Unreal Engine 5.6 Brings 60 FPS Ray Tracing to Current-Generation Hardware

[AleksandarK]

Epic Games yesterday introduced Unreal Engine 5.6, a significant update designed to ensure that high-fidelity open-world projects maintain a smooth 60 frames-per-second experience on current-generation consoles, high-end PCs, and capable mobile devices by optimizing key rendering and streaming systems, Unreal Engine 5.6 addresses longstanding performance challenges. A central improvement focuses on hardware-accelerated ray tracing for global illumination. The enhanced system shifts critical processing tasks from the CPU to modern GPUs, allowing developers to create more complex lighting scenarios while preserving a locked 60 FPS frame rate. Combined with streamlined Lumen routines, environments gain richer visual detail without sacrificing performance. Content streaming also receives substantial attention. The new Fast Geometry Streaming plugin, currently in experimental mode, enables the loading of large volumes of static geometry on demand without stuttering.

At runtime, asynchronous physics state creation further smooths transitions, ensuring that expansive levels no longer cause unexpected frame drops. Unreal Engine 5.6 also introduces updated device profiles tailored for current consoles and desktop hardware. These profiles automatically adjust graphics settings to meet performance targets, thereby reducing manual configuration and enabling teams to deliver high-quality visuals at stable frame rates. Unreal Engine 5.6 powers the upcoming The Witcher 4 game, which has been demonstrated on the PlayStation 5 console, running at 60 FPS out of the box, with ray tracing. This signals that game optimizations will finally become the norm again, with more powerful hardware delivering higher FPS at higher resolutions in a beautiful, ray-traced open world.

Beyond performance enhancements, this release expands editor workflows. Redesigned motion trails and a revamped curve editor accelerate keyframe adjustments, while MetaHuman Creator integration allows artists to build digital humans directly within the engine. Procedural worldbuilding, cinematic pipelines, and virtual production toolsets receive refinements that speed iteration. The editor's user interface benefits from a reorganized Content Browser and a streamlined toolbar that reduces the number of clicks needed to access essential tools. Features like incremental cooking and Zen Streaming help teams test changes on target devices more quickly.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[ZoneDymo]

sure hope those screenshots are from a low quality stream or something....
EDIT: yeah ok there are from the vid which looks like crap

 

[FrozenPie1]

sure hope those screenshots are from a low quality stream or something....

If you want the 4K60 official stream from Unreal Engine, here you go:

The extreme blur especially during movements comes from the native render resolution being 900p, then getting upscaled with TSR to 1440p and finally getting upscaled again to the 4K output resolution. It sometimes looks like they set the motion blur value to integer overflow.

 

[AleksandarK]

Updated with more HQ photos and added official stream link.

 

[Onasi]

“Unreal Engine 5.6 powers the upcoming The Witcher 4 game, which has been demonstrated on the PlayStation 5 console, running at 60 FPS out of the box, with ray tracing.”

No, no, what has been demonstrated is that a bespoke streamlined and uber-optimized demo that potentially doesn’t even have most of the game logic running can achieve 60 FPS. We’ve seen such demonstrations before. The actual games do not run and/or look anything like that when they get released.
Even that being said, the level of blur that this has going on truly looks like absolute ass. So even a purpose-built demo has to be temporarily reconstructed from bottom barrel resolution to even run. Amazing.

 

[Raiden85]

Unless UE 5 fixes its stuttering problem that plagues so many games using this engine, I don't care whet features they add to it.

 

[Hyderz]

Looks gorgeous but it’s a title I wanna play but can’t get into Witcher games nor cyberpunk

 

[Deesider]

Looks amazing!

Just downloaded 5.6 - can't wait to check out the new features.

The preview had a pretty big uplift in framerate.

I assume when the new nanite foliage system is released in a month or so, the improvement will be even better.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Man there's a crapton of complaining and negativity here... What the hell people?

