Notes

Minecraft Graphics to Be More 'realistic'

A few days after the long-delayed graphics update that was planned for Minecraft, Microsoft has unveiled a separate boost for the block-based game's visuals.



The update improves the way light bounces around game areas to create Minecraft environments appear more "realistic".



The graphics patch will only be available to Nvidia RTX users.



Microsoft announced that it will be available in 2020, but they did not give a firm date.



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The RTX graphics cards use a technique called "ray tracer" which allows for greater understanding of how light bounces around the virtual world in games.



It can make the visuals on the screen more realistic by making shadows, colours and the movement of light in games environments look more real.



"Ray tracing is at the core of what we think will be next for Minecraft," stated Saxs Persson (creative director of Minecraft at Microsoft), in a statement.
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"In normal Minecraft the block of gold looks yellow, but with ray tracing enabled, you get to see the specular highlight, and you get to see the reflection, and you can even see a mob reflecting in it," he said.



Writing on the Rock Paper Shotgun game news website, Katharine Castle said the update looked "impressive in action".



She added: "I do have concerns over how easy Minecraft's RTX update will run."



Ms. Castle stated that it would require an "hefty" RTX to run all the different lighting effects, shadows and atmospheric effects simultaneously.



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The costs of Nvidia cards vary widely among online retailers, but the lowest-end cards are typically priced higher than PS300, The most expensive in the range can cost thousands. This update is only available for Windows 10.



As the update is being developed, Minecraft-maker Mojang announced that it would be available as an option on the settings screen, so players can test it.



It also said that it was working to overhaul Minecraft's graphics engine. This will provide visual enhancements for those who don't have an RTX card or are unable to run the game on the PC.



Mojang has stated that, while not all devices will be capable of ray-tracing support but they will be able to provide graphics enhancements for most devices. There is no date set for when this update will be released.


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