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[rickybooby87]

"Elden Ring was recently upgrade to Patch 1.09, bringing with it the introduction of hardware-accelerated ray tracing on all current-gen systems... exclusing Xbox Series S. In this in-depth content, you'll see exactly what the difference is, how the PC version scales across multiple settings - and most scary of all, the performance hit for engaging RT up against the rather minimal improvement to the presentation."



Thanks for the summary adamsapple


TL;DR

- No.

Elden Ring's RT upgrade is not the feature we wanted​

Tom Morgan examines the performance impact and visual upgrade offered by the new, unexpected RT mode added to Elden Ring on PS5, Series X and PC.
www.eurogamer.net

Elden Ring's RT upgrade is not the feature we wanted​

Its impact is minimal while performance problems and basic issues remain.

To sum up then, the addition of RT is a welcome surprise, an additive feature that pays dividends in terms of the presentation of shadows and ambient occlusion on PS5, Series X and PC. However, it's hard to see this as the feature most Elden Ring fans wanted, in the context of continuing sub-60fps performance on console; in the context of hitches and missing features on PC. And given its performance penalty, we can't recommend actually enabling RT for a playthrough of the game, although it might be good for taking screenshots.

 

[rickybooby87]

Seems like RT on the XSS has been excluded, an unsurprising pattern tbh.

 

[adamsapple]

TL;DR

- No.

Elden Ring's RT upgrade is not the feature we wanted

Tom Morgan examines the performance impact and visual upgrade offered by the new, unexpected RT mode added to Elden Ring on PS5, Series X and PC.

www.eurogamer.net

Elden Ring's RT upgrade is not the feature we wanted​

Its impact is minimal while performance problems and basic issues remain.

To sum up then, the addition of RT is a welcome surprise, an additive feature that pays dividends in terms of the presentation of shadows and ambient occlusion on PS5, Series X and PC. However, it's hard to see this as the feature most Elden Ring fans wanted, in the context of continuing sub-60fps performance on console; in the context of hitches and missing features on PC. And given its performance penalty, we can't recommend actually enabling RT for a playthrough of the game, although it might be good for taking screenshots.

 

[Mr Moose]

It would probably help if it didn't run like shit without RT.

 

[Puscifer]

Admittedly I'm kinda over RT shadows and lighting, RTAO is my shit having a 4080 to display it properly I don't know how to explain it but it does look better, RTAO really grounds Elden Ring, Dying Light and Cyberpunk in a way rasterized shadows just can't. I just know from my experience playing around with it that the amount of AO really adds to the game and gives the presentation a lot depth it doesn't have without it. I'm sure someone with @ me and tell em how wrong I am but I don't care, I'm enjoying it.

 

[Skifi28]

Is It Worth It?

I can safely say no without even watching the video.

 

[GC_DALBEN]

I Liked, but i have a good pc and i can barely run 60fps 1440p. it need DLSS for lower end gpus.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Elden Ring’s the goat, but I honestly can’t even be bothered to update for this. Probably the weakest RT I’ve seen.

Just not worth it.

 

[Sonik]

Ray Tracing Upgrade - Is It Worth It?​

No, it's always no

 

[GHG]

The PC version's RT at max is similar to the console setting.

It's a botch job.

 

[Horseganador]

Same resolution and settings but on PS5 it performs better (about 5 more frames)

 

[Luipadre]

instead of making the game run at a solid 60 they implement a useless RT mode with half the framerate. Nice

 

[alucard0712_rus]

It's 2023 and FromSoftware still struggles with PC ports. Basically there is no improvement over consoles. Forget about DLSS or FSR. It's very frustrating because their games are excellent. What a shame and I gave up on them in terms of graphics (and UI too). RT shadows and AO are very good by themselves but it's overshadowed by very poor draw distance, no casting lights (torches), no grass shadows... It was such an opportunity to make ER looked as good as possible on PC but we got this. What a crappy PC port.

 

[AnotherOne]

Shouldn't have even bothered with the RT update, how about fixing the existing issues with Res/Performance modes..

 

[Gaiff]

The performance penalty on a fucking RTX 4090 can be as much as 47%. This is insane.

 

[hlm666]

Not sure why Tom decided to use the 2070 and then use 1800p, are people with 2070 level hardware really gonna be using a display greater than 1440p? If it was to be comparable with console he already had said they are going lower than 1800p anyway.

The PC version's RT at max is similar to the console setting.

It's a botch job.

Its because the pc is staying at 1800p and not dropping resolution like the consoles are with dynamic res.
edit: just realised you may have ment they should have used more RT effects and not botched because of performance.

