Half-Life 2 RTX demo coming out on March 18

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Resolution 1920x1080:

  • Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
  • Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
  • Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
  • Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
Resolution 2560x1440:

  • Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
  • Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
  • Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
  • Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
Resolution 3840x2160:

  • Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
  • Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 15 GB
  • Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 18 GB
  • Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 20 GB

 
Wolzard said:
N7No5Pl.png


Resolution 1920x1080:

  • Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
  • Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
  • Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
  • Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
Resolution 2560x1440:

  • Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
  • Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
  • Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
  • Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
Resolution 3840x2160:

  • Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
  • Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 15 GB
  • Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 18 GB
  • Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 20 GB

Click to expand...
I saw up to 14GB VRAM usage on my RTX4080S at 1440p with DLSS Quality + FGx2.

Gamegpu results may look incredibly bad, but that's native resolution. They disabled DLSS SR, FG and Ray Reconstruction. On my PC the game was playable at 4K DLSS Performance + RR (around 50-60fps) and with FGx2 I saw 90-110fps. At 1440p DLSS Quality I get 80-100fps and 140-160fps with FGx2. Performance is not an issue for me in this game, but I'm not happy with image quality and frame delivery.
 
Corporal.Hicks said:
I saw up to 14GB VRAM usage on my RTX4080S at 1440p with DLSS Quality + FGx2.

Gamegpu results may look incredibly bad, but that's native resolution. They disabled DLSS SR, FG and Ray Reconstruction. On my PC the game was playable at 4K DLSS Performance + RR (around 50-60fps) and with FGx2 I saw 90-110fps. At 1440p DLSS Quality I get 80-100fps and 140-160fps with FGx2. Performance is not an issue for me in this game, but I'm not happy with image quality and frame delivery.
Click to expand...

Not sure why websites insist on publishing native results without upscaling for path tracing. Like dude, we understand, you can't run path tracing native. DUH. Show us what it could also perform like with upscaling.
 
Wolzard said:
N7No5Pl.png


Resolution 1920x1080:

  • Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
  • Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
  • Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
  • Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
Resolution 2560x1440:

  • Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
  • Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
  • Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
  • Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
Resolution 3840x2160:

  • Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
  • Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 15 GB
  • Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 18 GB
  • Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 20 GB

Click to expand...
That's with up to 4 light bounces. I bet with 2 bounces the quality would still be decent and you would get much better performance.
 
rodrigolfp said:
Tell more. Can't we play it at native resolutions without blurry AA(s)??
Click to expand...
AA is no problem. DLSS4 (transformer) render as sharp an image as good old MSAA and doesnt blur fine details on textures. The problem is the ray reconstruction. It's this feature that blurs fine details on textures and also applies contrast sharpening to the lighting, which makes the image look DNR'd (like some ugly UHD transfers like Terminator 2).

RR in Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk blurred the image a little bit with DLSS Quality but not nearly as much as HL2 RTX. What's more I was able to get PERFECT image quality with DLAA and ray reconstruction. Before playing HL2 RTX I was expecting to get similar image quality, but even DLSS performance mode in Alan Wake 2 look a lot better. The image quality in HL2 RTX is absolutely unacceptable and defeats the purpose of including high resolution textures when everything is so blurred.
 
Corporal.Hicks said:
AA is no problem. DLSS4 (transformer) render as sharp an image as good old MSAA and doesnt blur fine details on textures. The problem is the ray reconstruction. It's this feature that blurs fine details on textures and also applies contrast sharpening to the lighting, which makes the image look DNR'd (like some ugly UHD transfers like Terminator 2).

RR in Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk blurred the image a little bit with DLSS Quality but not nearly as much as HL2 RTX. What's more I was able to get PERFECT image quality with DLAA and ray reconstruction. Before playing HL2 RTX I was expecting to get similar image quality, but even DLSS performance mode in Alan Wake 2 look a lot better. The image quality in HL2 RTX is absolutely unacceptable and defeats the purpose of including high resolution textures when everything is so blurred.
Click to expand...
Can't turn ray reconstruction off?
 
rodrigolfp said:
Can't turn ray reconstruction off?
Click to expand...
You can turn RR off, but without it you get excessive PT noise and it's hard to decide which is worse🤮. Most of the time I played with RR on becasue it drastically improved performance, but I was constantly turning it off to see what I was missing. Textures (especially in the distance) look a lot sharper without RR.

I started playing the original game and I'm blown away by how much sharper the textures look, even though HL2 has very low texture quality by today's standards. As a big fan of HL2 I've been waiting to play the RTX mod, but the image quality is killing my enjoyment and I don't give a damn about path tracing when the image quality is this bad. I can accept the framerate in HL2 RTX and even the terrible frame delivery, but my eyes refuse to look at such a blurry image. As a photographer, I absolutely hate that DNR'ed look and RR also applies stong contrast sharpening to the lighting, so the image look blurry and oversharpened at the same time. I have never played an RT game with such ugly image quality. Even Quake 2 RTX has a much sharper image and less filtering.
 
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Corporal.Hicks said:
I saw up to 14GB VRAM usage on my RTX4080S at 1440p with DLSS Quality + FGx2.

