combination of the seven options, plus other accessibility controls configured elsewhere. | Players who need relief in one area, such as Witcher Sense holding or inventory weight, without changing everything. |
| Vanilla or all-off | The normal equipment, breathing, carrying, boat and hold-input rules. | Players who want the original management systems while still using unrelated features such as scalable subtitles or color-blind Witcher Senses. |
How do the upgrade and platform rules affect installation?
The feature is tied to the Remastered game build, not to a separate purchase of an accessibility pack. Prior owners receive the upgrade free within the same platform ecosystem, whether their original copy was physical or digital. A disc owner still needs the appropriate console and account ecosystem for the update, and a PC owner must update the installed PC edition through its existing launcher.
Complete Edition and Remastered include Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. PC-only graphics additions such as Path Tracing, DLSS 4.5, FSR 4 on RX 7000-and-newer hardware, FSR 2 on older supported hardware and XeSS 2.0 do not alter Bard’s Ballad behavior. Likewise, the published 0.69 Stick Sensitivity value is a patch fix, not an accessibility preset control.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I turn Bard’s Ballad off after starting a new game?
Yes. Open Settings → Accessibility during the same save and disable the preset or individual options. The game does not require a new playthrough when you change these controls.
Does Infinite Breath make every underwater objective easier?
It removes Geralt’s oxygen limit while swimming and diving, but it does not automatically solve underwater combat, navigation or quest requirements. You still need to follow the objective and use the normal underwater controls.
Why did my Bard’s Ballad label change to Custom?
The label changes whenever you alter one of the seven preset options. Custom simply records that your combination differs from the named defaults; it does not indicate corruption or disable the settings you left enabled.
Are color-blind Witcher Senses included in Bard’s Ballad?
No. Color-Blind Friendly Witcher Senses is a separate accessibility control that changes clue and track highlighting. You can enable it alongside Bard’s Ballad, with a custom mix, or with all seven Bard’s Ballad effects off.
Will a settings-file edit transfer between my PC’s DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 modes?
Not automatically. DirectX 11 generally reads user.settings, while DirectX 12 generally reads dx12user.settings in the Witcher 3 Documents folder. If you switch rendering modes, verify the active file and confirm the result in the in-game menu.
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