The Complete List of PC Ray Traced Titles with Classification

[raytracingfan]

I pretty much agree with everyones points above, I still want to see more idTech games and I think it over ue5 for halo would turn out a better result as i'm not sure traversal stutter will ever be solved on pc just look at fortnite, if they can't fix it in their own game/engine good luck to everyone else.

I've just had a really bad run on ue5 lately and honestly it's not really Epics fault. Firstly I need to stop buying early access games or if it do buy them refund straight away when the performance isn't to my liking. Remnant 2 was fine although it doesn't use lumen and their optimization patch was just disabling vsm's and hellblade 2 was fine but it was a very slow moving game in regards to actually moving through the world so maybe that masked traversal stutter.

One thing I didn't give myself time to think about last night is as you's have mentioned talent wins in the end and maybe some of that talent isn't using ue5 so the devs using unreal are probably less expeienced than the ones who opt not too because they have the skills. A good example is Nightingale and Enshrouded (could probably use valheim here aswell) both open world crafting survival games although enshrouded is a proper open world where Nightingale is just large maps you load into. Nightingale uses ue5 and it has issues where enshrouded is a custom voxel engine and runs almost flawlessly with way more world interactivity. This circles back to what you guys said, if the enshrouded guys used ue5 they probably would have had the talent to make their game perform good seeing they have the ability to make their own engine.

The ultimate takeaway is that making seamless open world games is technically challenging no matter what engine a studio chooses. Dragon's Dogma 2 is a great example of how an engine that had excellent performance on titles with constrained maps struggled with an open-world RPG. You need highly-efficient asset streaming and occlusion culling, mechanisms to imperceptibly spawn and de-spawn entities in the game world, NPC AI that can navigate the open-world, simulation logic that gracefully works alongside those mechanisms, etc. It gets even harder if you want a genuine "living, breathing, world", in which case the simulation still needs to handle the behavior of de-spawned entities.

And that's on top of the fact that your QA team and playtesters now spread thin trying to find bugs and performance issues across every single inch of the open world under a variety of different game states and conditions.

 

[DavidGraham]

Hardware RTGI is now added to Forza Motorsport.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1865317262082670994

 

[mr magoo]

Hardware RTGI is now added to Forza Motorsport.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1866252135228432443

And the final result is half the framerate for almost no visual diffrence ... or am i blind?

 

[Scott_Arm]

And the final result is half the framerate for almost no visual diffrence ... or am i blind?

There's definitely a difference. Basically brightening dark areas. Is it worth it in this case? I'd say from the screens absolutely not. You're driving past things so fast, you're not appreciating that a crash barrier is slightly brighter than it used to be.

 

[IQandHDR]

And the final result is half the framerate for almost no visual diffrence ... or am i blind?

Looking at your username...that is funny even if meant unintentionally

 

[ILikeFeet]

And the final result is half the framerate for almost no visual diffrence ... or am i blind?

diffuse reflections aren't going to show up much when your scene (ie race tracks) is in direct lighting with little to reflect. this is just the nature of how light works, path tracing wouldn't change this all that much

 

[Mav78]

wow, I was only trying gray zone warfare new update last night and it's now running worse than ever for me and is not in the same universe visually as that and I know how PT cp77 runs for me and it's way better than Gray zone even before the new update.

I love how a good environement + Path Tracing + good color calibration give a real

Cyberpunk 2077 with new optional graphics modifications that blur the lines between video game and reality utilizing advanced real time Path Tracing and dynamic color grading.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1862976113154105731

wow, I was only trying gray zone warfare new update last night and it's now running worse than ever for me and is not in the same universe visually as that and I know how PT cp77 runs for me and it's way better than Gray zone even before the new update.

I love how a good environement + Path Tracing + a good colors calibration give such realistic rendering. But i hate that fact it "need" blur everywhere, fisheye camera effect, grain and chromatic aberration... It's acceptable for very close objects (weapons, optics), this is normal and cool. Or motion blur, wich is acceptable. But they now blur everything in the screen. It loose so much details and sharpness. That's have no sens in a run for better resolution and details. As if DLSS don't natively do it anwyay... XD Soon you will not be able to see an enemy at 50m from you on a 8K screen..

