How to get the best image quality using DLDSR+DLSS

[Bob Scott 7,721]

Reposted by admin--original post by @Cpt_Piett and discussion at:

 

Hello fellow MSFS'ers!

Here's a guide on improving image quality for those using DLSS. 

Goal: to get the best image quality without a significant impact on performance. 

Useful for: those with Nvidia RTX GPUs. A section of the guide pertain to DLSS3 for those with RTX 40 Series GPUs.

1. What is DLDSR?

Quote

DLDSR is an AI super sampling feature to upscale your games with keeping quality up. It is limited to only RTX cards as it utilizes their Tensor cores and capabilities.

Deep learning dynamic super resolution utilizes the Tensor cores in RTX GPUs, in order to upscale the image to a higher than native monitor resolution. It then downsamples the image to fit the monitor. Whilst doing so it enhances the detail, edges, and shimmering of the image. With the advanced AI-tech included in DLDSR, Nvidia promises that the performance impact is only half compared to the much older DSR technology. 

There is a caveat though: For G-Sync to work, MSFS resolution need to be set at the same as Windows resolution. 

2. What does DLSS have to do with this?

Used in combination with DLDSR, DLSS can mitigate performance loss whilst still enabling a very high image quality. Especially when using DLSS super resolution in ultra quality mode (see below).

Opinions of which is the better alternative - DLSS vs TAA - differ wildly, both on this forum as well as out there on the world wide web. I find that there's very little perceivable difference. According to an oct '23 article from PC Guide, DLSS could provide better results in some scenarios: 

Quote

TAA is good but not better than DLSS. That’s because TAA can also introduce some problems, such as blurring, ghosting, and temporal artifacts. It can muddle the picture massively due to its temporal components. Hence, when something is moving, the image gets very blurred. This is especially true with lower resolutions, or when features like motion blur or depth of field are turned off.

Besides, DLSS is a relatively new technology which is continuously updated by Nvidia. 

3. How to enable DLDSR:

Enable the first two options under DSR - Factors in global settings in Nvidia control panel:

Restart the PC, start MSFS. It's now possible to use two higher resolutions than the native monitor's resolution. If you have a 4K 3840x2160 monitor, the two new available resolutions are 5461x2880 and 6144x3240. The difference in total pixels is huge:

3840x2160 = 8,3 megapixels

5461x2880 = 15,7 megapixels

6144x3240 = 19,9 megapixels

I've found that the highest resolution (2.25x native) will increase the GPU load significantly, increasing temperature and fan noise. Thus, I use 5461x2880. 

4. How to enable DLSS ultra quality in MSFS?

In MSFS graphics settings under DLSS, it's possible to choose from several alternatives, ranging from ultra performance to quality. The latter option downscales the image to 0.67x the rendered resolution. However, when using the latest DLSS version, another alternative can be chosen: ultra quality, which only downscales to 0.80x. 

This process of implementing this is a two-step process that involves 1) updating the DLSS version and 2) changing some settings in Nvidia profile inspector. Besides using DLSS ultra quality, there are other good reasons for updating to the latest DLSS version. Even though MSFS was featured by Nvidia when introducing DLSS3 in September 2022, the DLSS version in MSFS is outdated. Current version in MSFS is 2.4.12.0, if I'm not mistaken. The most recent Nvidia version is however 3.5.10.0. Why download the most recent version? Because newer versions of DLSS usually bring improvements in image quality, performance, or both.

5. How to update DLSS version?

The easiest way is to use the app DLSS swapper that can be found on github. This will only give benefits when not using frame generation though. For those that want FG in combination with the latest improvements in DLSS, the method is to manually replace the current MSFS DLSS version with the most recent one, which can be found here. Step by step process:

5.1) First make a backup copy of C:\XboxGames\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Content\nvngx_dlssg.dll. I just renamed the file to nvngx_dlssg.dll.old.

5.2) Then extract the file from the downloaded .zip into C:\XboxGames\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Content\ and choose replace.

5.3) To double-check if you have the latest version, download GPU_Z, navigate in the top menu to advanced - NVIDIA DLSS, then start scanning. When finished, it will show the active DLSS version for MSFS (and other games/apps). 

Note: This procedure has to be repeated when updating MSFS (sim updates etc.). 

6. Using Nvidia Profile Inspector to enable DLSS ultra quality in MSFS

This step involves changing some settings in profile inspector. For those who haven't used inspector before, it might seem a little overwhelming at first. I suggest watching a tutorial first to get familiar with the interface. Step by step process:

6.1) download version 2.4.0.4 of inspector on GitHub

6.2) go to issue #156 - DLSS related setting added - and download CustomSettingNames-DLSS.zip, or just use this link

6.3) extract into inspector folder (the folder where nvidiaProfileInspector.exe resides)

6.4) set the following settings as follows in inspector global profile under section 5 - Common:

7. How to use force resizable BAR on in MSFS?

While in inspector, I'd also recommend forcing rBAR on. This does not improve image quality, but can improve performance: 

Quote

Resizable BAR essentially makes the entirety of the graphics frame buffer accessible to the CPU at once; where it could once sip, it now guzzles. The idea is that once textures, shaders and geometry are loading in faster, games should run faster with higher frame rates.

Resizable BAR is available for those with RTX30 GPUs (or later) combined with either an AMD Ryzen 5000 (or later) CPU or Intel 10th-generation (or later) CPU and corresponding motherboard. 

How to force rBAR on? Set these as following (also section 5 - Common):

8. Some added tweaks 

8.1 While I'm at it, I'd also recommend setting anisotropic filtering to 16x in Nvidia control panel (MSFS-specific section), then setting it to off in the sim. This might lead to a better result than using the default sim option. 

8.2 Tweaking UserCfg.opt settings. The file can be found here: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache. Open the file in notepad or Notepad++ then navigate to the PostProcess section. For those struggling with pixelated/grainy images (especially seen in clouds), I'd suggest changing FilmGrain from 1 to 0. To minimize the risk of seeing a halo effect around objects (trees, buildings), change Fringe from 1 to 0. Finally, for much better shadow quality, go to the section called Shadows and change from default 2048 to either 4096 or 6144. 

Conclusion: 

I find that I get a very high image quality using these techniques in combination. Cockpit instruments are crisp and easy to read and I don't have any ghosting on speedtapes etc. 

Hopefully someone finds this guide useful. It's lengthy and quite wordy as it's basically a summery of various youtube videos from IslandSimPilot and OverKillSimulations put into one place on this forum.