Q2VKPT - Quake 2 real-time raytracing using RTX

[quadz]

As a research project, someone's added real-time raytracing to Quake2.

http://brechpunkt.de/q2vkpt/

Q2VKPT is the first playable game that is entirely raytraced and efficiently simulates fully dynamic lighting in real-time, with the same modern techniques as used in the movie industry (see Disney's practical guide to path tracing). The recent release of GPUs with raytracing capabilities has opened up entirely new possibilities for the future of game graphics, yet making good use of raytracing is non-trivial. While some games have started to explore improvements in shadow and reflection rendering, Q2VKPT is the first project to implement an efficient unified solution for all types of light transport: direct, scattered, and reflected light (see media). This kind of unification has led to a dramatic increase in both flexibility and productivity in the movie industry. The chance to have the same development in games promises a similar increase in visual fidelity and realism for game graphics in the coming years.
This project is meant to serve as a proof-of-concept for computer graphics research and the game industry alike, and to give enthusiasts a glimpse into the potential future of game graphics. Besides the use of hardware-accelerated raytracing, Q2VKPT mainly gains its efficiency from an adaptive image filtering technique that intelligently tracks changes in the scene illumination to re-use as much information as possible from previous computations. ↑

The project is released as open source on GitHub, integrating our Vulkan path tracer into the Q2PRO client. The project was spawned by the need for fast-paced test content in computer graphics research, and was motivated by the first intriguing results of an experimental path tracing renderer in 2016.

Why Quake II?

Since Quake II is open source and has a long-standing modding tradition, it is a great sandbox for putting academic research to the test in the real world. Particularly, the game has fast-paced action and is played competitively, setting high standards for the performance and robustness of any implemented rendering techniques.

Why are there no particles? I want my flies and rail gun sparks back!

Unfortunately, we ran out of time to add lights for the rail gun. As to other particles, the decision to fully raytrace everything in the game made rendering particles a bit less trivial. If we find the time, we might fix it in the future!

Note that ray-tracing is not fully realized yet across the board (e.g. reflective glass pane, muzzle flashes, etc.) but, the parts that work are at least intriguing:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrq1T93uLag

[quadz]

Further details on the Q2 raytracing project:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRCAfdBMe2Y

[M0us3]

 

[quadz]

Managing about 20 FPS at maximum quality on my non-RTX 1080ti, rendering at half-resolution. (That is, the viewport is 2560x1440, but 3D view is scaled up from 1280x720.)

About the same FPS I was getting in 1998.

[Sgt. Dick]

About the same FPS I was getting in 1998.

  and 

A lot of people including me would need a computer upgrade to play this the way I would want to.

[haunted]

It's a good thing I played on such a good setup.

 

[quadz]

It really does produce some nice-looking imagery on some maps.

I like the little details, how the glowing hyperblaster cells cast a greenish tint to nearby surfaces.