Yesterday, I might have described Fortnite as a fairly handsome sport that runs on something. After in the present day’s huge Chapter 4 replace, I might describe Fortnite as a graphical showcase that demonstrates simply how fairly the following era of 3D video games will look.
Fortnite’s all-new, multi-biome map is a wonderland of saturated landscapes which can be popping much more since I turned on Epic’s proprietary, real-time ray-traced international illumination and reflection choices.
That is all due to Fortnite Chapter 4’s change to Unreal Engine 5.1 (opens in new tab), which allows Epic’s Nanite “virtualized geometry” method and Lumen lighting/reflection tech. Epic describes Nanite as a manner of bettering texture element (it is one of many issues that made that Matrix Awakens PS5 tech demo (opens in new tab) look so good), however it warns that turning it on can cut back efficiency in Fortnite.
After you have Nanite on (discover it underneath the Show tab), a number of different key graphical choices unlock: Digital Shadows, Lumen lighting, and Lumen reflections. The dynamic shadows look nice with the brand new map’s frequent time-of-day shifts, however I have been principally having fun with the ray-traced reflections and lighting, particularly noticeable in forests and icy areas.
Bushes mirrored in ice and superbly lit branches will not look new to PC avid gamers who’ve loved ray tracing succesful GPUs for the final handful of years, however the neat a part of Lumen is that it is {hardware} agnostic. These fairly reflections are with {hardware} ray tracing set to Off. Optionally, you may unleash your RTX card’s tensor cores on Lumen to get greater high quality outcomes, however that is (once more) liable to decrease efficiency.
Talking of efficiency, you are positively an fps hit should you activate all the most effective lighting/reflection choices. I am on an RTX 3060 at 1080p with Lumen reflections and lighting set to the second-highest setting, and I am averaging round 75 fps. That is with Unreal Engine 5’s new Temporal Tremendous Decision on as effectively, an upscaling method that replaces DLSS (facet notice: Epic has disabled DLSS in Fortnite, however it’s non permanent). I am proud of the outcomes for the way nice the sport now seems, however it’s not excellent. I am experiencing some annoying stutters once I load into the pre-game foyer and periodic framerate dips are a slight hassle. If I took my Fortnite play critically I might in all probability flip off each bell and whistle that inches me farther from a locked 144 fps, however since I do not, the tradeoffs are price it thus far.
That TSR upscaling introduces some graphical weirdness to the primary minute or so of a match, too. Characters in movement generally go away behind grainy blurs that may get distracting. I seen this will look particularly dangerous when trying shut up at cel-shaded character skins, like this dancing Sasuke Uchiha (opens in new tab). It is a ghosting impact just like what used to occur so much in older variations of DLSS (and nonetheless persists in some video games).
Some developments are extra impactful than others. Epic additionally notes that Lumen lighting introduces bouncing, reflective lighting to interiors. I discovered this characteristic extremely spectacular once I performed Metro Exodus with RTX on, however I am not seeing an enormous distinction in Fortnite but. To this point the insides of buildings look about pretty much as good as they did earlier than to my eye, which is possibly a testomony to Fortnite’s sturdy artwork path.
What Fortnite Chapter 4 has finished right here is unprecedented within the service sport age. Fortnite, a sport obtainable on all the pieces from cell phones to the Nintendo Swap, has turn into a graphical powerhouse with options that Epic is simply recommending for PCs with an RTX 2080 or higher. We do not sometimes anticipate builders to make important graphical developments to already-released video games, not to mention these 5 years into their lifetime. It reveals that Epic is altering Fortnite with the occasions not solely in its gameplay, however its look.
Yeah, I am completely offered on Lumen and Nanite. Delivery this in a 60 fps giant scale multiplayer sport…that is nuts. Simply wonderful work from the staff at Epic. pic.twitter.com/VcxfsG2RexDecember 5, 2022
To be clear, this is not an altruistic replace on behalf of Epic. That is the makers of Unreal Engine 5 displaying off what its product can do with one of many largest leisure platforms on the earth, with hopes that increasingly more studios will hitch their wagon to Epic’s battle bus. Although, I am undecided Epic has to do way more convincing, contemplating all the massive video games already introduced to be making the UE5 bounce—Redfall (opens in new tab), Stalker 2 (opens in new tab), Tekken 8 (opens in new tab), and The Witcher 4 (opens in new tab) to call a number of.
I believe a number of of these video games will likely be a significantly better showcase for UE5 than Fortnite’s cartoony worlds, however Chapter 4 is a powerful debut, and it is cool to get a sneak peek on the tech that among the largest video games of the close to and much future may have entry to.
