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Quake II RTX got an update to further improve the graphical fidelity

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It seems NVIDIA aren't quite done with Quake II RTX, seemingly now using it as a testing area to keep pushing more advanced features for ray tracing.

Yesterday, an update was released for Quake II RTX to update over 400 textures used to improve the image quality. They also improved the rendering of metals, which together enhance the look quite a lot, especially since it's quite an old game now. In addition, rendering with water was improved as well. There's now underwater god rays and god rays in reflections and refractions.

They also added these additional options:

  • Resolution Scaling Options: previously, you could decrease the internal rendering resolution to improve performance, or crank up the resolution to increase image quality. Now, there are options to enable dynamic resolution scaling - when dynamic scale is activated, the game will try to keep the target frame rate by adjusting the scale between minimum and maximum. By default, the option will try to keep your gameplay at 60 FPS by scaling between 50% and 100% resolution scaling. If the game is faster than 60 FPS at 100%, it will not increase the scale further, so if you see you have a ton of extra performance, increase “Maximum Scale”
  • Reflection and Refraction Depth: configure the number of allowed reflection or refraction bounces, which most prominently affects the recursive reflections demonstrated earlier
  • Temporal Anti-Aliasing Toggle: enable or disable our post-process anti-aliasing
  • Security Cameras: enable security camera monitors to display real-time gameplay, as shown above
  • Thick Glass Refraction: experimental option that renders more physically accurate representations of thick glass, with internal reflection and refraction

I've now been able to test this myself with an 2080Ti that NVIDIA provided for us a while ago and some of what they've done is quite impressive. Have a look at some quick comparisons I took from the Linux build:

You can clearly see the difference it makes and while some of it is partly due to updated textures, the lighting is an incredible difference.

Especially impressive, as you can tweak the time of day with a hotkey and just cycle through it and enjoy all the graphical goodies. I had far more fun playing with just that one feature than I expected to have since you can make it affect the security cameras as well.

Here's another little comparison for you:

A full comparison between versions including Quake II RTX 1.1/1.2 and OpenGL can be seen on the official NVIDIA website here.

Want to try it if you have a capable GPU? The first three levels are free on Steam (with Linux support), and if you buy the full game it can locate it for you to play the entire game through with RTX graphics enabled.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: FPS, NVIDIA, Steam | Apps: Quake II RTX
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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Doc Angelo Nov 29, 2019
Quoting: kokoko3kGood times...

Very good times, indeed!

But that shot is not CGI, these are models. Only 3 scenes in TNG were made with computers: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/CGI


Last edited by Doc Angelo on 29 November 2019 at 12:23 am UTC
Ehvis Nov 29, 2019
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Quoting: Doc AngeloBut that shot is not CGI, these are models. Only 3 scenes in TNG were made with computers: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/CGI

And the page you linked lists at least 12.
Doc Angelo Nov 29, 2019
Quoting: EhvisAnd the page you linked lists at least 12.

Ah, I made the mistake to think that TNG was over when DS9 started. There are a few more CGI scenes, but it's really not much.

It's just awesome that practical effects hold up so much. As a kid I always thought that the Enterprise in TNG was a computer generated model. But it's not. It's a real model.
Ehvis Nov 29, 2019
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Quoting: Doc AngeloIt's just awesome that practical effects hold up so much. As a kid I always thought that the Enterprise in TNG was a computer generated model. But it's not. It's a real model.

True. Just look at that picture of the crystalline entity, it wouldn't have taken 10 years for that to look dated.
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