Graphics testing & evidence

I noticed that hair looked worse indoors after updating from 5.00b, with more visible shimmering in later patches, including 5.01. I wanted to understand what had changed and whether I could recover the earlier appearance.

Comparing the builds helped me narrow down changes to the hair-rendering pipeline. I then tested a hybrid configuration combining the earlier rendering components with the newer game data. In the scenes I checked, it brought back the appearance I had seen in 5.00b.

To make these comparisons easier, I developed a mod that lets me run multiple instances of The Witcher 3, hold Geralt still and save both his position and the camera setup. I can then load that setup in the second instance, matching Geralt's position and the camera angle across versions for consistent captures.

I wanted to see how much GPU power consumption I could reduce while keeping similar gaming performance. I developed Silicon Tuner and tested it on my RTX 5090 and RTX 5070, comparing stock settings with tuned profiles.

For the RTX 5070 comparison shown here, I used Cyberpunk 2077's built-in benchmark with the same game settings for each profile. I measured frame rates, GPU power draw and temperature to see what I was gaining and what I was giving up. The balanced profile used considerably less power while delivering similar average frame rates in my measurements.

While playing Resident Evil Requiem, I wanted to look more closely at character expressions and details that the normal camera left out of view. That curiosity led me to build RE9 FreeCam.

The hardest part was keeping control during cutscenes, when the game kept trying to return the camera to its scripted position. Working through that gave me the freedom to explore those scenes from other angles and frame the details I wanted to capture. I also added field-of-view controls and options to disable depth of field and lens flare for closer inspection.

I wanted to see how The Sims 2 would look with path tracing, especially in houses I could build myself and compare against the original game.

I've been adapting RTX Remix to work with the game, exploring how lighting, shadows, reflections and materials change from the original rasterized rendering. An important part of that work is distinguishing expected differences from things that are rendering incorrectly.

Along the way, I've investigated distorted characters, missing textures and incorrectly rendered glass. I observe the issue, find a way to reproduce it and compare it with the original game, then test possible solutions and check whether they introduce other problems.

The project is still in development, and I'm continuing to investigate compatibility and lighting issues.

I started GameStutterLab because of the stutters I kept encountering while playing PC games. I wanted to understand what was causing them and spend less time sorting through data to find something worth investigating.

I've been developing a tool that brings frame times together with available CPU, GPU, memory and disk activity, so I can look at what was happening around a hitch. The idea is to make that first pass easier and help narrow down what to test next.

The tool is still in development, and I'm testing its suggestions against real gameplay captures. Activity that coincides with a stutter can offer a useful lead, but it doesn't establish the cause on its own. My aim is to make those investigations more focused and less time-consuming.