Current version: v0.4.3
Status: Experimental Windows graphics injector/controller
UniversalDLSS5 is an experimental project that brings NVIDIA DLSS Neural Rendering / Feature 18 to games and applications that do not expose the feature natively. It hooks the game's presentation API, builds the required color/temporal inputs, executes the neural path, and composites the result back into the original renderer.
UniversalDLSS5 is an independent open-source project and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by NVIDIA.
| Renderer | Current path |
|---|---|
| Direct3D 12 | Native fast path or late-attach recovery path |
| Direct3D 11 | Native fast path |
| Direct3D 10 / 10.1 | Compatibility frontend |
| Direct3D 9 / 9Ex | Compatibility frontend, including 32-bit games |
| OpenGL | Windows OpenGL compatibility frontend |
| Vulkan | Win32/Vulkan compatibility frontend |
Modern D3D11/D3D12 games that already work stay on their existing low-latency path. Legacy or unusual renderers are routed through compatibility frontends only when needed.
For 32-bit games, the x86 bridge captures the renderer while the real Feature 18 work runs in the 64-bit UniversalDLSS5.NRHost.exe process.
- D3D9, D3D10, D3D11, D3D12, OpenGL and Vulkan renderer routing.
- x86 game support through the x64 Feature 18 host.
- UE5-safe late-attach D3D12 recovery used by games such as Half Sword.
- Automatic detach when the target application exits.
- Safer quiescent manual detach.
- Real Feature 18 GPU timing in diagnostics.
- Game-provided motion/depth support where lifetime is safe.
- Late-attach D3D12 recovery snapshots short-lived Streamline motion/depth immediately into UniversalDLSS5-owned resources, so Cyberpunk-style volatile guides can be used without retaining engine resources.
- 1x-4x NR passes work on both in-process and x64 NRHost routes; passes above 1 use a separate reset-only refinement feature with scratch ping-pong.
- NVOFA, camera/depth and HLSL optical-flow fallbacks remain available when native game guides cannot be used safely.
Additional captures are included under docs/images.
UniversalDLSS5 prefers reliable game data when available:
- game motion vectors from safe Streamline/NGX/native routes;
- game depth with detected depth convention;
- camera matrices when available;
- NVIDIA Optical Flow as the universal motion fallback;
- HLSL optical flow and zero-motion fallback modes.
For late-attached D3D12 recovery, transient game resources are never held across the frame. Streamline motion/depth tagged as short-lived or valid through Present are copied immediately in the provider command buffer into injector-owned textures; heuristic and unsafe game resources remain diagnostic-only. This keeps the UE5 lifetime protection while restoring usable game vectors/depth in titles such as Cyberpunk 2077.
The NR passes control supports 1x-4x processing on both direct and external-host routes. Pass 1 is temporal; additional passes use a separate reset-only refinement feature and local scratch resource.
- Download or build UniversalDLSS5.
- Start
UniversalDLSS5.exe. - Open the NVIDIA Runtime setup page and choose Import NVIDIA SDK.
- Point UniversalDLSS5 at an official NVIDIA SDK/runtime package containing
nvngx_dlssnr.dll. - Launch the game, select its process, then attach.
NVIDIA proprietary runtime binaries are not distributed in this repository. See docs/NVIDIA_RUNTIME_SETUP.md.
The controller exposes renderer route, source API, game/process architecture, motion source, depth source, queue confidence, Feature 18 status, GPU time and external-host state.
Logs are written under:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\UniversalDLSS5\logs\
If a game fails, the attach/crash log is the most useful file to include with a bug report.
UniversalDLSS5 is still experimental. Compatibility depends on swapchain behavior, anti-cheat/protected processes, renderer synchronization, HDR format, driver/runtime versions and game-specific resource lifetimes.
- Native D3D11/D3D12 games do not pay legacy compatibility overhead.
- Late-attach D3D12 recovery uses an isolated same-adapter D3D12/D3D11 transport and the x64 NRHost.
- Classic D3D9 may require a more expensive full-resolution compatibility transfer than modern APIs.
- Protected or anti-cheat processes may reject injection entirely.
Because the project uses DLL injection and graphics API hooks, some antivirus products may report heuristic detections. Verify release hashes and obtain builds from the official repository.
Requirements: Windows 10/11, Visual Studio 2022 with C++ tools, CMake, NVIDIA GPU/driver, and the required NVIDIA SDK/runtime files.
Build the Windows binaries:
BUILD_WINDOWS.batBuild the release package/installer:
BUILD_RELEASE.batThe build produces x64 components plus the x86 bridge/injector required for 32-bit games.
docs/V0.4.3_RELEASE.md— current release notesdocs/NVIDIA_RUNTIME_SETUP.md— NVIDIA runtime import/setupdocs/GAME_GUIDES_SAFE_ATTACH.md— temporal-guide and safe-attach notesdocs/V0.4.0_RELEASE.md— renderer compatibility architecture
UniversalDLSS5 is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE.
Copyright 2026 MotionflowOffical.