Gaijin Entertainment developers have detailed their implementation of path-traced global illumination in War Thunder, revealing that the initial prototype was completed in just weeks. Lead programmer László Perneky explained that the team spent about a month developing the first version, but refinements continue as the studio balances quality with performance demands across different gameplay scenarios.
The Dagor Engine powers both War Thunder and the shooter Enlisted, and path tracing support will arrive in the open source version by year's end. Co-founder Anton Yudintsev confirmed Enlisted already runs an internal path tracing build, though he noted the current global illumination system delivers similar results with better performance.
The development team is working on Opacity Micro-Maps and Shader Execution Reordering features for an early 2026 release, pending final GPU driver support from manufacturers. Programmer Gergo Horvath said AMD FSR 4 support ranks as a high priority, with plans to standardize upscaling technologies across all Gaijin titles by December 2025.
PlayStation 5 Pro path tracing remains under consideration after the studio releases standard ray tracing effects for consoles. Gaijin is also evaluating Nintendo Switch 2 ports for its games, but the team awaits development kits from the hardware manufacturer.
The Dagor Engine powers both War Thunder and the shooter Enlisted, and path tracing support will arrive in the open source version by year's end. Co-founder Anton Yudintsev confirmed Enlisted already runs an internal path tracing build, though he noted the current global illumination system delivers similar results with better performance.
The development team is working on Opacity Micro-Maps and Shader Execution Reordering features for an early 2026 release, pending final GPU driver support from manufacturers. Programmer Gergo Horvath said AMD FSR 4 support ranks as a high priority, with plans to standardize upscaling technologies across all Gaijin titles by December 2025.
PlayStation 5 Pro path tracing remains under consideration after the studio releases standard ray tracing effects for consoles. Gaijin is also evaluating Nintendo Switch 2 ports for its games, but the team awaits development kits from the hardware manufacturer.
