I've got this weird bug in The Witcher I think.

The gambling den and workshop in the trade quarter of Chapter 3 are both completely deserted whatever time I go there. Absolutely no NPCs in them. I've tried going there at various times of the day and night but nothing changes. I thought I had to wait for some story events to trigger them but I'm into Chapter 4 now.

This persists in my save games (reloading doesn't change anything) so it seems a permanent thing rather than a occasional glitch of NPCs not loading up properly.

I searched online an no-one seems to have mentioned a bug like this. Anyone else encountered this or have a solution?

Are you sure you enter the right building? There are many similarly-looking ones.

Also, I haven't found workshop on my playthough which is a pity as it seems to be a cool location.

No It says "gambling den" or "workshop" when it's loading up the room, and both look pretty distinct from the usual houses.

Hmm, do you have any mods installed? Maybe one of them is behind the problem.

Only mod I have is the improved character textures one and the walk button mod. The walk button one shouldn't have an effect like this and the hi-res textures seems to be pretty commonly used so if it's got anything to do with that it seems odd that no-one else seems to have encountered it.

It's not game breaking just a little annoying... I guess to satiate my OCD completionist tendencies I'll have to find a youtube video of those scenes.

I guess I can try removing those mods.

I've just run into this as well. The gambling den is populated but the workshop is empty at all times of day. This is the only mention I've seen of this bug in all my searching so I guess it's just extremely rare/a result of some very specific set of actions.

EDIT: on a hunch I tested a save prior to "a posh reception" and found the workshop suddenly populated. It looks like what's going on here is if you don't go into the workshop at all prior to doing that quest no one spawns. Why more people haven't run into this bug I have no idea but apparently that's the problem.

I have the same problem as well, I didn't go into the Gambling Den at all before I finished A Posh Reception, and it is now always empty, even at night. Why are there so many bugs related to this quest? It has also prevented me from finishing Six Feet Under because I don't have the option to turn it in upon talking to Siegfried now.

I am experiencing this too, but I haven't done "A Posh Reception" yet so I don't think that's it in my case at least.

I would guess mods - I didn't experience this on my first (unmodded) playthrough. I've got a few installed now so I can't say which one might be the culprit. Looks like this is pretty rare since this is the only post I could find about it, but I'll see if I can figure out what's causing it...

EDIT - not mods. I ended up removing everything and re-installing a vanilla game, and still no one in the workshop or gambling den so the problem is definitely attached to my save game. I also tried going back to a previous save - this one at the very beginning of Chapter 3 when I was in Triss's house and went straight from there to the workshop. There they all were... checking my next save game that I kept after that , though, didn't have them. Quite a bit happened between those two saves and it's beyond me to figure out at what point they all disappeared. I do remember them never being there this time around (just figured they would show up eventually but finally got suspicious and hence ended up on this post), and I explored the Trade Quarter pretty early on in the chapter so it must have been something I did quite some time ago. How annoying! I'm a completionist so I guess I'm starting this chapter over, ugh. Hope someday someone figures out what the issue is because I am curious/annoyed. Seems like a pretty rare glitch though. :(

Not sure if anyone is still playing TW 1 but I got a solution to this problem. It also solves the conflict between Echoes of Yesterday and Six Feet Under.

The KEY is to always rest in Den before win Vizima Sharper. Save the game before taking a rest and if people in Den are gone, reload again. And try to complete the following missions as fast as possible in one day.

Please follow these steps exactly in order otherwise it will cause the Den and workshop to empty in Trade Quarter at any time.

1. When you left Triss' house, go to the workshop and Den immediately and check if people are there. If not, please re-fight Azar and Professor, lol. Talk to Triss to trigger The Source. Talk to the sharper to trigger Dice Poker: The Sharper. Talk to the 'scientist' to get the scrolls. Do not talk to anyone else.

2.Teleport to swamp tower from Triss' house. Don't worry about Kalkstein. Head to Druids' Grove. Beat Hierophant in Gambling and take Yaevinn's mission (Echoes of Yesterday). You can Kill the wolf or Wyvern if you want (but not both, lol).

3. Teleport to Kalkstein's laboratory and take Siegfried's mission (Six Feet Under). Head to Cemetry and do whatever you like to proceed till you need to report back to Siegfried. You can install one sensor when you are in Cemetry.

4. Go to Trade Quarter from Cemetry and check workshop and Den. If all good rest in Den till Dusk and complete A Posh Reception. Save Thaler. Go to the watchtower and beat Velerad or Duke then you can play with sharper in the Den now and don't need to worry about the bug anymore.

5. Go to Elven Ruin via Sewer and complete Echoes of Yesterday. Head to Temple Quarter VIA SEWER!!!. Rest in sewer till dawn. When you get out of the sewer, talk to Siegfried as quickly as possible. Since now you completed Echoes of Yesterday, Siegfried will go to save the bank but it will take some time for him to disappear. Make sure you talk to him in time and before the Gold Rush boy got you!!!.

Cheers,

Hope you had been able to resolve your issue. Just came across this same issue in 2021...and how I resolved it was by sleeping in the Gambling Den via the bar wench until dusk the next day and everyone in the Den repopulated themselves. Sorry for resurrecting this post, just hope this helps anyone else who comes across this issue!