A new Quake II RTX update has gone live a few hours ago, introducing a new Vulkan ray tracing method and more.
The new ray tracing method uses the VK_KHR_ray_query extension API, which is said to perform best with recent drivers from NVIDIA and AMD.
Added support for ray tracing using the `VK_KHR_ray_query` extension API.
NOTE: This is an optional feature, and the two previously supported methods, `VK_NV_ray_tracing` and `VK_KHR_ray_tracing_pipeline`, are still supported. We recommend using NVIDIA Graphics Driver version 465 or newer, or AMD Radeon Software version 21.3.1 or newer.
According to online reports, the new Quake II RTX Vulkan ray tracing method does bring noticeable performance improvements.
I think performance has increased with VK_KHR_ray_query, now in 1080p I never drop under 60fps and I've seen peaks of over 80, I keep everything as high as possible, from RT quality, to reflection recursions, etc. On a 2080 (driver 461.40).
The Quake II RTX 1.5 update also introduces a variety of fixes and improvements, which you can find detailed below.
Fixed issues:
Fixed the crash that happened on some systems when the game is minimized
Fixed the invalid Vulkan API usage that happened in the bloom pass
Fixed the invalid barrier for an inter-queue resource transition
Fixed the out-of-bounds addressing of the framebuffer array
Misc Improvements:
Reduced the delay after resolution changes by avoiding re-initialization of the RT pipelines.
Changed the memory type required for the UBO and transparency upload buffers to `(HOST_VISIBLE | HOST_COHERENT)`.
Improved logging around SLI initialization.
Quake II RTX is now available on PC via Steam.
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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