Steam update to Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes allegedly removes ray tracing

A recent patch to the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes on Steam has seemingly removed ray tracing and HDR support, leading to widespread confusion on the matter. The titles have received numerous updates since their release, ranging from bug fixes to the addition of enhanced visual options.

The otherwise DirectX 11-only games were updated to DirectX 12 along with these graphical features, making them more in line with “next-gen offerings" such as the much acclaimed Resident Evil 4 remake.

This article will attempt to discuss the changes made in the latest update.

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Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes get ray-tracing support removed via latest Steam update

Ray tracing options seem to be missing after the most recent update (Image via u/pmc64)

If recent Steam forums and Reddit posts are to be believed, it seems like the Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 remakes have forgone their ray-tracing modes in favor of the traditional lighting models.

Multiple users from Reddit, Steam, and Twitter have confirmed that the option is missing for them, even in the DirectX 12 version of the game.

A lack of the ray-tracing features have been reported by many Reddit users (Screenshot from Reddit)

The decision comes as a surprise since the games were specifically patched a few months earlier to incorporate ray tracing. Their sudden removal is thus nothing short of a strange decision.

However, it may be inferred that Capcom may have ultimately decided to remove these features as a result of the largely negative reception to them. This came about due to poor framerates and no marked improvement in visual quality when compared to the original DirectX 11 versions of the titles.

Users on Steam were also quick to notice the same (Screenshot from Steam)

Others speculate that the issue may be driver-related, and may be patched in a future update. Meanwhile, the console versions seem to have the ray-tracing support intact.

Either way, Capcom has neither confirmed nor denied these changes as of the time of writing this article.

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What additions did the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes offer with the prior patch?

The patch was developed as a way to bring in the PC port in line with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game, but was met with largely negative reception thanks to various technical issues. The changes included in the prior update included:

• Support for up to 4K resolution.
• Ray tracing support.
• High frame rate (over 60 frames per second) support on supported hardware.
• 3D Audio support.
• Shift from DirectX 11 to DirectX 12.

Players wishing to use DirectX 11 can choose to do so using the dx11_non-rt version of the game, accessible in Steam's Betas section.

The remakes were released for the PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One.