A hot potato: While Remedy's Control was the first game to receive a DLSS 5 mod after the controversial technology leaked earlier this week, modders quickly added it to every game they could think of. Although the AI-powered renderer remains divisive, a new flood of screenshots and videos has strengthened accusations that DLSS 5 is an "AI slop filter."
A new version of the RenoDX modding tool, available through the developer's Discord server, allows users to apply a leaked build of Nvidia's upcoming DLSS 5 to any game that supports high-quality upscaling. The mod's rapid spread effectively amounts to an early release of arguably Nvidia's most ambitious and polarizing software product in recent memory.
When the company unveiled DLSS 5 in March using a handful of games, observers sharply criticized the technology for drastically altering in-game graphics in pursuit of photorealism. Opponents accused Nvidia of paving over developers' original artistic visions with AI-generated graphics that adhere to a generic style reminiscent of AI-generated imagery.
The company defended DLSS 5 by promising that game developers could tweak its impact, stating that more optimization work remained before the technology's planned release this fall. However, earlier this week, an unfinished DLL file containing DLSS 5's training weights appeared in NBA 2K27's installation files, which modders promptly applied to dozens of games.
While the leaked implementation initially supported only RTX 50-series graphics cards, a version quickly appeared for RTX 40-series GPUs.
Screenshots showing shocking results spread from the RenoDX Discord server as various YouTubers posted comparisons and benchmark videos. Depending on how it is applied, DLSS 5 can clash with a game's original art direction while cutting frame rates in half.
In most cases, such as in Control, the technology adds new shadows and deepens existing ones. One of the most controversial effects is its ability to simulate more realistic skin textures, which might not suit certain games with a stylized art direction, such as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Still, viewers should note that every screenshot and video released so far represents the work of modders applying the technology to games that were not designed for it. RenoDX's sliders give modders control over DLSS 5's intensity, so while some images garishly pursue photorealism at all costs, others take a lighter touch.
Furthermore, analysis indicates that only one of Nvidia's three planned presets is currently available, so the final release might offer greater flexibility. Ultimately, game developers and artists will determine DLSS 5's fate if they choose to incorporate it into their creative vision.
Nvidia DLSS 5 is getting modded into just about every game, often with hilarious results