I think it looks solid. Needs a bit further progress and refinement, but if this is what is on offer currently, they have something good going.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

Needs a bit further progress and refinement

How I see situation: Needs a much further progress and refinement.

 

[Readlight]

Stuttering in first minute after game loads in, has always been in every game, with lots off 3D plus, shadows.

 

[Macro Device]

I think it looks solid

And we have a right to think otherwise. Obvious overdoing it with upscaling for example. And it was already a known fact you can achieve playable framerates at low resos even if you have a base PS5 for a computer if you shrink overdraw to a bare minimum. Also the showcasing video features very minimal ray tracing, it's barely it, resolution is 360p at most. So while technically they might've been telling the truth and it's indeed a ray traced Witcher 4 tech demo running at 60 FPS on a PS5 but there's nothing a meticulous production team couldn't have achieved even with earlier versions of UE5.

CDPR have an overhyping illness. Wish they just silently did their thing and made their games speak for themselves instead of forever embarrassing themselves with inadequate promises and tech demos having little to no in common with the actual game.

 

[lexluthermiester]

How I see situation: Needs a much further progress and refinement.

I think it looks good as is. Keep in mind, these are just demo's made with the current tools. With more skill and practice, these demo's will look better, as will finished games.

And we have a right to think otherwise.

True. There's a difference between having an opinion and expressing needless negativity. Example you ask?

CDPR have an overhyping illness. Wish they just silently did their thing and made their games speak for themselves instead of forever embarrassing themselves with inadequate promises and tech demos having little to no in common with the actual game.

This.. Your opinion of course. Also very needlessly negative, especially considering that they deliver on the hype.

 

[Octopuss]

sure hope those screenshots are from a low quality stream or something....
EDIT: yeah ok there are from the vid which looks like crap

You should have your eyes checked.

 

[AGlezB]

It's just me or they "improved" Siri's face? In the first video she looked more like a much older woman after the 4th facelift.

Yup, they did. Looks more natural now, IMO, for a woman that spends her time roughing it out and fighting monsters for a living.

 

[lexluthermiester]

It's just me or they "improved" Siri's face? In the first video she looked more like a much older woman after the 4th facelift.

View attachment 402432

View attachment 402433

Yup, they did. Looks more natural now, IMO.

I'm not seeing much of a difference other than the shadows & lighting. Needs some refinement, but looks good. I'd play it.

 

[AGlezB]

I'm not seeing much of a difference other than the shadows & lighting. Needs some refinement, but looks good. I'd play it.

The jaw line and most of the bone structure has changed far more than what you'll get from age and fat. If you feed both images to a high-end face recognition software chances are it'll say they are different people.
I understand it's hard to see if your not looking at the details or don't know what to look for but if you'd shown both images to me without any context I'd have said they're very closely related but not the same person. YMMV

 

[lexluthermiester]

The jaw line and most of the bone structure has changed far more than what you'll get from age and fat. If you feed both images to a high-end face recognition software chances are it'll say they are different people.
I understand it's hard to see if your not looking at the details or don't know what to look for but if you'd shown both images to me without any context I'd have said they're very closely related but not the same person.

You might be over analyzing just a bit much. It's a tech demo intended to show off what the tools can do, not a finished game product ready for release.

YMMV

True!

 

[AGlezB]

You might be over analyzing just a bit much. It's a tech demo intended to show off what the tools can do, not a finished game product ready for release.

Sure but the thing is when I saw the first video what I thought was "that isn't Siri". In the tech demo the character model is a lot closer to what I expect Siri to look like using existing material as a reference model and with some allowance for ageing the model by modern urban/suburban standards instead of the much faster ageing process expected from the actual living conditions she is supposed to live in. Not that I expect realism from a fantasy game, mind you, but it's easier to immerse myself if certain expectations are met and Siri is a very iconic charater.

 

[azrael]

Never really understood the "game X will be developed using Unreal Engine 5.Y". At least for minor version updates you should be able to use the latest available version.