 

[Mav78]

Comparisons showing the differences between ray tracing and path tracing in Indiana Jones.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Path Tracing Comparison Screenshots

Time to see what Path Tracing can do in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Does it greatly enhance the game's visuals? Let's find out.

www.dsogaming.com

More comparisons:

Imgsli

Indiana Jones - Imgsli

Indiana Jones - Imgsli

Indiana Jones Ray Tracing High vs Path Tracing MAX - Imgsli

Indiana Jones - Imgsli

Indiana Jones - Imgsli

Indiana Jones - Imgsli

Indiana Jones - Imgsli

RT v PT - Imgsli

Looking difference beetwin RT VS PT is like looking at bad maths VS good maths.

 

[DavidGraham]

And the final result is half the framerate for almost no visual diffrence ... or am i blind?

There is visual differences highlighted by the developer here (specifically trackside).

https://support.forzamotorsport.net/hc/en-us/articles/36119181383187-Forza-Motorsport-PC-FAQ-Ray-Traced-Global-Illumination

More comparisons:

Forza rtgi - Imgsli

RTGI - Imgsli

https://www.reddit.com/r/forzamotorsport/comments/1h7v91z/rtgi_off_vs_rtgi_on_quite_the_difference

 

[VFX_Veteran]

Can we separate RT from PT? The RT solutions are minor upgrades that still operate on a rasterized core. PT forces an entirely different rendering path for computing lighting information and way more complicated and power hungry. Even HB2, BM:Wukong, and SH2 don't do full path-tracing. I'd give that title to just 3 games: Indiana Jones, Dragon's Dogma 2 (REengine mod) and Cyberpunk 2077. Even then, CP2077 isn't doing full path-tracing on all objects (i.e. skin, clothes and hair).

 

[raytracingfan]

Can we separate RT from PT? The RT solutions are minor upgrades that still operate on a rasterized core. PT forces an entirely different rendering path for computing lighting information and way more complicated and power hungry. Even HB2, BM:Wukong, and SH2 don't do full path-tracing. I'd give that title to just 3 games: Indiana Jones, Dragon's Dogma 2 (REengine mod) and Cyberpunk 2077. Even then, CP2077 isn't doing full path-tracing on all objects (i.e. skin, clothes and hair).

The fact that games like CP2077 aren't "full" path-tracing is why it doesn't make sense to separate them. RT vs PT as the terms are used in games is more a continuum than a binary. On one end you have the games that shipped as raster titles but added in RT shadows with a patch, on the other end you have games like Minecraft RTX and Quake II RTX that use RT even for primary visibility.

 

[VFX_Veteran]

The fact that games like CP2077 aren't "full" path-tracing is why it doesn't make sense to separate them. RT vs PT as the terms are used in games is more a continuum than a binary. On one end you have the games that shipped as raster titles but added in RT shadows with a patch, on the other end you have games like Minecraft RTX and Quake II RTX that use RT even for primary visibility.

They are binary to me because their affects are like night and day. RT is just as you describe -- using a rasterizer and just adding ray casts during a certain stage of the pipeline. PT is not using rasterization at all and must go through the light loop casting rays for all phases of the rendering equation.

 

[raytracingfan]

They are binary to me because their affects are like night and day. RT is just as you describe -- using a rasterizer and just adding ray casts during a certain stage of the pipeline. PT is not using rasterization at all and must go through the light loop casting rays for all phases of the rendering equation.

That's a reasonable way to define path tracing, but the problem is that Nvidia and the games industry disagree and have applied the term path tracing to games that still use rasterized lighting to some degree. As per Digital Foundry's reviews, CP2077 RT Overdrive still uses rasterized lighting techniques for glass, Alan Wake 2's path tracing mode still incorporates the basic non-RT global illumination to an extent, and Indiana Jones 's full RT mode still uses shadow maps for light sources other than the sun. We have yet to see a game with current-gen standards for geometry and materials that has a pure, unified path traced lighting pipeline with no contribution from rasterized techniques or baked lighting whatsoever.

 

[DegustatoR]

PT is not using rasterization at all and must go through the light loop casting rays for all phases of the rendering equation.

Most currently available PT titles are using rasterization for primary rays though. Two exceptions are Q2RTX and Minecraft RTX IIRC.

