FSR 4 for everyone? OptiScaler makes it possible – with restrictions

It’s a familiar game: New upscaling technology is presented, big promises are made – and in the end, the whole thing is exclusive to the latest GPUs. With FSR 4, AMD has painted itself into exactly this corner and only released the feature for the Radeon RX 9000 series. Older cards? Tough luck. NVIDIA or Intel GPUs? Not a chance. But luckily there is a modding community that doesn’t let such artificial restrictions slow them down. With OptiScaler, an open source tool, the exclusive upscaling technology is now virtually “unlocked”. But before the champagne corks pop: The whole thing has its pitfalls.

What does OptiScaler actually do?

OptiScaler is basically an API translator. If a game actually only supports DLSS 2 or XeSS, OptiScaler intervenes, tricks the game into thinking it is still dealing with NVIDIA or Intel, and sends AMD’s FSR 4 into the race instead. A clever solution from a technical point of view – but also a potential stumbling block from a practical point of view, as it depends heavily on how well the game reacts to the intervention. According to initial tests, however, it actually seems to work: Cyberpunk 2077, which officially supports neither FSR 3.1 nor FSR 4, ran with OptiScaler on a Radeon RX 9070 XT at over 60 FPS in 1440p. A sign that the tool is doing its job – at least in certain scenarios.

These games work with OptiScaler (at least partially)

The developer has published an initial list of titles that have been tested with OptiScaler. As expected, this is not always a plug-and-play solution, but in some cases involves adjustments:

• Cyberpunk 2077 – Only with FSR or XeSS input; unstable under Windows 10
• Atomic Heart – Works with DLSS input
• Baldur’s Gate 3 – DLSS input required, but Vulkan version often runs better without upscaler
• Control – Apparently works without problems
• Ghost of Tsushima – Must run via FSR3 input
• Dragon’s Dogma II – Set FGType=nofg, otherwise chaos
• Red Dead Redemption 2 – Only in DX12 mode
• The Witcher 3 Next Gen – Uses XeSS as base

A total of 22 games are on the list – for now. Depending on how the project develops (and whether AMD might not put a stop to it after all), more or fewer titles could follow.

https://x.com/highyieldYT/status/1899086374923337834

Technological freedom or a mess with an announcement?

OptiScaler is once again a prime example of how artificial restrictions in the tech world often only last until a few clever minds get to work. The idea of simply replacing one upscaler with another sounds logical at first – but in practice, it remains to be seen how stable and efficient the whole thing really is. After all, such a tool is always a hack – not in the security sense, but because it represents a solution that the games never intended. So anyone hoping to get FSR 4 running in any title with a simple click of the mouse will probably be disappointed. But for tinkerers who want to get the most out of their hardware, OptiScaler is definitely an exciting project.

It’s great that it works. But whether it really makes sense is another matter.

Source: Videocardz