Curious to try this on my 7900GRE but not expecting much performance sadly.

Uses terms like "butthurt" and "AMDumbs" in a post that I suspect is meant to be taken seriously. Threadcrappeur indeed...

The Penguin has spoken wordz of wizdom . Exactly how it is. Take it or leave it but wailing like a buncha butthurt AMDumbs ain't gonna accomplish much.

It's GTC time (Graphics Technology Conference, held and sponsored by nVidia) and this demo is supposed to showcase the capabilities of nVidia RTX Remix which has come out of beta yesterday (about a year after the beta was released). Nothing more, nothing less. No one has deleted HL2 classic. No one wants to or will do that (as far as we know).

nVidia RTX Remix is a technology that can modernize old games almost at the click of a button (for a first draft). It is an awesome basis for modders to work off of. No one is denying that the HL2 modders who are responsible for this demo have a lot of work to do. But if you remove your nVidia-hating glasses for a minute then any sane person is going to have to admit that this is awesome for starters and for the longevity of the game.

If anyone here is genuinely interested (beyond the hating) then this article at nVidia might be worth reading. It even includes a sort of making-of with regard to the HL2 RTX mod.

Geez people. Take it for what it is. Try it out, if you like it fine, if not uninstall it. It's just a different way to play the game.

Like Minecraft RTX. I loaded it, I played for a while, it's a cool experiment, but it's not the way I want to play Minecraft all the time so I uninstalled it. But kudos to the guys who did it and if some people want it that way that's fine with me.

Yes, I can understand the 'changing the creative vision' argument because ray tracing will definitely change the 'mood' of the lighting. But this is like complaining that Brutal Doom changes the creative vision of Doom. Yeah, you're right, but so what? Some of us love super gibs mode. If you don't, then don't play it.

Unless a game was designed with ray tracing from the ground up, it is never going to look totally right, with Ray tracing just bolted on to it afterwards. But it's still a fun experiment.

This comment was edited on Mar 20, 2025, 10:36.

Geez people. Take it for what it is. Try it out, if you like it fine, if not uninstall it. It's just a different way to play the game.

Like Minecraft RTX. I loaded it, I played for a while, it's a cool experiment, but it's not the way I want to play Minecraft all the time so I uninstalled it. But kudos to the guys who did it and if some people want it that way that's fine with me.

Yes, I can understand the 'changing the creative vision' argument because ray tracing will definitely change the 'mood' of the lighting. But this is like complaining that Brutal Doom changes the creative vision of Doom. Yeah, you're right, but so what? Some of us love super gibs mode. If you don't, them don't play it.

vrok wrote on Mar 19, 2025, 11:35:

RogueSix wrote on Mar 18, 2025, 21:23:
@Jivaro

Yeah, I quoted your post but my reply was generally directed towards the naysayers here. Don't take it personal . Your quote just fit the previously expressed sentiment pretty well where some people were pretending as if something here is taken away from them or being defiled by nVidia, the devil incarnate (... when this really isn't the case at all as the original version isn't going anywhere AND while this is just a Remix demo of two levels with unfinished tweaking/lighting/optimizations AND most/many of the naysayers haven't even downloaded or played the demo yet to see or compare for themselves).

The consensus is that the implementation is lazy and could've been done better if they had bothered to adjust the amount of lighting for each scene to be more in line with the originals artistic vision. That's it. Why are you making excuses trying to invalidate negative feedback? Why do you think there's a demo in the first place? Feedback is useful for improvement. For reference I own a 5090 and am currently playing Cyberpunk with full path tracing, so the nvidia hater card won't fly.

So, pointing out that this is an unfinished DEMO is "making excuses"? Cool story, bro. I hope you hold all demos/alphas/betas of games to such high standards because we need more people with an actual sense for quality. Maybe then we can finally kill off the fucking scam that is called "Steam Early Access" that gets massively abused by devs like Larian et al.

Also, I'm sure you meant the "consensus among nVidia haters and AMD fanbois" is... a small oversight but you are forgiven...

This comment was edited on Mar 19, 2025, 17:56.

I kind of hate Nvidia but the demo video of this looks spectacular. I don't really care if it "changes the mood so that it no longer feels like HL2". That's such a subjective argument that it's basically ridiculous to someone who doesn't agree or care that much. But the major disappointment for me, like most detractors, is performance. Don't infer that it's a mod that can be played if it is a tech demo for which the PC to run it smoothly at 4K 60hz (or, hell, even 2K) won't exist for another decade. Hopefully performance gets increased massively through patching, but I wouldn't bet on it.

