We all know Nvidia announced its latest DLSS 5 back in March 2026, which promised photorealistic lighting in games. However, Nvidia’s big leap in AI-powered gaming graphics has now arrived unexpectedly: through a leaked, unfinished version of DLSS 5 that modders have already managed to run in several games. The early results are impressive, strange and, in some cases, downright unsettling.
DLSS 5 is expected to take Nvidia’s neural rendering technology further by using generative AI to alter how games look. An early version has now leaked through NBA 2K26’s early access, according to Videocardz. Modders identified an nvngx_dlsrnr.dll library containing an unreleased DLSS Neural Rendering runtime, version 310.8.0.0, and quickly began experimenting with it.
Modders are putting DLSS 5 through some very weird tests
The leaked software has already been made to work with games including Control, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. There are also examples of the technology being tested with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
And this is where things get interesting. Rather than simply making games sharper, the early implementation appears capable of changing visual details using AI. In Control, the results reportedly do not look particularly bad, especially when it comes to environmental detail. But the technology becomes considerably stranger when applied to characters.
In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, for example, Cloud’s face can become barely recognizable under the experimental processing. The effect gives some characters an uncanny appearance, suggesting that Nvidia’s generative approach may still have plenty of rough edges to iron out.
There is another catch: performance. The leaked build is reportedly extremely resource-intensive. One report cited by XDA says a user running DLSS 5 through a Discord server experienced an almost 50% performance loss. That is a particularly important caveat because DLSS has traditionally been about getting better-looking graphics while improving performance through techniques such as upscaling.
This may be the future of graphics – or the beginning of AI slop in games
Nvidia has been pitching DLSS 5 as a major evolution of its graphics technology, with CEO Jensen Huang previously pushing back against criticism of the approach. The leaked build gives gamers their first opportunity to see what that generative-AI future might actually look like, although it would be premature to judge the final product from unfinished software.
That distinction matters. We know that this is an unfinished version of DLSS 5, meaning Nvidia could substantially change how it works before release. Games specifically developed around the technology could also produce much better results than older titles being modified by enthusiasts.
Still, the early experiments expose the central challenge Nvidia faces. AI can generate or reconstruct visual information that traditional rendering methods struggle with, but gamers are unlikely to accept sharper graphics if characters suddenly look like digital mannequins.
For Nvidia, DLSS 5 could eventually make games more detailed and visually convincing while reducing the amount of conventional rendering required. For players, however, the question is simpler: will AI make games look better, or merely make them look different? The answer will have to wait for the finished version.
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