Modders get DLSS 5 running in Control after NBA 2K27 file discovery

Nvidia's DLSS 5 has already made its way into another game, albeit unofficially. Just hours after a DLSS 5 DLL was reportedly discovered in an early-access build of NBA 2K27, modders have managed to inject the technology into Control and demonstrate Nvidia's new neural rendering system in action.

The experiment was carried out by Compusemble, a modder from the RenoDX community, using the recently uncovered DLSS 5 DLL. The implementation currently works only with character models, but it provides an early look at what Nvidia's heavily AI-focused rendering technology can do.

The mod includes a set of developer controls that allow DLSS 5's neural rendering effects to be adjusted in real time. Among the available options are sliders for tone strength, local structure strength, skin structure strength, and overall neural-renderer intensity.

One of the more noticeable demonstrations involves Jesse Faden, Control's protagonist. Adjusting the "NR skin structure strength" slider from its default setting of -1 toward 1 changes the appearance of her face, making certain facial details considerably more pronounced. The altered lighting and structure can even make her face appear slimmer.

There's an obvious catch to all this experimentation: performance takes a serious hit. According to the modders, running DLSS 5 neural rendering on Jesse's character model at 4K on an RTX 5070 Ti reportedly reduced performance from around 71 FPS to 35 FPS.

That figure shouldn't be treated as representative of the final DLSS 5 experience. The technology is still in development, and this particular implementation is far from a finished, fully optimized version. Nevertheless, the result does reinforce Nvidia's previous indications that early development versions of DLSS 5 are substantially more demanding than DLSS 4 and DLSS 4.5. At one point, development builds reportedly required two RTX 5090s to run the neural model in a game.

For now, however, the experiment remains limited. The neural rendering is only being applied to character models, while the surrounding game world continues to use its existing rendering pipeline. Even so, seeing DLSS 5 running in Control this soon after the DLL's discovery suggests Nvidia could be getting closer to officially rolling out its next-generation rendering technology.

As always, for the latest news on NVIDIA's DLSS technology, graphics cards, AI-powered rendering, and developments across the PC gaming industry, be sure to follow our dedicated hardware coverage.