[Update 2: Ray tracing has been reimplemented in a recent patch. This writer has confirmed that the options now once again appear in the settings.]
[Update: Capcom hasstated via Twitterthat they are aware of the issue with Ray Tracing not being available in theResident Evil 2andResident Evil 3remakes on PC. They say that this will be addressed in a “future update.” As of writing, the patch is not available. Our original story follows.]
Bring out the floor unpolisher
In a strange update that some are speculating was an accident, Capcom has removed the Ray Tracing feature from the PC ports of theResident Evil 2and3remakes. Furthermore, the Dolby Atmos feature was removed fromResident Evil 3.
The patch rolled out sometime over the weekend. This writer saw it and wondered internally what it was for. There were no patch notes included with it. Reports later came in of the feature removal.
Capcom has said nothing of the change, leading to much speculation. I did what you should never do and checked the Steam discussion forums and immediately regretted it. Whilethere is a threadthat demonstrates how you may revert to the previous patch and restore the feature,most of the commentswere pure speculation, dumb jokes, or complete disinformation. I followed up on Reddit, and there, it’smuch the same. No one seems to know what happened.
On April 12, Capcomreported thatthey were ending support of the non-Ray Tracing DirectX 11 version. What they meant by this is that the DX11 version will no longer be receiving updates – you can still access it if you want to. However, this has led some to speculate that Capcom accidentally disabled the DX12 branch. Then disputed. The theory that this was an accident is credible, if only because Capcom didn’t announce it in advance when they advised about the end-of-support for DX11. However, it seems like it would be very difficult to just do that by mistake.
Following myplaythrough ofResident Evil 4, I reinstalledResident Evil 2for another go-round. I very quickly became distracted by other things, but I found the Ray Tracing to be well-implemented and that it ran reasonably well. While I’m not a fan of Ray Tracing’s performance relative to the visual differences it has, it does look more natural thanRE2’sbuilt-in screen space reflections. I guess I’ll wait a bit to see if another patch comes through the queue, but otherwise, I might just uninstall it and play it on console instead.
The console versions ofResident Evil 2and3seem unaffected.Resident Evil 7, 8,and4all retain their Ray Tracing feature on PC. Destructoid will keep you posted on any comments by Capcom or reverse in the removal.