Gamegpu results may look incredibly bad, but that's native resolution. They disabled DLSS SR, FG and Ray Reconstruction. On my PC the game was playable at 4K DLSS Performance + RR (around 50-60fps) and with FGx2 I saw 90-110fps. At 1440p DLSS Quality I get 80-100fps and 140-160fps with FGx2. Performance is not an issue for me in this game, but I'm not happy with image quality and frame delivery.
Click to expand...

DLSS is enabled, in quality mode. It is blended with native and DLSS results. Since the demo doesn't have FSR, AMD cards used TAAU.
In the other tab of the graph, it is using DLSS FG.

Buggy Loop said:
Not sure why websites insist on publishing native results without upscaling for path tracing. Like dude, we understand, you can't run path tracing native. DUH. Show us what it could also perform like with upscaling.
Click to expand...

It has both configurations, the test is actually quite complete. It's good to test without upscaling to see the game's real performance. In the same way that benchmarks test at ultra.

Benchmarking is for testing the limits of a GPU, it is not for showing everyday usage conditions.
 
Unknown Soldier said:
Ravenholm is quietly one of the best horror levels in any FPS game ever

People know Half-Life for the sci-fi but forget about Ravenholm
Click to expand...

I wanted to test it last night actually but then I was like, Ravenholm? Do I want that in my life, the additional stress levels, just for a demo?

Kenan Thompson Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
Corporal.Hicks said:
You can turn RR off, but without it you get excessive PT noise and it's hard to decide which is worse🤮. Most of the time I played with RR on becasue it drastically improved performance, but I was constantly turning it off to see what I was missing. Textures (especially in the distance) look a lot sharper without RR.

I started playing the original game and I'm blown away by how much sharper the textures look, even though HL2 has very low texture quality by today's standards. As a big fan of HL2 I've been waiting to play the RTX mod, but the image quality is killing my enjoyment and I don't give a damn about path tracing when the image quality is this bad. I can accept the framerate in HL2 RTX and even the terrible frame delivery, but my eyes refuse to look at such a blurry image. As a photographer, I absolutely hate that DNR'ed look and RR also applies stong contrast sharpening to the lighting, so the image look blurry and oversharpened at the same time. I have never played an RT game with such ugly image quality. Even Quake 2 RTX has a much sharper image and less filtering.
Click to expand...
The excessive sharpening is separate from RR and there's supposed to be a way to adjust or turn it off but I'm not sure if it's buried in the hundreds of setting in Developer Mode or if I need to force it on NVPI or what

Are you using Transformer model? Clarity of RR is much better than with CNN model
 
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Game looks fantastic and plays great, only problem is I can cook food above my PC, holy shit the heat blowing out is insane.
 
Unknown Soldier said:
The excessive sharpening is separate from RR and there's supposed to be a way to adjust or turn it off but I'm not sure if it's buried in the hundreds of setting in Developer Mode or if I need to force it on NVPI or what

Are you using Transformer model? Clarity of RR is much better than with CNN model
Click to expand...
I'm using DLSS J preset (transformer). It looks good without ray reconstruction, so I know ray reconstruction is to blame.
 
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Corporal.Hicks said:
I'm using DLSS J preset (transformer). It looks good without ray reconstruction, so I know ray reconstruction is to blame.
Click to expand...
Some people think K is clearer than J, try switching to K and see if it gets any better

Beyond that I'm not sure what to say, I know DF did a video about how much better RR is with Transformer model versus CNN but it probably still has limits. RR is after all an approximation of the calculations to improve performance when there are multiple bounces
 
Unknown Soldier said:
Some people think K is clearer than J, try switching to K and see if it gets any better

Beyond that I'm not sure what to say, I know DF did a video about how much better RR is with Transformer model versus CNN but it probably still has limits. RR is after all an approximation of the calculations to improve performance when there are multiple bounces
Click to expand...
K is better if the game has more vegetation becasue there's less shimmering (for example Black Myth Wukong). J preset is a little bit sharper though and I prefer using it

In HL2 RTX there's a separate switch to use either CNN or Transformer model for ray reconstruction. Transformer has way less shimmering and ghosting, but both blurs the image and destroy fine details on textures. The image in this game looks like a painting.

RR works much better in other games. I can get acceptable image quality in cyberpunk even when using DLSS quality, while DLAA with RR gives me perfect image quality.
 
This is a weird one - I know I'm only trying it on 23" monitor from 2foot away on barely overlocked 12GB RTX 3060 with temps at 50deg C that just about holds 30fps in the action outside of load area stutters - but cranking everything up (8 bounces) and playing at native low-res or low-res (4:3 or 16:10 res options) and DLSS 4 J profile ultra performance retains far more of the original game atmosphere/character that I remember at launch playing on a 21"(19" ?) Sony G range Trinitron CRT at 90Hz at 1024x768 IIRC, than say compared to the crisper image of 1080p (DLSS4 with just 4 bounces).

