After rescinding a long-delayed graphics update for Minecraft, Microsoft has unveiled a separate boost for the game's visuals.
The update improves the way light bounces around game environments to make Minecraft environments look more "realistic".
The graphics patch will only be available to Nvidia RTX users.
Microsoft said it would be released in 2020 but didn't give a date for release.
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The RTX graphics cards employ a technique known as "ray tracing" to do a better job at figuring out how light bounces around the virtual worlds in games.
It can make on-screen visuals appear more realistic because shadows as well as the play of light in game environments will look more real.
"Ray Tracing is at the heart of what we think will be the next step for Minecraft," said Saxs Persson, the creative director of Minecraft at Microsoft, in a statement.
He explained that in normal Minecraft blocks, a block that contains gold appears yellow. However, when ray tracing is turned on, you can see the specular highlight as well as the reflection. You may even see a mob reflecting off it."
Writing on the Rock Paper Shotgun game news website, Katharine Castle said the update was "impressive in action".
She also said she was concerned about how easy Minecraft's RTX updates will be to use.
Ms. Minecraft Servers Castle said it would take an "hefty" RTX card to run all of the various lighting, shadow and atmospheric effects simultaneously.
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Prices for Nvidia cards vary widely between online retailers. The cards that are priced low typically cost more than PS300. The most expensive cards can be thousands of dollars. This update will only be available for Windows 10.
Mojang, the Minecraft maker, said that the update would be available as an option on the settings screen. This will allow players to test the update while it is being developed.
It also said that it was working on a larger overhaul of Minecraft's graphics engine. It said that this should bring some visual improvements to people who do not have an RTX card, or who do not run the game on a PC.
"Not all devices will support Ray Tracing, however we will see some graphics enhancements on the majority of devices," said Mojang. The general update isn't scheduled to be released until a certain date.
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