Variable Rate Supersampling (VRSS) is a new technique to improve image quality in VR games. It uses NVIDIA Variable Rate Shading (VRS), a key feature in NVIDIA’s Turing architecture, to dynamically apply up to 8x supersampling to the center of the VR headset display, where the eye is generally focused. It intelligently applies supersampling only when GPU headroom is available in order to maintain the VR headset’s fixed FPS and ensure a smooth VR experience.
Compared to alternative techniques that supersample the entire screen with large hits to frame rate, VRSS’s adaptive use of Variable Rate Shading boosts image quality while staying about the typical 90Hz fixed refresh rate of the VR headset. In the VR game Boneworks, VRSS keeps FPS above 90, whereas a fullscreen 4x supersample drops frame rates to unplayable levels.
To enable VRSS, open the NVIDIA Control Panel and select Manage 3D Settings -> click on the Program Settings tab -> select a program to customize -> scroll down to Virtual Reality – Variable Rate Supersampling and change the setting to “Adaptive”.
For advanced users, the Control Panel also offers an ‘Always On’ setting that applies up to 8x supersampling regardless of performance. Note, this may bring your frame rate below the VR headset’s refresh rate and impact your experience.
VRSS is supported by the driver--no game integration required--and can be applied to DX11 VR games or application that have forward renderers and support MSAA, and have been tested by NVIDIA. At the time of publishing, over 20 games meet this criteria, including:
| Battlewake Boneworks Eternity WarriorsTM VR Hot Dogs, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades In Death Job Simulator Killing Floor: Incursion L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files Lone Echo |
Mercenary 2: Silicon Rising Pavlov VR Raw Data Rec Room Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality Robo Recall SairentoVR Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope Skeet: VR Target Shooting |
Space Pirate Trainer Special Force VR: Infinity War Spiderman: Far from Home Spiderman: Homecoming – Virtual Reality Experience Talos Principle VR The Soulkeeper V |
We’ll continue to test more VR games and add them to future driver releases. Variable Rate Supersampling is supported with Turing and higher GPUs only and requires NVIDIA Game Ready Driver 441.87 or higher.
