Ray Tracing Is Coming To Halo Infinite On Xbox Series X

Just what I want in my fast paced multiplayer shooter, ray traced shadows. I am sure I will be fine if I stop and admire them, nothing bad will happen if I do that.

I appreciate the effort but yeah I don't really see the point. Maybe in the campaign but they specifically say that's not a thing.

Ray tracing seems to have been hyped so much and I have not really played a game with them that made me go WOW.

Ironically the game that was used to push RT on Xbox launch still doesn't have it, Minecraft. It's the one game I have seen that RT makes a huge difference at least on its pc version but nope nothing for console.

@BBB

Exactly, it’s clear though it’s the multiplayer where they’re putting their efforts even if ray tracing there just doesn’t make sense.

I wanted to try the multiplayer again anyway but I found a huge file (95gb). What happened to the relatively quick install at launch? Is it all forge?

As someone that plays Halo for the campaigns, this has sure been a disappointing release in terms of post shipment support. Enjoyed the campaign somewhat and was optimistic about this being a platform they said they’d build on. Since then local co-ops being dropped, ray tracing which was a major graphical enhancement is multiplayer only and a complete lack of any real post release story content has all been disappointing.

While Halo campaigns typically don’t get big post release changes, this game felt like it would be different and there was outstanding content promised following what was a chaotic release.

Kind of would like to see MS get 343, who have talent, to try their hand on something else and maybe give another of their developers they’ve acquired from Bethesda (or possibly Activision) a crack at the IP. MS are full of AAA teams that have strong FPS pedigree at this point and maybe some of them can provide a different perspective.

It may not be the worse idea to split competitive multiplayer and campaigns into different releases at this point with different teams or devs supporting each.

What is the point this late on the day and also muliplayer only, where it’s not needed.
I’m sure they have better things to be working on.
Studio management all gone wrong yet again.
Wasting time, resources and cost.

@BBB Halo is a fast paced shooter? Right next to Quake 3 and Tribes.

I welcome the game looking better going forward. This is the only game where a story like this, the game getting a nice little graphics update, causes it to get dunked on in the comments.

@BBB RT is an 'upgrade' on aspects of the lighting in a game. Its not a 'game-changer' as it (so far) hasn't impacted on Game-play - but does add more 'realistic' lighting 'effects' such as the way Shadows are cast, the accuracy of reflections or light bounce in a scene etc) its an 'upgrade' over Screen Space Reflections, baked in Shadows or using Shadow maps etc.

Its not as if the game doesn't have Shadows without RT. Its more like a setting change - 'High' giving the 'best' quality traditional method and 'Ultra' offering RT for the most accurate method - like turning up/down resolution to improve/reduce the 'per-pixel detail' to save or push GPU.

@Dezzy70 It's possible that these features will be implemented in their 'next' game and by adding it into their Game now, not only can they get used to working with RT, how 'costly' effects are, how to optimise etc, it gives them experience and knowledge ahead of development - which may save time/money and/or over-promising because they didn't realise how 'difficult' or resource heavy it would end up. H:I MP is 'Free to Play' and 'could' be the 'Long term' MP suite that is carried forward, updated etc with 'Seasons' tying back to Any 'story' based content - similar to how Warzone is tied to the 'latest' CoD. Its possible they 'could' separate the MP from Campaigns - similar to what we expect from Sony and the Last of Us - their 'Factions' MP suite seems to be a 'Separate' game from Last of Us 2 where it was once part of the package with the 1st game. So RT in this may make more sense - especially as Forge and those 'creations' could also benefit...

At this point 343 probably can't catch a break in the comments/feedback sections across all the internet. I think back in 2020 there was a claim from them that campaign raytracing will come later. I think it was even before they announced delaying it to 2021. Either way they should add raytracing to their campaign too. The art design of Infinite is almost flawless, but its technical graphics leave a lot to be desired.
RT, whether people find it cool or not, is one of the key "visual features" this console gen promised. If you take RT away this gen is just slightly higher native resolution and 60 and 120fps. All nice upgrades but a gen-on-gen progress needs more.

@Smigit I think back in X360 era these ideas worked better where every game took 2 years to make. So when 343 needed 4 years for Halo 7, you could have another studio take 2 years and make a spin-off.
Nowadays every AAA game, at least from Xbox is taking between 4 to 6 years. Even if they hired a studio to do it "today" you would not see results until 2027 to 2030.
Also, I don't think 343 ever promised SP content. It was always about the live-service aspect which they are delivering. They are essentially taking an approach similar to R6 Siege, where events that you see in those seasonal story trailers are canon. So it kinda sorta counts as story. But the idea of SP DLC was just wishful thinking and fans trying to manifest something out of thin air.

@StrawberryWave I think the whole thing is part of a deal with AMD, they revealed this at an AMD conference for new Radeon cards. So PC gets it first.

