Resident Evil next-gen updates can now be reverted on Steam after issues on low-end PCs

Earlier this week, Capcom released a next-gen update for Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. The update brought support for ray tracing, 3D audio, and high frame rates. While these upgrades are all more than welcome additions to the games, they caused a big problem for some users.

Naturally, when a game uses more advanced graphical features, it will demand more from your PC. Ray tracing is an especially intensive feature that impacts certain PCs very negatively. Some players found this out the hard way when the free upgrade for the Resident Evil titles went live on Monday. Since the update caused a change in the minimum requirements, some players began having a terrible experience with the titles. This was especially true for users with PCs that only barely met the minimum requirements before the update.

Capcom released the updated system requirements for the next-gen updates to the Resident Evil games last Friday. The changes include shifting from supporting Windows 7 and 8.1 to just supporting Windows 10. As for the graphics card, the new minimum requirement is an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 or an AMD Radeon RX 460. These requirements still aren’t too demanding, but that’s not the problem. Players who never intended to use the features added in the update got the short end of the stick. And since the updates weren’t optional for PC players, they didn’t really a choice in the matter either.

The next-gen updates for the Resident Evil games also caused any existing mods for the games to no longer work. This includes the ambitious VR mods created for these games. It’s worth noting that this is the only way PC players have to experience these games in VR. Since mods play such an important role for the PC versions of these games, it was certainly devastating for some.

How to get the old versions back

Capcom has since made it possible for players to revert to the previous version of the Resident Evil games. Steam users need to navigate to the ‘Properties’ section of the titles and select ‘dx11_non-rt’ from the ‘Betas’ menu. The games should then reinstall their earlier versions and perform just like they were before. Capcom followed these instructions by saying “both enhanced and previous versions will be made available going forward.”

For players that can make the most of the new features, the next-gen update for the Resident Evil titles was nice to see. However, the way it stopped some players from enjoying the games is disappointing. With that said, Capcom addressed the situation, and players should be able to experience these games normally once again. There are also plenty of cool things for Resident Evil fans to look forward to, judging by the recent Capcom showcase.