NVIDIA DLSS SDK Released, Lets Devs Integrate It In Custom/Proprietary Engines; New Sharpening Slider and Auto-Exposure Options Added

Jul 20, 2021 at 09:00am EDT
Streamline NVIDIA DLSS NVIDIA Invites Developers To Test Experimental DLSS Models Directly From Company's Supercomputer NVIDIA DLSS 2.5

The NVIDIA DLSS SDK is now freely available for download from this page. Previously, developers had to apply before they could get access to it. Unlike the official Unreal Engine or Unity plugins, the DLSS SDK is meant to be used with custom and/or proprietary engines.

New features of this release (version 2.2.1) also include some additional options available to game developers.

Related Story CachyOS Proton Can Now Download DLSS Files To Enable FSR 4 In More Linux Games
  • Added Sharpening Slider – Developers can now add a slider to adjust sharpness, enabling users to make the image sharper or softer based on their own personal preferences.
  • Added Support for Linux – Developers can now integrate DLSS in Linux games and applications.
  • Added Auto-Exposure Option - DLSS is able to automatically calculate exposure values. This feature can potentially improve the image quality of low contrast scenes.
  • Bug Fixes & Stability Improvements

These are the system requirements for the DLSS SDK, by the way.

Operating Systems
Windows 10 64-bit
DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010)
Linux Ubuntu 18.04 or 20.04
Dependencies
NVIDIA RTX GPU
NVIDIA DLSS SDK requires R470 driver or newer.
Development Environment
Visual Studio 2017 v15.6 or later
Linux: Visual Studio Code, gcc and g++ 8.4.0 or newer
Engine Requirements
  • DirectX11, DirectX 12, or Vulkan based
  • Additional note for Vulkan: The Vulkan path of DLSS expects the application to run on a Vulkan version 1.1 or later.
  • On each evaluate call (i.e. each frame), provide:
  • The raw color buffer for the frame (in HDR or LDR/SDR space).
  • Screen space motion vectors that are: accurate and calculated at 16 or 32 bits per-pixel; and updated each frame.
  • The depth buffer for the frame.
  • The exposure value (if processing in HDR space).

The public availability of the DLSS SDK could potentially mean a much broader adoption of NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling technology, even when it comes to unofficial implementations. In fact, programmer and modder DarioSamo, creator of the Super Mario 64 PC port with ray tracing, quickly jumped on the bandwagon to implement DLSS into his project.

Later, he added via Twitter:

Alright, for real, the feature needs a lot more work on the UI side and tweaks. It'll likely take a few days until I figure out the licensing side and how to integrate it into the open source build tool.

But I'm getting results. And they're really good.

Their documentation and debugging tools are very good, and sm64rt already had most of the information that DLSS needs. Your mileage may vary on how easy it is depending on your engine.

Given how fast AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is gaining support, this is great news for NVIDIA. GeForce RTX owners may soon be able to choose between DLSS and FSR in many, many games and mods.

About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.

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