As this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) approaches, we’re starting to see teasers and previews of what will be discussed at the sessions starting March 18th. We had already seen Microsoft’s DirectX “State of the Union” and announcements. A preview of something called DirectSR, which is speculated to be a new hardware-agnostic upscaler. Microsoft admits that this is not entirely the case, but could be more helpful.
Microsoft further elaborates on DirectSR in a post on the DirectX developer blog, calling it “a long-awaited feature that developers have been waiting for” when it comes to integrating super-resolution capabilities (more commonly referred to as upscalers) into DirectX games. “The missing link.”
The new API was designed in partnership with GPU hardware vendors and allows you to activate many different upscaling solutions with a single code path. This includes some of the biggest names you might expect. Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR, and Intel XeSS are all listed as supported. This new API is said to be available soon in the Agility SDK for developers to test and provide feedback.
Implementation of upscalers by multiple providers has been spotty at times, with AMD partner Starfield only receiving support for FSR 3 and XeSS a few months after launch, with even later integration of DLSS 3, etc. , anomalies occasionally occur.
Something that streamlines the process and makes it easier to integrate multiple upscalers into DirectX games, not just for developers but also for those who expect multiple upscaler options in new or hardware-demanding releases. It will be a great advantage for you.
Nvidia put its own spin on this special Sacramento in 2022 with an open source solution called Nvidia Streamline. In this case, it became an interface between the game and the rendering API, and served as a plug-and-play solution for adding an upscaler to rendering. A path that includes support for both DirectX and Vulcan.
However, since AMD did not add FSR support (despite leaving that door open for open source apps as “Hardware Vendor #3”), many developers are simply using the DLSS API I chose to use it alone.
Considering that DirectSR is an API provided directly from Microsoft’s DirectX team, this particular bridge between supported games and various upscalers appears to offer a more universal solution. . It uses a graphics settings menu to find the best balance between performance and image quality for your particular machine.
After all, more choice is usually a good thing, and if DirectSR turns out to be the missing link Microsoft says, it might not be long before universal upscaler support becomes the norm. yeah.
