Nvidia DLSS 5 Leaked Through NBA 2K27: Modders Test Controversial AI Upscaling With Mixed Results

DLSS 5 leaked and modders are putting Nvidia's AI effects on everything

Modders are trying out an unofficial version of Nvidia's DLSS 5 on Skyrim, Cyberpunk 2077, GTA V, and a bunch of other games after code for the AI upscaling tech appeared in an early-access build of NBA 2K27. Members of the RenoDX modding channel on Discord reportedly found a way to extract the DLSS "Neural Rendering" file and apply it to Control before it expanded to other games, as reported earlier by Notebook Check and VideoCardz. In one video, a person shows how Control protagonist Jesse Faden's facial features become more and less defined as they tweak various DLSS 5 settings enabled by the RenoDX modders. With the "Neural Uplift" setting disabled within the mod, Jesse's face has a smooth, uniform look. But as soon as the modder turns this feature on with one of the presets, her face becomes paler, with more visible laugh lines and what looks like more makeup smudged beneath her eyes. Another modder appears to have gotten the DLSS 5 tech working in GTA: San Andreas, where it seems to apply a filter effect to CJ's face and enhances textures across the city. It also makes shadows on CJ's face and his surrounding environment more pronounced, while the city's lighting changes from a warm to a cool tone as the modder adjusts one of the sliders. Several other videos are floating around the web as well, with the DLSS 5 mod bringing more definition to the cartoony look of a Palworld character and altering the intensity of shadows. There are countless other videos floating around on the web (with more likely to come). The modders trying out the mod say that it impacts game performance. One person trying out the mod with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth says it "halves" their frames per second (FPS) and that "swapping between presets eats a TON of vram." You can see the frames drop from 90 to 29 FPS as another modder adjusts the sliders in GTA V. Modders had the unofficial version of DLSS 5 running on RTX 50-series chips, but now some have gotten it working on RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 chips, too, according to VideoCardz. Much like the reveal of DLSS 5, reactions to the unofficial version of the tech are mixed. While some players think the filters improve the appearance of games, others call them AI slop and say they look too much like an "AI-enhanced" filter you'd apply to images. Nvidia first announced DLSS 5 in March, which uses AI to bring "photoreal lighting and materials" to game graphics in real-time. Demos showing DLSS 5 across Resident Evil Requiem, Starfield, and Hogwarts Legacy sparked immediate backlash, with many players complaining about characters' "yassified" or generic looks. Others raised concerns that it could alter a developer's vision for their characters, to which Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang responded by saying the tool "doesn't change the artistic control." DLSS 5 is set to officially launch this fall.

Glow-Up or AI Slop? Nvidia's Controversial DLSS 5 Leaks Early Through Mods

Nvidia's controversial DLSS 5, which will bring AI-powered photorealism to PC games, is expected to launch this fall. But it looks like the feature leaked early, paving the way for the modding community to experiment and add it to various games. The leak occurred via an early access version of NBA2K27, which contained a 158MB file called DLSSNR, a reference to neural rendering, the AI model Nvidia uses to power the feature. The file is also a dynamic link library (DLL), a software library that can be used by multiple programs. The community behind the RenoDX graphics mod toolkit began tinkering with the file and realized it could be used in the PC game Control to turn DLSS 5 on or off, according to VideoCardz. The community has created DLSS 5 mods for a growing crop of games, including The Last of Us Part II and Elden Ring, resulting in images and videos of the unreleased Nvidia feature flooding social media. The modders in the RenoDX Discord chat server say that the experimental DLSS 5 can only be used on RTX 5000-series GPUs, although some are figuring out how to use it on older RX 4000 GPUs. Another downside is that DLSS 5 can cause a game's frame rates to drop by 40-60%, depending on the title and GPU. The chat server has been circulating the required files to get the feature working and sharing mods for various games. So far, Nvidia hasn't responded to a request for comment. But ironically, the DLSS 5 leak might change some gamers' opinions about it, as some point to the impressive realism. But others say the feature still operates like a heavy photo filter and goes too far in altering the look of a character. "That's a different person, man," wrote one user on Reddit. Nvidia initially announced DLSS 5 in March, but it immediately faced a wave of backlash with many gamers complaining the feature threatened to add an "AI slop" filter to their games. In July, Nvidia re-pitched the technology, showcasing how DLSS 5 could add photorealism while preserving the game developer's artistic intent.

