DLSS upscaling + DLAA (native ML anti-aliasing) on NVIDIA RTX -- licence/Linux gate first #670

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opened 2026-10-11 06:01:58 +00:00 by sky_line · 0 comments

sky_line commented

2026-10-11 06:01:58 +00:00

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Add NVIDIA DLSS as an upscaler option, and DLAA (DLSS at native resolution, i.e. ML anti-aliasing with no upscaling) as an AA option, on NVIDIA RTX hardware.

Why

Owner preference: TAA gives the best edge anti-aliasing of the options we have, but its shimmer is hard to manage. FSR 3.1 Native AA (RenderVKUpscaler 1) has its own problems. DLAA is generally regarded as the best temporal AA available: a trained model decides history rejection, so it shows less shimmer and less ghosting than hand-tuned TAA clamps.

Integration

Reuse the FSR plumbing (#184 / RenderVKUpscaler):

jittered main view
motion vectors from the depth pre-pass
depth
exposure (we have auto-exposure)
reactive / transparency masks: we generate mReact for TAA/FSR
the render-scale tiers

Integrate through NVIDIA Streamline or the DLSS SDK's Vulkan path (NGX). Required device extensions and features have to be enabled at device creation; check what NGX requires.

Settings

Upscaler: add DLSS, with tiers Quality / Balanced / Performance / Ultra Performance / DLAA (native).
AA: offer DLAA directly under Anti-aliasing, so users don't have to think about "upscalers".
Fall back to TAA/FSR automatically on non-RTX GPUs, or when NGX fails to initialise. Log the reason.

Must check first (decision gate)

Licence: the DLSS SDK / Streamline licence terms for redistribution with an LGPL viewer. The binaries are closed (nvngx_dlss .dll / .so); confirm we may bundle them in our Windows installer/zip and our Linux tarball, Flatpak, AUR and .deb. Check the attribution and notice requirements.
Linux: native Vulkan DLSS on Linux (driver-provided NGX vs bundled .so) and Flatpak sandbox access to it.
Interaction with our denoisers: RT shadows are denoised before AA (#85, #666, project direction: shadows must not rely on TAA/FSR). DLSS should only need to anti-alias, not clean up noise.
Interaction with our post chain: DoF, motion blur and glow ordering vs the FSR insertion point, and HDR / exposure inputs.

Related: #246 (FSR-only AA), #434 (sharpening placement), the XeSS exploration ticket.

Add **NVIDIA DLSS** as an upscaler option, and **DLAA** (DLSS at native resolution, i.e. ML anti-aliasing with no upscaling) as an AA option, on NVIDIA RTX hardware. ## Why Owner preference: TAA gives the best edge anti-aliasing of the options we have, but its shimmer is hard to manage. FSR 3.1 Native AA (`RenderVKUpscaler 1`) has its own problems. DLAA is generally regarded as the best temporal AA available: a trained model decides history rejection, so it shows less shimmer and less ghosting than hand-tuned TAA clamps. ## Integration Reuse the FSR plumbing (#184 / `RenderVKUpscaler`): - jittered main view - motion vectors from the depth pre-pass - depth - exposure (we have auto-exposure) - reactive / transparency masks: we generate `mReact` for TAA/FSR - the render-scale tiers Integrate through **NVIDIA Streamline** or the DLSS SDK's Vulkan path (NGX). Required device extensions and features have to be enabled at device creation; check what NGX requires. ## Settings - **Upscaler:** add DLSS, with tiers Quality / Balanced / Performance / Ultra Performance / DLAA (native). - **AA:** offer DLAA directly under Anti-aliasing, so users don't have to think about "upscalers". - Fall back to TAA/FSR automatically on non-RTX GPUs, or when NGX fails to initialise. Log the reason. ## Must check first (decision gate) 1. **Licence:** the DLSS SDK / Streamline licence terms for redistribution with an **LGPL** viewer. The binaries are closed (`nvngx_dlss` .dll / .so); confirm we may bundle them in our Windows installer/zip and our Linux tarball, Flatpak, AUR and .deb. Check the attribution and notice requirements. 2. **Linux:** native Vulkan DLSS on Linux (driver-provided NGX vs bundled .so) and Flatpak sandbox access to it. 3. **Interaction with our denoisers:** RT shadows are denoised before AA (#85, #666, project direction: shadows must not rely on TAA/FSR). DLSS should only need to anti-alias, not clean up noise. 4. **Interaction with our post chain:** DoF, motion blur and glow ordering vs the FSR insertion point, and HDR / exposure inputs. Related: #246 (FSR-only AA), #434 (sharpening placement), the XeSS exploration ticket.

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2026-10-11 06:01:58 +00:00

sky_line added this to the Slipstream project

2026-10-11 06:01:58 +00:00

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