Minecraft is about to get a major graphics overhaul, thanks to real-time ray-tracing support for any player using an Nvidia RTX card. Microsoft and Nvidia made the joint announcement at industry trade show Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, early on Monday morning. Ray-tracing support will arrive as a free update for all PC Minecraft users.
“Ray tracing sits at the center of what we think is next for Minecraft,” Saxs Persson, head creative director for Minecraft at Microsoft, said in a statement. “GeForce RTX gives the Minecraft world a brand-new feel to it. In normal Minecraft, a block of gold just appears yellow, but with ray tracing turned on, you really get to see the specular highlight, you get to see the reflection, you can even see a mob reflected in it.”
Ray tracing generally improves the realism of a virtual scene by rendering in finer detail the different ways light operates in a scene and interacts with other objects, resulting in more realistic shadows and reflections.
In this case, Microsoft and Nvidia say they’re performing a specific ray-tracing technique known as path tracing. “Path tracing simulates the way light is transported throughout a scene. It presents a unified model for lighting calculations for many different types of effects that have traditionally been implemented separately using rasterized or hybrid renderers,” the companies explain in a joint press release.
Some other graphical improvements coming to Minecraft, thanks to ray tracing, include direct lighting from the sun, more realistic shadows, and transparent materials like stained glass and water with reflection and refraction effects. Microsoft and Nvidia haven’t locked down a release date for the ray-tracing update, but it will be available to anyone using one of Nvidia’s 2060, 2070, or 2080 cards as well as the Super and Ti variants of those cards. Nvidia also has a line of RTX cards for gaming laptops that also enable ray tracing for certain titles.
Notably, this ray-tracing update is being announced just a week after Microsoft and Minecraft developer Mojang announced the cancellation of a planned graphical upgrade to the game, officially called the “Super Duper Graphics Pack.” The update involved improving the realism of lighting and shadows, more reflective surfaces, and other graphical upgrades that coincidentally appear to be achievable through ray tracing. (The update was also scheduled to bring 4K resolution to some devices, including the Xbox One X, so that’s no longer on the table.)
But Mojang said the pack “proved too technically demanding to implement,” mainly due to the performance hits across multiple platforms and device types, which is understandable given the vast amount of ways you can play Minecraft today. Thankfully, with ray tracing, players will get at least some comparable upgrades to the visual realism of Minecraft.
Comments
Is it just me or are games generally getting more technically impressive yet more generic and boring from a game play perspective?
By mrgnarchr on 08.19.19 3:19am
I’m with you on this aspect; the only improvements I see are of a technical nature; 4k, higher framerate, bigger map, raytracing etc.
What I don’t see are improvements in gameplay, story, fun etc.It feels like these aspects are left to Nintendo. I don’t have any Nintendo gear but the "greener grass" effect if pushing me to likely idealize the situation there more than it likely is in reality. I just can’t get around how juvenile some of their game design is; I don’t need better graphics I need something a little more adultish to me
By tutiso on 08.19.19 4:02am
I feel it’s more about the japanese culture that make Nintendo games, but not just Nintendo games, a lot more interesting. American developers just make games about a guy holding a gun running down a corridor or field and shooting shit up.
By greg2k on 08.19.19 8:02am
Yeah, I think it is Japan. I haven’t really been a fan of Final Fantasy games since the SNES era really (PSX was okay) and was playing The Division 2 as my go to for a bit (after the Anthem debacle). Then decided to play FFXIV around the FFXV event and hard stopped Division 2 and basically any other game outside of dabbling here and there. Story is phenomenal especially when you hit the expansions. Thought Heavensward would be tough to beat, then Stormblood at first seemed like it’d be all over the place but I think it ended up being better written than even Heavensward.
By whlr on 08.19.19 10:08am
I tend to agree, even at the AAA level Japanese games still seem to be there for the art of it rather than simply capital gain that we see in American studios and publishers.
I am speaking strictly AAA though, indie stuff everywhere hasn’t really lost it’s artistic flair, there’s just so much it’s hard to find the gems though all the trash that’s put out.
By mrgnarchr on 08.19.19 6:47pm
That is 1. not true and 2. stupid because there’s nothing objectively better about using a sword/bow/magic versus a gun. But yeah, let’s forget that Blizzard, NaughtyDog, Bethesda, or Ready at Dawn (amongst many others) exist completely.
By nStyle on 08.21.19 1:58pm
I’m sorry you feel that way. TLOZ: Breath of the Wild is an amazing game to play whether you’re a child, adult or an adult child.
