007 First Light gets path tracing performance fixes for GeForce RTX graphics cards

Following feedback from 007 First Light's latest path-tracing update, the game's developers have published two hotfixes that improve the game's performance with path tracing enabled. The latest hotfix, version 1.2.2, fixes a plethora of graphical issues in the game relating to path tracing and improves path tracing performance in two levels.

Arguably the biggest improvements surround the path-tracing performance updates the developers added to Chapter 6 and Chapter 8. Both levels have received a performance fix where performance could drop 5 to 10 FPS on an RTX 5070 GPU. Chapter 6's update fixes a performance drop when entering the Gala area and looking towards the crowd, and Chapter 8's update fixes an issue where performance can drop during camera zoom in the "Smoking Gun" scene.

All of the other fixes surround graphical glitches, including fixes to overly bright reflections, shadow flickering, textures, and areas where ambient lighting should or should not be visible to the player.

007 First Light's developers also introduced an option to enable "recommended default settings" to help improve the path-tracing mode's performance for less tech-savvy users and reduce situations where the game's graphics settings might be too extreme for a user's GPU. Recommended settings for path tracing include running the Path Tracing mode at medium for the RTX 5070 and RTX 5080, and the high setting for the RTX 5090. IO Interactive further clarified that the high-preset mode for the game's path tracing mode is very resource-intensive, and recommends users use it with the RTX 5090 specifically.

Frequently Asked Questions

Open a question for an answer from TweakTown's coverage of this news, or ask your own below.

Question #1

How does DLSS 4 affect 007 First Light’s path-tracing performance on the GeForce RTX 5080?

DLSS 4 upscaling alone did not prevent low frame rates in one YouTuber's RTX 5080 test: path tracing ran at under 30 FPS. No before-and-after RTX 5080 result is given to show how much DLSS 4 improved performance.

Question #2

What path-tracing changes did 007 First Light’s first hotfix introduce before version 1.2.2?

The first hotfix improved performance with path tracing enabled, but its specific changes are not listed. The Chapter 6 and Chapter 8 performance fixes and the graphical fixes are identified as changes in the later 1.2.2 hotfix.

Question #3

Which graphical issues did 007 First Light’s path-tracing hotfixes fix beyond performance drops?

Beyond the performance drops, the hotfixes addressed overly bright reflections, flickering shadows, texture glitches, and areas where ambient lighting appeared when it should not or was missing when it should be visible.

Question #4

What graphics settings make 007 First Light’s high path-tracing preset particularly demanding on the GeForce RTX 5090?

IO Interactive describes 007 First Light's high path-tracing preset as very resource-intensive and recommends it specifically for the GeForce RTX 5090. It also recommends the RTX 5090 for a good 4K path-tracing experience, but does not identify which individual settings within the high preset drive its demands.

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The game's last two hotfixes have been released in response to the game's new but extremely demanding path tracing mode, which surprised gamers at how intensive it is, even on high-end RTX 50 series GPUs. One YouTuber recorded frame rates under 30 FPS with an RTX 5080 using DLSS 4 upscaling only, showing just how intensive the new mode can be. IO Interactive recommends an RTX 5070 for a good 1080p 60 FPS experience, an RTX 5080 for 1440p, and an RTX 5090 for 4K for a good experience with path tracing.