How To Enable Ray Tracing In Minecraft With NVIDIA RTX GPUs

"Minecraft" is indeed a game where players mine resources and craft new objects, but it's so much more. The sandbox game that tasks players with building a world with blocks, moving them around, and subsequently adventuring about was released to the masses in November 2011, and since then has seen a number of great updates.

In December 2020, the free 1.16.200 update was released for Minecraft on Windows 10 (aka Bedrock edition). It brought four world-shaking features, including a brand new graphics engine (Render Dragon), a physically-based rendering (PBR) system, and support for Nvidia's ray tracing and DLSS technologies. 

It was a big deal because it finally enabled ray tracing, which allowed Windows players to experience a much higher level of realistic lighting within the game. Dynamic shadows are now cast across a scene and change with lighting conditions. Sunbeams bounce, absorb, and scatter realistically. Reflections react dynamically based on the surface they hit, and light refracts when it passes through translucent materials.

So, how do you get all this gorgeous graphical goodness to work in "Minecraft"?

First, you need a PC with a few minimum system requirements, not the least of which is running an Nvidia RTX graphics card capable of running ray tracing. The minimum is a GeForce RTX 2060 (released in January 2019), which can be purchased for a reasonable price on Amazon if you shop around. Without one, you'll be left in the dark.

We assume you're an experienced PC gamer with the proper rig and RTX card and have been diligently updating "Minecraft " and your Windows OS, Nvidia's GeForce Experience app, and graphics drivers regularly. If not, do all that now.

Next, there isn't a default ray tracing "mode" per se. In fact, the feature will be disabled unless you're playing in a world where it's enabled. So, search the Minecraft Marketplace for "RTX" or "ray tracing." If your system fails to meet the minimum system requirements, a message will appear telling you so, and you won't be able to download the content, let alone play it. Download the content pack, and once you jump in, ray tracing is automatically toggledas the default.

In the GeForce Experience app, click on Settings, then on the General tab. Be sure Enable Experimental Features is checked, then return to the Games tab. Locate Minecraft and let the app automatically Optimize the game. Fire up the game.

From the game menu, open up Settings, then go to the Video Settings tab. Scroll down to the Graphics section and click to turn on the RTX feature. Under the RTX toggle is the Ray Tracing Render Distance slider that you can either leave where the app set it or manually adjust it.