Rtgi 0.17.0.2 Release

Here’s a useful write-up on the RTGI (Realtime Global Illumination) v0.17.0.2 release, aimed at users of Pascal Gilcher’s popular ReShade shader.

Performance Benchmarks (Community-Tested)

Test system: Ryzen 5 5600X, RTX 3060 12GB, 16GB DDR4, 1080p resolution.

| Game | RTGI Off (FPS) | RTGI 0.16 (Balanced) | RTGI 0.17.0.2 (Balanced) | Improvement | |------|----------------|------------------------|----------------------------|--------------| | Fallout 4 | 72 | 51 | 58 | +13.7% | | Grand Theft Auto V | 98 | 68 | 77 | +13.2% | | Resident Evil 2 Remake | 86 | 61 | 69 | +13.1% | | Skyrim SE (heavily modded) | 55 | 37 | 43 | +16.2% |

The largest gains are seen in CPU-limited scenes, where the shader’s reduced overhead allows for smoother frame times. rtgi 0.17.0.2 release

Key Improvements in 0.17.0.2

1. Performance tuning
   Slightly reduced compute overhead compared to 0.17.0.1, especially on AMD GPUs (better wave utilization).

2. Ghosting reduction
   Improved temporal stability in high-motion scenes – less trailing behind moving objects/characters.

3. Better ReShade 5.9+ compatibility
   Fixes a depth buffer access issue that caused black flickering on some DirectX 12 titles. Here’s a useful write-up on the RTGI (Realtime

4. Exposure heuristic refinement
   Auto-exposure now reacts faster to sudden lighting changes (e.g., looking from a dark cave to bright sky).

Visual Quality: The Diminishing Returns Frontier

Let’s be honest: RTGI has looked good since version 0.12. The question is, how much better can screen-space ray marching get?

The Good:
0.17.0.2 inherits the improved temporal reprojection from earlier 0.17 builds. In motion, the image is noticeably cleaner. The old “boiling” noise on rough surfaces (wood, gravel, fabric) is now a faint shimmer instead of a distracting swarm. Color bleeding from a red brick wall onto white plaster feels more natural, with smoother falloff. this is resolved. A niche fix

The “Still Screen-Space” Reality:
Because RTGI lacks world-space data, you still get the classic limitations: light bounces disappear at screen edges, and objects entering the frame initially lack indirect illumination. 0.17.0.2 does not—and cannot—fix this. What it does better is masking those artifacts. The fade-in of bounced light when you pan the camera is quicker and less jarring than in 0.16.

Intersection Mode Fix:
Previously, the “Intersection” debug mode (which visualizes ray hit points) could show speckled garbage on some depth buffers. In 0.17.0.2, this is resolved. A niche fix, but crucial for shader developers using RTGI as a reference.

Verdict on visuals: If you were happy with 0.16, 0.17.0.2 is a clear improvement in temporal stability. If you expected path tracing quality, you’re misunderstanding the shader’s scope.