Minecraft Nvidia RTX--How To Access The Gorgeous New Beta

Minecraft Nvidia RTX, which brings an incredible visual upgrade to the world of Minecraft, is available now in open beta. If you have the necessary hardware and want to experience Minecraft on PC with the best graphics ever possible, here's how to get in on it.

What you need to do depends on whether or not you're already in the Minecraft Windows 10 Beta. If you're not, here's what you need to do, as per the Minecraft Help Center:

1. Install the Xbox Insider Hub app on your PC (it is available for free in the Windows Store)
2. Inside the app, click on the open box icon in the sidebar on the left
3. On the Insider content screen, you will see a beta available for Minecraft for Windows 10. Click on the Minecraft for Windows 10 beta
4. Click the “Join” button at the bottom of the screen
5. On the following pop-up you will see three radio buttons- one will be for Minecraft RTX Beta, one for Minecraft Beta, one for Unenroll. Choose Minecraft RTX Beta, then click Done.
6. If you have automatic updates on from the Windows Store, Minecraft will automatically update to the latest RTX beta build available.

If you're already in that beta, it's actually a little more complicated--but not by much. Here are the steps.

1. Open the Xbox Insider Hub app
2. Inside the app, click on the open box icon in the sidebar on the left
3. On the Insider content screen, you will just see one Minecraft for Win 10 Beta offering under Joined. Click on it.
4. In this screen, click on Manage.
5. In the Manage screen, you will have a radio button that will allow you to choose to enroll in the RTX Beta or to Unenroll from the beta program entirely. Select the RTX beta & click on the Done button to the left
6. You may need to uninstall Minecraft and reinstall it from the store in order to download the RTX beta. Please back up any worlds you wish you keep before uninstalling as otherwise the worlds will be deleted when you uninstall the game. Minecraft saved worlds can be found in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.MinecraftUWP_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\games\com.mojang\minecraftWorlds – each folder within the minecraftWorlds folder is a world. Please save it somewhere on your PC that is not within the Minecraft directory. You can also export worlds directly from Minecraft to your PC’s desktop.

The Minecraft Marketplace is now full of creator-built worlds designed to show off ray tracing, so as long as you have a GPU that supports DirectX ray tracing you'll be good to go.

If you want to test out your own worlds, or bring a world from the beta into regular Minecraft, here's how to import and export them:

Import

1. From the Minecraft start screen, click “PLAY"
2. Click the arrow icon next to the "Create New" button on the Worlds screen
3. Find the .mcworld file and select it to import.

Export

1. From the Minecraft start screen, click “PLAY”
2. In the Worlds screen, scroll to find the world you wish to export.
3. Click on the pencil icon next to the world you want to export.
4. In the Edit screen, click on the "Game" button located under the words "Edit Settings"
5. Scroll down through the options on the right side of the menu, and then click “Export World” at the bottom of the list
6. Save the world to your location of choice. The exported .mcworld file can be placed anywhere (network drive, USB, etc.) to provide maximum flexibility.

The Minecraft Help Center has a full FAQ, so if you're at a loss, check in there. If you want to dig in, the Nvidia Game Ready Driver is tuned to offer the best performance for Minecraft RTX.