A modder managed to inject ray tracing into the legendary Half Life first of the name, and this, without RTX Remix.
The mod can be downloaded from the Github page cited in source below. Of course, you need to own the original game on Steam.
An enlightening experience…
One of the most iconic first person shooters of all time still gets a fan’s attention. After the excellent unofficial remake of Crowbar Collective entitled Black Mesahere is Half Life 1: Ray Tracedby sultim_t.
This mod can be downloaded below, provided of course that you own the original game. Sultim_t invites us to revisit this 25-year-old video game monument in a rather impressive new light.
If it is not exactly ray tracing, but rather real-time path tracing, it is clear that the work done is impressive. Knowing that the developer has already distinguished itself in this exercise on other FPS classics such as DOOM Or Quake 1and what’s more without resorting to NVIDIA’s famous RTX Remix.
… and almost harmless
Besides the fact that this mod brings some makeover to Half Life, it is relatively easy to install. All you have to do is move two compressed folders to the game’s local folder, using the Steam library or by finding it manually.
Sultim_t has even integrated a command (by default the X key) to switch from the original version to this modded version in order to truly realize the clear difference between the two. The modder even offers, as an option, the possibility of adding DLSS. But we hope that this form of ray tracing isn’t so greedy as to make a game from 1998 unplayable on a recent configuration… isn’t it?
As such, sultim_t warns that AMD graphics cards could encounter compatibility issues with real-time path tracing, as the technology is not yet fully operational with NVIDIA’s enemy brother. Anyway, here is a work that commands respect and that will certainly motivate Valve to release us a Half Life in its best light thanks to modern technologies. We have the right to dream, right?
Source : Github
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