As much as we hate it, scaling technologies are playing an increasingly important role in new games. Games are really demanding (more or less legal) and often times we just can’t do without upscaling. Moreover, at best, upscaling can provide image quality comparable to native resolution, and usually with better anti-aliasing. There are several technologies, but apart from TSR from Unreal Engine 5, there are three main ones:
DLSS from Nvidia, which started the whole wave. It offers the highest image quality and often the best performance boost, but only works on that manufacturer’s cards and only RTX 20 and above.
Then comes AMD FSR 2, where the second version needs special mention because the first one was very bad (it should be added that the first version of DLSS was just as bad, but the second version replaced it in April 2020, long before the first FSR was released). FSR 2 performs significantly better, and its advantage is that it works on video cards from all three manufacturers. It does not require special blocks, as in DLSS, which uses Tensor cores. On the other hand, the image quality is worse, which is especially noticeable when using lower modes or the target resolution. FSR 2 often produces a so-called flicker, especially on vegetation, which just makes an unpleasant “hum”.
The latest addition at the moment is XeSS from Intel. A technology that actually has two versions. The best option, using XMX cores, only works with Intel’s Arc cards. The second version is slightly worse, but uses the DP4a instruction set and works on video cards from all manufacturers. DP4a XeSS quickly proved to be an alternative to FSR, which, moreover, has recently outperformed XeSS, although little is said about it. For example, in Cyberpunk 2077, Remnant 2 or Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, XeSS provides much better image quality.
If the game comes out with support for all these upscaling technologies, then the situation is ideal, everyone can choose. Owners of Nvidia cards (at least since RTX 20) will of course choose DLSS which is the best in almost all cases, others I would recommend using XeSS if available. But here’s the problem, not every game has these options. And now we’re not just talking about smaller games, but relatively important ones like Resident Evil 4 Remake, Dead Island 2 or Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. They all have one thing in common – they are sponsored by AMD and only support FSR 2.
AMD has repeatedly refused to comment on the situation, but I would really chalk up the silence in this case to the fact that the company is blocking other technologies. If not, then she had enough time to refute it. This is indeed a very anti-client approach in my opinion, but I came across quite a few comments trying to defend AMD’s move for some reason, which I find rather absurd. Yes, Nvidia has made a bunch of such unsuccessful decisions during its existence, but it also deserved criticism for this, most recently the lack of VRAM in video cards (where AMD, on the contrary, is very generous). But this, of course, is no reason for AMD to do something like that.
I have often encountered arguments that FSR works everywhere, so other technologies are not needed, and their implementation would take more time. Yes, FSR works everywhere, but it gives worse image quality, so those who could use a different technology still lose. Which, after all, is basically for anyone with a DP4a-enabled card, because, as has been said here, XeSS is usually much better than FSR in quality. AMD itself boasts that FSR is open, so why doesn’t it allow XeSS to be implemented, which also works on cards from all three manufacturers? The implementation is not really difficult. Developer Nico van Bentum of Nixxes (authors of the PC ports of both Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart) confirmed on Twitter that all three APIs are so similar that it makes no sense to implement just one. Once one technology is in the game, the next one isn’t a problem, especially since both DLSS and XeSS are part of Nvidia’s Streamline package, which makes adoption even easier (AMD has opted out of it, so it doesn’t include FSR). ).
It can be said that AMD is blocking both technologies simply because they are competitors. In this case, it should be noted that games sponsored by Intel or Nvidia are not limited to the technologies of these companies only. Nvidia also confirmed this in a statement to Wccftech magazine, where it stated that it does not actually block FSR, XeSS, or other forms of upscaling.
We have a relatively simple wrapper for DLSS, FSR2 and XeSS. Currently, all three APIs are so similar that there really is no justification for this.
— Nico van Bentum (@mempodev) June 27, 2023
And that brings us to Bethesda’s massive RPG Starfield, which is out in just a few weeks and is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated games of the year. Unfortunately, we know that it has a partnership with AMD, and while there is no indication that the game will support DLSS or XeSS, FSR is of course confirmed. No one from AMD or Bethesda has commented on the situation, and Twitter user Sebastian Castellanos shared informationthat he found no evidence of DLSS or XeSS in the Starfield files. Like FSR 3, a technology that was introduced last November and is supposed to provide frame generation (just like Nvidia’s Frame Gen), but hasn’t been released yet. Her absence would be quite a loss for Starfield, as it is likely to be a very resource intensive game where frame generation can help a lot.
So after looking at the Starfield preload files on PC, I don’t see any sign of DLSS/XeSS support. If true, I think it will get a lot of backlash from Bethesda and AMD (due to their refusal to confirm if they block competing GPU vendor technologies in their sponsored games). pic.twitter.com/U67On3x6Kt
— Sebastian Castellanos (@Sebasti66855537) August 18, 2023
In short, the situation is very bad and, unfortunately, there are no signs yet that AMD intends to change its tactics. So the players have to help themselves. PureDark, who created the DLSS implementation for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, even got a copy of Starfield for review and has already promised to have a mod with DLSS upscaling and Frame Gene by release day. But this is not an ideal way, because a not quite native upscaling implementation can cause, for example, an unstable UI (see mod for RE4). We can only hope that AMD will rethink its strategy in the future and start allowing developers to support all technologies. Players will only benefit from this.
The guy who mods DLSS 3+2 into Starfield got a copy of the game to review. it’s fun pic.twitter.com/7OFSlyiQPM
— Dante (@HysonicValve) August 18, 2023
What do you think of the whole situation? Does the lack of DLSS and XeSS in games bother you?
Source :Indian TV
