RTX Reactor V0.5.0a
Hello everybody! The moment is finally here!
This alpha comes with a full container ship worth of bug fixes alongside subtle enhancements and improvements that still required bashing my forehead on a keyboard for a long while.
But perhaps the most noticeable change in 0.5.0a is the shift from a console application to a graphical user interface.
Let's dive into the details of this alpha release:
• Introducing RTX Reactor GUI!
This was supposed to arrive with the next update, but hey, the future is now!
Notes:
The "Config File" button currently opens settings.json as a placeholder. This button will be removed as I add dedicated controls and sliders for each option within the UI in future updates.
0.4.0a left RTX Reactor in a pretty good spot, heightmap generation was there alongside normal map generation and both worked well in most scenarios.
This was especially true for heightmap generation which already reacted and tuned itself based on the composition of texture itself, allowing it to yield really excellent results.
Similarly, other algorithms responsible for Normal map and MER generation can be improved to produce better results, and that's what this update and future updates will do, taking things an step further:
• Added an experimental material generation algorithm
Enabled by default, it selectively allows parts of textures to glow. Currently, this feature applies to a select few blocks like furnaces and blast furnaces. While it's mostly hard-coded right now, you can disable it via settings.json if it causes issues with specific packs.
Future updates will provide adjustable parameters for material generation which comes with greater control over this feature as well.
• Added an alternative Normal Map generation.
It focuses more on edges. While this method may produce simpler results—such as less rounded stones in a cobblestone texture, by design this method is less sensitive to noise.
By default both types of normal maps are generated and composited, you can control the effectiveness of the new type via settings.json file.
• Added a Deferred Lighting toggle, when enabled it changes various parts of RTX Reactor to better serve results for deferred lighting, it also dumps the deferred lighting related configurations on top of the pack for better visuals.
Note: Enabling this feature may significantly increase conversion times, as RTX Reactor will process items, entities, etc.. in addition to blocks.
This is just the start of Deferred Lighting support in RTX Reactor, and will be expanded in the future to include features like subsurface scattering and other deferred-tailored options.
Since Deferred Lighting is still a technical preview and can change significantly I did not think it wise to go deeper for this update. This was to let you know that I have my eyes set on fully supporting everything for deferred lighting once the time is right--a dedicated altered pipeline for Deferred lighting!
• Added a Fog Multiplier option that can alter air fog density.
• Added a Texture Variation Remover: Enabled by default, this removes texture variations to counter a Minecraft bug that prevents PBR resources from being loaded for texture variations.
• Added support for 1.21 resource packs alongside various other smaller material generation improvements, fixed some blocks using incorrect materials.
• Fixed copper grates appearing black.
• Other Changes and bug fixes include:
- Fixed an issue where glass appeared slightly colored in some packs (e.g., regular glass appearing pink in Faithful 32x).
- Removed the sun azimuth modifier due to upcoming changes in newer previews. Sun azimuth is no longer available in RTX.
- RTX Reactor is now more robust than ever before! This is the culmination of many changes, the most significant one is how files are handled, conversion speed was also improved as a result of cutting many unnecessary file streams.
- Updated RTX Reactor libraries and removed those with vulnerabilities, it now uses fewer dependencies.
- Fixed fallback temporary location for processing packages
- Updated general files for fogs, sun path modifiers, etc., to a newer iteration.
- Placeholder and carried blocks are no longer processed.
- Replaced normal intensity controllers with a simpler normal map intensity reducer (Normals are now always generated at high intensity).
...And much more that I forgot to documented due to the extended development time.