Weird DLSS Not Available Issue in Microsoft Flight Simulator and The Witcher 3

Hi all,

I have a 10 GB RTX 3080, using the latest 531.41 WHQL-certified driver, on Windows 11 Pro 22H2.

I use DLSS and RT in most games that support it and it works great (except for those where 10 GB of VRAM is a hindrance but that is a whole other topic...). However, I have come across a puzzling issue with a couple of games that seem to think that DLSS is not available or supported on my system.

These games are the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator and The Witcher 3 RT Update, both on Steam. Microsoft Flight Simulator only shows FXAA, TAA, DLAA and FSR in the Anti-aliasing options and there is no DLSS option at all. The Witcher 3, was previously running with DLSS prior to the last 4.02 patch, but now defaults to FSR. If I try to slide the option from FSR to the right where the DLSS option is, I get a warning pop up at the bottom of the screen that 'DLSS is not supported'.

Given that DLSS is working perfectly with every other game I've tested since installing this new driver (Hogwarts Legacy, Diablo IV beta, Atomic Heart etc) then it seems the issue is with these games rather than the driver installation. I have verified the Witcher 3 folder, which was previously using DLSS 3.1.11 which I manually copied to the folder, but even with the original DLSS 2.5.1 it still isn't working. And, yes, the game is running in DX12 as I can see that DLSS is not present for the DX11 version, only the enhanced Ultra+ options. I dare not verify Microsoft Flight Simulator though as it is currently 200+ GB is size but all the DLSS files you would expect to be there appear to be present and correct.

Has anyone else come across issues with DLSS in either of those games. I'm wondering if dropping the 3.1.11 DLSS into the game folders has broken these somehow but even with the earlier DLSS 2.x.x versions the games are still refusing to acknowledge DLSS as working.

Thanks.

 

Did you use DLSSTweaks, by any chance? If so, you may have to clean out it's files (dlsstweaks.ini, dxgi.dll, etc.) from the game directories first.

 

download driver straight from Nvidia website and reinstall driver

 

Nvidia locked DLSS under the new driver requirement and streamline added a broken layer on top.

DLSS
To get DLSS to work with older driver you must use a nvngx_dlss.dll runtime not higher than 2.4.6.0

STREAMLINE
With streamline up to v1.4 you could use the older signed runtime to get DLSS to work on supported hardware.
Go to https://github.com/NVIDIAGameWorks/Streamline/tree/v1.1.1/bin/x64 and download sl.common.dll sl.dlss.dll sl.interposer.dll from the repository.

Manually verify the digital signature and replace the files shipped with the game with the recently downloaded files.

 

Check in NVCP that Cuda GPU's are set to all, or atleast the one you're playing on is set.

 

Thanks for the reply. Still not solved this issue but, guess what, now The Last of Us Part 1, which was working with DLSS at launch and crashing ALL the time, has now had DLSS disappear from the options so only Default and FSR show now but at least that fixes the crashes!!!

I have been using DLSS since last August when I got my RTX 3080 and this is the first time I have come across some games suddenly "losing" the DLSS option. If it affected every game with DLSS then I could at least say, yes, something is now very broken on my system but the fact is that all the other games with DLSS work perfectly.

I really don't understand this at all. Nothing has changed on my PC apart from updates, including ones for Windows 11. Even then why it only affect 3 games with DLSS and not all of them?

 

Any luck? I'm curious about a solution to this should I ever run into it.

 

Try changing the .nvngx_dlss.dll version if that dosen't work reinstall the games I had this issue on BF 2042 where dlss was greyed out nothing worked except for a clean reinstall, as for TLOU if your using the cracked rune version it's a known issue replace the crack with the goldberg version or grab a legit copy.

 

Just an update on this... all four games, including Cyberpunk 2077, which I found was also 'broken' after creating this thread, are now fixed and DLSS and DLSS3 frame generation, where applicable, are now present and working as expected.

The two CDPR games I fixed by uninstalling and reinstalling. The Last of Us and Flight Simulator I fixed by deleting the two nvngx_dlss and all the sl.xxxxx DLLs and revalidating the game. Seems I must have broken them when I was playing around swapping the DLSS DLLs for newer versions.

 

In the past, I used to backup game folders to "archive only / no compression" ZIP files on my NAS because 'the publisher clients update and validate everything after restore anyway'. Nowadays - with significantly faster internet - I sometimes delete the entire game folder and redownload everything from scratch after every single update if I suspect the slightest plausible issue with a game because I don't think these clients make sure that no outdated "junk" files might remain behind (files which are no longer part of the updated distribution set) and who knows if the game might try to load them still (regardless if it's supposed to look for the filenames of the newer versions only). Game developers are getting progressively lazier (*), so I see a very low but still non-zero chance of things like this happening. I obviously don't care to waste my time as long as everything works fine but I give the "purge and redownload" a shot when a game has any issues.
* Outsourcing the PC or console porting of multi-platform titles or even the creation of some DLC content to smaller but still well-established game studios is a common practice since the dawn of multi-platforming and story DLCs (respectively). But nowadays I see "remaster / next-gen overhaul" jobs of big titles outsourced to small young companies which no gamer ever heard of before (and might never hear again because these aren't even actual game studios, just a couple of people with some graphics/programming know-how and possibly some fetish for games...).