I’ve got a built 5.2 version that I’m using but I’m wondering what the RTX branch really does. Is it just the plugins which I can presumably recompile for 5.2? I’m using it for VR and omniverse so I really need the high end stuff with Lumen and hardware RT. Would I be better off switching to the RTX branch?
Hi there @androidsilvereye, nice to read you again.
The RTX branch is more than just the plugins. It more or less reflects the latest in ray-tracing related development happening at NVIDIA. When we work on new features or SDKs for developers, they will very quickly also be added to our branch of UE to share the “goodness”.
Another difference is that we do not necessarily discontinue already integrated features, unless they break beyond repair. RTXGI is an example of this. Lumen is a slightly different approach to solve the same challenge of GI, so our dedicated RTXGI plugin in UE was not updated for the latest UE version. But it does live on inside the RTX Branch.
On the other hand our engineers maintaining the branch are not always on-par with the latest HEAD of the EPIC main-line branch of UE.
It really is a question of prioritization for you as the developer, what you need more. The cutting edge EPIC version of UE or the latest and greatest in NVIDIA RT features.
I hope that explained it a bit.