NVIDIA officially partnered with Pascal Gilcher to bring a streamlined version of this tech directly into their drivers. If you own a modern NVIDIA graphics card, press Alt + F3 in-game to open the FreeStyle overlay and look for the SSRTGI (Screen Space Ray Traced Global Illumination) filter. It is 100% free and safe.
If you have acquired the shader and are ready to transform your game, follow these steps to ensure it works correctly: 1. Install ReShade
This is the most common point of failure. RTGI requires access to the game's depth data. Open the ReShade menu in-game (usually the Home key). Go to the tab.
: Many untrusted hosting sites bundle these file packages with trojans, crypto-miners, or adware disguised as graphics archives. Always scan downloaded .zip or .7z files through an aggregate scanner like VirusTotal before unpacking them into your system directories.
Open your game's main directory (where the game .exe is located). Locate the folder named reshade-shaders .
To use a shader like RTGI in your games, you need to follow a structured process:
: Uses the game's depth buffer to cast rays and calculate direct and indirect bounce lighting.
Version 0.17.02 offers a stable and polished experience. While it demands hardware power, the visual payoff is worth it. Highly recommended for screenshot enthusiasts and anyone wanting to experience their favorite games with next-gen lighting.
As a screen-space ray tracing shader, it is computationally intensive. While early versions like 0.17.02 provided revolutionary visuals, newer versions (iMMERSE Pro) have optimized performance, but older versions remain popular for specific, lightweight use cases. Finding "RTGI Free" – A Note on Licensing
Even in its earlier forms, the RTGI shader provides remarkable lighting improvements: