Daniel Vavra Defends DLSS 5 After It Brings Kingdom Come Deliverance II Closer to His Vision

The developer is very pleased with the technology and believes many critics simply use it incorrectly.

Several weeks ago, modders introduced the NVIDIA DLSS 5 library into Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. The in-game visuals transformed, and certain players thoroughly enjoyed the results.

Game creator Daniel Vavra counts himself among these DLSS 5 fans. He praised the outcome highly and stated that this is roughly how he always envisioned the game.

He now actively defends NVIDIA DLSS 5 on social media. In September, he again set out to explain why the technology is so beneficial, using an in-game model as an example:

Here is Katerina from KCD—she was played by the well-known Czech actress Kristýna Leichtová. The first image shows a photograph of her. This is exactly how we scanned her in 3D. We then manually adjusted her appearance and textures because we do not use makeup during 3D scanning, and the game model must conform to a whole range of parameters.

The second image, Vavra explains, shows how the model looks in the original version of the game. The third presents the result of DLSS 5 operating with what the developer considers correct settings, while the fourth image provides an example of neural slop—”what happens when some random ***** turns all the sliders up to maximum.”

Daniel Vavra is convinced that correct usage of DLSS 5 yields a strong image and that the technology adds nothing “artificial,” as all the details are already present within the model:

You can argue about whether you prefer the slightly “smoothed” original appearance from the second image or the more natural option from the third. But in any case, it is clearly the third image where the game model most closely resembles the real actress who played Katerina and served as the basis for the scan. Furthermore, in this instance, the lighting is set up much better, and the details of the nose, eyes, hair textures, subtle shadows, and even the bones on the neck look far more natural and realistic. DLSS 5 does not add anything artificial—all these details are already present in both the model and the textures. They are simply less visible due to the engine’s lighting, and DLSS 5 quite accurately “restores” them based on the normal map and other factors.

Image source: TheHuntRider official YouTube channel

Tech enthusiasts continue to experiment with DLSS 5 technology.

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