Gentlemen, we meet yet again. It's only been a week since the last time I wrote an article about Optiscaler, but development on the mod is happening at such a rapid pace that I once again have some updates to share with you. This time, it's AMD's Ray Regeneration that's getting the Optiscaler treatment. Thanks to a fork of the mod created by contributor DarkHelmet, you can now swap Nvidia's Ray Reconstruction for AMD's legally distinct Ray Regeneration denoiser. This is huge news, since currently there's a grand total of two titles with support for Ray Regen, and one of them isn't out till the 19th.
AMD Redstone Realized In All Its Glory
Now, just to be clear, this isn't related to the work done on the mainline release of Optiscaler, but rather a fork created by DarkHelmet that includes Ray Regeneration injection functionality. As of right now, it only works in Cyberpunk. I tried injecting it into Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but without success.
Cool, But How Does It Work?
Last time I posted an article about Optiscaler, it was for the Vulkan update. I pretty much hand-waved the technical explanation for the mod's implementation away, given that I don't really know much about the whole thing myself. This time, I've managed to cobble together some basic understanding from what details Darkhelmet has shared on Discord. The high-level overview is that he's attached the Ray Regeneration process to the upscaling pipeline, with a quote "fatass conversion shader" in front, that turns all the inputs and data meant for Nvidia's RR into formats compatible with AMD's RR. He also mentions the work needed in terms of composition and input modulation.
Installation Process
At the request of TheRazerMD, here's a couple of disclaimers: Right now, Ray Regeneration via Optiscaler only works for RDNA 4 cards. The same is true for FSR 4.1, with the exception of RDNA 3 cards on Linux only. Furthermore, this fork of Optiscaler is developed independently by DarkHelmet, and is extremely WIP with specific tuning for Cyberpunk; implementations in the future may need tuning on a per game basis. Now, I'll briefly explain the installation process for Cyberpunk 2077, with the expectation that some background knowledge on installation for Optiscaler is needed.
Grab the latest Optiscaler test build from the discord. You'll also need the compiled Optiscaler.dll file provided by Dr. House, linked here, as well as FSR 4.1 (you need to be in the Discord to open those links). Finally, you'll need the dll file for Ray Regeneration, provided in FSR SDK v2.1.1. Download the minimal package, extract, then find the dll file here: Kits > FidelityFX > signedbin > amd_fidelityfx_framegeneration_dx12.dll.
Copy the extracted files from the Opti test build over to Cyberpunk's game executable folder. Then, replace Optiscaler.dll with the compiled Optiscaler.dll for the Ray Regeneration fork. Copy over the amdxcffx64.dll file for FSR 4.1 and amd_fidelityfx_framegeneration_dx12.dll. Then run windows_setup, choosing the default options with Nvidia spoofing enabled (no Optipatcher). Once in-game, enable Path Tracing and turn DLSS Ray Reconstruction on. Then, in the Optiscaler menu, choose FSR Ray Regeneration and FSR 4.1.0 as your upscalers.
Image Quality
Ray Regeneration far exceeds the default denoiser in several key areas. The most significant upgrade it provides is in richer global illumination, with more realistic indirect illumination. It also provides greater clarity in reflections, especially for metallic textures (as you can see in the video I've provided below). Finally, it enhances the interaction of light with volumetrics like the fog in the first scene, providing improved diffusion.
There is a caveat, though (and a caveat to the caveat). The caveat is that Ray Regeneration introduces what can be best described as a sort of "wobbling" instability. Something between shimmering and noise, it doesn't look great, and is a surprising regression when compared to the default denoiser. The caveat to the caveat is that this is still an unofficial implementation stitched together by DarkHelmet. This artifacting could simply be the product of whatever translation is happening to get Ray Regeneration working off of Ray Reconstruction inputs. That same translation process also means that Ray Regeneration is a total performance hog when used this way.
Regardless, this is still really exciting stuff. With AMD's RX 9000 series of graphics cards having usable path tracing performance, being able to turn on Ray Regen in games that don't officially support it is pretty cool. I'm hoping for an official Optiscaler test build with this newest feature, and I'll revisit Ray Regeneration if that happens with an expanded test suite.
About the author: Rayan is an aspiring Computer Engineer, currently pursuing his undergraduate studies. He built his first computer in the pandemic, and has been hooked on the hobby ever since. He brings a unique blend of academic knowledge and technical know-how to his articles, which include everything from detailed instructional guides to performance comparisons in wccftech hardware section. When not stressing out over finals or writing articles, you can find him reading fantasy books or hitting the gym.
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