Notes

Minecraft RTX Everything we Know about the Builder's Upcoming Graphical Leap

The big changes are here for everyone's most loved blocky builder.



Although the highly sought-after Super Duper Graphics Pack for Minecraft was pulled but there's a new official graphic update for the blocky building game. Graphical improvements are among the most popular Minecraft mods, wouldn't it be nice if the game was improved to look official? Well, that's what Minecraft RTX is.



Minecraft RTX is an official Nvidia-developed patch for Minecraft which adds real-time DXR Raytracing to the Windows 10 version of the game. Nvidia describes the entire game as "refit" using path tracer. This dramatically alters the way that light, reflections, and shadows interact within the game engine. Given how adaptable Minecraft's procedurally generated sandboxes are, it's the perfect playground to play around with the technology.



If you don't have any concerns about the lighting or glitz, Minecraft is still one of the best games for laptops to play on low-spec computers.



Here's everything you should be aware of about Minecraft RTX.



Minecraft RTX is out now



Minecraft with RTX is now out of beta on the 8th of December in 2020. If you own a GeForce RTX graphics card, you can give the RTX-enabled Minecraft a go yourself.



Here are the Minecraft RTX system requirements



OS: Windows 10 64-bit GPU: DirectX hardware ray tracing capable GPU like NVIDIA GeForce(r) RTX 20 Series and higher, or AMD Radeon(tm) RX 6000 Series and higher


CPU: Intel Core i5 (or equivalent)


RAM 8 GB RAM


Minecraft version: 1.16.200 or higher


How does ray tracing affect Minecraft?



We played Minecraft RTX at PAX Australia in October and it was so good it wanted us to die and reincarnate inside Minecraft. Check out our impressions.



Every aspect of Minecraft's appearance is affected by Nvidia's implementation of ray tracing. CRANIALCAVITY.NET Lighting is the most important improvement. By taking advantage of real time global illumination the direction and the brightness of the sun will affect every surface and shadow. In a game such as Minecraft in which the world's landscape can shift dramatically in a single moment, it's a remarkable upgrade.



The same applies to emissive blocks, such as lava and glowstones, as well as some new emissive blocks which will come bundled with the Minecraft RTX update.



Real-time reflections are also added in the RTX update, meaning that all reflective surfaces such as glass and water, will reflect precisely the environment surrounding them. Real-time global illumination in conjunction with real-time reflections creates'specular reflective'. This basically means that light of any hue will be visible on nearby reflective surfaces even transparent ones.



The image below is a nice example of this: notice how the emissive and colored disco blocks are affecting the colors reflecting off the adjacent reflective surfaces in beige. It's beautiful, ain't it?



But don't just take my word for it, you have to experience it for yourself.



Watch the official Minecraft RTX gameplay video (opens in a new tab)



The above video was released in concert with the official Minecraft RTX announcement back in August of 2019. As you can see, the video provides a pretty compelling reason to excited about the update that includes before and after footage that shows the effects of real-time global illumination and how the implementation will make those glowstone emissive blocks sing.



A month later, Nvidia released yet another video (opens in a new tab) showing off Minecraft RTX-this time with the addition of its own custom-made blocks. Most of these are emissive, or reflective ones, and will come bundled with the Minecraft RTX update.



How much will Minecraft RTX cost?



The Minecraft RTX update is free to all existing owners of the Windows 10 edition of Minecraft. Although Microsoft has confirmed (opens in a new tab) that ray-tracing support in Minecraft will not be exclusive to Nvidia cards at the time of writing Nvidia's RTX series of cards will be the best way to experience Minecraft RTX. And they're not at a bargain price.



Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. His work has been featured on GamesRadar+ and TechRadar as well as PLAY Magazine, The Guardian, The Guardian, The Guardian, The Guardian, The Guardian, The Guardian, The Guardian, The Guardian, The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, and many other sites. His interests include indie titles and obscure Metroidvanias. Speedrunning, experimental games, and FPSs. He believes that Lulu by Metallica, Lou Reed is an all-time classic and will receive its review and re-examination.


My Website: https://cranialcavity.net/