Would you want Ray Tracing in the PC version?

We know that Halo Infinite is coming to PC in addition to Xbox One/Xbox One X, and 343 have stated that the PC version is being treated as a “first class citizen.” I’m assuming that to mean they’re taking it very seriously rather than treating it like an afterthought. It will likely come with a large list of graphical options just like Gears of War and Forza do, the question is will they include new tech? Ray tracing is probably the biggest thing for real-time graphics right now, even if the barrier for entry is expensive. Currently you need an NVIDIA RTX card to run any form of ray tracing, but it isn’t an NVIDIA exclusive feature. RTX is based off of DXR(DirectX Ray Tracing) which means the tech is squarely in Microsofts arsenal of features. AMD has already stated that they have ray tracing capable cards in development as well and by the time Infinite releases the prices should have come down a bit and the tech should have matured more.

So I’m curious, would you want Infinite to have ray tracing? Obviously not everyone would be able to use it, and some complications might come up with multiplayer, but personally I think it’d be worth having and the game would look fantastic if you have a GPU that can handle it.

I don’t think real time ray tracing in games is really mature yet, nor do I think it will be by the time of Halo Infinite, and most people playing the game probably won’t be having RTX GPUs anyway, so I don’t see it as a significant priority. Whether or not I will have a ray tracing optimized GPU by the time Halo Infinite comes out, I feel indifferent to the game having ray tracing.

I don’t see why not. Unless it takes away from other things that should be higher priority and results in an overall lower quality game.

As long as it isn’t to the detriment of anything else, I guess. Currently I have a GTX1080Ti and won’t be upgrading til the 30 series, so for now I’m not concerned.

First, for anyone who doesn’t know what “Real-Time Ray Tracing” is, think how realistic looking the lighting, shadowing and reflections look in Blur’s Cutscenes for Halo 2 Anniversary - that is “Ray Traced Graphics”! Until now, for gameplay graphics, developers have had to imagine how the light will fall from any light source in a game and “paint that effect in”, so the light rays only really exist in the Dev’s imagination. But Real-Time Ray Tracing actually allows you to draw millions of lines to represent “light rays” from any light source in a game - as if they were actually shining light rays - and then they can accurately scatter off surfaces like light does, creating highly realistic light, shadow and reflection effects. The downside? It requires more powerful graphics hardware to do it, so it’s currently only available on very new high-end and rather expensive graphics chips (NVidia brand RTX chips). The upside? Some Devs have suggested the Next-Gen Consoles could have enough power to start including some Ray Traced effects in new games! We’ll have to wait and see though.

Now, given Xbox Chips are made by AMD who also make PC Graphics Cards that have yet to get Ray Tracing, it’s up to 343i’s teams for Slipspace Engine and Artwork etc., if they want to do the extra work of building in NVidia RTX Software Support as a module within the Engine for PC, then have the Artists apply the effects, and then re-optimise the game for it. Whether Chris Lee will announce any “extra support” like that for Infinite on PC at E3 2019, we can only wait and see.

Of course it’s possible they could embrace it to show “How advanced and futuristic Slipspace Engine is!”. But for the time being, by all means request it, but kind of expect “They probably won’t, as it’s still early days for this new Tech” - that way you won’t be too disappointed if they actually don’t, but then be “pleasantly surprised” if they do include it! :slight_smile:

Like Tsassi, I say this because as of February 2019, the Steam Hardware Survey shows low uptake of RTX nearly six months since they launched: only 1.11% collectively currently have an RTX 2070, 2080 or 2080 Ti. That may change with the coming 2060 at a much cheaper price point, as complaints about price are the top gripe about it, then lack of games that use Ray Tracing effects yet. On the upside, some games are adding updates which will slowly arrive over the next year or so, and RTX support has now been built into Unreal Engine 4 itself and being added to other Engines too, so it’ll be easier for new games developed on them to include it from scratch.

So, yes, Real-Time Ray Tracing is great if you can get it, and it probably is “the future of gaming”, but we’re still some way off affordable mass-adoption of the Tech, including on Consoles, which is when it will really take off.

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> I don’t see why not. Unless it takes away from other things that should be higher priority and results in an overall lower quality game, then I see why not.

RT tech in most cases is easier to implement than most lighting and reflection engines. The real problem is that it needs the hardware to support it and even than, it consumes a lot of raw power. Not to mention it’s still additional work for the devs no matter what considering that they can’t solely relay on it. All this for a relative small consumer base too, for now at least.

Not to mention that games like BFV prove you can still screw up RT…

HOWEVER, rumors claim the high end Xbox Scarlet (anaconda) will rock some form of real time ray-tracing. If that’s true I expect to see the feature implemented by all MS games in the future and with similar results to Metro. Not necessarily starting with GOW5, but Hi could be the first candidate of this trend.

RTX however right now is only interesting if you work in some rendering sector (architecture, 3D graphic design etc.). I’m looking forward to the new MSI GS75 line personally. A great compromise between power and portability imho, still a bit too pricey though!

What is Ray Tracing?

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> What is Ray Tracing?

There’s a quick explanation a few posts up:
https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/29568daf8cd14083bd1b70a810bf3581/topics/would-you-want-ray-tracing-in-the-pc-version/17f5686e-e827-4fde-acfb-eaab4ce5e800/posts?page=1#post5

I think it would look great, always on option to turn it on or off. Just bought an RTX 2080 Duke OC and enjoying Metro Exodus with RT!

In the future, AMD navi cards are confirmed to support raytracing. Since Xbox uses AMD parts… I think AMD raytracing will be available in Halo Infinite on both PC ans the xbox scarlett. The xbox scarlett has also been confirmed to have raytracing so yeah.