Exclusive: DLSS 5 has already been ported to work on RTX 4000 Series graphics cards -- incompatible CUDA instructions get patched to work on previous-gen hardware

Tom's Hardware has verified that modders have managed to get DLSS 5 up and running on RTX 4000 series graphics cards, following the leaked release of the DLSS 5 nvngx_dlssnr.dll yesterday, which saw modders flock to integrate it into other titles outside of Remedy Entertainment's Control. Yesterday, modders managed to get Nvidia's DLSS 5 running inside Control, and now in other titles. The early access version of NBA 2K27 contained a new file enabling the Neural Rendering technique, and has since been ported to other games. The RenoDX Discord server has been the center of action for all of the development of getting this early version of Neural Rendering to function on other pieces of software. The modification leverages both ReShade and RenoDX to essentially activate the additional files. While it's clearly an early look at the technology, one limitation of the current binary available has been that it only works with RTX 5000 Series Blackwell GPUs. This is even though the AI model contained within the DLL runs on FP8, which can be read and executed on previous-gen Ada Lovelace hardware. The reason behind the incompatibility (as TechPowerUp explained) is that certain CUDA binaries can only be read by Blackwell GPUs. However, intrepid RTX Remix modder "Uncle Burrito" has since patched the DLL file to get things working on Ada Lovelace hardware. "All I had to do was look into it to see what binaries it's actually using. Find the ones that aren't compatible with Ada, and then patch in fresh ones myself," the modder told Tom's Hardware. They continued to share that, since the nvngx_dlssnr.dll for NBA 2K27 was likely an early development build, Ada-equivalent binaries had likely not been built for it. Tom's Hardware has verified that Uncle Burrito's patch works when using an Nvidia RTX 4080, and that multiple versions of such a patch are in the works from other developers within the RenoDX Discord server. Currently, official DLSS 5 support on non-Blackwell hardware remains a question mark, though after seeing the work that modders have done to get things up and running on previous-generation hardware, Nvidia may choose to release it for previous-generation GPUs. Support for Ampere GPUs and older may pose a significant challenge, however, as the hardware does not have native FP8 support. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

Nvidia's DLSS 5 has leaked, and modders are already creating uncanny valley nightmares

* A leaked version of DLSS 5 has allowed modders to run the neural upscaling model in several games, producing uncanny, altered visuals. * The unfinished DLSS 5 build is creating freaky character faces and changing the vibe of games -- it's sometimes amusing but often terrifying. * This early version of DLSS 5 is extremely resource-intensive, and modders are reporting nearly a 50% performance loss. Back in March, there was a notable uproar about Nvidia's DLSS 5 and its generative AI upscaling, which takes things to the next level by actually altering how games look. Some called it a "yassification filter," while others called it just straight-up AI slop, prompting Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to tell everyone they're "completely wrong" about the tech. Fast-forward a few months and an unfinished version of DLSSS 5 has leaked through NBA 2K27's early access build, giving a glimpse as the uncanny valley abominations the technology is capable of creating. According to VideoCardz, modders identified the "nvngx_dlssnr.dll" libraryfile asversion 310.8.0.0 of NVIDIA DLSSNR, which contains the unreleased runtime for DLSS 5 Neural Rendering.Very quickly, the RenoDX modding community got to work and got DLSS 5 working in Control. Since then, modders have added DLSS 5 to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. There are even examples out there of the technology running in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. We might be entering gaming's AI slop era It's unclear if the final version of DLSS 5 will look this extreme The results in Control don't actually seem that bad, especially the changes to the surrounding environment (check it out in the video below), but when you look atCloud in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, things start to fall apart very quickly. CJ in GTA: San Andreas also looks pretty terrifying. Modders unlock experimental NVIDIA DLSS 5 hours after DLL discovery (image comparisons in Control) www.resetera.com/threads/16... -- NESbot (@nesbot.bsky.social) 2026-08-27T18:10:11.918Z DLSS 5 adds an uncanny filter to characters, with Cloud looking barely recognizable (amusingly, he resembles an Instagram influencer). And let's just ignore how DLSS 5 changes Skyrim's visual vibe almost entirely.It also seems that the unreleased version of DLSS 5 is ridiculously resource-intensive, with one modder on the RenoDX Discord server reporting an "almost 50 percent performance loss" (via Kotaku). It also seems that the unreleased version of DLSS 5 is ridiculously resource-intensive, with one modder on the RenoDX Discord server reporting an "almost 50 percent performance loss" (via Kotaku).It's worth noting that this is an unfinished version of DLSS 5, so while it's undeniably fun to poke fun at the AI upscaling tech, it's unclear if this is what the final version of the technology will look like. It's likely that games built from the ground up with DLSS 5 in mind will look way better. But on the other hand, maybe they won't, and we're about to enter gaming's AI slop era in a big way.

Modders got Nvidia's controversial DLSS 5 running early, and it's a huge performance hit

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. What we know so far: DLSS 5's neural rendering powered by AI is easily Nvidia's most controversial gaming product, sparking widespread derision when the company unveiled it in March. Nvidia has said little since beyond a vague "this fall" release window, but a recent leak suggests the company isn't just moving forward with DLSS 5, it could arrive sooner than expected. Data miners discovered what appears to be a DLL for Nvidia's upcoming DLSS 5 tech in NBA 2K27's installation files soon after the game's early access period started this week. While the basketball simulator does not yet officially support DLSS 5, modders have already begun testing its AI-generated "photorealism" filter in Control. While the DLL does not explicitly mention DLSS 5, it contains the acronym "NR," presumably standing for neural rendering, Nvidia's name for how DLSS 5 uses AI to infer new lighting details using 2D frames and motion vectors. Furthermore, analysis indicates that most of the DLL's 158MB file size, by far the largest of any DLSS DLL, consists of neural training weights. The file, which contains 148 million FP8 parameters, is likely an unfinished build. NBA 2K27 contains no controls for activating DLSS 5, and the DLL only supports Nvidia's RTX 50 series graphics cards, but the developers of the popular RenoDX Reshade mod quickly got it working in Control. The mod features several customization sliders and switches, confirming Nvidia's earlier pledge that developers can tweak DLSS 5 to alter or ignore specific objects with varying levels of intensity. Videos of the mod show that, even with relatively conservative settings, DLSS 5 significantly alters Control's lighting and its characters' faces. The technology appears to add or deepen shadows, simulate new skin shading techniques, and alter eyes to enhance realism. Characters' faces look dramatically different while adhering to their original structure. The mod also shows that DLSS 5 might incur a significant performance penalty depending on how much Nvidia optimizes it between now and and its planned release date this fall. On an RTX 5070 Ti at 4K, activating the mod drops the frame rate from 71 fps to 35 fps, but lower resolutions are expected to have a significantly smaller impact. One of the many demonstrations online showed an RTX 5090 dropping from 91 fps to 50 fps when engaging neural rendering in 4K. Nvidia's initial presentation of DLSS 5 drew strong criticism because it attempts something that prior DLSS technologies did not. Super resolution, ray reconstruction, and frame generation simply reconstruct a game's original graphics at higher resolutions, but neural rendering aims to introduce new details via AI models. While Nvidia stresses that developers will have the final say over what DLSS 5 does, many already argue that it overrides their original artistic vision and might hallucinate unwanted details.

