Real-time ray tracing visual effects for Minecraft are finally here in a beta
format at least. If you have a compatible NVIDIA RTX graphics card and you're
running the Windows 10 version of Minecraft you can sign up for the beta
right now to access a collection of worlds designed with real-time lighting
and shadows, full color global illumination, enhanced transparency and
distortion effects for glass and water, and more graphical flare that makes
everyone's favorite block-based tree punching simulator look better than
anyone ever imagined when the game first released back in 2009. Right now in the
beta RTX Minecraft is playable via six worlds
designed by Minecraft creators working closely with NVIDIA. By default many of
these worlds have their blocks protected and they are designed to be experienced
rather than torn apart for materials. You also can't just start up a fresh game of
Minecraft with RTX on outside of these worlds just yet, but since Nvidia
has also released detailed instructions for exactly how designers can craft
their own RTX textures and resource packs, it shouldn't be too long until we
see a variety of real-time ray tracing enabled user created content releasing
for download in true Minecraft fashion. Now we've previously covered Minecraft
on our RTX theater series before but that was via an unofficial path tracing
modification released by an independent developer, now that we have true RTX
features straight from Nvidia, let's dive into the sample worlds and take a look
at what you can expect. As we go you'll be able to peek at the on screen
benchmarks included on the top of the screen, and you'll see that we rarely
dipped below 58 frames per second with RTX on even while also capturing
gameplay footage. The PC we're using for this demo is running an ASUS 2080 SUPER
GPU and an Intel i9-9900KS CPU. By default the Windows 10 version of
Minecraft is locked at 60 frames per second and while you can fiddle with
your application data to turn that cap off it isn't recommended for this
graphical beta. RTX features are more an enhanced visual experience rather
than maximizing frame rates. The first RTX world we'll take a look at is
called Aquatic Adventure, a creator who's been making Minecraft worlds and
sculptures since 2013. This world features an underwater approach to an
elaborate castle, followed by a series of minor puzzles that serve as a showcase
for ray-traced caustics, which refers to the way that light behaves when passing
through water. As you'll immediately notice in the contrast between our RTX
on and off footage NVIDIA recommends that you turn your render distance down
when you want the real-time ray tracing features enabled, so while RTX off might
let you see further into the distance RTX on gives you the mind-blowing
lighting and shadow effects that really makes this world come alive. One area
where you can really see what RTX brings to Minecraft is in the
reflections of the yellow light blocks off the shiny floors and walls in the
underwater city. It really enhances an ambiance focused experience like that
and it's honestly a little bit strange to have these ultra realistic
reflections present inside Minecraft's block based, totally unrealistic worlds.
The Aquatic Adventure world also involves a short trip into an ice cave,
complete with some of the RTX illumination features. The cold light
reflected off the ice makes for an experience unlike anything that's been
possible in Minecraft before. Next up, let's take a look at Of Temples And
Totems, a jungle themed adventure map from Minecraft creator Razzleberries
and her team. In this world you'll explore different elemental themed
temples battling enemies and solving puzzles. One of the things you'll notice
when you start up this world is the instructions in game to turn off clouds
in your options menu. That's because clouds will appear as
totally solid blocks with all the RTX enhancements in this world ,which ruins
the otherwise impressive visual effects. While the dungeon areas of temples and
totems don't always gain a lot from RTX features, it's all worth it to witness
the God rays of light, streaking through the jungles, shining
between trees. At the right time of the virtual day, it can take your breath away.
The different elemental temples in this world do a great job of showing off the
different sorts of environments that are possible with Minecraft RTX
enhancements. The reflections in the water temples are a really nice touch,
but the lava glow in the fire temple is definitely the highlight of the whole
experience. In the Crystal Palace world you'll start
on a sailing ship before heading to explore an abandoned fantasy castle in a
map designed by GeminiTay, another creator who has been making Minecraft
content since 2013. One part of this world that's pretty neat is that outside
of the palace it all looks almost like a traditional game of Minecraft. In the
grassy, natural areas, the RTX effects herbs subtle but once you get inside
you'll see the light and color enhancements on full display. Crystal
Palace showcases some incredible new ways to do lighting inside your
structures, including colorful chandeliers and under lit planters.
