RTX Remix Makes Torchlight, Mount & Blade and Other Classic PC Games Look Lovely

Following NVIDIA’s open source release of the RTX Remix runtime, the modding community renewed its already admirable efforts to remaster classic PC games using the tool. While they had been working with the files included in Portal RTX (which was made by RTX Remix by NVIDIA’s Lightspeed Studios), the full release of the runtime has improved game compatibility and introduced some much-needed fixes. It’s not the full RTX Remix toolset yet, with the Creator Kit due to be available in early access soon, but it’s more than enough to get a sneak peek at how great classic PC games will look.

Modder Adam Pasek, for example, focused on implementing RTX Remix into the first Torchlight game, originally released in 2009 by Runic Games. While top-down games are generally not believed to be best suited to showcasing ray tracing technologies, Torchlight RTX is a good example that’s not always the case, as the result is rather lovely and doesn’t clash with the stylized visuals at all.

Another surprisingly good showcase of RTX Remix was shared by YouTuber ALG46, who tested 2008’s Mount & Blade, the strategy action RPG that put TaleWorlds Entertainment on everyone’s map. Mount & Blade also works very well in the interiors and the castle’s inner court, though the same cannot be said about the open area due to missing textures and other bugs. It’s definitely still early days, as similar issues are encountered in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, which looks great indoors but barely even works when going outdoors.

The current issues haven’t stopped modders in their endeavor to remaster even older games, like 2002’s third-person squad-based shooter game The Thing. In the below footage from YouTuber C311, the over-20-year-old title shows off the remastered dynamic lighting that now originates from the flares dropped by the player.

RTX Remix is composed of a bridge that sits between the original game’s 32-bit process and the new 64-bit process. The D3D9 fixed function API is then converted into Vulkan thanks to DXVK, allowing access to the path traced renderer designed by NVIDIA with support for RTX Direct Illumination, ReSTIR GI, DLSS (both Super Resolution and Frame Generation), Reflex,  NRD, OMM, SER, and more. RTX Remix can also capture assets, converting them into the USD standard that can then be modified and upscaled to improve the quality of textures across the board (though this feature will only be available with the Creator Kit).

Right now, compatibility is limited to DX8/DX9 games with fixed function (no shaders), but NVIDIA is looking to add OpenGL support in the near future.