First Leak of Nvidia's DLSS 5 Apparently Makes Games Look and Run Worse

We haven't heard or seen much of Nvidia's derided DLSS 5 since the company first revealed the "neural rendering" feature back in March. We now wish it would have stayed that way. Modders have managed to plug what appears to be a newer, leaked version of the AI-infused visual model into several titles, and, to summarize, it appears to be a crow's feet and laugh line generator that cuts your frame rate in half. Modders on the RenoDX Discord server have managed to retrofit a supposed DLSS 5 leak into several modern games. The leak apparently stems from the NBA 2K27 beta, which contained some of these DLSS 5 files inside. You can now see the model running inside a game like Control. Watching all this gameplay and comparing side-by-side shots of games with or without "neural rendering" enabled, we haven't come away impressed. Early renditions of DLSS 5 set the internet on fire earlier this year, with players complaining the model completely ignored artistic intent and papered over in-game visuals with scenes that came right out of ChatGPT's image generator. Nvidia later admitted that the AI model applying these visuals does not take into account much of the rendering pipeline, like the PBR (physically based rendering) that designates different types of materials -- wood, metal, etc. -- to a game engine. DLSS 5 essentially takes a scene and reinterprets it with AI. Nvidia previously noted at the SIGGRAPH 2026 conference that it has toned down some of the harshest aspects of DLSS 5 and got it running on lower-end GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs. Videos of this DLSS 5 mod offers us a glimpse of what controls devs and players may have for DLSS 5 visuals. There's an on and off switch, plus sliders for neural rendering "intensity" and neural rendering "style." Immediately upon enabling DLSS 5, Control's main character, Jesse Faden, grows deeper facial lines that make her appear older than her approximate 35 years of age. Her hair loses much of the red sheen and appears more burgundy. Remedy colored Jesse's hair for a reason. The game's color palette is built around drab grays of an office setting punctuated by sparks of deep orange and red. Throughout the game, Jesse is a force of disruption. Her hair color marks her as an agent of change. Muting that color also mutes the character herself. Other players have managed to install DLSS 5 into other games like Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, The Last of Us Part II, and Assassin's Creed Black Flag: Resynced. Some of these screenshots and videos seem less egregious than the Control example, but it's difficult to gauge visuals based on stills. One Redditor got the model working in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, where the main character takes on more of a supermodel appearance rather than the typical look you see in many Eastern character models. However, some visuals can appear more vibrant, like the below scenes of driving around Night City in Cyberpunk 2077 using this leaked version of DLSS 5. The modded footage is likely not the final product the company intends to ship. However, there are reasons to be concerned about the full release. Modders on the Discord server say that Control running with DLSS 5 cuts performance in half. The game hit above 70 fps on a system with an RTX 5070 Ti GPU, but with "neural rendering" enabled, it brought that number down to around 35 fps. The above video of Control shows the same game running at above 90 fps normally with an RTX 5080, while DLSS 5 tanked that down to the low 50s. Ignoring the model itself and its efficacy for PC gaming, part of Nvidia's issue is simply a case of branding. DLSS 4.5 has proven itself to be easily one of the best upscalers available for improving performance in games. Team Green just launched a new DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction model that fixes some lighting issues caused by all this tech. Now, DLSS 5, the supposed sequel, is essentially offering players the chance to have worse performance and AI slop filters for their games.

