CS2 rejects Nvidia DLSS but that’s a good thing

Counter-Strike 2 has lastly made it to public launch, and whereas there have been stories of some points with entry fragging being too prevalent and even assist on Valve’s personal Steam Deck being underwhelming, it has largely been a {smooth} launch. Nonetheless, one characteristic that some players is perhaps stunned to see omitted from the sport is DLSS. The precise purpose for the shortage of Counter-Strike 2 DLSS assist is one thing we’re nonetheless awaiting official phrase of from Valve, however we will definitely speculate on one excellent purpose why Valve wouldn’t have bothered implementing it.

You see, whereas DLSS – DLSS 2, to be exact – is incredible at rising the general body charge of many video games whereas having minimal affect on visible constancy (Cyberpunk DLSS assist and Starfield DLSS assist have been transformative for a lot of gamers), its huge Achilles heel is quick movement.

As a result of DLSS works by evaluating earlier frames to the present one and splitting the distinction to assist upscale the most recent body, it inherently might be tripped up if the earlier body seems very completely different to the present one, attributable to a sudden quick motion, corresponding to making a flick shot in CS2. These trip-ups may end up in blurred or ghosted components of the picture, making it far more troublesome to exactly select your targets.

As such, any discerning CS2 participant would completely not wish to activate DLSS 2, or certainly AMD FSR 2, even when the choice had been there. For CS2 Steam Deck gamers and people in any other case utilizing controller-like interfaces, it’s barely much less of a difficulty, as you usually can’t change your view as shortly with a controller as with a mouse, however then an ultra-smooth body charge is barely much less of a difficulty too.

So, whilst you can’t and shouldn’t activate DLSS 2 or FSR 2 in Counter-Strike 2 (hmmm, there’s a theme right here), what CS2 does provide is FSR 1 assist. This upscaler tries to do the same factor to DLSS 2 and FSR 2 – rendering a scene at a decrease res and upscaling it to extend body charge – nevertheless it doesn’t depend on previous-frame-comparison, as a substitute simply upscaling every body by itself. This implies there aren’t any visible oddities to disrupt your fragging.

CS2 at native res, with FSR 1 high quality, FSR 1 efficiency

FSR 1 doesn’t look pretty much as good as DLSS 2 or FSR 2 in isolation nevertheless it nonetheless is best than merely enjoying the sport at a decrease decision (which messes along with your display decision and HUD dimension) and I discovered I may sport fairly fortunately utilizing the Balanced mode on a 2,560 x 1,440 display (which implies the sport renders at 1,506 x 847) whereas having fun with a modest bump in body charge (beginning with over 300fps on an RTX 4070 doesn’t go away a lot room for enchancment with no CPU improve).

Have been you considering you’ll be making an attempt CS2 with DLSS 2? If that’s the case, are you upset to see it omitted? Tell us your ideas on the PCGamesN Facebook web page or Twitter account. Or, for extra studying, try our CS2 system requirements information or discover our choose for the best gaming mouse.