Path tracing.

[Insomec]

For those of you fortunate enough to run Cyberpunk on the 40 series, more specifically the 4090, which im running with the i9 13900k and 32gb ram. That being said when i have path tracing enabled (and dlss 3) on certain lighting and textures, most visible on car interiors, some clothing, fencing etc have a really strange glow/flickering to them

Edit- I will upload example video shortly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKqkwKlXapo

You can just about tell

[Insomec]

Anyone?

[easy_going]

Yes, it happens on "normal" Ray Tracing too. I'm using RTX3080 and getting the same "glitter" on various surfaces. I think some light source in the game is glitched and causes this effect, as it happens in-doors or directly under "artificial" light sources like fluorescent bulbs.

In addition to that, "natural" sun light causes skin textures to look... unnatural. Plastic-like, greasy, low-quality. Both on NPCs and on my own character.

The "glitter" was something I noticed when I started new game. I always start new game after every patch. I always uninstall the game and download the entire thing, not just update the game. Pepe, the bartender from initial Streetkid lifepath location was all glittery. Same with woman sitting on my left. Same with many surfaces and NPCs in the bar.

[Haree]

It's the DLSS that is doing it, doesn't work well with Path Tracing right now. You can turn off DLSS and it goes but you get single digit fps... Hence why they released it as a tech demo. Hopefully it will be cleaned up for PL.

[easy_going]

I just switched on the game, disabled DLSS, left normal Ray Tracing on, loaded initial location from Streetkid lifepath, just to prove you incorrect. :D

I wish I could show you a screenshot, unfortunately I have the game on GOG. The issue is entirely due to Ray Tracing and has nothing to do with DLSS.

[Haree]

Interesting, thanks for checking. I get the same issue, but where I checked it disappeared when I disabled DLSS. Seems that isn't the answer everywhere then.

If you want to know the technical reasons, you are seeing the 'noise' caused by the many rays being cast, the noise becomes visible in certain detailed surfaces like small flecks in a mirror or mesh grates.

[easy_going]

I very vaguely remember that that noise is caused by limited amount of pixels being probed by Ray Tracing. The noise still exists even at native 1440p, which is very obviously a Ray Tracing issue, not DLSS. DLSS only makes it more visible.

[Insomec]

Thanks for the replies guys, I think you're right about it being the DLSS as when disabled it seems to stop it but yeah the frame rate is unplayable.

Glad I am not the only one, might just play with just the ray tracing on ultra instead of path tracing as its far less noticeable although still there a tiny bit.

The 'Glitter effect' is quite immersive breaking, hopefully it can be fixed in the future.

[easy_going]

By the way, what resolution are you playing at? 4k by any chance?

[Insomec]

Originally posted by easy_going:

I very vaguely remember that that noise is caused by limited amount of pixels being probed by Ray Tracing. The noise still exists even at native 1440p, which is very obviously a Ray Tracing issue, not DLSS. DLSS only makes it more visible.

Interesting, so it may not be DLSS, whatever it is, i really hope its fixed!

[Insomec]

Originally posted by easy_going:

By the way, what resolution are you playing at? 4k by any chance?

4k 144hz gsync, all the good stuff

[easy_going]

No wonder you don't see the glitter at native resolution. I started the game at native 1440p and at first I thought this is something CDPR added to some characters because it actually looked nice. Until I switched on DLSS and was like "nope, yet another of them <<I never had any bugs>>" :D

[Haree]

Originally posted by Insomec:

Interesting, so it may not be DLSS, whatever it is, i really hope its fixed!

It's probably correct to say it's not DLSS specifically, but it's what DLSS is doing, which is to render at a lower resolution and up scale. At a lower resolution you are more likely to see artefacts from the noise.

[Insomec]

I assume most people aren't playing cyberpunk native 4k, and most playing with DLSS on so is this an issue everyone is just ignoring when they play? Is there a fix?

Originally posted by Haree:

Originally posted by Insomec:

Interesting, so it may not be DLSS, whatever it is, i really hope its fixed!

It's probably correct to say it's not DLSS specifically, but it's what DLSS is doing, which is to render at a lower resolution and up scale. At a lower resolution you are more likely to see artefacts from the noise.

[Haree]

People who are using path tracing right now are just ignoring those artefacts. For them the improvements elsewhere are worth it.
Like you, I find them too distracting, and am waiting for improvements if they come.

[easy_going]

At the present moment I'm just waiting for The Patch That Will End All Patches to land, and hopefully we will get established The New Cyberpunk Order. :D

Ignoring the issue instead of pointing it out... will not make it go away. Especially if CDPR looks at it and says "well, people are not concerned, therefore fixing it is a waste of time". That's something that I would really not have.