A few days ago, Sledgehammer Games updated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on PC to include Path Tracing. So, here are some comparison screenshots. These screenshots can give you an idea of the visual improvements that Path Tracing brings to the table. They also highlight its huge performance hit.
The screenshots with Path Tracing are on the left, whereas the screenshots without it are on the right. And, surprisingly enough, the non-PT screenshots are still good.
To be honest, I thought there would be a bigger visual gap between these two modes. Right now, Path Tracing doesn’t bring a massive improvement to MW3. Sure, there are some more realistic shadows and reflections. But the developers did such a great job with the rasterized version. In some cases, I actually like the non-PT version better. I mean, look at the hair in the second comparison. With Path Tracing, it looks like plastic.
As we mentioned, Path Tracing is limited to pre-game lobbies and the gunsmith. These are small restricted areas, and I think the devs made them look awesome even without any RT effects. And they did a great job at it.
It’s not just about the visuals; the performance hit of Path Tracing is so significant that turning it on doesn’t make much sense. I mean, who would want to use it just for the pre-game lobbies? What’s the point? To check out more realistic shadows and reflections before diving into a match?
Overall, I’m not impressed with the Path Tracing effects in MW3. Sure, there are some small changes, but it feels a bit like the early days of Ray Tracing. You know, when you had to zoom in to notice the visual upgrades. In theory, Path Tracing could make a bigger difference during actual gameplay. Sadly, you can’t make it work even in the single-player campaign.
Let’s hope that the devs will let PC players turn on Path Tracing for the single-player mode through an upcoming update!
Thanks Reddit
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
Contact: Email
The MW3 pathetic developer effort parade marches onward I see.
I just checked Metacritic out of curiosity and saw that the game has a 1.9 user rating. I don’t consider Metacritic or Steam reviews to be a good source of feedback but it is humorous and here’s why. Gamers are still throwing $70 at this game no matter what. Hell, it sold 6.5 million copies in the first 24 hours of release. Around 400 million USD revenue in it’s 1st day of release. It will probably eventually top a billion USD before too much longer.
How in the hell a 1.9 user rating translates into revenue like that is beyond me. The gaming world has become surreal over the past few years.
The only explanation can be that the people buying these games do not even visit gaming websites, read reviews, or visit forums. Is it just that?
It’s possible that they do visit gaming sites and read gaming news, but buy the games anyway. Some people just have to have the latest game, especially if it’s a franchise they always play.
I used to know a guy who would get mad if you’d try to convince him not to buy a game because you knew it would be a waste of money for him, and tell you he can spend his money however he wants. He had this compulsion to buy new games, even if he never played them.
Interesting. FOMO and marketing.
A lot of people definitely suffer from a fear of missing out, but in the case I mentioned it may have just been an addiction to buying games or some sort of compulsion to buy them.
Some people get a little carried away.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/235ef87a151d0c497ecb43cca4c252d47fccc6139761f5e0936d26ac77ed0044.png
Some people get a little carried away.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/98c17112992f022deea5a6389801f8ebf7ee8d9e65aec329e4940e83c7e90b75.png
True. I was a CoD pleb, too. Never knew anything outside CoD. Played every single one of them along others who bought only CoD (or some other multiplayer crap like DayZ or H1Z1).
I guess it’s something like the Fortnite bubble. I wonder if most of them play anything else very much. Some survey reported a while back that around 40% of them didn’t even have a Steam account. I’m sure that is the way Tim Sweeney wants it. Treat them like mushrooms. Keep them in the dark and feed them sh*t.
Anyway, glad to see that you have expanded your horizons.
What a gimic o we can now say it has path tracing what a joke Call of Duty has become over the years.
NVIDIA began doing that with “32-bit” color in the 3Dfx days. It didn’t matter that it was unplayable; they had a bullet point for their marketing.
(It worked.)
Call Of Duty And The Mystery Of The Lamps That Aren’t Where The Light Comes From – Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
FAKE TRACING
I looked at the images not knowing which was which. They both looked good, but different. In the end I chose my favourite from each pair. Then I spotted the fps in the corner, and it turns out that I marginally preferred the images with the higher fps scores, so presumably the non-RT versions!
What a remarkable piece! We are going to include a reference to this piece of writing on our website because it is very well written. Your prose is, as it always is, wonderful.