Black Myth: Wukong and Naraka Bladepoint receive path tracing, plus RTX updates en route...

[Daniel Sims]

Highly anticipated: Black Myth: Wukong has been one of the most impressive-looking upcoming games since its initial 2020 unveiling. With the release date a few months away, Nvidia has announced that it will become the third AAA game to employ path tracing. Additionally, the popular free-to-play game Naraka Bladepoint will receive path tracing through an update soon.

Chinese studio Game Science's long-anticipated action RPG Black Myth: Wukong will include full tray tracing on PC, also known as path tracing, adding more cutting-edge technology to its already astounding visuals. Nvidia also announced RTX-related updates for Naraka Bladepoint, Diablo IV, Portal RTX, and Star Wars Outlaws.

Path tracing, which applies ray tracing calculations to virtually all visible objects in a game, has mostly been used to mod retro games with low-poly graphics due to its astronomical computational cost. With Nvidia's RTX Remix toolset, the technology can dramatically overhaul classics like Portal, Max Payne, Tomb Raider, and soon, Half-Life 2.

Only two AAA titles with detailed modern graphics have utilized path tracing so far: Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake 2. Both are known to push PCs to their limits, and the feature's addition to Wukong places the game among top-ranked PC gaming showcases. Path tracing will enhance its water reflections, water caustics, global illumination, and all shadows. Black Myth: Wukong is slated for an August 20 release.

Meanwhile, an update to Naraka Bladepoint will likely bring path tracing to a broader range of users (who own the necessary high-end RTX 30 and 40 series GPUs). The PvE and three-player PvP modes will support path-traced reflections, global illumination, and shadows. Nvidia and developer 24 Entertainment didn't specify the patch's release date, but it appears to be imminent, while other modes receive the update at a later date.

Additionally, Star Wars Outlaws will become one of a handful of titles to include RTXDI when it launches later this year. Short for RTX Direct Illumination, RTXDI helps games efficiently render large numbers of ray-traced light sources. RTXDI is central to Cyberpunk 2077's path-traced RT Overdrive mode. Although Star Wars Outlaws won't feature path tracing, it will support ray-traced global illumination and DLSS 3 frame generation.

Nvidia also announced that Diablo IV will receive a ray tracing update on March 26, two days before it joins Xbox Game Pass. Ray tracing will enhance the game's shadows, reflections, and transparent reflections. Another new small update is for Portal RTX, which now uses RTX IO GPU decompression to shorten load times and shrink the game's storage requirement.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/102268-black-myth-wukong-naraka-bladepoint-receive-path-tracing.html

 

[MarcusNumb]

Stunning visuals from Wukong, so now the new question for new gen GPU is: But can it run Wukong ? And the common answer from customers would be: I don't have the budget to find out xD

 

[GodisanAtheist]

NV laying the groundwork for why you'll need to shell out $2500 for the RTX 5090...

 

[Puiu]

From the video, I seriously don't see even the 4090 running that game with path tracing and any decent FPS even with DLSS3.5 enabled.

 

[Beerfloat]

These graphics get me hard.

 

[Disiw]

NV laying the groundwork for why you'll need to shell out $2500 for the RTX 5090...

Not really unless you want everything on max including RT at 4K/UHD+ and still get triple digit fps. This is why 5090 will sell good, just like 4090 sold very well. For many people, 1500, 2000 or even 2500 is nothing really. For a teenager with no job, it probably is tho. Maybe dad will pay.

RT is optional and you can just use DLSS to bump performance massively while still beating native visuals in 9 out of 10 scenes. If you want to beat native in 10/10 scenes, then use DLAA. DLAA will beat native with ease every single time and performance hit is 5% or so. Best AA solution today.

Proof - https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/outriders-dlss-performance
DLSS Quality looks better, not worse, than native 4K here. Platform and solar panel much cleaner. Everything looks better really and framerate is up by 50-75% on top. A win/win.

Upscaling is replacing AA in new AAA games for this reason. Days of running native res with AA on top are almost over. Upscaling will replace AA, since it has AA built in, with sharpening on top, providing a better image. DLAA uses native res but still applies best-in-class AA and sharpening.

Upscaling is not only about improving performance while sacrificing visuals. This is what AMD GPU users think, because they are used to FSR, which is clearly inferior to DLSS/DLAA. DLSS is much better still, and probably won't change anytime soon. Even XeSS beats FSR these days in many games. XeSS was much better than FSR in Cyberpunk just to name one.

FSR = Shimmering, artifacts and ghosting in movement. It does simply not look good enough. Same is true for FSR Frame Gen and AFMF, much worse than Nvidia 4000 series DLSS 3 Frame Gen.

I know this for sure, since I have both 6800XT and 4090.

Tons of DLSS vs FSR testing has been done, and DLSS wins pretty much all the time. Especially in motion. Techpowerup has tons of DLSS vs FSR comparisons. TechSpot claimed DLSS winner as well, across 20-25 games.

This is why AMD will go the AI route as well. They can't improve FSR further in its current state.

Nvidia can do whatever they want in the high-end space, because AMD is not competiting and they won't compete in the high-end with Radeon 8000 series either.

Maybe we will see a high-end AMD GPU in 2026+ again, with RDNA5. Maybe not.

 

[godrilla]

NV laying the groundwork for why you'll need to shell out $2500 for the RTX 5090...

The 5090 is rumored to have 2.5x rt performance by Redgamingtech. He mentioned it again in yesterday's video about the 5090.
So if the 4090 does 16fps in Cyberpunk at 4k pathtracing no dlss or dlaa on we will likely see 40 fps at 4k with no dlss or dlaa on for a 5090 ( rumored). Maybe Blackwell successor will get us over the 4k 60 fps at native resolution with pathtracing.

 

[Disiw]

The 5090 is rumored to have 2.5x rt performance by Redgamingtech. He mentioned it again in yesterday's video about the 5090.
So if the 4090 does 16fps in Cyberpunk at 4k pathtracing no dlss or dlaa on we will likely see 40 fps at 4k with no dlss or dlaa on for a 5090 ( rumored). Maybe Blackwell successor will get us over the 4k 60 fps at native resolution with pathtracing.

Redgamingtech knows nothing. He is all red. An AMD fanboy. Hence the name. He also say Zen 5 is going to be a 40% IPC improvement over Zen 4. He is just rambling with no good sources in the industry. He predicted nothing, ever.

4090 easily runs Cyberpunk 4K/UHD maxed out with PT when DLSS is used. Even without DLSS it does 20-30 fps. 7900XTX does 3-4 fps in comparison.

5090 won't be able to do it without DLSS either. Might hit 60 fps but most people want 100+ fps and DLSS will be needed. You don't buy 5090 and 4K/UHD high refresh rate monitor to play with 30-60 fps. Add the full DLSS 3 suite and you will be at 100-120 fps easily. Add Frame Gen for 200 fps easily. The end-result will be vastly better than just running the game at 45 fps average. Runs like crap.

DLSS 4.x will be all about Ray Tracing / PT, IQ and Perf. Native res gaming is pretty much dead at this point, except if you are an AMD user or plays old games.

4K gamers that want RT, is forced to use upscaling, and forced to use Nvidia as well. FSR looks and runs horrible compared to DLSS. The difference is especially huge in actual motion, looking at side by side photos does not show the actual gameplay difference.

I went from 6800XT to 4090 and I know just how far behind AMD is when it comes to pretty much everything besides raster perf.

DLSS and DLAA is magic. FSR was more like a crutch to be able to push out more frames, with vastly worse image quality and this is EXACTLY what AMD users think upscaling is all about. They "forget" that DLSS is far superior and includes proper anti aliasing and sharpening with little to no shimmering and artifacts. Both problems are highly present on FSR and makes the entire thing a joke. FSR was not even worth using on my 6800XT.

This is why AMD goes towards AI upscaling like DLSS now.

AMD exec hints at AI-powered upscaling - VideoCardz.com

AMD FSR with AI in the works? AI-powered upscaling from AMD, teased by Mark Papermaster. AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution, released in 2021, came 2 years behind NVIDIA DLSS. The first generation of FSR was based on spatial upscaling technique, which enabled many gamers to take advantage of simple...

videocardz.com

AMD will NEVER get FSR to the same level as DLSS/DLAA in its current stage. Needs to be redone ground up.

This means that AMD can't do RT or PT, and also, don't have good upscaling, which mean they won't be competetive in RT, and especially not PT, in this decade.

More and more games include RT elements, like Avatar, or Metro Exodus. Eventually, game developers won't be doing fake lighting, games will rely on proper lighting, which requires good RT perf.

 

[godrilla]

Redgamingtech knows nothing. He is all red. An AMD fanboy. Hence the name. He also say Zen 5 is going to be a 40% IPC improvement over Zen 4. He is just rambling with no good sources in the industry. He predicted nothing, ever.

4090 easily runs Cyberpunk 4K/UHD maxed out with PT when DLSS is used. Even without DLSS it does 20-30 fps. 7900XTX does 3-4 fps in comparison.

5090 won't be able to do it without DLSS either. Might hit 60 fps but most people want 100+ fps and DLSS will be needed. You don't buy 5090 and 4K/UHD high refresh rate monitor to play with 30-60 fps. Add the full DLSS 3 suite and you will be at 100-120 fps easily. Add Frame Gen for 200 fps easily. The end-result will be vastly better than just running the game at 45 fps average. Runs like crap.

DLSS 4.x will be all about Ray Tracing / PT, IQ and Perf. Native res gaming is pretty much dead at this point, except if you are an AMD user or plays old games.

4K gamers that want RT, is forced to use upscaling, and forced to use Nvidia as well. FSR looks and runs horrible compared to DLSS. The difference is especially huge in actual motion, looking at side by side photos does not show the actual gameplay difference.

I went from 6800XT to 4090 and I know just how far behind AMD is when it comes to pretty much everything besides raster perf.

DLSS and DLAA is magic. FSR was more like a crutch to be able to push out more frames, with vastly worse image quality and this is EXACTLY what AMD users think upscaling is all about. They "forget" that DLSS is far superior and includes proper anti aliasing and sharpening with little to no shimmering and artifacts. Both problems are highly present on FSR and makes the entire thing a joke. FSR was not even worth using on my 6800XT.

This is why AMD goes towards AI upscaling like DLSS now.

AMD exec hints at AI-powered upscaling - VideoCardz.com

AMD FSR with AI in the works? AI-powered upscaling from AMD, teased by Mark Papermaster. AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution, released in 2021, came 2 years behind NVIDIA DLSS. The first generation of FSR was based on spatial upscaling technique, which enabled many gamers to take advantage of simple...

videocardz.com

AMD will NEVER get FSR to the same level as DLSS/DLAA in its current stage. Needs to be redone ground up.

This means that AMD can't do RT or PT, and also, don't have good upscaling, which mean they won't be competetive in RT, and especially not PT, in this decade.

More and more games include RT elements, like Avatar, or Metro Exodus. Eventually, game developers won't be doing fake lighting, games will rely on proper lighting, which requires good RT perf.

True but isn't 2.5x rt hyping team Green? @ 2.5x rt is revolutionary. So there is that. I'll circle back if rt is less than 2.5x well still need a 5090 successor for pathtracing at 4k dlaa for 60+fps. Questions?

 

[Disiw]

True but isn't 2.5x rt hyping team Green? @ 2.5x rt is revolutionary. So there is that. I'll circle back if rt is less than 2.5x well still need a 5090 successor for pathtracing at 4k dlaa for 60+fps. Questions?

I don't watch him, he does views for money and nothing else. I am sure he said tons of bad things as well, while praising AMD in the same video.

 

[godrilla]

I don't watch him, he does views for money and nothing else. I am sure he said tons of bad things as well, while praising AMD in the same video.

Yeah, I just take it with a truck full of salt. Hey did you see the other leaker claiming ps5 pro has 67 Tflops and 2 to 4x ( rt performance of ps5) .

 

[godrilla]

Redgamingtech knows nothing. He is all red. An AMD fanboy. Hence the name. He also say Zen 5 is going to be a 40% IPC improvement over Zen 4. He is just rambling with no good sources in the industry. He predicted nothing, ever.

4090 easily runs Cyberpunk 4K/UHD maxed out with PT when DLSS is used. Even without DLSS it does 20-30 fps. 7900XTX does 3-4 fps in comparison.

5090 won't be able to do it without DLSS either. Might hit 60 fps but most people want 100+ fps and DLSS will be needed. You don't buy 5090 and 4K/UHD high refresh rate monitor to play with 30-60 fps. Add the full DLSS 3 suite and you will be at 100-120 fps easily. Add Frame Gen for 200 fps easily. The end-result will be vastly better than just running the game at 45 fps average. Runs like crap.

DLSS 4.x will be all about Ray Tracing / PT, IQ and Perf. Native res gaming is pretty much dead at this point, except if you are an AMD user or plays old games.

4K gamers that want RT, is forced to use upscaling, and forced to use Nvidia as well. FSR looks and runs horrible compared to DLSS. The difference is especially huge in actual motion, looking at side by side photos does not show the actual gameplay difference.

I went from 6800XT to 4090 and I know just how far behind AMD is when it comes to pretty much everything besides raster perf.

DLSS and DLAA is magic. FSR was more like a crutch to be able to push out more frames, with vastly worse image quality and this is EXACTLY what AMD users think upscaling is all about. They "forget" that DLSS is far superior and includes proper anti aliasing and sharpening with little to no shimmering and artifacts. Both problems are highly present on FSR and makes the entire thing a joke. FSR was not even worth using on my 6800XT.

