One of the with child benefit of PC play is the ability to take matters in to your own manus . Not enough games stand your favourite feature ? Unhappy with the physical body pace your PC is bring forth ? There ’s all sort of applications that can countenance you tinker and optimize your microcomputer gaming experience .

Many of these are rather niche , but there ’s one that I would recommend just about every PC gamer install . It ’s calledLossless Scaling , and if you have n’t already heard of it , I ’m about to make your 24-hour interval .

How Lossless Scaling scaled up

Six age ago , a mere upscaling app called Lossless Scaling evince up in Steam . For the majority of its existence , it ’d only drawn a daily userbase of less than 100 people . You could guide a plot at a lower resolution , and Lossless Scaling would apply an upscaling algorithm to promote your performance . call up AMD ’s Radeon Super Resolution ( RSR ) or Nvidia Image Scaling ( NIS ) . The upscaling did n’t see great , but it provided a small boost for older hardware .

Now , as we close out 2024 , you ’ll find 3,000 to 4,000 people with Lossless Scaling stretch up at any given meter . That ’s an increase of 560 % . What bump ? Well , on January 10 of this year , Lossless Scaling introduced a characteristic phone LSFG 1.0 . It ’s a physical body propagation algorithm built through auto scholarship that can addframe generationto any game . Now that ’s enticing .

Nvidia hasDLSS 3and AMD hasFSR 3 , both of which offer superior underframe genesis , but Lossless Scaling was now convey the feature to any game and with any nontextual matter scorecard .

This is about the time I jumped on the bandwagon , picking up Lossless Scaling to help along my second playthrough ofElden Ringinpreparation for theShadow of the ErdtreeDLC . I was bobble away by just how well it worked .

And really , LSFG 1.0 was just the get-go for Lossless Scaling this yr . The app has been on a binge since the first model was introduced . In June , itadded 3X frame generation , volunteer a performance boost even beyond what DLSS 3 and FSR 3 can offer . In August , it went to4X framing generation . And just last month , Lossless Scaling receivedresolution scale for give frames , supply a feature that FSR and DLSS completely miss .

Lossless Scaling has morphed from a ecological niche Steam app into a utility that every microcomputer gamer should have installed on their PC . It ’s been so influential that AMD fundamentally rip the app ’s functions sweeping for itsimpressive AFMF 2 update , which extend frame propagation to any biz , but only with AMD GPUs . Even if Lossless Scaling never receive another update — and I badly doubt that — it ’s already had a vast impact .

Frame doubling everywhere

All of this growth for Lossless Scaling throughout 2024 was n’t an accident . The app is sincerely utile , and useful to just about any PC gamer . I ’ve had it open on a second monitoring equipment for nearly every moment I ’ve spent encounter games on my PC this twelvemonth , and there are a couple of central reasons why .

For me , Lossless Scaling helps fill in the gaps . I play on aPC packing an RTX 4090 , and fortuitously , I ’m usually not struggling in the performance department . And even still , I ’ve found a ton of uses for Lossless Scaling throughout the year . One of the big boosts it ’s offer has been in games likeElden Ringthat are normally capped to 60 skeletal system per second ( Federal Protective Service ) . Lossless Scaling can give me 120 fps , 180 Federal Protective Service , or even 240 fps just by clicking a push button .

There are still plenty of games without frame propagation , as well . For example , I ’ve been wreak a set ofPath of Exile 2recently , and although the game supports DLSS and FSR upscaling , it does n’t come with frame generation . With Lossless Scaling , I cap my physique rate at 60 fps , turn on material body genesis , and get a logical , locked 120 fps .

This is easy my preferred way to employ Lossless Scaling . Even with a ton of microcomputer power , game likePath of Exile 2show openhanded public presentation dips , particularly as you progress toward the end game . Upscaling helps , but it still does n’t get around some nasty frame rate drops when the sieve illumine up in elemental vomit . game with a expectant functioning windowpane likePath of Exile 2orDestiny 2really benefit from Lossless Scaling .

In one of these games , you might hover around 100 fps , but you ’ll see dip toward 60 Federal Protective Service when there ’s a lot pass on . That repugnance is noticeable . It does n’t weigh if 60 fps feel “ suave . ” If you ’re oscillating between a in high spirits flesh rate and a low one , you ’ll point out the difference . Lossless Scaling permit you to basically drop to the broken point of your performance window and habituate frame coevals to promote you back up , providing a consistent experience with little to no frame throw away .

The not-so-obvious uses

Those are two obvious role cases . append shape contemporaries to games that do n’t have it , and bypass fps caps in games without messing with mod or worrying about intervene with anti - cheat software — as is the case withElden Ring . But Lossless Scaling actually plump further . recall , it work withanygame andanygraphics card .

If you ’re emulating a game , for good example , Lossless Scaling is fairish game . Particularly when emulating older consoles , there are lading of games capped at 30 fps , and Lossless Scaling can smooth them out . As someone whoconstantly uses EmuDeckto emulate games across PC and my Steam Deck , I ’ve used Lossless Scaling for emulated game too many times to count .

In fact , you do n’t even need to be running a secret plan on your microcomputer for Lossless Scaling to act . If you have a capture card and preview windowpane , you could apply Lossless Scaling to the gameplay preview . I would n’t recommend this setup — the reaction time between frame generation and playing out of preview windowpane tally up rapidly — but it works .

On the nontextual matter card front , Lossless Scaling does n’t call for any particular hardware . you may use it on a Windows - based handheld like theLenovo Legion GoorAsus ROG Ally — though , regrettably not on the Linux - based Steam Deck . Or , you could apply it on older mix nontextual matter available on a screen background or laptop computer .

Throughout this year , I actually used Lossless Scaling to playLords of the FallenandSystem Shockon anAsus ZenBook S 16through the desegregate graphics . Despite the powerful CPU in this laptop , the iGPU could n’t hope to campaign a game likeLords of the Fallenat a playable anatomy rate . But Lossless Scaling , in these fount , literally pee the impossible potential .

Essential for any PC gamer

There is n’t another app I can intend of on PC that I ’d recommend to just about any PC gamer . Even extremelyuseful utilities like Special Karen’t right for every microcomputer gamer . Lossless Scaling is something I would — and have — urge toeveryPC gamer , though . It really does n’t matter if you ’re play older games with weak hardware or you have the best of the best for the most demanding games coming out today . There ’s a full probability you’re able to retrieve a use for the app .

At the clock time of publication , Lossless Scalingis part of the Steam wintertime sales agreement , so you’re able to plunk it up for 20 % off . Even when the sale is over , though , the app only costs $ 7 , and it ’s receive a ton of free updates throughout this year alone . Hopefully that layer of reinforcement continue into 2025 .