Modders have brought foveated rendering, a technique known from virtual reality headsets, to Nvidia's DLSS 5 Neural Rendering on ordinary monitors. FoveatedDLSS5, an open-source ReShade add-on created by developer maximedgoulet, keeps the centre of the screen at full resolution and lowers resolution toward the edges, cutting the AI processing cost on ultrawide and super-ultrawide displays.
How it works: squeezing and stretching the frame
Because DLSS 5 Neural Rendering processes each frame at a single fixed resolution, the add-on works around the limitation by squeezing the frame before processing and stretching the result back to the original resolution. At the default configuration, at 7680 × 2160, the working grid drops to 5540 × 2132 — about 71% of the original pixels go through the neural network — while the game keeps rendering at its configured resolution. The settings are adjustable: a default centre zone of 3000 × 1800 pixels, a 400-pixel fall-off and an edge resolution of 0.50, with automatic switch-off when the saving would fall below 5%.
Test result: 49 to 80 FPS, with caveats
In the only test disclosed by the developer so far, The Witcher 3 at 7680 × 2160 on a GeForce RTX 4090 with two Neural Rendering passes jumped from about 49 FPS to over 80 FPS, a gain of roughly 63%. The classification matters: these are figures reported by the mod's own creator, still in pre-release and tested in a single game — not independent benchmarks, and no results have been disclosed for other GPUs or resolutions.
It is not the first project of its kind: CheekyFoveatedDLSS, originally created for UEVR, already offers foveated processing for DLSS Super Resolution and experimental DLSS 5 support, with optional eye tracking to move the full-quality area with the player's gaze. The scene shows how far DLSS 5 modding has come, having already brought unofficial support to GeForce RTX 40, 30 and 20 series GPUs, as well as AMD and Intel hardware.
Image credit: game screenshot via TweakTown, illustrating the foveated rendering of FoveatedDLSS5.
Sources: VideoCardz — Modders bring VR-style foveated rendering to DLSS 5; TweakTown — Modder brings foveated rendering to DLSS 5; GitHub — FoveatedDLSS5, releases.
Transparency: this article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on cross-checking public posts and the internet sources listed below. We recommend consulting the original sources to confirm the details.
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