NVIDIA continues to assert its dominance in the video card industry with the recently released 50XX series of GPUs. With promises of huge gains thanks to the improvements in AI upscaling, the card itself is incredibly challenging to buy right now. Of course, there is also the huge cost that comes with upgrading graphics cards, especially the $2,000 USD price tag of the RTX 5090. However, the technology that drives improved DLSS is now readily available and can be applied to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
With our guide, you will be able to apply the latest Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) to any RTX-capable card. This includes the RTX 20 and 30 series, along with the more recent 40 and 50 series cards. The internet is rife with information and techniques on how to accomplish having DLSS 4 for your simulator, but we’ve put together a simple guide to help you get there.
Table of Contents
What You Will Need
To begin, you will need an NVIDIA RTX GPU, along with the latest Game Ready Driver (572.16) and the NVIDIA App. Finally, you will need to the DLSS Swapper for the easiest method to change your DLSS to the most current version.
In Summary:
- NVIDIA RTX RTX 20/30/40/50 series GPU
- NVIDIA Game Ready Driver (version 572.16) – Download
- The NVIDIA App – Download
- DLSS Swapper – Download (scroll down and download the .exe)
Step 1 – Updating Your Drivers and the NVIDIA App
The first thing you need to do is ensure you are using the latest version of the NVIDIA Game Ready drivers. Specifically, you will need to be using at least version 572.16. You can download via the NVIDIA App or manually from the NVIDIA website.
In the NVIDIA App
You can download the NVIDIA app here. Simply run and install the application.
With the NVIDIA app installed, open the application, click on ‘Drivers’ and then the refresh icon to check for updates. You will be prompted to download the latest Game Ready Driver.
Via the Website
You can head to the NVIDIA website search for your graphics card and then download the driver.
Follow the prompts.
As a point of note, it’s always worth clicking ‘custom install’ and performing a clean driver installation.
Step 2 – Install DLSS Swapper
From the GitHub page, download the latest version of DLSS Swapper (at the time of writing, this is version 1.1.4.0). Install the application and follow any prompts until you get to this screen. It will show you a list of compatible games installed on your machine. Note the DLSS version number on each title.
Step 3 – Download the Latest DLSS Versions
In the DLSS Swapper app, click on the library icon on the left-hand side.
This will show you the complete collection of DLSS profiles you can download to the application. We want to download the most recent version of DLSS (at the time of writing is v310.2.1). Click on the download icon and within moments, it will download to your simulator.
RTX 40XX / RTX 50XX Users – Read for DLSS Frame Generation
You will also want to download the latest version of DLSS Frame Generation. Inside the library, scroll down and you will be able to perform the same operation for the latest version of DLSS Frame Generation (at the time of writing is v310.2).
Step 4 – Apply the Latest DLSS to Your Game/Simulator
Now that you have the latest version of DLSS on your system, you can now swap the DLSS your game/simulator will work with. Click on the game and a pop-up window will be shown. You will see the current DLSS (and DLSS Frame Generation) version.
Click on the box under DLSS and you will be shown all the versions of DLSS you are able to select. As we have already downloaded the applicable DLSS version, we can simply select the latest (v310.2.1). Click ‘Swap’ and the value for DLSS will now change to the selected version.
Continue doing this for all games you wish to apply the setting to. If you have DLSS Frame Generation, do the same process.
Step 5 – Apply DLSS Via the NVIDIA App
Open the NVIDIA App, click on ‘Graphics’, and then select your game/sim. In the settings panel on the right, scroll until you see ‘Driver Settings’. You are looking for DLSS Override – Models Preset.
Click on the edit icon and change ‘Use same settings for all DLSS technologies’ to Latest. Click Apply.
That is it. You have now applied DLSS 4 to your game/simulator.
Of course, the GPU you have will yield different results and apply different technology.
OPTIONAL – Check if DLSS Has Updated In your Game/Sim
There is an optional additional step to check if DLSS has been updated to the latest. It does require you to edit your registry, so take care and only do this if you’re comfortable doing so.
Step 1- Open the regedit tool. Use Win + R and enter Regedit in the box.
Step 2- Look for: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\NGXCore
Step 3- Right-click on the right-hand panel and create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value called ShowDlssIndicator. Exactly like that, noting the capital letters.
Step 4 – Double-click the new DWORD value, and set the value to 1024 in decimal.
Now you can open your simulator and ensure you have the DLSS setting enabled in Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Once done, you will get a new info box in the bottom-left indicator your current DLSS version and settings.
You are looking for information that tells you that you are running DLSS v310.2.1 and Render Preset: K.
Once you are satisfied, you can return to the registry editor tool and simply delete ‘ShowDlssIndicator’.
In Summary
That wraps up how you can easily install DLSS 4 without changing too many options via the cumbersome NVIDIA Profile Inspector. We hope this helps, but if you have feedback, leave a comment below.