Playing in this world for a while is sure to inspire. After this you'll want
to experiment with your own RTX enabled home lighting setup. Crystal Palace is
also a great world to use if you're looking for a way to play a more
traditional Minecraft experience with RTX enabled. You can do this by grabbing
the rowboat from your ship or building one yourself and setting sail across the
sea in a random direction. After you journey for a while you'll eventually
come to some natural environment, because the world options are set to infinite
and Minecrafts normal procedural generation will take over. You can start
a new Minecraft life out there playing survival from scratch with RTX on.
Just be careful not to fall in a big hole full of water that you can't get
out of, which we did in this video only to illustrate what not to do, it's
exactly what happened. We're totally just looking out for you.
It wasn't a ridiculous mistake on our part.
Moving right along. The Color, Light, and Shadow world by creator PearlescentMoon
is designed just to show off what Minecraft RTX features can do. That
makes it a little less flavorful and dynamic than some of the others,
but a better showcase of specifically what real-time ray tracing adds to the
game. The world is separated into distinct areas specifically focusing on
different aspects of RTX Minecraft including a global illumination zone
where you can see how light comes through windows and skylights at
different times of day as minecraft Sun moves across the sky. There's also an
underwater area that demonstrates reflections and transparency effects via
glass and water, and should give you some great ideas for new in-game aquariums.
Just look at the difference between RTX on and off here. It's amazing stuff. The
Color, Light. and Shadow world also includes a variety of small room
examples taking advantage of different kinds of illumination, a zone where you
can experiment with your own light sources in creative mode, and a puzzle
involving combining different colors of light something that would never have
been possible in Minecraft before. But the highlight of the whole experience
has to be the infinity mirror effect on display, which is just fantastic. Expect
to see this visual trick used a lot by world creators in the future as RTX
Minecraft becomes more popular. The next world we'll look at is called
Imagination Island a theme park experience designed by the Minecraft
creators known as BlockWorks. This place really comes alive at night when the new
illumination effects throughout the park are at their most impressive. You get a
little bit of everything as you look around Imagination Island including
water reflections multi-colored lighting and transparency effects across four
different lands.There are also a couple of impressively designed roller coasters.
In the Canyon Coaster your cart passes through dynamic shadows, moving from
light into darkness as you descend below the cliffs and under trees. And over on
the Lava Coaster you get a wild ride through the new lighting glow given off
by RTX enhanced magma. Of all the world, Imagination Island is the one we
had the most fun actually playing, with entertaining rides and lots and lots of
churros to eat. Last but not least for the Minecraft RTX worlds, feast your
eyes on the Neon District designed by Elysium Fire. This is a popular Java
Edition world converted to Windows 10, which gives some exciting glimpses of
what might be possible as creators go back and enhance their previously
designed Minecraft Worlds. We've talked about Quake RTX before here on the
channel, so we know that a fresh coat of RTX paint can add a lot of life to an
old game. Once Minecraft RTX resource packs are more widely available, any
creator who wants to will be able to redesign their old worlds to take
advantage of the new RTX effects. The Neon District is best experienced flying
around in creative mode, enjoying the dazzling colored light sources that can
be found around every corner. In fact we think this world pretty much speaks for
itself so I'm just gonna shut up for a bit and let you enjoy it with some suitable music.
And that's your tour through the six Minecraft RTX worlds available as part
of the official beta. Of course since it is a beta, we did encounter some issues.
We had some visual flickering on occasion and something really weird
would happen when pausing or alt- tabbing out of the game where the world would be
brighter for a bit until the RTX effect seemed to kick in, and then the game
would gradually process the illumination and shadows correctly. Happily, we didn't
run into any major crashes during our testing, but hey working out these bugs
is what a beta is for, right? Make sure to check out the links in the description
below to shop for NVIDIA RTX cards and to find the full instructions on getting
started with the RTX Minecraft beta. As always thanks for watching and we'll
catch you on a future installment of RTX theater.