Modders got Nvidia's controversial DLSS 5 running early, and it's a huge performance hit

Modders have successfully enabled Nvidia's controversial DLSS 5 technology in Control before its official release, revealing a significant performance hit. DLSS 5 uses AI to render images with enhanced realism through neural rendering, a method that infers new lighting details using 2D frames and motion vectors. The DLL, which is the largest of any DLSS DLL at 158MB, primarily contains neural training weights, suggesting it is an unfinished build.

Despite the DLL not explicitly mentioning DLSS 5 or being officially supported by NBA 2K27, modders quickly adapted the technology to work in Control. The mod features customization sliders that allow users to tweak DLSS 5's effects, revealing that it significantly alters lighting, adds or deepens shadows, simulates new skin shading techniques, and enhances realism.

However, the technology appears to incur a performance penalty, with frame rates dropping from 71 fps to 35 fps on an RTX 5070 Ti at 4K when the mod is activated. The mod demonstrates that DLSS 5 might significantly impact performance, depending on Nvidia's optimization efforts before its planned fall release.