Looks like you can try DLSS 5 out today yourself

Nvidia might also be doing the smart thing a rebranding the whole DLSS 5 pitch as DLSS Neural Rendering We know that DLSS 5 is due to arrive with us in the autumn time, but that release date feels a lot closer, with specific files being picked out of an early access version of NBA2K27 and dropped into Remedy's Control (via Notebookcheck). The files in question have been found in the 2K ball-tossing title's PC version -- which is currently playable for gamers who purchased the Deluxe or Ultra editions -- and a modder from the RenoDX team has managed to inject it into Control with sliders. And, while I'm likely to be pilloried for saying so, I'm kinda impressed with the changes and the level of... ahem... control you have over the visuals with the number of sliders at play in the mod. It's also impressive that this has been knocked together using an early DLL file from a completely different game and dropped into Control. The mod has been released in the RenoDX Discord channel and offers up seven different styles, which seem to range from conservative to full-on yasification. So far it's just aimed at the character models, but given the suggested performance hit from enabling it, you are going to want to limit its reach. Looking into the Reddit chats about it, people are suggesting drops on an RTX 5070 Ti that take Control from 71 fps to 35 fps. That's a big hit, though we are talking about a pre-release feature in a game that it's not (yet?) designed for. When ray tracing still gets a lukewarm reception due to its performance impact, yet another resource-hogging feature will likely struggle for traction even outside the AI antipathy in gaming. And that's without taking into account the current ludicrous pricing situation for every Nvidia GPU from the fifth tier of its RTX 50-series and up. There are various images of the lead character, Jesse Faden, but I think one of the most interesting is linked in the original X post, where the conservative preset is seemingly being used. The character model doesn't look markedly different, but as the sliders are adjusted, you can see how the filter is layered on without negatively impacting the original design or geometry. Then there's another uploaded image where you can slide between the DLSS 5 on and off versions of the character model, where it's far more extreme. But still, I don't think it looks bad. If you'd given me that Faden model from the outset natively, I'd have marvelled at Remedy making such a detailed character, especially given the company's obvious desire for photorealism in its characters. It still obviously retains the geometry, but this is far more of the AI beauty filter fear that large parts of the gaming community are concerned about with this feature's release. I think the fact this has all been pulled together from one DLL file taken out of an early access game is impressive, and makes me think that the instant DLSS 5 gets released, we're going to see a whole lot of these mods out there giving gamers access to all the controls for a whole bunch of games... whether those game developers like it or not. And that's going to be a whole other debate. One final thing to note is that the DLL file in question is noted as DLSSNR in the description, which suggests that DLSS 5 as the catch-all name for this AI game filter is going to change. Rebranding it as DLSS Neural Rendering feels far more suited to this feature, and might have led to less of a backlash at the start, where calling it DLSS 5 from the outset made it feel like this is just what the next version of DLSS is in its entirety.

DLSS 5 Mod Dramatically Reworks Skyrim Lighting and Character Faces

An unofficial modification has brought an early form of NVIDIA DLSS Neural Rendering to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, producing substantial changes to character faces, shadows, materials, and environmental lighting. The experiment was created by modder and YouTube creator PureDark using a pre-release DLSS-NR library reportedly extracted from an early-access build of NBA 2K27. The DLL is believed to contain technology associated with DLSS 5, NVIDIA's next generation of AI-assisted graphics processing. The company announced DLSS 5 in March but has not yet released the finished technology publicly. The Skyrim modification must therefore be regarded as an early experiment built with unsupported software rather than an official implementation. Side-by-side footage shows that the neural-rendering component has a particularly strong effect on Skyrim's characters. Faces exhibit more pronounced shading, additional apparent surface detail, and different highlights around the eyes, skin, and hair. Facial contours can also change, giving some characters a noticeably different appearance from their original models. This goes beyond the sharpening or resolution reconstruction normally associated with earlier DLSS releases. The neural system appears capable of interpreting parts of the image and generating a modified visual result. While this can make aging assets look more detailed, it can also alter facial structure and character identity. Whether those changes represent an improvement is therefore subjective and depends heavily on the player's preferences and the intended art direction. The lighting differences are equally visible. Some interiors and exterior scenes feature deeper shadows, greater contrast, and more complex-looking light interaction. In selected comparisons, the modified version resembles a modern global-illumination or path-tracing overhaul. The demonstration does not establish that full path tracing is being calculated. Instead, neural processing may be reconstructing visual information that creates a similar appearance without using the same rendering method. DLSS 5 has attracted debate because this type of processing could give AI a more active role in determining how a game looks. Established DLSS features concentrate on areas such as resolution reconstruction, anti-aliasing, ray-tracing denoising, and frame generation. Neural rendering that changes materials, lighting, and faces introduces additional questions about artistic consistency and developer control. A properly integrated version could allow studios to guide the model, restrict its operation to selected assets, and tune the output for each environment. The Skyrim test does not have those advantages because it combines an unofficial mod with a pre-release component intended for another game. Visual artifacts, temporal instability, incorrect material interpretation, and inconsistent faces may consequently be more likely. The demonstration also provides no definitive information about performance. Frame rates, latency, GPU support, memory consumption, and image stability have not been documented sufficiently to draw firm conclusions. The final DLSS 5 release could differ considerably in both image quality and hardware requirements. Even with these qualifications, the mod offers an informative preview of what neural rendering might contribute to older games. It suggests that the technology may eventually affect more than image resolution and performance. It could also reconstruct lighting and asset detail in ways that visibly reshape the final presentation. The challenge for NVIDIA and game developers will be delivering those changes without compromising consistency or overriding the original artistic design.

