Elden Ring's latest update might be pointing towards ray tracing and DLC maps
References to both ray tracing and new maps were found in the game's code following the most recent patch.
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Elden Ring's latest update arrived earlier this week, and it appears to be harbouring some secrets that might be pointing towards ray tracing, and maybe even DLC.
The main purpose of Elden Ring patch 1.07 was that PvP and PvE balance are now separated, meaning tweaks to one won't affect the other. However, dataminer Lance MdDonald found that some new menu strings that mention ray tracing were found in the code.
Later on, McDonald was able to enable the ray tracing settings, which he shared a look at on his Twitter. He did note that the feature just seems to be broken for the time being, speculating that it could be some missing shaders that are the problem. McDonald also found that with the ray tracing enabled, the game still uses screen space reflections in water, which means the geometry isn't rendered twice so it isn't too intensive performance wise.
Ray tracing is obviously an exciting prospect, but what's more intriguing are the new references to maps that didn't exist prior to the update. As shared by another dataminer, Sekiro Dubi, these new maps are labelled m20 and m45, neither of which are currently attached to an area that can be visited.
The m20 reference appears to follow in line with the number system for the legacy dungeons in the game, as m10 is Stormveil, and m11 is Leyndell, leading up to m19, stone platform. What m45 might be for is unknown right now, as there are no numbers that correspond with it, so it could be a whole new section that players visit.
These map references aren't the only ones that appear to be pointing towards DLC preparation, as it appears that an explicit reference to DLC01 has been made, but of course until an official announcement is made this is mostly just speculation (thanks, Eurogamer).