Something to look forward to: Nvidia and Epic Games recently outlined new level-of-detail methods that will enhance ray and path tracing performance in densely forested environments for upcoming games, including The Witcher 4. Nvidia just published a longer demonstration suggesting that its new path tracing features can achieve reasonable frame rates on mid-range graphics cards.
Nvidia has published its full GDC 2026 presentation on its upcoming path tracing and micropolygon tools. The video offers a new glimpse at assets and engine functionality that will feature in the PC version of The Witcher 4.
While Unreal Engine 5's Nanite system dynamically adds and subtracts polygons to adjust the level of detail of objects based on their distance from the camera, mitigating the "pop-in" effect common in large video game environments, Nvidia's RTX Mega Geometry optimizes how those polygons interact with ray tracing. A section of Nvidia's new video explains how updates to RTX Mega Geometry will enable high-quality path tracing in dense forests for the first time.
Epic Games published a video last year explaining how new Unreal Engine 5 updates allow developers to apply Nanite to trees and other plants. Using character models and scenes from The Witcher 4, Epic and CD Projekt Red demonstrated how UE5 can now handle ray tracing in thick vegetation at 60 frames per second on the standard PlayStation 5.
Nvidia's version pushes the same fundamental concept to a new level with path tracing on PC. Using a new voxel-based level-of-detail system, the company showcased a forest using The Witcher 4's tree assets, which contained approximately 1 million trees. Distant trees turn into simple voxels, while close-up trees at the maximum level of detail consist of up to 10 million polygons to render individual pines without relying on flat cards.
Although the 5-by-5-kilometer scene does not contain characters or game logic, it achieves roughly 80 frames per second on an RTX 5090 in 1440p, upscaled to 4K. Furthermore, a 4070 can run the scene at about 58fps in 1440p DLSS Balanced mode, which upscales from an internal resolution of 960p, fitting within the GPU's 12GB of VRAM.
Nvidia plans to open-source the technology later this year. Remedy Entertainment will incorporate it into the PC version of Control Resonant, which is set to launch sometime in 2026. The Witcher 4, which will also feature path tracing and RTX Mega Geometry, is expected to emerge no sooner than 2027.