The PC version of Rise of the Tomb raider was released on January 28, but the game itself actually became available on Xbox consoles on November 10. Even though it’s only been about a week since the title made its way on the PC platform, it looks like Crystal Dynamics and Nixxes have been hard at work trying to perfect a series of flaws regarding SLI performance and performance in general. These fixes were implemented in the first PC update for Rise of the Tomb Raider, which should auto-download and apply itself automatically via Steam. Speaking of Steam, the patch also takes care of a few startup-related issues such as C++ runtime errors, VC++ redist installation and crashes.
However, the most noteworthy addition comes in the form of a new graphics option named “Specular Reflection Quality”, which improves resolution and reduces the aliasing of specular reflections. You can read the entire changelog for Rise of the Tomb Raider’s first PC patch below.
Startup issues (Steam Only):
Fixed C++ runtime error showing up on startup preventing some users from running the game.
Provided work-around for issue where the VC++ redist would not properly get installed, stopping the game from starting at all.
Solved problem where the game would crash on startup when tools like Bins Taskbar organizer or Spacedesk are installed.
Updated options screen with among other things:
Independent mouse sensitivity control for aim and regular navigation.
Mouse and Gamepad X axis inversion
Option to disable keyboard button prompts.
Option to disable mouse smoothing. (very light mouse smoothing is present otherwise)
Other fixes included in this patch:
A variety of fixes and improvements to UI including map, basecamps, and Remnant Resistance mode.
New graphics option ‘Specular Reflection Quality’ to enhance resolution and reduce aliasing of specular reflections, at some performance cost.
New graphics option to disable film-grain independently from ‘Screen Effects’.
Improved HBAO+ quality, including better occlusion for distant objects.
Improved NVIDIA SLI performance. (Steam only)
Fixed SLI glitches during water/snow effects. (Steam only)
Resolution Modifier option that allows you to use a lower rendering resolution independent from window size when running in windowed mode.
Performance optimization for situations where Razer Chroma features are enabled. (Steam Only)
Improvements to Razer Chroma effects. (Steam Only)
Fixed an issue that could rarely lead to an error on machines with 16 hardware threads or more.
Fixed mouse cursor not always being hidden when using gamepad.
Fixed major stuttering in Endurance mode.
Fixes for Endurance leaderboards.
Fixed Remnant Resistance missions occasionally not starting.
Fixed rendering glitches on some objects on NVIDIA 6×0 and 7×0 hardware. Some issue do still happen and we are working with NVIDIA to resolve those in future patches or drivers.
Warning messages for users turning textures to Very High or enabling SSAA to indicate high-end hardware is required.
A variety of other smaller optimizations, bug-fixes, and tweaks.
Cernescu Andrei
Candrei is a writer for eTeknix who loves the latest technology news and gaming.