faq & information
Minecraft Bedrock Edition's built-in ray tracing graphics mode is most commonly referred to as "Minecraft RTX" by players.
While technically, it isn't correct to call Minecraft's ray tracing implementation "Minecraft RTX", It has been a shorter name everyone called it since the beginning. (Perhaps because of Nvidia's involvement in adding ray tracing to Minecraft, and its exclusivity to Nvidia's RTX 20 series of GPUs upon launch).
Disclaimer:
This website merely serves as a hub for my projects which are developed for Minecraft RTX.
It doesn't represent Mojang! (or Nvidia)
For official information on Minecraft with Ray Tracing, you can visit this article:
https://help.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/articles/4408865164173-Minecraft-with-Ray-Tracing-and-Advanced-Graphics-FAQ
Vanilla RTX uses 16x heightmaps, which are later converted to a higher resolution normal map to fake depth on flat surfaces.
Vanilla RTX Normals uses 16x normal maps instead, which define curvature on surfaces and the direction that light will bounce off each individual pixel.
Only one can be used at a time, each will provide a different appearance for all blocks.
Both are arguably a true vanilla experience, which one feels more 'vanilla' or better is up to you.
From a logical standpoint using 16x normal maps with 16x textures (resolution of default Minecraft textures) is more standard; however the way Mojang made heightmap look in Minecraft RTX is quite unique and stylish. They were intended to be used with low resolution textures (such as vanilla textures).
Both views are equally valid, so I maintain both variations and updates for Vanilla RTX and Vanilla RTX Normals are usually rolled out simultaneously.
To answer in a short way, there is a question that defines and has always guided the spirit of this project:
"What if Mojang really went all-out on creating a default ray tracing pack for Minecraft Bedrock?"
While Vanilla RTX is not an official work from Mojang (or Nvidia), it effectively serves to provide (or be) the answer to that question through a continued effort to give it the care and attention that a hypothetical default ray tracing pack would deserve.
Unfortunately, visual glitches aren't uncommon with ray tracing.
All of the random bugs you might run into during gameplay such as chains randomly glowing, spyglass overlay texture being broken, villager and some entity textures not working properly, clouds appearing glitchy etc... (the list goes on) are related to the game itself, not Vanilla RTX.
Consider reporting issues you find to Mojang at bugs.mojang.com (or vote for them if they are already reported). It'll help Minecraft developers find and prioritize fixing Minecraft's bugs.
One way to confirm a bug is related to the game and not Vanilla RTX is to use this Empty RTX resource pack which uses base game's files, if an issue still happens, it is safe to say it is a game bug.
All that said, for the time being, consider switching to the experimental option introduced in Vanilla RTX v1.20.5 (and above) which provides some workarounds for a number of game's issues; but beware it might cause other unexpected issues if paired with other resource packs, add-ons or old/modified versions of Minecraft. Fortunately this isn't random, so if you do turn this option on and things seem to work well for you, keep it on!
I'm actively trying to address more of game's issues through the experimental option with every new update.
Absolutely! Feel free to use it in your projects of any kind (ranging from YouTube videos to Minecraft servers, maps, even your own resource packs, etc...), but in case you directly share the files created and/or worked on by me, give credit!"
With the one exception that you are not allowed to (under any conditions) sell Vanilla RTX.
For more details, check the license here.
The goal of this license is to let you be free and do almost anything you want with Vanilla RTX, while stopping those who may seek to unfairly abuse it.