A Modern Renderer - Rend 2 (Graphics Mod)

[W!zard]

So this has been posted on here already, (Mentioned by Cat Lady on Page 2 here),
but due to the latest suggestions and wishes for better Graphics in MB2( here and here ) it seems to me that the actual knowledge of Rend 2 isnt as spread as it deserves to be (and it deserves its own thread here aswell, imo).

To conclude what it does I just quote Xycaleth from JKHub:

What is rend2?
It's no secret that JKA is over 13 years old and arguably the graphics haven't aged well, compared to recently released games. With graphics having come so far in the past decade, and with JKA's engine source code now available, it would be a shame if nobody at least tried to bring something new to JKA's rendering engine

Rend2 is an attempt at this, and brings with it better utilisation of your graphics card for better and increased FPS. More importantly, it makes use of a variety of newer rendering techniques such as real-time dynamic shadows and lighting, normal mapping and specular mapping. Another big feature is physically based rendering: a relatively new feature in games that allows artists to create more realistic materials.

So if you love shiny graphics then hopefully this can be something that will appeal to you

It adds some extra depth to an otherwise ageing game. It does mean though that you will need a graphics card that was made in the last 6 years! Even if graphics don't matter to you, rend2 gives more stable and increased FPS to give the game a smoother feel.

Now this sounds great already, heres what this Mod actually adds:

What does rend2 have so far?
Complete

• Normal mapping
• Specular mapping
• Parallax mapping
• HDR + filmic tonemapping
• Multisampled Antialiasing
• Improved texture compression support

Working, but still in progress

• Real-time lighting
• Real-time sun shadows
• Image-based lighting

TODO

• Feature parity with the vanilla renderer - surface sprites, fog, flares, misc_bsp, ghoul2 marks.

Now which I find most impressive is the Real-Time lightning.
A few examples of Rend 2 in Action:

I know its hard to add into MB2 and its not finished, but those Videos are based on older Builds and the development on Rend 2 hasnt stopped. Most recently its being worked on for the DF2 Mod.
This in MB2 would be truly awesome

Now how to download?
Rend2 currently only avialable for OpenJK JKA, all important infos can be found here:
JKHub thread: Rend2 - A Modern Renderer
Big thanks to all the People over at JKHub who have worked/ are working on it!

Some newer stuff:

 

[Shenghai]

Shadows seem a little too dark at times, but yes, rend2 looks beautiful. It's going to really change JKA, honestly. I don't see this game dying much anytime soon, especially with rend2 in the works. I have a feeling more people are going to scratch model to accommodate rend2 as well, which EA might not like, but I don't think they can actually do anything about it.

 

[Encritary]

WHERES LINUX ;C

 

[Phoenix]

WHERES LINUX ;C

why do you use Linux lol

 

[Noob]

linux isnt considered garbo anymor

 

[Encritary]

why do you use Linux lol

Because too old PC. I was like to just test rend2.

 

[Phoenix]

linux isnt considered garbo anymor

this is heresy

 

[Noob]

Is there any update on this at all? @W!zard

 

[W!zard]

Is there any update on this at all? @W!zard

I haven't had time to follow the development as of late, but this is what I stumbled upon a few months ago:

XJ GTU has been testing a few different settings of newer Rend2 versions and showcased them in a series of Videos on his Channel.

Also like I've mentioned in the original post the DF2 Mod creators developed GL2, which is afaik a newer version of Rend2, specially created to be used with DF2 (not sure where the difference is, if there is any).
The JK Community discord has a channel in which they sometimes showcase the Progress like here:

 

[W!zard]

Latest progress posted by SomaZ on discord
Rend2 running on the JKA SP vjun3 level

 

[Noob]

looks great, now it just needs mb2 support

 

[Kitsu-Nesh'Kaa]

so sexy *_*

 

[Karus]

I need this in my life as soon as possible, for real

 

[Darth_Savilex]

Fucking hell this looks good! MB2 support when?

 

[itsmambaboi]

im sorry but could someone please explain why this isnt in MB2 even tho its been a real thing for more that a few years is it that the team wont incorperate this into the mod or add support for it? I understand that not everyone can run graphics this well but it doesn't make a lot of sense to hold this off for the rest of the public, ive talked to people who have literally said they would play more or even try out MB2 if the graphics were better. just curious

 

[MaceMadunusus]

The current most updated version of Rend 2 that several things in MB2 actually do support, is currently Single Player only. It also still needs a fair amount of work. We won't ever be able to fully support it though, because we don't have the resources to go back over all of the old graphics. That would take me a lot of money and time to do.

Here is the first map in the tutorial coming in the next release, which also converts some regular kamino assets to PBR.

And some DOTF assets running in this

 

[NoHateDrake]

The current most updated version of Rend 2 that several things in MB2 actually do support, is currently Single Player only. It also still needs a fair amount of work. We won't ever be able to fully support it though, because we don't have the resources to go back over all of the old graphics. That would take me a lot of money and time to do.

Here is the first map in the tutorial coming in the next release, which also converts some regular kamino assets to PBR.

And some DOTF assets running in this

Looks freaking amazing dude, cannot wait.

 

[blake_won]

I think devs have said that mb2 is meant to be played by all pc's and that rend 2 is horribly optimized (as seen with the first clip).

It isn't that hard to just make it an optional parameter, cynicism is fine, but don't create problems when they just aren't there.

 

[Fluffy |>]

It isn't that hard to just make it an optional parameter, cynicism is fine, but don't create problems when they just aren't there.
View attachment 6007

It would be openjk only for a start and devs have always said it would be optional

 

[Noob]

It isn't that hard to just make it an optional parameter, cynicism is fine, but don't create problems when they just aren't there.
View attachment 6007

Thanks for necroposting a 2 year old opinion