Portal RTX rec-specs released, coming 8th December.

Similar experience really.

Quake RTX (Quake 1) looks much better to me. Portal is a fantastic game but RTX doesnt change the gameplay of any game.

I had to down the brightness / shinyness of Quake because its a dark gritty game.
I get what you are trying to say and while its correct for most games at the moment its not technically correct for all games as Ray Tracing can change gameplay. From the smaller stuff like being able to spot NPC's in true reflections that you couldn't spot without Ray tracing to bigger examples like Stay in the Light which Ray Tracing has a massive impact on gameplay. Then we have Raytraced Audio which can technically effect gameplay though I am only aware of one game so far to uses Raytraced Audio.

Ray Tracing should be amazing for Dark and gritty games. Games being brighter with Ray tracing is an artistic choice rather then something that has to happen. Ray Tracing can be used to make a game darker with stronger shadows. I am not disagreeing when you say Ray Tracing has made some games too bright. Just pointing out it doesn't have to be that way.
 
8K is way overkill and ew 16:9 :p - But looks superb for sure. Just give me that 38" QD-OLED ultrawide with a native resolution that sites between 2K and 5K and we can call it endgame as far as my needs go :p

Boooo. I would take 8K but not for another 5 years as hardware is just not there and prices are mental. I just love sharpness. I still miss my 4K monitor in that regard :(
 
I get what you are trying to say and while its correct for most games at the moment its not technically correct for all games as Ray Tracing can change gameplay. From the smaller stuff like being able to spot NPC's in true reflections that you couldn't spot without Ray tracing to bigger examples like Stay in the Light which Ray Tracing has a massive impact on gameplay. Then we have Raytraced Audio which can technically effect gameplay though I am only aware of one game so far to uses Raytraced Audio.

Ray Tracing should be amazing for Dark and gritty games. Games being brighter with Ray tracing is an artistic choice rather then something that has to happen. Ray Tracing can be used to make a game darker with stronger shadows. I am not disagreeing when you say Ray Tracing has made some games too bright. Just pointing out it doesn't have to be that way.
What’s ray traced audio?
 
I get what you are trying to say and while its correct for most games at the moment its not technically correct for all games as Ray Tracing can change gameplay. From the smaller stuff like being able to spot NPC's in true reflections that you couldn't spot without Ray tracing to bigger examples like Stay in the Light which Ray Tracing has a massive impact on gameplay. Then we have Raytraced Audio which can technically effect gameplay though I am only aware of one game so far to uses Raytraced Audio.

Ray Tracing should be amazing for Dark and gritty games. Games being brighter with Ray tracing is an artistic choice rather then something that has to happen. Ray Tracing can be used to make a game darker with stronger shadows. I am not disagreeing when you say Ray Tracing has made some games too bright. Just pointing out it doesn't have to be that way.

This is largely why I finished metro ee and not the hybrid rt + raster original version. RT added so much atmosphere to the game world, it felt more immersive and gameplay was more enjoyable then.

And that is true too, one thing which many get wrong when they say it takes away "artists" ability/control to deliver their "vision", as per game developers comments, RT in fact gives them far more control over raster methods.
 
This is largely why I finished metro ee and not the hybrid rt + raster original version. RT added so much atmosphere to the game world, it felt more immersive and gameplay was more enjoyable then.

And that is true too, one thing which many get wrong when they say it takes away "artists" ability/control to deliver their "vision", as per game developers comments, RT in fact gives them far more control over raster methods.
Just imagine now devs can start with global illumination to create their vision. Should be some stunning games in the coming years.
Lets just hope they’re not centered around “wow, this ray tracing looks amazing” instead of gameplay.

I miss the days of Physx development, if anything this have gone backwards with game physics since Half life 2 and Crysis.

Crysis released in 2007, 15 years later and physics are worse.

Destructible environments, buildings, walls, objects etc. nope. Just some breaking glass and thats about it!

Warzone 2 for example, standing 1-2ft behind exploding c4 and it does nothing to the player or wall. Would be nice to see walls and buildings with holes in or dropping down when partially destroyed, again like some in Crysis did.
 
