A new Cyberpunk 2077 mod that is now available for download introduces noticeable lighting and other improvements with little to no performance impact for non-ray tracing users.
The Custom Environment Lighting and Shadows mod, which can be downloaded from Nexus Mods, improves not only lighting but also bloom, shadows, ambient occlusion, and global illumination for those playing the game without ray tracing. The mod is available in two different variants - one that disables the forced vignette effect and one that stretches the effect to the entire screen while brightening it up a little. As the mod modifies the cp2077_master_env_nge_v002.env file, it is not compatible with mods that do the same, such as the RT Overdrive Optimizations mod that was shared online yesterday.
Owners of an NVIDIA RTX 40 series GPU don't really need to use mods nowadays to improve Cyberpunk 2077's visuals and lighting following the release of patch 1.62, which introduced full path tracing to the game. While Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode is so demanding that even an RTX 4090 GPU needs the help of DLSS to run at acceptable framerates at 4K resolution, it is an extremely impressive glimpse at what the future may hold for ray tracing in video games. The latest Cyberpunk 2077 patch also introduced support for NVIDIA DLAA, AI-powered anti-aliasing with a focus on visual quality, and Intel XeSS for more upscaling options.
With the impressive path tracing patch now out, CD Projekt Red can fully focus on the development of the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion Phantom Liberty. While a release date has yet to be announced, it was confirmed that more on the most expensive expansion to date for the Polish publisher will be revealed starting this June.
Cyberpunk 2077 is now available on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One. The Phantom Liberty expansion will launch this year on PC and current generation consoles only.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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