This is just a modder being promoted by NVIDIA, right?

Makes some sense. I'd wonder if the trailer is using scenes that are more dynamic than the rest of the game, but I'd guess it's more that, in partnership with NVIDIA, they erred on the side of making things more dramatic. Is that great for HL2 overall? No. Is it great to try something out and see how ray tracing looks? Yes.

RogueSix wrote on Mar 18, 2025, 21:23:
@Jivaro

Yeah, I quoted your post but my reply was generally directed towards the naysayers here. Don't take it personal . Your quote just fit the previously expressed sentiment pretty well where some people were pretending as if something here is taken away from them or being defiled by nVidia, the devil incarnate (... when this really isn't the case at all as the original version isn't going anywhere AND while this is just a Remix demo of two levels with unfinished tweaking/lighting/optimizations AND most/many of the naysayers haven't even downloaded or played the demo yet to see or compare for themselves).

The consensus is that the implementation is lazy and could've been done better if they had bothered to adjust the amount of lighting for each scene to be more in line with the originals artistic vision. That's it. Why are you making excuses trying to invalidate negative feedback? Why do you think there's a demo in the first place? Feedback is useful for improvement. For reference I own a 5090 and am currently playing Cyberpunk with full path tracing, so the nvidia hater card won't fly.

So I loaded this. The first six times I launched it, it crashed. Good job. E for effort.

The seventh time, it made it to the initial start screen. It crashed again. F for fail.

The eighth time, it got stuck on 1289 of...whatever it was trying to do, at least according to the little bar in the lower left hand corner. F- for "You failed again?"

The ninth time, I was able to finally get in game and, man, this is what all the hooplah is about? Overly bright lights, weird flashes, gas clouds that look like fart animations out of old cartoons, and a persistent haze that looks straight outta the air quality warning videos of 1980s Los Angeles? If this is what "realistic" environments look like to some people, those people need to get outside much more frequently. Hell, I can look outside the window in my office right now at the bright, sunny day and not see a single bit of haze. U for "Completely underwhelmed". Uninstalled.

This looks absolutely stunning on my 4090 and 49 Samsung UltraWide absolutely blown away. WOW.

noman wrote on Mar 18, 2025, 15:23:
Light bouncing around realistically still can change the artistic vision about which parts of scene are dark and which aren't and which surfaces are shinier. If the original designers had RT lighting, they may have created less bright light sources or placed them differently. It's technically impressive but for many of the scenes in the trailer, the original version looks better.

This.

Nullity wrote on Mar 18, 2025, 15:08:

RogueSix wrote on Mar 18, 2025, 15:01:

Nullity wrote on Mar 18, 2025, 13:51:
For example, the lighting/brightness seems to have been cranked up (presumably to show off the RTX effects?).

Nothing's been "cranked". It is just realistic now. Every light source emits a realistic light instead of the fake light as before. You set shit on fire, shit's gonna be bright.

Yeah, you're right. I've never seen a dimly lit room, low wattage bulb, or partially obstructed light source in real life before. I dunno what I was thinking.

Exactly this. They just replaced every light source without much regard as to how it impacts the lighting in general, and how it affects the mood and artistic\gameplay vision of the original. It's lazy. Par for the course for the so called "developers" working everywhere today.

@Jivaro

Yeah, I quoted your post but my reply was generally directed towards the naysayers here. Don't take it personal . Your quote just fit the previously expressed sentiment pretty well where some people were pretending as if something here is taken away from them or being defiled by nVidia, the devil incarnate (... when this really isn't the case at all as the original version isn't going anywhere AND while this is just a Remix demo of two levels with unfinished tweaking/lighting/optimizations AND most/many of the naysayers haven't even downloaded or played the demo yet to see or compare for themselves).

Of course not. I didn't say I wouldn't or couldn't play the original. Stop looking for an argument where there isn't one.

And yes, that's what you are doing. Before you argue with me..lol

This part at the end of my post...read it again as I am completely at a loss for how I would possibly be disagreeing with your point:
"That said, my overall impression, as it was with Quake 2 and other games, is that adding these technologies after the fact is a net gain overall, even if it is going to clash with some design decisions that were made to compensate for the tech limitations of the time. Eventually, someone will find a way to fix those types of conflicts as well."

Jivaro wrote on Mar 18, 2025, 19:42:
BUUUUUUUUT.....there was a dev team that had a look and feel in mind and designed the game to get that look and feel using the tech they had at the time.

