Quake II RTX and other classics

13oots2

13oots2

13oots2

Associate
Joined
23 Jul 2022
Posts
348
Location
Dorchester UK
Am having great fun reliving one of my all-time favourites, even though it is RTX enabled the graphics look pretty dated. Even so, am thoroughly enjoying playing this aged classic, it actually seems to stress the GPU more than Cyberpunk, so it can't be very well optimised.

Would love to see Unreal Tournament get a makeover, that still looks really good with DX11 drivers, there still seems to be quite a following and I was running several servers until fairly recently
 
Quake 2 RTX is the first attempt at full path tracing - there is massive overhead for the original level detail and effects but it isn't an optimisation problem as such as that allows modded maps, etc. to run as intended - they could have massively optimised it purely for the base game but they've left it compatible (or able to be with some modding) with a wide range of Quake 2 content. The renderer can do some quite advanced stuff which isn't taken advantage of in the base game.
 
GBRusty said:
Is that the base game with an RTX mod or has this been properly done by the devs?
Click to expand...

It is properly done by nVidia with some id support. It is a complete replacement for the original renderer with higher res textures but still uses the original game level geometry and mostly the original models - though some stuff like the weapon models has been updated using assets from another mod (Q2 Pro).
 
Completely forgot about this! Still haven't got a card that can play it sadly. Went through various mods only a few years.

When i do get a new card i'll likely still be playing older titles with HD res packs than modern games.
 
OKay, paid (again. sure I already own this somewhere) and installed RTX. Nothing too exciting to be honest but just Quake is fun :)
I've got stuck searching for a pyramid key so off to YouTube to track it down... how did we ever finish games before the internet?!
 
Played Quake 2 RTX today. Quite fun memories coming back but the hit boxes and other quirks kind of limit the enjoyment somewhat. With RTX it ran fine and looked cool for what it is but can't get past the low quality shooting!

Quake 3, now that I would like to see in RTX.
 
mrk said:
Quite fun memories coming back but the hit boxes and other quirks kind of limit the enjoyment somewhat.
Click to expand...

Only one I think I find annoying is the Berserks as the top half often doesn't register hits - especially not in the "hotted" up version I use in my mod.

Obviously it is a bit janky on the big stuff like super tanks.
 
Last edited:
was tying it out last night. It basically runs maxed out at 4k without needing scaling tech on a 4090. 90-110fps, pretty nuts

first time trying it was a 2070 super which was a blury mess with stable FPS
3090 was totally playable with some settings turned down and scaling tech
 
Runs fairly well at 1440p for me with a 3070 - though I have to put dynamic scaling on at ~70% to keep things smooth for gaming more seriously.

Shame they don't include an option for customising rays per frame and extra bounces other than the sun though as GPU power will soon allow almost unchained levels of path tracing.
 
Quake 2 received official Night Dive remaster, with awesome controller support and other features.
Unfortunately it has no RTX renderer or new textures :(

Did a quick and dirty comparison from first level between Enhanced version and RTX pathtraced version - I know purists will insist that RTX is horrible or whatever but I really hope Nightdive ports RTX renderer to Enhanced, if technically possible.

Enhanced:

2320_20230810202749_14ocix.png


RTX with "stroggos" envmap:

1089130_2023081020245eoi5r.png


Enhanced:

2320_20230810202758_1e3cck.png


RTX:

1089130_2023081020250nge4k.png


Enhanced:

2320_20230810202822_1eccym.png


RTX with stroggos envmap:

1089130_20230810202602gc8x.png


RTX with original Q2 envmap:

1089130_2023081020263mddhl.png


RTX with Earth envmap (this obviously completely changes the look):

1089130_2023081020265jwecy.png


1089130_20230810202709rc5f.png
 
Rroff said:
Quake 2 RTX is the first attempt at full path tracing - there is massive overhead for the original level detail and effects but it isn't an optimisation problem as such as that allows modded maps, etc. to run as intended - they could have massively optimised it purely for the base game but they've left it compatible (or able to be with some modding) with a wide range of Quake 2 content. The renderer can do some quite advanced stuff which isn't taken advantage of in the base game.
Click to expand...
I knew you would be the first to comment on even though it is RTX enabled the graphics look pretty dated
:)

Yeh, it's incredible what full path tracing really does to Quake II graphics if you look into the technicalities
 
Last edited:
Nice that they give it to you for free! Just installing to see what happens with the CD music, hope it's fully restored.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom