In brief: Nvidia is using this year's Game Developers Conference to outline the full launch of DLSS 4.5, add five upcoming games to its list of titles supporting path tracing, and offer an early glimpse at RTX Mega Geometry foliage. The company also provided an update on RTX Remix, highlighting this week's launch of a path-traced version of Quake III Arena.
Users with high-refresh-rate monitors can participate in an opt-in beta for DLSS 6x multi-frame generation and dynamic mode starting March 31. The date lands slightly ahead of Nvidia's previously stated April launch, which may be when the two features exit beta.
The frame-gen update is a flagship feature of DLSS 4.5, which also enhances image quality compared to DLSS 4 when upscaling from half resolution or lower. At GDC, Nvidia revealed that 20 games will soon support DLSS 4.5 natively, including 007: First Light, Control Resonant, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, War Thunder, and more.
Moreover, the company confirmed path tracing support for 007 (launching May 27), Control Resonant, Tides of Annihilation, Directive 8020 (May 12), and Sea of Remnants. Capcom's Resident Evil Requiem is the latest title to launch with path tracing, and the company will also showcase the feature in Pragmata, which launches April 17.
Nvidia also continues to use RTX Remix to bring path tracing to retro PC games. The latest example is Quake III Arena, which the company used to debut the modding suite's newest feature, Advanced Particle VFX. It allows modders to replace particle effects in older titles with path-traced particles that respond dynamically to physics.
Modder WoodBoy applied RTX particles to Quake III's lightning gun. He also overhauled the visuals for 15 maps, 3,000 materials, and various textures. The free mod is available now at ModDB.
Other RTX Remix projects can begin using Advanced Particle VFX starting next month. Meanwhile, another modder, "softsoundd," recently unveiled early work on an RTX Remix version of Mirror's Edge.
Nvidia also aims to improve ray tracing and path tracing performance through upgrades to mega geometry. The feature conserved memory and enhanced performance in Alan Wake 2 by optimizing how ray tracing and path tracing interact with geometry. Alan Wake 2 developer Remedy is set to iterate on mega geometry in Control Resonant, which launches later this year.
Looking ahead, Nvidia announced a new implementation of mega geometry that focuses on scenes with heavy foliage, such as forests, which remain a challenge for ray tracing.
The company demonstrated how the technology enables path tracing in dense forests at high frame rates, building on last year's Unreal Engine Witcher IV tech demo. Nvidia will open-source the update later this year, and CD Projekt Red is set to implement it in The Witcher IV, which is expected to launch sometime after 2026.