NVIDIA has kicked off the official GDC 2025 news rounds with a bang, revealing that official RTX Neural Shading support will go live next month thanks to an updated DirectX Agility SDK Preview released by Microsoft. While the RTX Kit has been available via GitHub since last month, the DirectX support will accelerate RTX Neural Shading with GeForce GPUs Tensor Cores.
John Spitzer, NVIDIA VP of Developer Technology, said in a statement:
Neural rendering is the future of graphics and we are happy to partner with Microsoft to bring AI to programmable shaders in DirectX. All game developers can use Tensor Cores built into GeForce RTX GPUs to deliver next-gen realism and performance to Windows gaming.
Shawn Hargreaves, Direct3D Dev Manager at Microsoft, added:
Microsoft is adding Cooperative Vectors support to DirectX and HLSL, starting with a preview this April. This will advance the future of graphics programming by enabling neural rendering across the gaming industry. Unlocking Tensor Cores on NVIDIA RTX will allow developers to fully leverage RTX Neural Shading for richer, more immersive experiences on Windows.
For now, three main uses of RTX Neural Shading have been detailed:
- RTX Neural Texture Compression can create neural representations of thousands of textures in less than a minute, saving up to 7x VRAM/RAM compared to regular compression techniques.
- RTX Neural Radiance Cache can infer theoretically infinite multi-bounce indirect lighting starting from just one or two bounces, optimizing visuals and performance.
- RTX Neural Materials compresses complex shader code typically reserved for offline materials composed of multiple layers, such as porcelain and silk. It provides material processing that is up to 5x faster.
Needless to say, this is just a preview. It will be a while before it's officially released, and then we'll have to wait for game developers to actually implement the features. However, owners of the GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs are future-proof in this regard since the new graphics cards already support RTX Neural Shading.
In other GDC 2025 news, NVIDIA demonstrated an updated version of the Zorah demo first showcased at CES. A sample will be available next week with the following features: RTX Mega Geometry, RTX Hair, ReSTIR Path Tracing, and ReSTIR Direct Illumination.
Additionally, the NVIDIA RTX Unreal Engine 5 branch on GitHub was just updated with support for the RTX Mega Geometry and RTX Hair technologies. The former debuted in the most recent Alan Wake 2 patch, while the latter will do so in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle through an update.
NVIDIA also confirmed that its ACE AI technology will debut when inZOI (whose system requirements have just been revealed) launches in early access on March 28, offering an on-device language model exclusively available on GeForce RTX GPUs. NVIDIA ACE will also be integrated later this month in NARAKA BLADEPOINT: MOBILE PC VERSION, where the AI will be a helpful game companion. The same will be added to Black Vultures: Prey of Greed, an upcoming MMOFPS by Korean developer WEMADE, previously codenamed This Means War.
