In a significant development for PC gamers, a developer has successfully enabled NVIDIA’s cutting-edge DLSS Frame Generation technology, previously exclusive to the upcoming RTX 50 series, on current-generation RTX 40 series graphics cards, specifically within the demanding title Cyberpunk 2077.
The breakthrough comes courtesy of a mod developed by an individual known as dashdogy. This mod marks the first instance of true DLSS Frame Generation being brought to the RTX 40 series. While previous community efforts have achieved substantial frame rate increases on RTX 40 cards, they primarily utilized AMD’s FSR 3 frame generation technology, not NVIDIA’s proprietary DLSS solution.
How the Mod Works
Dashdogy’s mod operates by intercepting the DLSS DLL loaded by the game during runtime. It then modifies the number of generated frames directly in memory. Crucially, it backports frame time control instructions intended for the newer Blackwell architecture to the current Ada Lovelace architecture. This technical feat ensures that the artificially generated frames are correctly inserted between the natively rendered frames, maintaining a smoother visual experience.
Real-World Performance Gains
The effectiveness of this mod has been corroborated by multiple users within the Reddit community. Initial performance data shared by an RTX 4080 owner revealed a fascinating trade-off: increasing the frame generation multiplier from 2x to 6x caused the native rendering performance to drop from 38 FPS to around 30-31 FPS. However, the dramatic increase in generated frames pushed the final output frame rate to an astonishing 180 FPS, resulting in a substantially more fluid gameplay experience.
Further evidence comes from users showcasing their RTX 4090s running Cyberpunk 2077. With DLSS 5 and the multi-frame generation enabled, these high-end cards are reportedly achieving output frame rates exceeding 240 FPS, demonstrating the significant potential of this modded feature.
Implications for DLSS and NVIDIA’s Strategy
According to technical details published by the mod’s author on GitHub, the solution primarily targets NVIDIA’s Streamline SDK rather than directly altering Cyberpunk 2077‘s rendering pipeline. This approach suggests that the mod could potentially be adapted for other games that support DLSS in the future.
This mod proves that DLSS Frame Generation can achieve good performance on Ada Lovelace architecture.
Perhaps the most significant implication is that this mod challenges NVIDIA’s official stance on DLSS Frame Generation’s compatibility with the Ada Lovelace architecture (found in RTX 40 series cards). NVIDIA had previously cited the lack of a hardware-level “Flip Metering” system on Ada Lovelace as a key reason for limiting the feature to the upcoming RTX 50 series, stating it was necessary to ensure frame time stability in generated frames.
However, the developer’s mod directly contradicts this, demonstrating that, at least technically, Ada Lovelace is capable of handling DLSS Frame Generation. This raises questions about whether NVIDIA’s decision to restrict the feature was driven more by strategic market segmentation and sales considerations rather than purely technical limitations.
This community-driven innovation not only unlocks a new level of performance for owners of existing high-end graphics cards but also sparks a debate about manufacturer-imposed feature limitations and the power of developer ingenuity.
