appiah4 wrote on 2021-01-07, 14:30:
Quake 2 did get a ray tracing patch that completely overhauls lighting and makes it look like a new game.
Steam Store Page: https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/1089130/#
Quake 2 RTX is legit fantastic, if you have the hardware to run it. Crucially, none of the gameplay is changed. Also, unlike a lot of RTX enabled games, it's fully path traced instead of using a hybrid traditional/ray traced lighting model to try to optimize performance.
In fact, they just patched it recently to use Vulkan's ray tracing API, which improved performance. They also improved the upscaler. So you can set 60 fps as your target, and it will scale the resolution to hit it. Used to be I could always tell when it was upscaling and it was ugly as hell. Now I can barely notice.
Also has a bunch of high resolution texture packs. Some of the reflectivity in the new textures really makes some areas pop. I think the models are unchanged, as their low poly count is the only thing making full path tracing feasible. Although I could swear the rail gun is different.
It's also nice that you can use your original Quake 2 install media for it. When I built a buddy of mine a new computer last year with a 2070 Super, I just installed Quake 2 off my old cd from the 90's, made him a steam account, grabbed Quake II RTX for free, and he was good to go. Great showcase for his new rig, totally free thanks to the wonders of physical media.
Man it was nice when you could actually share games with friends.
Win95/DOS 7.1 - P233 MMX (@2.5 x 100 FSB), Diamond Viper V330 AGP, SB16 CT2800
Win98 - K6-2+ 500, GF2 MX, SB AWE 64 CT4500, SBLive CT4780
Win98 - Pentium III 1000, GF2 GTS, SBLive CT4760
WinXP - Athlon 64 3200+, GF 7800 GS, Audigy 2 ZS