SSR & Raytracing

[Holografix]

Do Screen Space Reflections and Ray Tracing run concurrently if they're both ON? or does one override the other? Does SSR enhance RayTracing and vice versa?

[egg fu]

i could be wrong but im pretty sure RT overrides SSR, that's all.

[Spooks]

Originally posted by Holografix:

Do Screen Space Reflections and Ray Tracing run concurrently if they're both ON? or does one override the other? Does SSR enhance RayTracing and vice versa?

Game uses SSR to enhance ray tracing yes. You can see this in effect by looking down while at a puddle.

[Holografix]

2 different answers? can i get a more definitive answer?

[Holografix]

Originally posted by xxGSxx:

You mean RT Reflections; no they don't. It's the same assets being used; with RT on the lighting is calculated; estimated by RT on reflections in lighting; those two are the most performance intensive; where 3080 RTX fails to run it. So no, you shouldn't be using it. You wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a image with RT on or off. Where the SSR would also tank your framerate above medium.

Which is why we run SSR there; because it's just regular environment maps being used like most games: which in most games nobody cares about reflections. Same is true for RT because it takes the human 3D artist for lighting; out of the equation. People assume it looks better, when in fact it looks better when the artist sets it up to look a certain way. Because it is the lighting inside the game.

interesting take on the matter.

im running CP2077 on a 3070ti:
Ray-Traced Reflections: On
Ray-Traced Sun Shadows: On
Ray-Traced Local Shadows: On
Ray-Traced Lighting: Medium

and SSR at Ultra. I get 58-60 FPS and the game looks good. my question is about whether I am getting any graphical fidelity with having Ray Tracing and Screen Space Reflections both ON, and whether I could get more FPS by turning SSR off or setting Ray Traced Lighting to Ultra without losing graphical fidelity.

[Holografix]

Originally posted by xxGSxx:

You wouldn't be able to tell the difference if you took a screenshot with all that turned on; or turned off. It doesn't matter. Your SSR is built into the game; adding more to that makes you feel that it looks better. All you are doing is wasting VRAM, and making it cost more for you to play the game. Because you deserve a better game than everyone else?

???

[Rune]

SSR is used as a fallback and does run in conjunction with RT reflections. Higher SSR will increase reflection quality when RT reflections are also enabled, but only within screen-space. This technique is often used to optimize performance with ray tracing.

What I mean is that not everything is ray-traced, and some of it fallbacks to being screen-spaced, e,g particles, even when RT is enabled. Unsure how it works with the RT overdrive setting.

[Holografix]

Originally posted by Rune:

SSR is used as a fallback and does run in conjunction with RT reflections. Higher SSR will increase reflection quality when RT reflections are also enabled, but only within screen-space. This technique is often used to optimize performance with ray tracing.

What I mean is that not everything is ray-traced, and some of it fallbacks to being screen-spaced, e,g particles, even when RT is enabled. Unsure how it works with the RT overdrive setting.

ok, cool. So hypothetically, SSR running at Ultra enhances Ray Tracing effects to some degree. I think this is my experience in game where keeping Ray Traced Lighting set to Medium but increasing SSR from Medium to Ultra makes the game look a little better.

By better, i mean crisper and the shadows and lighting effects look more detailed.

But how can we really be sure?

[PanPan]

RT overrides settings but not everything use RT.
You would be surprised that RT/PT is missing some shadows vs no RT. RT has ghosting issue too in this game.

Why would SSR affect RT light ? You mean SSAO ? Personally, i don't see the difference between SSR low and ultra.
There are RT reflections option (look like miror but halves framerate).

I increase gamma to better see in dark while most people want more dark with RT & HDR.

[Holografix]

Originally posted by PanPan:

RT overrides settings but not everything use RT.
You would be surprised that RT/PT is missing some shadows vs no RT. RT has ghosting issue too in this game.

Why would SSR affect RT light ? You mean SSAO ? Personally, i don't see the difference between SSR low and ultra.
There are RT reflections option (look like miror but halves framerate).

I increase gamma to better see in dark while most people want more dark with RT & HDR.

i can see a notable difference in crispy textures and reflections with:
Ray Tracing Lighting @ Medium / Screen Space Reflections @ Psycho
vs
Ray Tracing Lighting @ Medium / SSR @ Ultra.

yeah, there's always some slight ghosting, but i can barely see it. It happens when riding motorcycle over grey colored pavement.