While modding websites remain popular ways for gamers to make changes to their favorite games, some fans decide to take their creativity to the next level. Talented players can recreate game assets in advanced game engines such as Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine will be recognized at the Annie Awards in April for the advancements in computer animation it has made possible, and game development teams aren’t the only people to put that to good use. One World of Warcraft fan has used Unreal Engine 4 to recreate in-game areas and show off one of the most talked about graphics rendering techniques: ray-tracing.
Ray-tracing receives a lot of hype for what it brings to games, and not all of this hype is unfounded. Ray-tracing allows for more realistic game environments because it essentially renders images by tracing paths of light to simulate how that pixelated path might interact with other game assets. Horror games can benefit from ray-tracing quite a lot, as they often rely on a complex relationship between light and shadow to scare viewers with the seen and unseen. However other games can reap benefits as well, including the long-standing MMORPG, World of Warcraft.
One World of Warcraft fan has a YouTube channel called Daniel L that lets gamers see what iconic World of Warcraft locations look like in Unreal Engine 4. The channel is five years old, and features several different locations from the game, including Westfall, the Elwynn Forest, and the Grizzly Hills. The latest video uploaded to the channel is the first to show off a few of these locations with Nvidia RTX ray-tracing.
While these locations may not be the flashiest representations of ray-tracing technology, the benefits are plain to see. The sun is often the most powerful light source in games, so overhead shots of Stormwind City make clear the benefits of the complex light distribution that ray-tracing offers. Ray-tracing also improves the fog effects in the Duskwood and does wonders to reduce harsh shadows against objects, like a tree outline on the Lion’s Pride Inn. Gamers impressed with the Nvidia RTX technology should also know that Nvidia’s DLSS will now be natively supported by Unreal Engine 4.
For World of Warcraft fans, the Daniel L channel is a nice place to check out some faithfully recreated settings. There’s even a video detailing the creation process of Stormwind City, so if nothing else, it’s one more thing to do while waiting on the release of the WoW Burning Crusade Classic expansion later this year.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC.
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