Not too long ago, Epic and NVIDIA promised Fortnite would get ray-traced effects, Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) support and even Reflex, the new low-latency technology recently unveiled by NVIDIA.
Today, NVIDIA revealed that the update will launch on Thursday, September 17th, in two days from now. They've also provided more information on the individual ray-traced effects, as well as interactive comparisons showcasing the improvements brought by RTX in Fortnite.
Ray-Traced Reflections: This setting adds beautiful, realistic, super accurate reflections to bodies of water and other suitably reflective surfaces in Fortnite. See game detail, characters, enemies, weapon effects, and more, perfectly reflected throughout the world. And experience improved lighting, as light sources and other illumination will be accurately reflected onto nearby surfaces and objects, making gameplay look and feel even more dynamic.
Ray-Traced Shadows: With ray tracing enabled, Fortnite’s dynamic shadows get a significant upgrade, enabling them to realistically stretch across the scene, with accurate softening as the distance from the shadow source increases. Particularly of note is the enhanced resolution of Ray-Traced Shadows. You can see this clearly in fine detail shadows, such as those created by chain link fences. Furthermore, Ray-Traced Shadows dynamically update as the time of day changes, with effectively infinite precision.
Ray-Traced Ambient Occlusion: Where objects or surfaces meet, light is occluded, creating subtle shadows. In games, this Ambient Occlusion (AO) is key to grounding objects and the smallest details. With ray tracing, we can make AO shadowing far more accurate, further improving Fortnite’s fidelity.
Ray-Traced Global Illumination: Fortnite’s maps and worlds are composed of dynamically built and destroyed objects, preventing pre-baked light interaction. Due to this, sky lights provide the only real-time environmental lighting. Ray-traced global illumination adds additional bounced light that is otherwise impossible to simulate in Fortnite.
There is one caveat, though. NVIDIA recommends to only enable ray-traced reflections while playing the competitive Battle Royale mode, while the other ray-traced effects can be safely turned on in the Creative Mode. In fact, NVIDIA is preparing an RTX showcase map called 'Treasure Run' which will be available through the Creative Mode. There's no word on Fortnite's PvE 'Save the World' mode, though we'll find out ourselves soon enough how RTX performs there.
DLSS gets a brief mention too, with the broad statement that it'll accelerate performance by 'up to three times'. Lastly, Reflex will enable lower latency in Fortnite. NVIDIA's slide shows 35 ms of system latency with Reflex enabled in Fortnite, whereas the control panel's Ultra Low Latency mode only shelves three frames off the default's 53 ms.
Unlike RTX and DLSS, Reflex will be available even on GeForce GTX 900 series graphics cards.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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