What you need to know
- Quake II RTX is now available.
- The overhaul brings ray tracing, realistic lighting, revamped textures, and much more to the id classic.
- The first three levels are available for free, and those who already own the game can apply the changes with an installer from NVIDIA.
Quake II probably isn't the first game you think of when pondering NVIDIA's RTX ray tracing tech, but it's getting an RTX overhaul today. After announcing it last week, NVIDIA's Lightspeed Studios has released Quake II RTX on Steam, providing the first three levels for free.
The revamp brings a ton of visual improvements to id's classic, providing an interesting look at what ray tracing can do for even older games. Here's a recap of what's new in Quake II RTX, from NVIDIA:
- Improved Global Illumination rendering, with three selectable quality presets, including two-bounce GI
- Multiplayer support
- Time of day options that radically change the appearance of some levels
- New weapon models & textures
- New dynamic environments (Stroggos surface, and space)
- Better physically based atmospheric scattering, including settings for Stroggos sky
- Real-time reflectivity of the player and weapon model on water and glass surfaces, and player model shadows, for owners of the complete game (the original Shareware release does not include player models)
- Improved ray tracing denoising technology
- All 3,000+ original game textures have been updated with a mix of Q2XP mod-pack textures and our own enhancements
- Updated effects with new sprites and particle animations
- Dynamic lighting for items such as blinking lights, signs, switches, elevators and moving objects
- Caustics approximation to improve water lighting effects
- High-quality screenshot mode that makes your screenshots look even better
- Support for the old OpenGL renderer, enabling you to switch between RTX ON and RTX OFF
- Cylindrical projection mode for wide-angle field of view on widescreen displays
To get all of the improvements, NVIDIA has laid out some specific minimum requirements, however. Here's a look at what you'll need:
- OS: Windows 7 64-bit or Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit
- Processor: Intel Core i3-3220, or AMD equivalent
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, or higher
- Storage: 2GB available space
The first three levels will remain available for free on Steam. If you already own the full game, however, you can apply the revamps to your game with an installer available from NVIDIA, unlocking the overhaul for the full game.
A great GPU for 1440p and even some 4K gaming
RTX 20-series NVIDIA GPUs are powerful gaming cards. The RTX 2060 is the successor to the excellent GTX 1070, offering ray tracing and DLSS, among other features.
Affordable accessories that'll pair perfectly with your PC
Every one of these awesome PC accessories will enhance your everyday experience — and none cost more than $30.
KLIM Aim RGB gaming mouse ($30 at Amazon)
Whether you're a gamer or not, this is an absurdly good mouse for the price. It's ambidextrous, has a responsive sensor, a braided cable, tank-like build quality, and, yes, it has RGB lighting, though you can turn it off if that's not your thing.
AmazonBasics USB speakers ($16 at Amazon)
These neat little speakers may only pack 2.4W of total power, but don't let that fool you. For something so small you get a well-rounded sound and a stylish design. And they only cost $16.
Razer mouse bungee ($20 at Amazon)
Use a wired mouse? You need a mouse bungee to keep your cable tidy and free of snags. You get no drag on the cable, and this one has subtle styling, a rust-resistant spring and a weighted base, all for $20.
