0.17.0.2 Release - Rtgi

| Setting | Value | Note | |---------|-------|------| | Quality | Medium or High | Low = too noisy for most games | | Bounces | 2 | 3–4 for interiors, but heavy cost | | Temporal Frames | 4–8 | Lower = faster response, higher = less flicker | | Half Resolution | On (if GPU limited) | Minimal visual loss, big perf gain | | Edge Smoothing | 0.3–0.5 | Reduces artifacts at object silhouettes |

Here’s where 0.17.0.2 genuinely impressed me. Testing on an RTX 3060 (12GB) and an RX 6700 XT:

| Game (1440p, RTGI at High Quality, ½ resolution rays) | 0.16.1 | 0.17.0.2 | Change | |-------------------------------------------------------|--------|----------|--------| | Cyberpunk 2077 (no in-game RT) | 58 fps | 61 fps | +5% | | Elden Ring (locked 60, GPU load) | 89% | 84% | -5% load| | Skyrim SE (ENB + RTGI) | 45 fps | 47 fps | +4% | | Dead Space (2023) (no native RT) | 52 fps | 54 fps | +3% |

The 2–5% uplift on NVIDIA Turing+ is real but subtle. More importantly, frame time consistency is improved. The old stutter when temporal accumulation resets (e.g., after a loading screen or cutscene) is almost gone. On AMD, the crash fix for depth buffer toggling is a lifesaver—no more CTDs when alt-tabbing. rtgi 0.17.0.2 release

VRAM usage remains unchanged: ~200-350MB overhead. Fine for 8GB cards, tight but usable on 6GB at 1080p.

Ray count vs. Quality: The “High” preset uses 8 rays per pixel. “Ultra” (16 rays) still tanks performance by 40–50% for marginal gain. Stick to High or Medium.

Previous versions suffered from "boiling" artifacts on fine geometry (fences, grass, hair) when using lower ray counts. Version 0.17.0.2 introduces an improved temporal reprojection filter that significantly reduces noise without blurring dynamic details. Users running at 1080p with medium ray counts will notice a smoother, more cinematic image. | Setting | Value | Note | |---------|-------|------|

Installing RTGI 0.17.0.2 requires ReShade 5.9.2 or newer with depth buffer access enabled. The shader comes as a .fxh and .fx file. Add it to your ReShade Shaders/Shaders folder.

Good news: Depth buffer auto-detection has improved. In Hogwarts Legacy, Resident Evil 4 Remake, and Starfield, RTGI found the correct depth buffer on first launch without manual COPY_DEPTH tinkering.

Bad news: It still fails in some UE5 titles (Remnant 2, Immortals of Aveum) because those engines use a custom, inverted, or pre-tonemapped depth buffer. You’ll need to manually edit the RTGI.fx constants or use a third-party depth buffer unlocker. Previous versions suffered from "boiling" artifacts on fine

Also, RTGI 0.17.0.2 breaks on very old ReShade versions (pre-5.0). Update or stay on 0.16.

Test system: Ryzen 5 5600X, RTX 3060 12GB, 16GB DDR4, 1080p resolution.

| Game | RTGI Off (FPS) | RTGI 0.16 (Balanced) | RTGI 0.17.0.2 (Balanced) | Improvement | |------|----------------|------------------------|----------------------------|--------------| | Fallout 4 | 72 | 51 | 58 | +13.7% | | Grand Theft Auto V | 98 | 68 | 77 | +13.2% | | Resident Evil 2 Remake | 86 | 61 | 69 | +13.1% | | Skyrim SE (heavily modded) | 55 | 37 | 43 | +16.2% |

The largest gains are seen in CPU-limited scenes, where the shader’s reduced overhead allows for smoother frame times.