Reshade RTGI (Ray Traced Global Illumination) shader, specifically version
released in August 2022, is a major update to Pascal Gilcher's (Marty McFly) popular screen-space path-tracing tool. It bridges the gap between traditional rasterized lighting and true hardware ray tracing by simulating light bounces based on the game's depth buffer. Key Features in RTGI 0.33
The headline feature of the 0.33 update is the introduction of motion vectors Enhanced Stability:
Motion vectors allow the shader to track object movement relative to the camera, significantly reducing the "ghosting" or "trailing" artifacts common in earlier versions. Improved Temporal Accumulation:
By knowing where pixels move between frames, the shader can accumulate more lighting data over time, resulting in a cleaner, less "noisy" image during movement. Visual Impact & Gameplay Review
The shader transforms scenes by adding depth and realistic color interaction. Global Illumination:
Light realistically bounces off surfaces. For example, a bright orange light source will cast a subtle orange glow onto nearby white walls. Ambient Occlusion:
RTGI provides a much more accurate form of ambient occlusion than standard SSAO, adding weight to corners and the intersection points of objects. Visual Artifacts: Despite improvements, RTGI is limited by being a screen-space effect
. It can only calculate light for objects currently visible on your screen. If you turn your camera away from a light source, its contribution to the scene's lighting may disappear or flicker. Performance & Requirements
Elevating Gaming Visuals: A Deep Dive into ReShade RTGI 0.33
The release of RTGI 0.33 marked a significant milestone for Pascal Gilcher’s (aka Marty McFly) Ray Traced Global Illumination shader. As part of the broader iMMERSE Pro suite, this version bridges the gap between older titles and modern ray-tracing hardware by simulating complex light interactions that were previously impossible in many engines. What is RTGI 0.33?
RTGI (Ray Traced Global Illumination) is a post-processing shader that uses the depth buffer of a game to simulate how light bounces off surfaces. Unlike hardware-native ray tracing (like NVIDIA RTX), RTGI works on almost any modern GPU by calculating lighting based on what is visible on your screen (screen-space). Key Features of Version 0.33:
Motion Vector Support: A major addition in 0.33 is the utilization of motion vectors, which significantly improves the temporal stability of the lighting.
Reduced Flickering: New workarounds and patches were introduced to minimize the "shimmering" or flickering artifacts common in earlier screen-space solutions.
Diffuse & Specular GI: RTGI 0.33 accurately models both diffuse (soft, bounced light) and specular (shiny reflections) global illumination. How RTGI Transforms Your Game
By injecting real-time ray-traced shadows and light bounces, RTGI 0.33 adds "depth" to flat scenes. For example, in a game like GTA V, light hitting a bright red floor will subtly bounce a red tint onto the surrounding walls and ceiling, a phenomenon known as "color bleeding". Installation & Setup Guide
Setting up RTGI 0.33 requires a few precise steps to ensure the shader can "see" your game's world correctly.
The RTGI 0.33 shader (Ray Traced Global Illumination), developed by Pascal Gilcher (known as Marty McFly), represents a pivotal moment in the democratization of advanced rendering techniques for legacy and modern video games. By utilizing the ReShade post-processing framework to inject sophisticated lighting calculations into a game’s rendering pipeline, RTGI 0.33 effectively bridges the gap between traditional rasterization and modern hardware-accelerated ray tracing. The Technical Evolution of 0.33
Version 0.33, released in August 2022 alongside ReShade 5.3, introduced critical advancements that moved the shader beyond mere "screen-space effects" toward a more stable and visually coherent experience.
Motion Vectors: The hallmark feature of 0.33 was the integration of motion vectors. Previous versions often suffered from "ghosting"—visual trails left behind moving objects—because the shader didn't understand how pixels moved from one frame to the next. By utilizing motion vectors, RTGI 0.33 significantly reduced these artifacts, allowing the ray-traced light to "stick" to moving geometry more accurately. Reshade Ray Tracing shader RTGI 0.33
Depth-Buffer Integration: Like its predecessors, RTGI 0.33 functions by "scraping" a game's depth buffer to understand the 3D structure of a scene. It then shoots virtual rays within that space to calculate how light should bounce off surfaces.
