Nvidia has been working on improvements to Deep Learning supersampling (DLSS) since the original version launched way back in 2018 and it looks like it's going to double down on supporting the feature.
Nvidia recently announced during GTC 2021 that Unity will support DLSS natively later this year. While the company is enthusiastic about releasing the feature natively through Unity, it didn't confirm an exact date when developers and fans alike can expect the support.
Unity will become the second major game engine to integrate DLSS since Epic Games' Unreal Engine adopted the image upscaling technology. PC gamers who own GeForce RTX graphics cards will be able to boost fps on the majority of future titles with Unity supporting DLSS natively later this year. Integrating DLSS with Unity will apparently make adding the feature to Unreal Engine much simpler for developers at Epic Games, making it as simple to implement as "a few clicks."
The original version of DLSS released way back in 2018, but things ramped up when the second version released earlier this year. DLSS 2.0 doubles the frame rate in titles such as Outriders, Fortnite, and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which can make the difference between life and death in intense multiplayer combat. DLSS 2.0 also helps reduce the graphical sacrifices that developers are familiar with from the original DLSS, particularly the ray tracing performance tax, making it more likely that future titles will support ray tracing.
AMD fans will be left in the dust when native DLSS support releases for the Unity engine as they wait for the company's answer to DLSS with FidelityFX. AMD hasn't provided a specific release date for its supersampling technology, but it's also expected later this year. While AMD is slow to arrive at the DLSS party, Nvidia optimized the software with DLSS 2.0 and continues to make improvements that will benefit developers and fans alike.
PC gamers running on dated machines have until the end of the year to upgrade to a GeForce RTX graphics card if they want to reap the rewards of Unity's upcoming native support for DLSS. Considering native DLSS support is coming to Unity later this year and AMD's FidelityFX is expected later this year, it will be interesting to see which rolls out first. Epic Games' Unreal Engine has been utilizing Nvidia's DLSS through the use of a plugin, but this change coming to Unity is expected to improve the development experience, making it more enticing to countless studios.
Source: PC Games N