 

[IQandHDR]

Can we separate RT from PT? The RT solutions are minor upgrades that still operate on a rasterized core. PT forces an entirely different rendering path for computing lighting information and way more complicated and power hungry. Even HB2, BM:Wukong, and SH2 don't do full path-tracing. I'd give that title to just 3 games: Indiana Jones, Dragon's Dogma 2 (REengine mod) and Cyberpunk 2077. Even then, CP2077 isn't doing full path-tracing on all objects (i.e. skin, clothes and hair).

The fish in the center of the Corpo area in CyberPunk 2077 are 100% screen space too...let me down big time wen I noticed that.

 

[VFX_Veteran]

That's a reasonable way to define path tracing, but the problem is that Nvidia and the games industry disagree and have applied the term path tracing to games that still use rasterized lighting to some degree. As per Digital Foundry's reviews, CP2077 RT Overdrive still uses rasterized lighting techniques for glass, Alan Wake 2's path tracing mode still incorporates the basic non-RT global illumination to an extent, and Indiana Jones 's full RT mode still uses shadow maps for light sources other than the sun. We have yet to see a game with current-gen standards for geometry and materials that has a pure, unified path traced lighting pipeline with no contribution from rasterized techniques or baked lighting whatsoever.

Yea, I just read up on DF's review of Indy and didn't notice some of the screenspace reflections in the water or the rasterized shadows for light sources other than the Sun. It's a bummer but Indy is the closest in presentation it seems to me. AW2 is also pretty close.

DD2 probably uses full PT but it has no denoising.

 

[jlippo]

Most currently available PT titles are using rasterization for primary rays though. Two exceptions are Q2RTX and Minecraft RTX IIRC.

Yeah.

I wonder when we will see first game with primary rays traced in a way to take account the DoF and motion blur. (Each ray with own time, location and direction when it leaves moving camera lense.)

Things should become very interesting when ray reconstruction can take all this into account.

 

[IQandHDR]

Yeah.

I wonder when we will see first game with primary rays traced in a way to take account the DoF and motion blur. (Each ray with own time, location and direction when it leaves moving camera lense.)

Things should become very interesting when ray reconstruction can take all this into account.

Depends if you want rendering to mimick a camera...or "two eyes".

 

[jlippo]

Depends if you want rendering to mimick a camera...or "two eyes".

Outside shutter and lense stack, these should be almost identical, right?
We trace paths that leaves outmost lense.

Lense moves through space and we jitter outgoing paths in during shutter being open and within circle of confusion.

For game purposes open shutter time shouldn't usually be more than the 1/48th of the second. (Even in low framerate situations, though recostructing subframes is fun idea..)

If one wants to simulate whole lensestack, light incoming from grazing angles should be taken into account, but I'm sure there is huge amount of easy shortcuts one can take there. (Importance sampling, culling incoming angles which cannot contribute etc.)

Within camera tracing really shouldn't be within same BVH as rest of the scene, for obvious reasons and eye has it's own set of funkimess to simulate if wanted. (I'm sure players want floaters for old characters and so on. )

 

[Mav78]

Can we separate RT from PT? The RT solutions are minor upgrades that still operate on a rasterized core. PT forces an entirely different rendering path for computing lighting information and way more complicated and power hungry. Even HB2, BM:Wukong, and SH2 don't do full path-tracing. I'd give that title to just 3 games: Indiana Jones, Dragon's Dogma 2 (REengine mod) and Cyberpunk 2077. Even then, CP2077 isn't doing full path-tracing on all objects (i.e. skin, clothes and hair).

Yes ur right, we can not separate them. Path Tracing IS a RayTracing methode I meant, the PT is currently the most acucrate and correct (physicaly) methode that work in real time and can even render indirect shadows from indirect lighting in a correct and precise way. I mean, currently in the public video game industrie and for real time rendering. Even if it's still very, very rare. Yes.
(OMG ! CP2077 is soooo incredible with Path Tracing, it's a dream i had long time ago to feel that in real time...instead of waiting 2h to have one picture... to enlight in RT a full room just by opening the door, and all objects are giving multiples indirects lights and shadows from multiple bounces. Almost every other RT methodes used in the video game industrie can NOT do that...).

In somes years we can expect even, maybe, some Photon Mapping (even if in fact it's a very close technic and PT is certainly more rational to use especially in a video game).