 

[GHG]

edit: just realised you may have ment they should have used more RT effects and not botched because of performance.

Yep, that shadow example they used shouldn't be happening.

 

[intbal]

The cut-rate shadow animation with the RT enabled looks much worse than the quality of shadows with RT off.
I don't see how this is an upgrade.

 

[onQ123]

Not that it really matters but for what it's worth PS5 has about a 17% advantage when using Ray-traced shadows in this game

 

[Rush2112]

fromsoft don’t know how to do graphics. They need someone from capcom.

 

[DeepEnigma]

fromsoft don’t know how to do graphics. They need someone from capcom.

Nah, have them work with Bluepoint's tech.

 

[Fbh]

It sucks but was anyone expecting something different from FROMSOFT?
As much as I love their game design, gameplay and art direction, their tech has always sucked.

instead of making the game run at a solid 60 they implement a useless RT mode with half the framerate. Nice

Well people were constantly whining about the promised RT mode.
Because for someone reason they thought the team that can't even pull off 30fps without terrible frame pacing was going to make a solid RT implementation

 

[Imru’ al-Qays]

Who asked for this lol

 

[adamsapple]

RT mode not only sucks away even more of the performance, it also degrades IQ and resolution, look at the rock face, the trees and distant landscape.

This is without a doubt, the worst way to play the game.

From should be focusing on getting the Performance mode to a locked 60 instead of wasting time with frivolous updates no one asked for, or will use in most cases.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Them choosing to implement raytracing before solving all the frame pacing and shader compilation issues is pretty questionable.

Is this a RTX thing, a contractual obligation to Nvidia?

 

[DeepEnigma]

From should be focusing on getting the Performance mode to a locked 60 instead of wasting time with frivolous updates no one asked for, or will use in most cases.

Agreed.

 

[kingyala]

RT mode not only sucks away even more of the performance, it also degrades IQ and resolution, look at the rock face, the trees and distant landscape.

This is without a doubt, the worst way to play the game.

From should be focusing on getting the Performance mode to a locked 60 instead of wasting time with frivolous updates no one asked for, or will use in most cases.

but people will tell you rsaytracing is better... regardless

 

[vpance]

Please hire a competent graphics programmer with your bajillion dollars profit, Fromsoft.

 

[Tarnpanzer]

If u got a 4090 I would say go for it. Since this card will do 4k/60 with or without RT easily, so there isn´t a real downside when activating it.

For consoles this will be a good option when playing on the coming iterations of Xbox and Playstation.

 

[nemiroff]

fromsoft don’t know how to do graphics. They need someone from capcom.

They rather need to stop patching their own old ass crappy engine. They should've transitioned to Unreal a long time ago.

 

[Poltz]

They rather need to stop patching their own old ass crappy engine. They should've transitioned to Unreal a long time ago.

Bluepoint should lend them the engine.

 

[Thief1987]

At least this is not Blighttown-level disaster. We should be thankful to geniuses at fromsoftware for sparing us this time around.

 

[nemiroff]

Bluepoint should lend them the engine.

That would be better. But why the Bluepoint engine now if they didn't already? I mean, I don't know much about Bluepoint, but Unreal seems to have the more future proofed tech, and with a much bigger budget and larger dev team to make sure it's stays there.

Edit: What PC games runs on the Bluepoint engine anyway, is it proven?

 

[jaysius]

Ray Tracing Upgrade - Is It Worth It?​

No, it's always no

Yup, the dumbest carrot created for PC fanatics to burn money over.

 

[Poltz]

That would be better. But why the Bluepoint engine now if they didn't already? I mean, I don't know much about Bluepoint, but Unreal seems to have the more future proofed tech, and with a much bigger budget and larger dev team to make sure it's stays there.

I am basing this off Demon's Souls PS5, I don't know anything.

 

[killatopak]

but people will tell you rsaytracing is better... regardless

I wouldn’t say better. I think it’s a matter of preference just like framerate vs resolution.

As of now, it’s not clear cut better because of the tradeoffs incurred.

For consoles, I think a framerate cap on RT mode would do wonders.

 

[3liteDragon]

How about actually fixing performance instead of putting out useless stuff like this

 

[hangdang69]

I maxed out ray tracing on my 3080 PC and couldn't even tell a difference lol

 

[kingyala]

I wouldn’t say better. I think it’s a matter of preference just like framerate vs resolution.

As of now, it’s not clear cut better because of the tradeoffs incurred.