And? Did Valve delete HL2 classic?

Spoiler: They did not.

Anyone and everyone is free to play the classic version and to enhance or enshittify it as they see fit. Maybe some people should google "nVidia Remix" (again) and look up what it's all about and what it is not all about.

Some suggestions:

- nVidia Remix Open Beta announcement video
- nVidia Remix DLSS4 and Neural Rendering video
- Getting started with nVidia RTX Remix playlist
- Original nVidia RTX Remix Reveal video (they announced Remix at the RTX 4000 series reveal over two years ago)

No one is taking away anything from you here. As was pointed out, this HL2 Remix effort is done by a 3rd party studio. Did anyone delete HL1 classic because someone made Black Mesa? Nope. So how about approaching this technological marvel with an open mind or is the nVidia hate really that blinding? (rhetorical question)

What I get from it is that it's pretty good to go back and add this tech to games made before the tech was available BUUUUUUUUT.....there was a dev team that had a look and feel in mind and designed the game to get that look and feel using the tech they had at the time. If all you change is this one tech, it has some domino effects that can mess with those previous efforts. Making things brighter than they should, for example, illuminating areas that weren't meant to be illuminated and thus changing the "feel" of the scene or location. That said, my overall impression, as it was with Quake 2 and other games, is that adding these technologies after the fact is a net gain overall, even if it is going to clash with some design decisions that were made to compensate for the tech limitations of the time. Eventually, someone will find a way to fix those types of conflicts as well.

I genuinely think they do. Even if it's "third party assistance." Something is pointing towards HL3, and I'm totally for it.

Nullity wrote on Mar 18, 2025, 15:19:

jacobvandy wrote on Mar 18, 2025, 15:11:
Of course it's going to be significantly brighter overall, that's just the reality of having light bounce around properly. Any flashlight that isn't a cheap toy should easily fill an entire room, and a fucking bonfire will illuminate an entire city block... Does anyone really think it was an intentional artistic decision to have a humanoid enemy that is engulfed in flames from head to toe *not* project a large amount of light around it? Don't you think they would have liked that to happen, but just couldn't achieve it 20 years ago?

With that said, there is a brightness slider in the options which I did lower a fair amount, as the default made it look pretty washed out. That doesn't do anything to change the number or placement of light sources, though. Many of those in Ravenholm are industrial floodlights, so...

Yeah, big fire is going to be big bright, I get it. I wasn't even talking about fire. Did you watch the video? Most of the comparison shots didn't involve fire and the new version just seemed overly and unnecessarily bright to me. I'm not even trying to say it isn't realistic, using ray/path tracing, I'm sure it is. But as I alluded to in my previous post, it can still be realistic yet maintain the atmosphere by turning down the dimmer switch a little (where appropriate).

I love HL2, and I'll be playing through this. I'm not shitting on the game and I even said I'll reserve judgement until I can see it for myself. I was just voicing my preliminary opinion based only on this video. Chill people.

No, I get it, it's just a coincidence that I happened to be typing my reply at the same time as someone else. I chose fire because it's one of the most stark comparisons in the early parts of the video I linked. After a bunch of examples showing where the remaster offers the higher level of small details we expect in games today, there comes a real shattering of rose-tinted glasses when an enemy is set ablaze in the classic version and it has no impact on the environment whatsoever. In fact, he continues casting the simple drop shadow from the nearby overhead lamp: https://youtu.be/QHRS0TO89UI?t=460

This is still an early version of what they're creating, as can plainly be seen by the many assets in these two levels that have yet to be updated. I'm not saying they couldn't continue tweaking things like scene composition, but apparently I'm just not that bothered by what they have going on now. If anything, I feel the remaining dark spots are even more impactful in contrast to the areas that are now brighter.

gravity wrote on Mar 18, 2025, 19:06:
I'm surprised no one has actually come to the realization of what ValvE is doing here.

IMO, ValvE is absolutely "beta testing" HL3 engine functionality to a degree. Let's take the already-amazing-and-fully-functional engine we have, add ray-tracing, and "ensure we have full compatibility and thumbs-up from our community."

Am I alone? This is incredible "early access" sort of methodology.

Unfortunately, that's not even remotely what's happening. Valve has nothing to do with this project, other than giving their blessing for it to be made. It's being done by Orbifold Studios using Nvidia's RTX Remix modding software. No changes are being made to the Source engine for this.