@BAMozzy I didn't say it wasn't an upgrade I just questioned the point of adding it in the multiplayer part of the game.

What's the point of upgrading if you are not really going to notice while playing.

Another example, Forza Motorsport, which is a game I am insanely excited for and is my most anticipated game of the year.

Much hype has been given about on track RT reflections and indeed they look stunning in the trailers and I am sure any replays I post will look equally cinematic.

However, when racing I am not looking at reflections I am concentrating on apexes & exits (and a bunch of other things but let's keep it simple) in an effort to go faster & not crash. Indeed assuming it's an option I would turn RT off much like I automatically do for motion blur and ambient occlusion etc as that tends to give more consistent fps in most games. That to me is much more important especially in a racing game.

@Jenkinss. Sorry for not being excited for everything the devs do. Hope you enjoy the update and you enjoy the improved shadows.

@BrilliantBill happy to wait a while for a new company and wouldn’t expect a rapid turn around at all for any future release. Last Gen we only got the one game anyhow. I don’t think 343 has handled this release very well but, especially in terms of single player but also multiplayer and they seemed overwhelmed trying to manage both aspects. If they did split out SP and MP releases into seperate games with different developers, that could eventually lead to quicker turn around or at least allow a team to focus on the game-as-a-service that they seem interested in producing. In fact Halo has adopted so many COD traits it’ll be interesting to see whether MS does leverage any Activision developers for Halo multiplayer.

Now, they didn’t promise single player content, but they did provide us a huge world to explore which unfortunately is a bit sparse and begging for some more interesting content. A lot of people did expect more content to eventually drop exploring new biomes etc. 343 also said this release was the groundwork’s for the next 10 years of halo which I think most people took to assume wasn’t just limited to multi player. With news reporting 343 are committed to Unreal engine for future titles but already, indicating a shift in focus on their technology, I’m not holding me breathe for any new SP content for Infinite.

One way or another something needs a bit of a shake up as Infinite really wasn’t the release I think MS was looking for. It has its fans, but I don’t think it’s kept Halo especially relevant for people less interested in the franchise. I assume that may be under way given the staffing shakeup at 343 recently.

@BBB As stated, there are numerous reasons that could be applicable here. From the aspect of just because they 'can' and it's a 'big' IP for MS, one of the '3' major IP's they are known for, now 'ticking' the RT box all the way up to H:I being their 'long term' Multi-player suite and therefore will be updated over the years.

Maybe its also a way of learning about RT, how performant it is, how to implement it and optimise it for Series X, what issues/challenges it causes and/or learn how to work with it in preparation for their next game.

Just because you don't really notice that much, doesn't mean others don't either. Reflections can be extremely useful in Forza, not only for the 'mirrors' on cars to accurately reflect back to the driver to give them 'perfect' information about what's behind and/or around them. Reflections are 'important' in Racing and a 'legal' requirement on race cars as Drivers are 'expected' to use them to get information about the other racers behind you.

Yes, Shadows in a MP FPS may not make a 'massive' difference - but its more 'refinement'. On XB1S for example, you'll still get 'Shadows' - maybe not drawn as far away from the camera and/or low res/pixelated/pop-in shadows leading to a 'less refined', lower quality visual experience overall that is not 'just' lower in terms of pixel counts.

What about Fortnite? on Series S/X you get UE5 version with Lumin tech handling the lighting model, an 'upgrade' over the UE4 version that 'weaker' hardware is limited to. Does it make a 'massive' difference in a MP game or is it just 'refinements' for hardware that can benefit? Was that pointless or a great opportunity for Devs to learn and get to grips with UE5 before they start work on a 'new' project. Its 'easier' to 'learn' by recreating/updating something that exists as you have a 'template' and all the assets, animations etc already so its just 'learning' the intricacies of the 'software', the engine...

Maybe H:I will be the MP suite for this and into 'next' gen. It has Forge and ALL the tools to make LOTS of MP experiences for a LONG time so why not add RT. Maybe it doesn't make 'much' difference in the heat of battle in the 'MP' PvP stock modes, but make more difference in some Player created modes...

@BAMozzy every modern sim racing game from ACC all the way down to GT7 has some form of radar to show car positions around you. Some such as iRacing have auto race spotters that give audible prompts instead to show where the cars are around you.

So yeah, nope in SIM racing reflections are not a requirement or all that important or even desirable (both net code and FPS lag often makes the mirrors unreliable.)

I know from your responses to me (& to other folks in other articles) you are very much a tech guy. From that point of view your responses make sense.

However I am just a player and as I have previously said I have still yet to see a RT enabled game that made me sit up and think all that effort is worth it. Again I normally end up using whatever performance mode option is available, which normally turns off RT and negates all that work.

I would love to be wowed by RT but it has yet to happen and I am not holding my breath I will anytime soon.

Thank you for taking the time to reply and I hope the rest of your day is a good one.

raytracing pointless on consoles

resources are better spent on other things