In simple terms, Lossless Scaling is an application that supports multiple scaling algorithms and frame generation methods, allowing you to play your favorite titles at crisp resolutions and high graphical settings without suffering from reduced performance.
AMD FSR, Nvidia Image Scaling, LS1, and other upscaling algorithms are decent offerings, but what you’re really here for is frame generation. For the uninitiated, frame generation is a facility that leverages neural networks and AI to create and insert an extra frame between two frames. Let’s say you’re running a game at 30FPS. Once you’ve enabled frame generation, it will make a new frame (say 1.5) and insert it between frames 1 and 2, essentially doubling your FPS and making the game feel a lot smoother.
Currently, Lossless Scaling supports X2 (double) and X3 (triple) frame generation modes, though you should stick to the former at the moment (but more on that later).
What I like about Lossless Scaling
Frame Generation on X2 mode works incredibly well
Since Lossless Scaling is designed for underpowered PCs, I used my secondary system comprising a Ryzen 5 1600 and a GTX 1080 for most of the tests. Baldur’s Gate 3 is known for bringing PCs to their knees, so it served as a great starting point. After choosing LSFG at X2 as the frame generation facility, I set the display mode of the game to Borderless Window. Lossless Scaling recommends setting the frame rate to 40FPS when attempting to play at 1440p 60FPS, so I used Rivatuner Statistics Server to cap the FPS to 40.
After booting the game, I pressed the shortcut key to enable X2 frame generation, and my jaw dropped when the game ran at a smooth 60FPS. To punish my PC further, I decided to up the ante by setting all graphical settings (besides the ray-tracing options) to ultra, and lo and behold, the game still continued to run at buttery smooth 60FPS. Next, I gave Detroit: Become Human a spin, and as expected, I got 60FPS on high settings at 1440p.
I repeated the tests with Atomic Heart, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Horizon: Zero Dawn, and consistently got 60FPS across all three. Sure, there were certain caveats, which I’ll get to in a moment, but the fact that my outdated machine could render any modern game I threw at it with high graphical fidelity was enough to blow my mind.
LS1 upscaling is surprisingly great
I’ll admit, I consider upscaling algorithms to be more of an afterthought in Lossless Scaling. But I was pleasantly surprised by how well they’re implemented in the app. The latest version of Lossless Scaling supports AMD FSR, Nvidia Image Scaling, Anime4K, Bicubic CAS, and a host of other upscaling methods.
However, LS1 is the star of the show, and it surpasses all the other algorithms in terms of performance, while barely losing to FSR when it comes to visual quality. When used in tandem with LSFG, LS1 can make pretty much any game playable at 4K60FPS.
What I don’t like about Lossless Scaling
Visual glitches and artifacts aplenty
While Lossless Scaling is a fantastic concept, at the end of the day, you’re still using frame generation to insert artificially created frames into games. As such, LSFG 2.1 still suffers from the drawbacks of frame-generation, namely visual glitches and input lag.
On the visual bugs front, you’re likely to see a lot of artifacts, even more than Nvidia’s DLSS 3. And that’s because, unlike Team Green’s frame generation technology, Lossless Scaling’s neural network-based algorithms can’t access the motion vectors of your games. While X2 still has tolerable glitches, X3 is another story altogether and the problem is further exacerbated once you enable Performance mode.
Noticeable input lag and issues with variable refresh rate
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