For consoles, I think a framerate cap on RT mode would do wonders.

not just consoles.. you can put any raytracing effect on elden ring and it still wouldnt look as good as demon souls remake... this is because you need better artists and the a better graphics pipeline that is made around raytracing in order for raytracing to look better than traditional techniques... just applying raytraced shadows and whatever rt bolton effects isnt gonna change substantially how a rasterized game was designed.. this isnt the raytracing generation yet... only a few games stand out cyberpunk, ratchet.. that utilize raytracing as much as they can but i in all honesty the ps6 will be the real raytracing era not this one

 

[nemiroff]

but people will tell you rsaytracing is better... regardless

Completely removing context and replacing it with a strawman for cheap points seems to be popular hobby of yours.

Edit: To be fair, your second post was actually much better, more of that please.

 

[killatopak]

not just consoles.. you can put any raytracing effect on elden ring and it still wouldnt look as good as demon souls remake... this is because you need better artists and the a better graphics pipeline that is made around raytracing in order for raytracing to look better than traditional techniques... just applying raytraced shadows and whatever rt bolton effects isnt gonna change substantially how a rasterized game was designed.. this isnt the raytracing generation yet... only a few games stand out cyberpunk, ratchet.. that utilize raytracing as much as they can but i in all honesty the ps6 will be the real raytracing era not this one

Depends. The implementation on Elden Ring isn’t as extensive as some of more pronounced examples of adding raytracing. For example, Minecraft and Quake are games with pretty old graphic pipelines that have noticeable difference in look. Obviously, you can still recognize the underlying game but the difference is stark compared to Elden Ring’s.

 

[kingyala]

Completely removing context and replacing it with a strawman for cheap points seems to be popular hobby of yours.

Edit: To be fair, your second post was actually much better, more of that please.

i didnt remove context, it was my understanding that people understand the context already... i dont explain much sometimes because i expect people to grasp my meaning without much explanations... the problem that exists today existed years ago... raytracing is simply being pushed as the new fashionable buzz word! we had physx, normal maps, tessellation, even dedicated physx card's... just because a new graphics technique is possible people want it on their games regardless...

i dont get the point of pushing raytracing for the sake of it instead of investing on how the game looks.. raytacing is treated as a magic technique that solves all your graphics problems and this is false... some games would look worse on raytracing because the graphics budget is wasted on tracing light instead of the overall art design and performance when otherwise if traditional techniques if applied well enough will look convincing as raytracing and perfrom better.. what is the point of raytracing in this game or gotham knights for instance if it looks worse than arkham knight..

 

[kingyala]

Depends. The implementation on Elden Ring isn’t as extensive as some of more pronounced examples of adding raytracing. For example, Minecraft and Quake are games with pretty old graphic pipelines that have noticeable difference in look. Obviously, you can still recognize the underlying game but the difference is stark compared to Elden Ring’s.

those examples are completely path traced... and in minecrafts example they remade the shaders to fit in the pipeline.. the games assets.. materials, shaders and all has to be made around raytracing you dont just bolt it on... you even have good and bad cgi even on films.. even though they almost all use raytracing... the technique doesnt always matter its the final painting that matters

 

[Buggy Loop]

Admittedly I'm kinda over RT shadows and lighting, RTAO is my shit having a 4080 to display it properly I don't know how to explain it but it does look better, RTAO really grounds Elden Ring, Dying Light and Cyberpunk in a way rasterized shadows just can't. I just know from my experience playing around with it that the amount of AO really adds to the game and gives the presentation a lot depth it doesn't have without it. I'm sure someone with @ me and tell em how wrong I am but I don't care, I'm enjoying it.

You’re right

But

As seen in Dying light 2, RTAO is basically the same performance impact as RTGI, while enabling RTGI you have no penalty of enabling RTAO..

So it pisses me off that devs just stop there. The performances penalties you see are RTGI level, but without it. This game would benefit immensely from it.

 

[hlm666]

Is this a RTX thing, a contractual obligation to Nvidia?

Would expect dlss to have come with it if this was the case.

 

[Crayon]

I tried it the day it dropped. I could tell it was shadows and AO pretty quickly. That's good for rt as it's usually pretty hard to tell any difference at all without help from a video like this. I think it looks nice, especially with foliage. Unfortunately, performance is destroyed an it's not worth turning on. Classic rt.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Imagine being FromSoftware and even bothering to implement DLSS alongside RT

Sasuga FromSoftware, why even add this feature if you're going to just tank performance and not offer any kind of upscaling to mitigate it?

 

[skit_data]

It’s crazy they haven’t even implemented a 30fps cap yet.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Not that it really matters but for what it's worth PS5 has about a 17% advantage when using Ray-traced shadows in this game

About the same advantage than in the others non-RT modes.