This is why AMD goes towards AI upscaling like DLSS now.

AMD exec hints at AI-powered upscaling - VideoCardz.com

AMD FSR with AI in the works? AI-powered upscaling from AMD, teased by Mark Papermaster. AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution, released in 2021, came 2 years behind NVIDIA DLSS. The first generation of FSR was based on spatial upscaling technique, which enabled many gamers to take advantage of simple...

videocardz.com

AMD will NEVER get FSR to the same level as DLSS/DLAA in its current stage. Needs to be redone ground up.

This means that AMD can't do RT or PT, and also, don't have good upscaling, which mean they won't be competetive in RT, and especially not PT, in this decade.

More and more games include RT elements, like Avatar, or Metro Exodus. Eventually, game developers won't be doing fake lighting, games will rely on proper lighting, which requires good RT perf.

Update I just went back to check the Phantom liberty with latest patch and Drivers I am getting around 25 to 30 fps with dlaa at 4k with pathtracing No frame gen. So there is a chance for Blackwell to hit 60+ fps dlaa at 4k.

 

[redgarl]

DLSS Quality looks better, not worse, than native 4K here.

For God Sake...

As someone who have been using 2160p since 2015 as my main resolution, I can only burst in laugh at the pure DENIAL and $hilling you are doing for Nvidia for free.

Any upscaling is a major downgrade in image fidelity. In facts, using upscaling is a bigger downgrade than whatever Ray Tracing effect can provide in image fidelity.

 

[McMurdeR]

For God Sake...

As someone who have been using 2160p since 2015 as my main resolution, I can only burst in laugh at the pure DENIAL and $hilling you are doing for Nvidia for free.

Any upscaling is a major downgrade in image fidelity. In facts, using upscaling is a bigger downgrade than whatever Ray Tracing effect can provide in image fidelity.

Yea but 4k upscaled generally smokes native 1440p, and that's all that really matters. On a smaller screen, aka 28' you have to look pretty hard to tell the difference. And upscalers address antialiasing very well.

I was sceptical myself, but in practice I find modern upscaling to be excellent. I think Path tracing RT is impractical though. Another gaming experience potentially ruined by marketing gimmicks.

 

[Endymio]

Any upscaling is a major downgrade in image fidelity. In facts, using upscaling is a bigger downgrade than whatever Ray Tracing effect can provide in image fidelity.

While your point about upscaling is certainly valid, you go too far in discounting ray tracing. The worst Hollywood film at 1080p and 30 fps is still vastly superior to the best videogame running at 4K @ 120fps.

Why? Physics and ray tracing. The infatuation with pixel and frame counts as the sole metric of "image fidelity" is banality personified.

 

[godrilla]

For reference Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom liberty dlaa ( rr not allowed/greyed out ) path tracing on, frame generation off , Reflex set to boost mode with 4090 suprim liquid at 2.93 ghz vets dips into the low 20s. @ 4k*

New item by Aberkae Godrilla

photos.app.goo.gl

update I just learned that FSR has a native anti aliasing as well in dome titles.

 

[Disiw]

For God Sake...

As someone who have been using 2160p since 2015 as my main resolution, I can only burst in laugh at the pure DENIAL and $hilling you are doing for Nvidia for free.

Any upscaling is a major downgrade in image fidelity. In facts, using upscaling is a bigger downgrade than whatever Ray Tracing effect can provide in image fidelity.

As for someone who have 3x 4K/UHD OLED TVs, 4 different monitors, 2x 1440p, 3440x1440 and 32" 4K/UHD I know for sure that you are using an AMD GPU, because DLSS looks amazing on my monitors. However I mostly use DLAA, which beats native every time with ease.

AMD users hate upscaling, because FSR is inferior in every way to DLSS.

FSR = Tons of artifacts, shimmering, ghosting in movement, just looks straight up bad in 9 out of 10 games.

Also DLSS is in like 500 games now and numbers rising month for month.

Thats just reality. There is tons of DLSS vs FSR testing that confirms it.

Even XeSS beats FSR in many of games. AMD has the worst upscaler right now. Even Intel is ahead.

Playing Cyberpunk 2077 on a Radeon GPU? Don't use FSR, try XeSS instead

XeSS upscaling makes for a prettier picture.

www.pcgamer.com

Why do you think AMD is talking about going the AI route for FSR now? They can't improve it further in its current state.

Outriders' DLSS does a lot more than just improve performance

Outriders' DLSS options don't just improve your graphics card's performance; it also adds in extra details that are missing when playing at native resolution.

www.rockpapershotgun.com

This pretty much confirms what I am saying.