High resolution with RR and less bounces looks like TV Buffy, whereas low-res with RR and 8 bounces or low-res DLSS4 ultra performance with RR and 8 bounces has more of a cinema Buffy or Fright Night feel, that feels closer to how it played +20years ago.

I know that's sacrilege for today's PC gamers, so would expect to slammed for suggesting anything below 1080p native, but it does make me think that RT without enough bounces is worse than sub-1080p (low res); and it really solidifies my view on current RT graphics that it is better to have image noise from lower resolution than the image be dominated by lighting noise or inadequate pixel-space lighting density, low resolution lighting.
 
Who knew you'd need a 5090 to play HL2?

Another optimized game ruined by RT.

Funny part: FEAR and Doom 3, games that are over 20 years old, have better lighting than any ray traced game I have ever seen.
 
Shouldn't version with original assets, only fully path tracing be running super fast?
When I disabled new assets in alt+x menu, it looks terrible and still runs bad.
I would love just original graphics and assets... just fully path traced.
 
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I have no idea why more devs don't utilize this amazing tech:



Will you consider me a conspiracy theorist if I claim planned obsolescence is a thing?

AI upscaling + Sampler Feedback Streaming + Neural Texture Compression could make 8GB cards viable for a while...
 


This is a comparison between the original Half-Life 2 (released by Valve, 2004) and the RTX Remix mod for Half-Life 2 (Demo released in march 2025). In-depth graphics comparison, including models, environments, lighting, dynamic lights, Raytracing flashes and more. The new RTX mod includes such features as raytracing, higher resolution models, more environmental details and more. But can it keep the aesthetics and the atmosphere of the original game intact?
Click to expand...
 
Rush2112 said:
Who knew you'd need a 5090 to play HL2?

Another optimized game ruined by RT.

Funny part: FEAR and Doom 3, games that are over 20 years old, have better lighting than any ray traced game I have ever seen.
Click to expand...
Shocked Steve Harvey GIF by ABC Network


Tomorrow is the day for me. My 4080 will arrive and I can test it out.
 
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Rush2112 said:
Funny part: FEAR and Doom 3, games that are over 20 years old, have better lighting than any ray traced game I have ever seen.
Click to expand...
Yes, everyone knows in real life all shadows are razor sharp and Jensen created the myth of light bouncing in order to sell graphics cards.
 
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Why are people so mad at this? It's a completely optional version of HL2. The original is still available and recently updated by Valve.
 
Spukc said:
Wow such a great example how stylized light maps are so so so soo far ahead of this bullshit rtx. It removes the look and feel of halflife 2
Click to expand...

First footage showcased a light map remaining there as the player closes the door and blocks whatever light source should be responsible for that light

Spukc : So far ahead of RTX 🤗

What The Wtf GIF by MOODMAN
 
Buggy Loop said:
First footage showcased a light map remaining there as the player closes the door and blocks whatever light source should be responsible for that light

Spukc : So far ahead of RTX 🤗

What The Wtf GIF by MOODMAN
Click to expand...
That area always had the door opened and nobody ever closed it.

Not hating but it's not worth it at all
 


A graphical comparison of RTX Remix modification for Half-Life 2, or Half-Life 2 RTX and how it stacks up to the original 2004 classic.


Timestamps:

00:00 Intro
00:31 Settings
01:28 Character Models
02:45 Weapon Models
04:52 Environments
07:05 Lighting
09:43 Shadows
11:25 Misc Effects
12:49 DLSS 4.0 and Multi-Frame Generation
15:06 Sound Effects
20:47 Final Thoughts
Click to expand...
 
That house-burning, 5000 dollars GPU can't get 60 FPS without faking frames on a 20 year-old game?

Ursula GIF


Absolute lol.
 


Thing about everything being pathtraced is that it's very easy to change stuff about it to suit what you like. I do some stuff to Half Life 2 RTX to fix the issues some people had with it.
0:00 - What's wrong with it?
0:20 - Volumetric lighting slow update
0:53 - MORE FOG???
1:22 - NO FOG!
1:35 - Black night
1:48 - No bounce lighting
2:15 - VS Half Life 2
3:08 - Daytime botch
Click to expand...
 
Im surprised how much hate comments this is getting on YT. I don't know if people realize this is made by fans and it's FREE. Its not Valve or AAA studio releasing this. Yeah I guess optimization sucks apparently because most people with high end rigs are having issues to run it at full spec but again, its made by a group of fan modders. Also esthetically, unlike Quake 2 RTX which made the whole game just bright and not even close to the vibe of the original, here its pretty true to the original. And Im saying this as someone who played HL2 over 20 times and even played it this year again as well. Read comments how Ravenholm isn't gritty enough because of shinier graphics...I don't know if people are just blind but thats like saying you prefer Resident Evil 1 on PS1 instead of RE8 because "it looks grittier" in the original.

I am one of those who doesn't have a rig for this but am stunned how good the game looks. It looks like a game from 2025, because they didn't just slap RT lighting over it, they upgraded all the textures, giving the whole game a fresh coat of paint.
 
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