DXU24 has shared a video, showcasing the latest version of Surreal 98. Surreal 98, previously known as DXU24, is a game rendering client that will bring Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament 99 to Unreal Engine 5.
When using Surreal 98, older Unreal Engine games, like Deus Ex and UT99, will automatically run in Unreal Engine 5. This will allow them to take advantage of most of the new features of Epic’s engine.
According to the modder, Surreal 98 already supports Full Ray Tracing and Path Tracing. Moreover, it comes with support for UE5’s Lumen. Not only that but the modder added support for POM (Parallax Occlusion Mapping).
In the following video, we get to see some comparisons between the vanilla and the modded versions of Deus Ex and UT99. These are the two games in which Surreal 98 focuses on. In the future, the modder also plans to add support for Unreal Gold and RUNE.
Do note that this has nothing to do with the RTX Remix Mods of UT99 and Deus Ex. Surreal 98 replaces the rendering engine with UE5. That’s a whole different – and more complicated – project.
What’s common with Deus Ex RTX, Unreal Tournament 99 RTX, and Surreal 98 is the need for PBR materials. Yes, Surreal 98 supports Path Tracing and Lumen. However, without proper materials, these games will never look as good as Portal RTX or Quake 2 RTX. This is also the main reason why a lot of the RTX Remix Mods we’ve shared – so far – have not impressed you.
Surreal 98 does come with a Modding Framework. So, in theory, modders will be able to create new PBR materials for the aforementioned games. AI tools may also speed up development. Whatever the case, I hope we see more PBR materials for all these older titles.
If you are only interested in the comparison shots, then head over to 15:02. Otherwise, make sure to watch the entire video as DXU24 does a great job at explaining things.
Enjoy and stay tuned for more!
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.”
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It's actually much better and promising than the RTX mod.
"However, without proper materials, these games will never look as good as Portal RTX or Quake 2 RTX. This is also the main reason why a lot of the RTX Remix Mods we’ve shared – so far – have not impressed you."
I'd argue the opposite. Adding PBR materials makes them all look like generic shiny plastic toys now with ugly denoising artifacts. Especially when the original art was never designed with it in mind. And unless you are going to change the art direction of the original game, you shouldn't do it. It looks especially egregious when the original art is upscaled. It would probably be better overall if you don't add specularity of any kind if the original didn't have it. Adding dynamic light and shadow is one thing. But the specularity is really what makes it over the top, generic and gross looking.
You clearly don't know the meaning of PBR materials. Portal RTX and Quake 2 RTX do not look "shiny plastic toys". And neither do all the modern-day games that already use PBR materials.
Unreal Gold would be awesome. Can't wait.
Hmm, pretty interesting. Lots of potential here for modders that are willing and able to invest the effort into it.