Screen space noise increases with foliage density.
To understand why RTGI 0361 is so impactful, we have to understand what it replaces. Traditional game rendering relies on Rasterization. In a rasterized world, an object exists, and a light source hits it. The engine calculates how bright that object should be based on the direct line of sight to the light.
What rasterization fails to capture is bounce light. In the real world, if you shine a flashlight on a red carpet next to a white wall, the wall glows red. The light bounces. In traditional games? The wall stays white. The carpet stays red. They exist in isolation. reshade rtgi 0361
This is why games often feel "gamey" or artificial. They lack the cohesion of light traveling through an environment.
In the world of PC gaming, graphical fidelity is a never-ending race. While game engines get smarter every year, the hardware requirements often leave older or less optimized titles in the dust. Enter ReShade RTGI (Ray Traced Global Illumination) —a screen-space shader that simulates realistic light bouncing. Among the many iterations released by developer Pascal "Marty McFly" Gilcher, version 0361 has emerged as a landmark build. But what makes ReShade RTGI 0361 so special? Is it stable? Is it worth the performance hit? Screen space noise increases with foliage density
This article dives deep into everything you need to know about ReShade RTGI 0361, from installation and troubleshooting to the best settings for performance.
Unlike native ray tracing, which uses geometry data from the engine (buffers), ReShade RTGI is a post-process effect. It has no access to the game's internal 3D world. It only sees what you see: a flat, 2D image. Version 0.3.6.1 perfected the art of lying convincingly. In a rasterized world, an object exists, and
The shader works by analyzing the depth buffer (how far away pixels are) and the color buffer (what color those pixels are). It then injects a coarse grid of rays into this 2D projection. When you move your camera, those rays recalculate, creating the "boiling" or "noisy" artifact that RTGI is famous for. Yet, when you stand still, the accumulation buffer kicks in, smoothing the noise into a soft, volumetric glow.
Why is 0.3.6.1 special? Because it represents the apex of "good enough." Later versions introduced temporal stability (reducing the boil), but they also introduced a clinical sterility. Version 0.3.6.1 retains a certain analog warmth. The noise looks less like a rendering error and more like film grain. It embraces its imperfection.
RTGI does not have access to the game's actual geometric data or scene graph. It only sees a 2D image and a Z-Buffer (depth map).
When moving the camera quickly, you might see a trail of light behind characters.