 

[dyonoctis]

The jaw line and most of the bone structure has changed far more than what you'll get from age and fat. If you feed both images to a high-end face recognition software chances are it'll say they are different people.
I understand it's hard to see if your not looking at the details or don't know what to look for but if you'd shown both images to me without any context I'd have said they're very closely related but not the same person. YMMV

The lighting and expression can significantly alter how a face appears. It's easy to find a few screenshots from TW3 where Ciri's jawline and chin sometimes look "stronger", and her face wider. More than the bone structure, the biggest difference his her make up. In the tech demo her brows are noticeably thicker, she got freckles, and lipsticks. She's also opening her mouth, which makes the face look thinner.

Another thing, the camera setting used for that 2024 cinematic also looks different. I'm seeing more lens distortion compared to the Unreal tech demo. And lens distortion can change the proportion of a face.

 

[AGlezB]

The lighting and expression can significantly alter how a face appears. It's easy to find a few screenshots from TW3 where Ciri's jawline and chin sometimes look "stronger", and her face wider. More than the bone structure, the biggest difference his her make up. In the tech demo her brows are noticeably thicker, she got freckles, and lipsticks. She's also opening her mouth, which makes the face look thinner.

And you forgot to mention the angle of the camera but beyond stating the obvious I'll guess the point you're trying to make is you don't see an actual difference between the two videos I mentioned. Thats fine. I'm not trying to convince anyone, just explaining what I see.

 

[Dragokar]

The extreme blur especially during movements comes from the native render resolution being 900p, then getting upscaled with TSR to 1440p and finally getting upscaled again to the 4K output resolution. It sometimes looks like they set the motion blur value to integer overflow.

How do you know? Is it shown in the video? Just curious^^

 

[FrozenPie1]

How do you know?

German News Outlet: https://www.golem.de/news/cd-projek...itcher-4-die-unreal-engine-2506-196775-2.html

Golem.de konnte die Tech-Demo vorab mehrfach in Echtzeit auf einer Playstation 5 anschauen und mit Julius Girbig, Senior Technical Animator bei CD Projekt Red, über die Details sprechen. [...] Die nativ von der Demo berechnete Auflösung liegt bei 900p, was dann von der Unreal Engine via Temporal Super Resolution (TSR) auf 1.400p und schließlich von der PS5 auf 4K hochskaliert wird.

Golem.de was able to watch the tech demo several times in real time on a Playstation 5 and talk to Julius Girbig, Senior Technical Animator at CD Projekt Red, about the details. [...] The native resolution calculated by the demo is 900p, which is then upscaled by the Unreal Engine via Temporal Super Resolution (TSR) to 1,400p and finally by the PS5 to 4K.

Concerning the difference of Ciris face:

Übrigens: Bei der gezeigten Figur handelt es sich natürlich um Ciri – und zwar um dasselbe Charaktermodell, das bereits im Trailer verwendet wurde. Ihr Gesicht ist im Kern eine direkte Kopie des Modells aus The Witcher 3, wurde jedoch für die Demo an die aktuelle Metahuman-Technologie angepasst. Nur zwei kleine Änderungen wurden vorgenommen, um die Gesichtsanimationen zu verbessern: Die Augenbrauen wurden leicht angehoben und der Bereich um die Augen entspannter modelliert.

By the way: The figure shown is, of course, Ciri – the same character model that was used in the trailer. Her face is essentially a direct copy of the model from The Witcher 3, but was adapted for the demo to reflect current metahuman technology. Only two small changes were made to improve the facial animations: the eyebrows were raised slightly and the area around the eyes was modeled more relaxed.

So it doesn't surprise me that some people see a difference.

 

[Dragokar]

German News Outlet: https://www.golem.de/news/cd-projek...itcher-4-die-unreal-engine-2506-196775-2.html




Concerning the difference of Ciris face:

Thanks^