Super Mario 64 with Ray Tracing! Our proof
The video below shows more half an hour of gameplay recorded from a technical preview of Super Mario 64 RT, a refresh on PC that replaces all lighting and reflections with RT effects. We have received what can be called a somewhat special build of the game built on source code provided by author DarÃosamo with additional elements made by Render96, a project that aims to improve Super Mario 64 models and textures with the idea in mind. to propose the same SGI aesthetic seen in the renderings prior to the release of the Nintendo 64. The SM64RT project has been public since yesterday with a technical preview available for download.
Alex Battaglia and John Linneman struggling with an early build of SM64RT, a version of the classic Nintendo that takes full advantage of Ray Tracing and which in this case runs on a PC equipped with an RTX 3090.
Watch on YouTube. First of all, a few words about the origins of the Super Mario 64 PC port. The original title for Nintendo 64 was decompiled and the source code was made available resulting in a number of ports for different platforms including, ironically, the one for the Nintendo Switch. Being open source anyone is free to launch their own content to add functionality to the game and this is exactly what DarÃo did in this case with Ray Tracing. In purely legal terms, the source code is readily available and it is only the compiled executables that generally meet the wrath of Nintendo. It is perfectly possible to play a great PC port of Super Mario 64 and its new RT alternative but you will have to compile the code yourself.
The ray traced version of Super Mario 64 is in the early stages of development and sees the developer replace the entire lighting system with Ray Tracing which guarantees complete global illumination in real time with a very convincing "bounce" of the light, up to the shadows that Mario's costume generates on the protagonist's skin . RT shadows have obviously been added but the original 2D bitmap shadows are also present as they were originally used for gameplay purposes. Beyond that, some of the scenery elements from the original game were 2D bitmaps, not exactly the best for ray tracing. This is where Render96's design makes a difference in our build with parts of the game like trees that are now fully 3D models designed to mimic the SGI render of the period, reminiscent of the era's show style like Reboot.
Although still early stages for the project, a lot of the work required has already been done to the point where new light sources have been added completely manually where necessary to make the RT lighting work. In the exteriors of course the sun is the main light source, in effect a large very clear sphere placed in the sky. In addition to the lighting level there are obviously the shadows generated by the sun accurately rendered with a softness that essentially depends on the size of the sphere. The materials themselves are characterized on the basis of their reflectivity and it is possible to admire very delicate RT reflections or at the opposite extreme of real mirrors. Transparent water and portals reflections? No problem.
Together with Quake 2 RTX, the SM64RT is a fascinating way to breathe new life into an old game by taking advantage of the latest rendering technologies. There have been some announcements from Nvidia regarding Lightspeed Studios and upgrading older PC games to full-fledged Ray Tracing support. We haven't heard of it for some time now but we cross our fingers in hopes of seeing radical improvements of this kind in the future.
