Gamers looking for a portable solution to play Doom Eternal with ray tracing effects can now rejoice.
Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais recently announced that full DXR is "in the pipe, just not quite ready yet," meaning that the Linux-friendly Vulkan API is currently powering Doom Eternal’s fancy reflections.
While it might sound like a lot of technical jargon, it means that gamers can now enjoy Doom Eternal with ray-traced reflections on the Steam Deck.
However, the performance might be a tough sell on the hardware.
Even though the reflections look stunning with accurate environmental details and glow of demonic fireballs on shiny surfaces, it comes with a trade-off in graphics quality settings.
With the OS preview update installed and Doom Eternal booted up, it never dropped below 30fps, even with dynamic resolution disabled.
For fans of Doom Eternal who want to experience ray tracing on the Steam Deck, this is a remarkable achievement.
It’s worth noting that the Steam Deck’s ray tracing capabilities might be better suited for slower-paced games that can sit comfortably on the device's reduced performance.
Nonetheless, it is interesting to see how the Steam Deck is evolving, even a year after its launch.
Overall, it’s exciting to see that the Steam Deck can now handle ray tracing in Doom Eternal.
It may not be perfect, but it is a testament to the device's capabilities and its future potential.
The Steam Deck is an excellent solution for those who want to play their favorite games on-the-go, and with ray tracing effects now available, it opens up a new world of possibilities for gamers.
The latest Steam Deck OS preview update now enables full-fat ray tracing on the device for the first time.
This is an unexpected surprise, given that the Steam Deck’s modest APU made it seem improbable, and that the device’s OS is Linux-based, which makes it challenging to implement DirectX for RT effects.Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais recently announced that full DXR is "in the pipe, just not quite ready yet," meaning that the Linux-friendly Vulkan API is currently powering Doom Eternal’s fancy reflections.
While it might sound like a lot of technical jargon, it means that gamers can now enjoy Doom Eternal with ray-traced reflections on the Steam Deck.
However, the performance might be a tough sell on the hardware.
Even though the reflections look stunning with accurate environmental details and glow of demonic fireballs on shiny surfaces, it comes with a trade-off in graphics quality settings.
The Steam Deck's hardware struggles to maintain a playable frame rate with ray tracing enabled, peaking at around 35 fps on the Medium quality preset, which is significantly lower than the device's standard 60 fps.
But, for a device that starts at just £349, the performance is not bad at all. With the OS preview update installed and Doom Eternal booted up, it never dropped below 30fps, even with dynamic resolution disabled.
For fans of Doom Eternal who want to experience ray tracing on the Steam Deck, this is a remarkable achievement.
It’s worth noting that the Steam Deck’s ray tracing capabilities might be better suited for slower-paced games that can sit comfortably on the device's reduced performance.
Nonetheless, it is interesting to see how the Steam Deck is evolving, even a year after its launch.
To download the latest Steam Deck OS 3.4.6 beta, press your Deck’s Steam button, go to Settings, then System, and select 'Preview' as the System Update Channel. Hit the 'Check For Updates' button above, and you should be offered the 3.4.6 patch.
Overall, it’s exciting to see that the Steam Deck can now handle ray tracing in Doom Eternal.
It may not be perfect, but it is a testament to the device's capabilities and its future potential.
The Steam Deck is an excellent solution for those who want to play their favorite games on-the-go, and with ray tracing effects now available, it opens up a new world of possibilities for gamers.
