We recently wrote that the developers of Shadow of the Tomb Raider have released a long-promised update that adds support for detailed shadows based on RTX ray tracing and DLSS intelligent anti-aliasing. How the new shadow rendering method improves the quality of the image in the game can be seen in the trailer released for the occasion and in the screenshots below.
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, according to the developers, ray tracing is used only for calculating shadows, but these are as many as five new types of shadows. These are shadows from point light sources like candles and light bulbs; from more directional rectangular light sources like neon signs; from cone-shaped lamps like flashlights or street lamps; from sunlight; and, finally, shadows from translucent objects like foliage, glass, and so on.
The above screenshots clearly show that the shadows in the game have indeed become much more realistic: soft and translucent shadows have appeared. Those interested can see dynamic screenshots from NVIDIA, which compare the game in RTX mode and without it: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Ray tracing can be enabled in the graphics settings. There are three levels of detail to choose from: Medium, High, and Ultra, with the latter intended for enthusiasts who want to go beyond the limits of modern hardware (but only translucent shadows are supported there). Developers and NVIDIA recommend "High" for the best compromise between picture quality and performance. "Medium" only supports light shadows from point lights, which are only visible in some of the early urban areas of the game.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider also supports DLSS - according to the developers, this technology can improve performance in 4K by 50%, in 1440p by 20% and in 1080p by 10%. For various video cards, NVIDIA recommends the following bundles of RTX and DLSS:
- GeForce RTX 2060: 1920Γ1080, high graphics settings, medium ray tracing settings, DLSS enabled;
- GeForce RTX 2070: 1920Γ1080, high graphics settings and high ray tracing settings, DLSS enabled;
- GeForce RTX 2080: 2560Γ1440, high graphics settings and high ray tracing settings, DLSS enabled;
- GeForce RTX 2080 Ti: 3840Γ2160, high graphics settings and high ray tracing settings, DLSS enabled.
Source: 3dnews.ru