Nvidia's Controversial DLSS 5 AI Filter Leaks And Players Go Wild

Back in March, Nvidia unveiled DLSS 5: the new version of its Deep Learning Super Sampling upscaling tech, tentatively slated for a fall 2026 release, which includes a generative AI upscaling mode that completely alters the way games look. The internet immediately recoiled in horror at the yassified AI slop filter, prompting Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, to state that everyone was "completely wrong" about the tech and that Capcom and Bethesda were on board with the "artistic control" that DLSS 5 offers. Last night, an unfinished version of DLSS 5 leaked online through NBA 2K27's early access build. As explained by VideoCardz, the "nvngx_dlssnr.dll" library file was immediately identified as version 310.8.0.0 of NVIDIA DLSSNR, and it contained the unreleased runtime for DLSS 5 Neural Rendering. Roughly five hours later, the RenoDX modding community managed to get DLSS 5 working in Remedy Entertainment's Control. If the point of the tech was to make Jesse Faden look like an old-aged pensioner, then mission accomplished. Modders have since released versions of the DLSS 5 filter mod to other games, including the likes of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. While the Skyrim example is more creepy than anything, as it gives all the characters this unnerving, dead-behind-the-eyes look, the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth screenshots somehow transform Cloud into a version of Scarlett Johansson who has been leading the last remnants of humanity in a war against its AI overlords. Close enough; welcome back live-action Ghost in the Shell. And, according to VideoCardz's initial report, modders in the RenoDX Discord server have also stated that the unreleased version of DLSS 5 is absolutely tanking their machines, with one test leading to "almost 50 percent performance loss." In light of that, however, as much as the internet is enjoying mocking Nvidia for how awful the DLSS 5 filter looks, it's important to reiterate that this is an unfinished, leaked build of the tech that modders are forcing into games before official DLSS 5 support has been implemented. That being said, DLSS 5 is still set to be released in Fall 2026, which could mean that the official release is less than a month away. If it is due to release that soon, it would explain why the DLSS 5 library file was included in NBA 2K27's early access, as the game is set to release worldwide on September 4.

"I yassified Michael" - Nvidia DLSS 5 is already creeping into games like GTA 5 and Control via an experimental runtime, and I need it to stop

Nvidia's controversial AI neural rendering officially lands this fall Nvidia DLSS 5 isn't officially a thing yet, but modders are already enabling an experimental version using a discovered runtime. Originally, the AI filter files were found within NBA 2K27 early access, but are now "working" in everything from GTA V to Control while making everything look expectedly unsettling. Originally discovered by Renan Maniero, the Nvidia DLSS 5 file held by NBA 2K27 is a "nvngx_dlssnr.dll" library (via Videocardz). Windows identifies the file specifically as Nvidia DLSSNR version 310.8.0.0, and while it didn't originally offer up direct controls in the sports game, it didn't take long for modders from the RenoDX community to start injecting the graphics card tool into other games. If you're morbidly curious about what this experimental DLSS 5 build will do to your PC games, SwurvGaming has shared plenty of cursed visual examples. It isn't a public RenoDX mod release yet, not to mention it has trouble running alongside Ray Reconstruction and HDR. But, it still seems to be committing the very visual AI slop crimes teased by Nvidia back in March. In one example, the modder shares a screenshot of DLSS 5 running in GTA 5 with the caption, "LMAOOO I Yassified michael." Yes, the results are just as blood-curdlingly uncanny as you'd expect, but the results are just as graphically gruesome in Cyberpunk 2077 and Control. It's worth noting that in this specific build, only character models seem to be subject to the horrors of DLSS 5 AI yassification. The mod adds access to a control panel with seven different overlay styles, with the first "cranked up to the max" transforming Control's Jesse Faden into what looks like a completely different character. I'd go as far as to say the effect is trying to make her look like my Scarlett Johansson sleep paralysis demon. Hats off to the RenoDX team for getting this working, as while it's still an unfinished mod, I'd say it provides a glimpse of the graphics card horrors to be unleashed by Nvidia. As the experimental build currently stands, it's seemingly pretty taxing on GPUs since the AI effects kick in after upscaling and other processes. That is to say that even if you have an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, it could struggle performance-wise. I should stress that this experimental version of DLSS 5 and the mod that gets it working isn't representative of Nvidia's unreleased GPU feature. The end results could look and function very differently when they land this fall, but from where I'm sitting, the way it's changing character features feels very much in line with the reveal back in spring. Check out the best gaming PCs if you're looking for a new rig that's ready to go.

