DLSS 5 mod uses foveated rendering to boost ultrawide performance

FoveatedDLSS5, a ReShade add-on developed by maximedgoulet, applies a technique borrowed from VR headsets to reduce the workload of neural rendering on ultrawide monitors. It maintains full resolution in the center of the screen and lowers it toward the edges, where peripheral vision detects less detail.

The modder reported that The Witcher 3 improved from 49 FPS to about 80 FPS on an RTX 4090 at 7680×2160 with 2x multipass, a gain of over 60%. At default settings on a 7680×2160 panel, neural rendering processes about 71% of the original pixels.

Benefits are more limited at smaller resolutions. Defaults retain 93% of the pixels at 4K, while the mod disables itself at 3440×1440. Users with 16:9 and 21:9 displays should shrink the center zone to benefit.

The add-on remains a pre-release tested in one game. It requires neural rendering to run after upscaling, making it incompatible with the Neural Upstream trick. A similar project, CheekyFoveatedDLSS, has been available since early September and supports eye-tracked foveation for VR headsets.