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[BennyBlanco]

Many classic PC games remain beloved for their unforgettable stories, characters, and gameplay. But as technology advances, their visuals struggle to keep up, making it harder for the original gamers who played them, or new generations, to appreciate their magic.

NVIDIA RTX Remix, a modding platform for RTX AI PCs, was built to change that. By reimagining the graphics of these timeless classics with cutting-edge path tracing, we're allowing longtime fans to relive their favorite adventures in stunning detail, while introducing a new wave of players to the games that defined an era.

Today, we've released a new RTX Remix update through NVIDIA app, adding an advanced particle system that enables modders to enhance traditional fire and smoke effects, as well as more fantastical effects, like those in Portal. Check out our official documentation to see the full release notes.

In RTX Remix, legacy particles from a classic game could be interpreted as path-traced, enabling them to cast realistic light, enhancing the appearance of many scenes. But ultimately, these particles were still over 20 years old, lacking detail, flair, and fluid animations.

Now, modders can create brand new particles in Remix that match the look of those found in modern titles. This opens the door for over 165 RTX Remix compatible games to have advanced particle effects for the first time, and we can't wait to see all the ways modders dazzle gamers with realistic and spectacular effects.

RTX Remix particles are GPU-driven, meaning you can add tens of thousands of them without significantly reducing performance. They are path-traced, meaning they cast accurate shadows, and are reflected in the world–a rarity in games. Additionally, they feature a realistic physics simulation, complete with proper collisions with the environment. All of these elements together give modders a chance to make breathtaking VFX. As an example, we've designated the Antlion Guard from Half-Life 2 RTX as a particle emitter. Over 100,000 shadowed particles are performantly rendered, and as the Antlion Guard moves, the physics of each particle is accurately reflected and affected.

NVIDIA RTX Remix Update Introduces Advanced Path-Traced Particle System

RTX Remix’s new particles are accurately reflected, cast shadows, emit light, collide with characters and geometry, and can be extensively configured to create new and exciting effects.

www.nvidia.com

This tech is so neat.

 

[JoduanER2]

But how expensive is to run it?

 

[Dacvak]

So which one of you rich GAFers are gonna give me your old 5090 when the next batch of cards come out? Pretty please?

 

[BennyBlanco]

But how expensive is to run it?

According to them, not very expensive at all. Keep in mind all of this only works with old ass dx9 games.

RTX Remix particles are GPU-driven, meaning you can add tens of thousands of them without significantly reducing performance. They are path-traced, meaning they cast accurate shadows, and are reflected in the world–a rarity in games. Additionally, they feature a realistic physics simulation, complete with proper collisions with the environment. All of these elements together give modders a chance to make breathtaking VFX. As an example, we've designated the Antlion Guard from Half-Life 2 RTX as a particle emitter. Over 100,000 shadowed particles are performantly rendered, and as the Antlion Guard moves, the physics of each particle is accurately reflected and affected.

 

[Rentahamster]

So which one of you rich GAFers are gonna give me your old 5090 when the next batch of cards come out? Pretty please?

I can spare 5090


toenail clippings I have saved in a jar since 9/11/2001

 

[CamHostage]

Hmm, promising on paper, but the demos here are pretty useless/bad.

The lighting on the Energy Ball is overcooked and shows little of the twinkly look I'd expect from an emission of sparks (or whatever this effect is creating. Also, I'm not seeing the sparks colliding with the blue ring (albeit are portals physical?) or bouncing off the the floor or red thingy here, so whatever physics these particles are armed with doesn't seem to be shown off.

And then, I have no clue what the AntLion demo is supposed to be? They just turned the whole model into a particle emitter from the skin, which why? I guess to show that these particles are part of the lighting system, so there's lot of shadowing present in the direct light beam. Ok, but the physics speed and particle clarity has all kinds of problems.

The three-version ball even has some issues without clear explanation of what parameters were being tested. Like, why did the v3 ball with the most concentrated and numerous particles create the least light?

I like the feature conceptually, and RTX Remix in general has a good future ahead (even if choices made aren't always accurate to original intent,) but this demo isn't doing the job.

 

[Dacvak]

I can spare 5090


toenail clippings I have saved in a jar since 9/11/2001

Weird that you started collecting them that day…

 

[CamHostage]

Here's a better video of the Creature Particle Emitter. It shows off more clearly what they created (the quick one up top is just demoing lighting/shadows i guess) and kind of a better example of why they added it... but still, the particles don't land on the ground and they don't interact with the player, so I don't get what NVIDIA thought was cool here besides that they could hack in emitters to old code.



Here's a Fire effect replacement video from the blog. This is the best demo yet IMO, albeit again, cool concept to replace the old effect, hopefully good artists will come along and do a more comparable replacement effect, but NVIDIA's fire sim is colored all wrong for fire plus still has the same billboard spacial limitations of the original. Eh?

 

[Rentahamster]

Weird that you started collecting them that day…

Not weird at all if you think about it...

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Edit: wrong thread.

 

[CuNi]

I cannot be the only one who loves the tech but hates the visuals that are chosen to demonstrate it, right?
Same with ray-tracing.

All effects look like they are dialed to 500%.

 

[Gaiff]

I cannot be the only one who loves the tech but hates the visuals that are chosen to demonstrate it, right?
Same with ray-tracing.

All effects look like they are dialed to 500%.

They are dialed up to 11 to demonstrate them, so this makes sense.

 

[CamHostage]

I cannot be the only one who loves the tech but hates the visuals that are chosen to demonstrate it, right?
Same with ray-tracing.

All effects look like they are dialed to 500%.

Well. I'd be cool if it looked like effects dialed up to 500%, that would be fun in a silly manner and show off what tech swaps could do even without artists trying to make it blend natural.

Like that Minecraft RT demo, it's not natural or maybe even playable, but it's glowy and shiny and pretty, and all from just the same blocks now with effects on.

....This though, it could have used another couple-hundred percent?

500% to me would have been all particles having collision (although the gun does blow particles off the creature a little bit,) lighting dialed way up per particle so that a shower fully sparks up the scene, and the quantity way more impressive and persistent. That's part of the fun of particles, just watching tons of them emit and bounce around and glow!

Once artists/devs get into this tool and tweak proper parameters, we should see some decent replacement results (I hope...) But I would have liked a demo of this cranked to the max to play with the possibilities.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I can spare 5090


toenail clippings I have saved in a jar since 9/11/2001

One of my friends has a car with a pull out ashtray completely full of nail clippings.
I bet that he could afford a nice video card.