NVIDIA's DLSS 5 Cracked Into Control Hours After Modders Found A Hidden DLL Inside NBA 2K27

We might be very close to the official DLSS 5 launch as a DLL file was spotted in the early access build of NBA 2K27. Modders Unlock NVIDIA's DLSS 5 Neural Rendering, Giving an Early Look at the Technology Before its Official Release The NVIDIA DLSS 5 technology has barely started appearing in game files, but modders have quickly managed to get its Neural Rendering component running in existing PC games. This update comes just a few hours after an experimental "nvngx_dlssnr.dll" file was discovered inside the early-access game files of NBA 2K27. This 158 MB library has been identified as the NVIDIA DLSSNR version 310.8.0.0, and it contains the runtime associated with DLSS 5's Neural Rendering technology. Some members of the RenoDX modding community have been successful in loading this library into Control. This helped them enable the first demonstration of DLSS 5 outside an officially supported game. That said, the current implementation appears to be limited to just character models, and the testing shows the changes on the character, Jesse Faden. The implementation also exposes seven different Neural Rendering styles that can affect the appearance of the character. Keep in mind that DLSS 5 isn't just a simple update to the upscaling technology, as NVIDIA introduced it as a real-time Neural Rendering system that helps improve lighting, materials, and other visual characteristics using AI. DLSS 5 takes a rendered frame and motion vectors as inputs for the process, while inferring material characteristics from the image. While this unofficial implementation looks pretty interesting, it's not 100% ready at the moment. RenoDX developers say that HDR doesn't work correctly, which is why the testing was performed using SDR. As per the reports, Neural Rendering appears to be running late in the graphics pipeline, after upscaling and potentially tone mapping. That said, there seems to be a major performance concern. Using the RTX 5070 Ti at 4K, the developer measured almost a 50% performance loss, which is significant making the current implementation unusable at the moment. But this is only because the mod is experimental and isn't using the complete integration NVIDIA has been preparing for the games. NVIDIA is expected to roll out DLSS 5 this fall for the GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards. News Source: Discord Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.

"Unsettling" - Nvidia's controversial DLSS 5 AI filter has leaked, and gamers are horrified

