Pushing the boundaries of visual fidelity, Unreal Engine 5.4 has proven to be a graphical powerhouse, demanding significant hardware resources to achieve smooth gameplay. This was evident in ‘Project Borealis,’ a fan-made Half-Life 3 prologue created using the latest iteration of Unreal Engine. Even with a high-end NVIDIA RTX 4080, the project struggled to maintain a consistent 60 frames per second at native 4K resolution with Very High settings.
However, the results shifted dramatically with the implementation of NVIDIA’s advanced technologies, DLSS Ultra Quality and Frame Generation. These features effectively boosted the performance of ‘Project Borealis,’ pushing the frame rate above 60FPS, making for a significantly smoother experience. The demonstration highlights the crucial role of technologies like DLSS and Frame Generation in ensuring that graphically intense games, powered by engines like Unreal Engine 5, can run smoothly on a wider range of hardware.
While further optimization could potentially enhance the performance of the ‘Project Borealis’ demo, the key takeaway is the significant performance improvements enabled by NVIDIA’s technologies. This underscores the importance of having these tools available to developers to deliver visually stunning games that are accessible to a wider audience.