SSRTGI (Screen Space Ray Traced Global Illumination): While often marketed as "Ray Tracing," it is technically a screen-space technique. It can only calculate lighting for objects currently visible on your screen. If a light source is behind the camera, its effects won't be calculated, which is the primary limitation compared to "native" ray tracing. Artistic Impact and Immersion
The primary goal of the RTGI shader is to simulate diffuse global illumination and ambient occlusion. In practical terms, this transforms the atmosphere of older titles:
Light Bouncing: Instead of light just hitting a floor and stopping, RTGI allows that light to reflect back up onto the ceiling and walls, filling shadows with color and warmth.
Grounded Objects: It provides "micro-shadows" where objects meet the ground, preventing the "floating" look common in games with poor ambient occlusion.
Color Bleeding: If a character stands next to a bright red wall, their clothing will subtly pick up a red tint, mimicking the physical behavior of light in the real world. Performance vs. Visual Fidelity ReShade 5.3 and RTGI 0.33 Update | August 2022
I’ve written this for a typical PC gaming/graphics enthusiast blog — informative, slightly technical, but not overly academic.
If you are playing a modern AAA game with native ray tracing, no—ignore this shader.
But. If you have a backlog of 50+ classic PC games, an aging GTX 1070 or RTX 2060, and you want to feel like you just installed a $700 graphics card upgrade for free, then Reshade Ray Tracing shader RTGI 0.33 is still the king.
It represents a unique moment in PC history: When a single hobbyist developer democratized ray tracing three years before NVIDIA’s marketing team claimed they invented it. It isn't perfect. It has noise, ghosting, and edge artifacts. But when you first walk into the Bannered Mare in Skyrim and see the firelight naturally wrap around a wooden beam, you will forget it's a "fake."
Install it. Tune it. Play your favorites like you’ve never seen them before.
Not every game benefits from screen space ray tracing. Flat, high-contrast games look terrible. Here are the proven winners:
The headline feature is the vastly improved spatial-temporal denoiser. The grainy "fireflies" in the shadows are almost entirely gone. The image stabilizes much faster when you stop moving, and the ghosting behind fast-moving objects (like dragons in Skyrim or cars in GTA V) has been drastically reduced.
ReShade RTGI 0.33 is not a replacement for native hardware-accelerated Path Tracing. But it doesn't need to be.
It is the ultimate "what if" machine. What if Assassin’s Creed: Unity had modern denoising? What if The Witcher 3 (pre-next-gen update) had bounce lighting? What if Mirror’s Edge Catalyst actually looked like the concept art?
With version 0.33, Marty McFly has proven that software ray tracing is not dead; it is just getting mature. If you haven't looked at ReShade in a year, go update your preset. The grain is gone. The future (of modding) is bright.
Ready to try it? You can find the shader on Marty McFly’s Patreon (usually free after a short exclusivity period) or via the ReShade Discord server. Pair it with qUINT_ssr for reflections and MXAO for ambient occlusion, and you won't recognize your old games.
Have you tried RTGI 0.33? What game did you test it on first? Let us know in the comments.
The ReShade RTGI (Ray Traced Global Illumination) shader, developed by Pascal Gilcher (also known as Marty McFly Conclusion: Is RTGI 0
), is a post-processing tool that adds dynamic, realistic lighting and ambient occlusion to games by utilizing depth data. Version
, released around August 2022, was a significant update that introduced motion vectors to improve temporal stability and performance. Key Features of RTGI 0.33 Motion Vector Support : Requires the additional MotionVectors.fx
shader to help RTGI track pixel movement, significantly reducing flickering and ghosting while reclaiming some FPS. Hardware Independence
: Unlike native RTX, this shader works on most modern GPUs (including non-RTX cards) because it operates on the game's depth buffer rather than specialized hardware. Diffuse & Specular GI
: Models how light realistically bounces off surfaces to illuminate shadows and add subtle color bleeding from the environment. Depth-Based Ray Tracing
: Uses the screen's depth information to calculate light occlusion, providing a much higher level of detail than standard screen-space ambient occlusion (SSAO). Installation & Setup Requirements
To use RTGI 0.33 effectively, you typically need the following: ReShade with Full Add-on Support
: Essential for many games to allow the depth buffer to remain active during network activity or to access advanced features. Depth Buffer Access
: The game's depth buffer must be correctly configured in the ReShade "Edit global processor definitions" or the "Add-ons" tab. If the depth buffer is "reversed" or "logarithmic," RTGI will not display correctly. Companion Shaders : Specifically MotionVectors.fx , which can be found on Marty McFly's GitHub Vulkan/DX11/DX12
: While RTGI supports various APIs, newer versions (including 0.33) have dropped official DX9 support; a Vulkan wrapper is recommended for older DX9 titles.
The ReShade RTGI 0.33 shader, developed by Pascal Gilcher (widely known as Marty McFly), is a major update that brings real-time, screen-space ray-traced global illumination to older and modern PC games. By physically simulating how light reflects off in-game surfaces, it bridges the gap between traditional rasterized lighting and true hardware ray tracing.
Below is an in-depth breakdown of the ReShade RTGI 0.33 shader, its core enhancements, and how to configure it. 💡 What is ReShade RTGI 0.33?
The acronym RTGI stands for Ray Traced Global Illumination. It functions within the ReShade post-processing injector to extract depth information directly from the game engine. It then traces rays across those surfaces to calculate bounce lighting and ambient occlusion.
The 0.33 update introduced critical performance and fidelity enhancements, most notably integration with advanced motion estimation vectors via auxiliary shaders. 🚀 Key Features in Version 0.33 1. Motion Vectors & Temporal Stability
In version 0.33, the RTGI shader pairs with the Launchpad shader, which utilizes an optical flow algorithm to generate motion vectors. This dramatically reduces the visual noise and flickering that plagued earlier versions, resulting in much smoother lighting transitions during fast movement. 2. Improved Bounce Light Accuracy
RTGI 0.33 provides more accurate diffuse global illumination. When a bright light source strikes a red surface, the bounce lighting realistically tints neighboring white or dark walls, creating an incredibly immersive environment. 3. Screen-Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) Integration
Unlike traditional flat ambient occlusion, the 0.33 build treats contact shadows as a byproduct of ray tracing. This produces deep, physically accurate micro-shadows in corners, foliage, and character clothing. 4. Cross-API Compatibility
RTGI 0.33 functions across multiple graphics APIs, including DirectX 9, 11, 12, OpenGL, and Vulkan. This enables gamers to add cutting-edge lighting to retro titles like Unreal Tournament or Max Payne as easily as modern games. ReShade 5.3 and RTGI 0.33 Update | August 2022
This essay explores the technical achievement and visual impact of the ReShade RTGI (Ray Traced Global Illumination) shader, specifically focusing on the advancements seen in version 0.33. The Evolution of Post-Process Lighting: ReShade RTGI 0.33 Part 4: The Best Games to Use RTGI 0
For decades, real-time lighting in video games relied on "pre-baked" maps and simplified screen-space effects that often failed to capture the nuances of light bounce and color bleeding. The introduction of the ReShade RTGI shader by Pascal Gilcher (Marty Stratton) fundamentally changed the landscape for enthusiast "modders," bringing sophisticated ray-tracing techniques to games that never natively supported them. Version 0.33 represents a significant milestone in this journey, refining the balance between visual fidelity and hardware performance. The Technical Foundation
At its core, RTGI (Ray Traced Global Illumination) works by utilizing the "depth buffer" of a game to simulate how light rays interact with the visible environment. Unlike traditional Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO), which merely adds contact shadows, RTGI calculates how light bounces off surfaces. This means a red rug in a game will naturally "bleed" its color onto the bottom of a nearby white wall—a phenomenon known as indirect lighting. Key Improvements in Version 0.33
The 0.33 update focused on addressing the two primary hurdles of post-process ray tracing: noise and performance.
Advanced Denoising: Ray tracing is inherently "noisy" because it is impossible to calculate an infinite number of rays in real-time. Version 0.33 introduced a more robust temporal denoiser that uses information from previous frames to smooth out the graininess without causing the "ghosting" effects seen in earlier iterations.
Feature Completeness: This version solidified the shader's ability to handle complex light sources, allowing it to interpret game-world UI or glowing objects as emissive light sources that contribute to the global scene illumination.
Accessibility: While native RTX implementations require specific hardware, the RTGI shader is largely hardware-agnostic, running on both NVIDIA and AMD cards, provided the user has sufficient raw processing power. The Visual Impact
The result is a transformative experience for older titles. Games like Skyrim or The Witcher 3 gain a sense of physical "grounding" that was previously impossible. Objects no longer look like they are floating; they feel integrated into the atmosphere. The 0.33 update specifically helped in making these transitions look natural, moving away from the overly dark, "crushed" shadows of early ray-tracing mods toward a more balanced, cinematic look. Conclusion
The ReShade RTGI 0.33 shader is more than just a graphical "tweak." It represents a bridge between generational gaps in gaming technology. By democratizing global illumination, it allows players to revitalize their favorite classics with modern lighting techniques, proving that the longevity of a game’s visuals is limited only by the creativity of its community.
Ray Traced Global Illumination (RTGI) shader, developed by Pascal Gilcher (Marty McFly), is a sophisticated post-processing effect for ReShade that simulates real-time global illumination and ambient occlusion in almost any game. Unlike native ray tracing, it operates in screen space by tracing rays against the game's depth buffer, making it compatible with non-RTX GPUs. Key Features of RTGI 0.33
Released around August 2022, version 0.33 introduced several significant technical improvements: Motion Vectors Integration
: This was the standout feature for 0.33, allowing the shader to track movement between frames. This drastically improves temporal stability, reducing the flickering and "ghosting" artifacts common in earlier screen-space solutions. Enhanced Denoising
: Utilizing motion data enables more effective denoising, resulting in smoother lighting transitions and cleaner shadows. Hardware Independence
: It continues to work across a wide range of hardware, though it is demanding on performance due to the complexity of the calculations. Visual and Performance Impact Realistic Lighting
: RTGI physically simulates light bounces, adding depth to scenes that otherwise look "flat". It adds subtle glow beneath light sources (like portals in ) and accurate shadows at material edges. Performance Cost
: While more efficient than early versions (which could drop FPS from 60 to 15), RTGI is still resource-intensive and can significantly impact frame rates depending on the game and settings. Depth Buffer Requirement
: The shader requires a properly configured depth buffer to work. Users must often manually adjust settings like RESHADE_DEPTH_INPUT_IS_INVERTED RESHADE_DEPTH_INPUT_IS_LOGARITHMIC to ensure the shader "sees" the game world correctly. How to Access and Install The RTGI shader is distributed through the Marty's Mods Patreon
, typically requiring a "Breakfast" tier membership ($5) or higher for beta access. Portal Reshade RTGI - The Working Class' RTX Portal
Don't just copy preset numbers. Here is what the sliders actually do under the hood:
This is invisible but massive. The shader now better detects edges between far and near geometry, reducing that classic “light leak” around door frames and character shoulders. Not gone entirely (impossible in screen space), but much better.