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I think the sooner devs drop old gen the better. Fortnite update with Unreal 5.1 using ray tracing for GI, AO, shadows, reflections etc is a showcase of what's possible even on Series S consoles to the most degree. Binning off old gen means devs can focus squarely on letting RT do all the hard work and they can just build assets and environments that are more realistic than ever before. We now have the hardware and also the upscaler tech to get 60fps with a presented 4k output on consoles which looks not far off native 4K (in the new Fortnite update), so we are definitely there.

Just a shame that even UE 5.1 has shader comp stutter on PC, Epic have told DF directly in interview that they are taking it very seriously and a fix for shader comp stutter is planned for UE 5.2 most likely so the wait continues, but it does mean that the issue will affect every game below UE 5.2 and there isn't a 100% fix for it, only a remedy to greatly reduce it wich requires the devs to do some work (example: Callisto last week).
 
Just imagine now devs can start with global illumination to create their vision. Should be some stunning games in the coming years.
Lets just hope they’re not centered around “wow, this ray tracing looks amazing” instead of gameplay.

I miss the days of Physx development, if anything this have gone backwards with game physics since Half life 2 and Crysis.

Crysis released in 2007, 15 years later and physics are worse.

Destructible environments, buildings, walls, objects etc. nope. Just some breaking glass and thats about it!

That is where RT will allow for all that and far more too and not just the "shiny reflections" that many associate with RT :D

4a enhanced did a good article on their ray tracing and mentioned this:



There is a reason why we have always been so vocally critical of the idea of baking assets (pre-generating the results of things like lighting calculations) and shipping them as immutable monoliths of data in the games package files, rather than generating as much as possible on the fly: everything that you pre-calculate is something that you are stuck with. Not “stuck with” in the sense that if it is wrong it can’t be fixed (everyone loves a 50GB patch after all) but “stuck” in a much more limiting sense – that any part of your game, any object in the scene that relies on baked assets will be static and unchanging. You won’t be able to change the way it is lit so you have to be overly cautious with decisions about how the player can affect dynamic lights (you won’t be able to move it, so you disable physics on as much as possible), and the player can’t interact with it in interesting ways, so you pass that problem onto UX design.

The more you have to rely on baked assets for your scenes, the more you restrict your game design options, and the more you take the risk that your environments will feel rigid and lifeless. Perhaps, the biggest advantage that Ray Tracing brings is that it gives game developers a huge boost in the direction of worlds that are truly, fully dynamic, with no dependencies on pre-computed assets whatsoever. There are still similar examples where such problems need to be solved, but lighting was one of the biggest and most all-encompassing examples of the lot and Ray Tracing solves it.

It is also present in warhammer darktide where with RT GI, light sources are able to be shot out compared to no RT GI. To create a destructible environment with the scale of the game worlds now using raster methods would require an incredible amount of time and effort.

I think the sooner devs drop old gen the better. Fortnite update with Unreal 5.1 using ray tracing for GI, AO, shadows, reflections etc is a showcase of what's possible even on Series S consoles to the most degree. Binning off old gen means devs can focus squarely on letting RT do all the hard work and they can just build assets and environments that are more realistic than ever before. We now have the hardware and also the upscaler tech to get 60fps with a presented 4k output on consoles which looks not far off native 4K (in the new Fortnite update), so we are definitely there.

Just a shame that even UE 5.1 has shader comp stutter on PC, Epic have told DF directly in interview that they are taking it very seriously and a fix for shader comp stutter is planned for UE 5.2 most likely so the wait continues, but it does mean that the issue will affect every game below UE 5.2 and there isn't a 100% fix for it, only a remedy to greatly reduce it wich requires the devs to do some work (example: Callisto last week).

Definitely! Only reason we can't get more titles like metro ee and fortnite UE 5.1 is because of old gen consoles not having any support for RT, once they're dumped, there is no reason not to embrace RT solutions, it has been shown what is possible with metro ee and fortnite ue 5.1, including for consoles.
 
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I just enabled the STEAM in-game FPS counter and saw my FPS that way, confirmed it by enabling the FPS counter on my monitor which is VRR and watched as the Hz matched the framerate :cool:
 
What’s ray traced audio?
Rays can be used for more then graphics. For example, rays can be used for more accurate audio creating adjustment based on the player and the environment. For example, in racing games you can hear the car sounds bouncing off roofs, tunnels for spatial awareness. A hard surface will produce a crips echo where a forest will have lots of sound bounce back with a more muffled sound like real life. In short rays allow a better adjustment to sound based on the environment around the player.

Forza Horizon 5 the devs said “Actually we’re sending out ray traces to detect walls, buildings, and ceilings.” “which means that you’ll hear your car bouncing off all the buildings around you and that will change with the environment.”
No idea how effective this is as I haven't experience live ray traced audio. It reminds me of the old 3D sound we used to get in games before Windows 10 killed off hardware sound. Sound is one area games have taken a massive step back and it sounds like this might bring them up to spec again.
 
Just imagine now devs can start with global illumination to create their vision. Should be some stunning games in the coming years.
Lets just hope they’re not centered around “wow, this ray tracing looks amazing” instead of gameplay.

I miss the days of Physx development, if anything this have gone backwards with game physics since Half life 2 and Crysis.

Crysis released in 2007, 15 years later and physics are worse.

Destructible environments, buildings, walls, objects etc. nope. Just some breaking glass and thats about it!

Warzone 2 for example, standing 1-2ft behind exploding c4 and it does nothing to the player or wall. Would be nice to see walls and buildings with holes in or dropping down when partially destroyed, again like some in Crysis did.

It's somewhat of a surprise, and disappointment to me, given Nvidia's 90% GPU share in the gaming market, that Physx hasn't been more widely used.
 
Hey guys, I re-downloaded Portal again to test it out again with Ray Tracing but for some reason I can't find the option to enable Ray Tracing or DLSS anywhere?

I have an RTX 2080, am I not able to play it with this card?

Thanks.
 
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I just enabled the STEAM in-game FPS counter and saw my FPS that way, confirmed it by enabling the FPS counter on my monitor which is VRR and watched as the Hz matched the framerate :cool:
Same, i've had the FPS counter enabled in Steam for years
 
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Rays can be used for more then graphics. For example, rays can be used for more accurate audio creating adjustment based on the player and the environment. For example, in racing games you can hear the car sounds bouncing off roofs, tunnels for spatial awareness. A hard surface will produce a crips echo where a forest will have lots of sound bounce back with a more muffled sound like real life. In short rays allow a better adjustment to sound based on the environment around the player.

Forza Horizon 5 the devs said “Actually we’re sending out ray traces to detect walls, buildings, and ceilings.” “which means that you’ll hear your car bouncing off all the buildings around you and that will change with the environment.”
No idea how effective this is as I haven't experience live ray traced audio. It reminds me of the old 3D sound we used to get in games before Windows 10 killed off hardware sound. Sound is one area games have taken a massive step back and it sounds like this might bring them up to spec again.
Interesting thanks. Cant help but think its just marketing waffle though at the moment, using ray tracing to make sound bounce of walls. Isnt that just an improved sound engine like the olden days of revert and the many other effects?

EAX and A3D come to mind
 
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Just another name given to the technical functionality that has always been done for HRTF for games - As usual always down to how it's implemented. Good discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/audioengin.../what_is_the_difference_between_hrtf_and_ray/

Essentially if a game can position accurately how a sound reaches the player in a stereo sound output, then binaural has been done realistically. You shouldn't need surround sound speakers to me properly immersed in a game if the audi engine has been implemented properly. Thankfully most games these days have ditched EAX and the like and just do "hifi" "home theatre" and in some cases "reference speakers" outputs really really well and that's all that's needed. It does mean having a decent pair of speakers and/or headphones though capable of full dynamic range. Not these "gaming" headphones and things with RGB all over the place and no focus on sonic accuracy.
 
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