By bistroengine on 08.19.19 8:45am
agree with you on Zelda; it’s just that there aren’t enough of these to begin with
By tutiso on 08.19.19 11:28am
Same with movies: see The Lion King
By NofanBoy on 08.19.19 5:56am
I feel like you’re just tired of games in general. It’s not the games, it’s you. There’s plenty of great games out there.
By nStyle on 08.19.19 11:22am
Well I do have a degree in Game Design and I’m more speaking of the AAA dev studios.
We see like 1 or 2 standouts a year and the rest are just super bland with very pretty lighting.
The limitations of older consoles and technology meant that devs had to be clever with how they delivered experiences and keep players absorbed with strong narratives and mechanics. The limitations tend to create more compelling experiences and I feel that’s why we see far more groundbreaking experiences coming from the indie sector where they have massive team and budget constraints to work around.
By mrgnarchr on 08.19.19 6:44pm
Maybe there’s the chance you’re romanticizing the past because you lived it?
The limitations of technology are still there. There are only so many ways to make a game regardless of creativity and budget.
I’m not going to list all of the great games that have came out in the past five years. I can’t say whether they’re HL2 or OOT good because that’s completely subjective, but they definitely stand on their own.
And regardless of how you feel about battle royale’s, they’re not generic and boring compared to the incumbent genres. And they’re still pumping out Call of Duty’s if that’s your thing.
By nStyle on 08.20.19 7:45am
I’m not exactly sure what you’re arguing, that my opinion is subjective? Because, yes, I know.
I feel like you’re romanticizing games in general and need to take a more critical eye to what is given the biggest budget, what games are cut and what sections are canceled.
You listed 2 incredibly story driven experiences when listing older games that people love and 2 examples of multiplayer driven (in my opinion) snore fests when describing what’s good today.
Based on the response to my comment, it doesn’t seem like I’m the only one who’s feeling this, this isn’t to say that I’m objectively correct, but this is certainly something that people are feeling.
By mrgnarchr on 08.20.19 8:20pm
I’m confused on what you mean by games that are cut or canceled. Every genre that existed before still exists and there’s more that exists today that didn’t exist before.
My point with acknowledging that BR’s exist is that the industry is at least catering to more preferences of play-style by inventing new mechanics and game modes while still producing traditional games that have traditional modes. You may find all of these play styles "generic and boring" but I’d say that’s more to do with you than the industry’s efforts.
There are plenty of objectively wrong statements that have been tossed around. Like the fact that there are no good American made story driven games that aren’t focused around gun-slinging. Not true. Or the fact that Nintendo only appeals to children’s interests. Not true. Or the fact that the reason games were so good before is because of the limitations of technology and budget. Not true.
By nStyle on 08.21.19 1:37pm
Also, it doesn’t really matter where the game came from whether it was from an indie developer or not. If it’s a good experience, it’s a good experience. As stated, there’s only so many ways you can make a game…just like a song…just like a movie.
By nStyle on 08.21.19 1:42pm
You seem to think that games and the industry and beyond criticism.
By mrgnarchr on 08.22.19 2:39am
If we would only get a true proper Thief, System Shock or Deus Ex game.
Dishonored, Bioshock, Prey 2017, Deus Ex Human Revolution/Mankind Divided came really really close, but they’re not quite there yet.
By Acryion on 08.19.19 10:29pm
All versions of minecraft, or just the shitty bedrock edition?
By Sokonomi on 08.19.19 3:26am
What do you mean "shitty"?
Bedrock is by far the most popular (over 100mio players) and most accessible (PC, xbox, switch, android, ios and soon PS4) version of this game. It has way better performance than Java, an actual scripting/modding API, a stable and fair monetization method through the marketplace and as it seems it’ll soon get even proper shaders.
By Paytime on 08.19.19 7:19am
angry birds is more popular, it must be better!
By JesseDegenerate on 08.19.19 7:59am
Yeah… better performance in an otherwise identical game is totally worse! Let’s get illogically angry because you can’t host your own server now!
By BulletTooth_Tony on 08.19.19 8:05am
I was making the point that popular doesn’t equal better, I don’t play this cult game.
By JesseDegenerate on 08.19.19 3:03pm
And I’m just making a point that in this instance, it’s the better version of the game and the people that are angry have very limited-scope reasons that aren’t even related to the actual game.
By BulletTooth_Tony on 08.19.19 4:14pm
i didn’t know there were two versions. I have been put in my place
By JesseDegenerate on 08.19.19 9:06pm
people still play Angry Birds? They were the center of the zeitgeist at one point for sure, but Minecraft seems to have weathered the fad and has rebounded. I’ve seen kids that stopped playing it for a year or two return and stick with it, it is pretty nuts.
By whlr on 08.19.19 10:11am