Final Fantasy 7's Cloud looks like Scarlett Johansson in a Mötley Crüe wig. Nvidia hasn't released DLSS 5 yet, so naturally the first thing people have done after getting hold of it is start putting it into games that were never supposed to have it, because if you give the PC modding community an unreleased graphics technology and a weekend, somebody is going to find out what happens when you point it at Control. As reported on VGC, it started with NBA 2K27, where the DLSS 5 Neural Rendering files were reportedly discovered in the game's early-access build, giving curious players access to the same technology Nvidia is preparing to roll out officially. It didn't take long for the files to escape their intended home, with modders on gaming forum ResetEra now experimenting with DLSS 5 in other games, including Control and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. That is handy for the rest of us, because while Nvidia has been talking up what DLSS 5 can do, these experiments give us an early look at what happens when you drop the technology into an existing game to see what survives. The results? According to users over at gaming forum ResetEra, it's "objectively horrendous", "uncanny crap" and "horrifying". On the bright side, one gamer did point out, "It looks really good with foliage in particular, and I think it will work pretty well with racing and sports games". DLSS 5's AI controversy DLSS 5's Neural Rendering system is designed to use AI as part of the final rendering process, with Nvidia promising improvements to things such as lighting, reflections and materials, essentially giving the finished frame another layer of visual processing before it reaches your screen. The company sees it as a way to push games toward more convincing photorealism without asking developers to build and render everything traditionally. The leaked version is interesting because the games modders are testing it on haven't been built around it. The artists haven't spent months preparing assets for DLSS 5, technical artists haven't been tuning materials specifically for it, and lighting teams haven't been working out where Nvidia's neural rendering should and shouldn't be allowed to interfere. Sometimes the answer is better-looking lighting and more convincing surfaces; other times it's less convincing, particularly around faces and characters, where the AI processing can produce distinctly odd results. That's the caveat here: this isn't quite how DLSS 5 was intended, because a game's developer and artists haven't been involved in setting the boundaries of how it can be used, but they do show just how much the system can potentially change the image after a game has already done all the hard work of rendering it. This is exactly the sort of thing that happens when new graphics technology gets loose on PC. Developers can spend months working out how a new system should be implemented, then somebody finds the files and starts trying it in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and all of a sudden Cloud looks like Scarlett Johansson in a Mötley Crüe wig. One ResetEra user called it "one of the most unsettling things I've ever laid my eyes on in gaming". Nvidia still has plenty of time to show us what DLSS 5 is supposed to look like when it's properly integrated, but for now the PC modding community has got there first, and they're already finding out what happens when you let the new AI rendering tech loose on pretty much anything they can get running.

Nvidia DLSS 5 Leaks in NBA 2K27 Beta, and Of Course Modders Immediately Put It Into Other Games

Nvidia debuted DLSS 5 back in March 2026, promising to bring neural rendering to games in order to make them look more realistic. While pretty much everyone hated it, it seems like Nvidia has continued to work on it behind the scenes: It's leaked in a build of the NBA 2K27 beta. Twitter user @renan_maniero spotted the new DLSS file in the NBA 2K27 early access, called nvngx_dlssnr.dll. The 'nr' at the end there appears to stand for neural rendering. Just finding the file in the game's directory would be one thing, but it looks like some enterprising modders have been able to build it into some other existing games. Some modders built a DLSS 5 mod and integrated it into Control, which was spotted by Gizmodo. In the initial post on X, you can see the modders manipulating some sliders to change the degree by which the neural renderer is changing the image. Things like auto skin mask, intensity and style are all customizable, which is something Nvidia said would be possible when it announced the technology earlier this year. A YouTube video shows the mod in action, and from the moment neural rendering is enabled, the frame rate is cut nearly in half - from 95fps to 53. Keep in mind that right now the mod is limited to character models, and it really only has the effect of making Jessie look like she needs a nap. Over on the Nvidia subreddit, some modders were able to work the tech into The Last of Us Part 2, and while most of the images with the tech enabled make the characters look downright weird, the response seems to be split down the middle. One user says the DLSS 5 "looks deep fried, I am not going to lie," which is probably where I'm sitting. Someone else says, "There's more detail and the characters look more photo realistic and less like Pixar characters." Obviously, this technology is in its very early stages, and once game developers are able to actually work it into the game naturally and optimize it, there probably won't be such a pronounced performance impact. But it's hard to imagine that turning on DLSS 5 will in any way improve your frame rate, which makes it one of the first pieces of Nvidia's AI software suite that makes performance worse. Either way, now that the DLL file that enables the technology is clearly out in the wild, it's only a matter of time before it actually makes its way to market. But if the RTX 5090 gets its performance cut in half, I don't know if I'd recommend anyone enable it until some future graphics card hits the market. Because while the visual effect the tech has will probably be debated until the end of time, the performance impact is where PC gamers tend to decide whether or not tech is worth using. It took a few years for people to start actually turning ray tracing on, as it was a surefire way to halve your performance in its early days. I'll be testing the technology one way or another as soon as Nvidia actually releases it. Jackie Thomas is the Senior Tech Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra