Red Matter 2 gets a stunning visual upgrade on Meta Quest 3
Red Matter 2 is a graphics benchmark for Quest 2, and now shows what's technically possible on Meta Quest 3.
An update for Red Matter 2 was released yesterday, bringing achievements and graphical enhancements for Meta Quest 2 and 3.
The Quest 2 version now supports Dynamic Resolution, enhancing visual quality.
To enable this, the studio seems to take advantage of Meta's Dynamic Resolution Scaling (DRS), a feature that was introduced with system update 55 and must be implemented by developers. DRS adjusts the render resolution depending on GPU load, which increases image quality when possible.
These enhancements are coming to Quest 3
At the heart of the update are significant visual enhancements for Meta Quest 3 that take advantage of the headset's new, vastly superior chipset.
- Screen Resolution Upgrade: Dynamic resolution now allows for an upper limit of 3322x3519, a significant increase from the previously fixed 1226x1440 on Quest 2.
- 4K Textures: Leveraging Quest 3's enhanced memory, textures have been upgraded to console quality, boasting up to a 16x increase in pixel count.
- Anisotropic Filtering: On-screen textures now benefit from Aniso 8x, enhancing sharpness dramatically.
- Dynamic Shadows: Spotlights now cast dynamic shadows, adding a layer of realism to the scene.
- PCF5x5 Shadow Filtering: Selected surfaces showcase console-quality shadow filtering, producing softer and more lifelike shadows.
- Mesh LOD Improvements: Enhanced graphics reduce LOD popping, ensuring a more cohesive visual experience.
- Frame Rate Adaptability: During combat, Quest 3 will dynamically adjust frame rates from 72 fps to 90 fps.
Meta Quest 3 launches on October 10th, and those who get the headset early will be able to experience the much nicer Red Matter 2 right from the start.
Red Matter 2: "Closer than ever" to console quality
The studio answered several questions on Twitter, including the remaining visual differences between the Quest 3 and PSVR 2 versions. Red Matter 2 is currently one of the best-looking VR game on Playstation VR 2.
"PSVR2 does run at 120 native and it does have a bloom pass, but we are getting closer than ever," the studio writes.
Anisotropic filtering has also seen some changes. For the Quest 1 version of the first part (Red Matter, released in 2019), the studio used 2xAF for floors and walls. With Quest 3, 8xAF is applied everywhere.
Regarding frame rate adaptability in battles, the studio writes, "We prioritize fluidity over resolution. It should be seamless! I know, right? Best of both worlds! More FPS when you need them, and more resolution when you are just cruising and admiring the environments and puzzles at a slower pace."
By the way, on October 5, the predecessor Red Matter will be released in a graphically enhanced version for Playstation VR 2. I'll try it out in advance and give you my impressions on Thursday.
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