Introduction

This is our fourth review of a FSR 2.0 community mod. Last week we looked at Cyberpunk 2077, and this week we checked out Dying Light 2 and Red Dead Redemption 2—the modders continue to improve games before developers even release their patches. Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition is the next AAA-game to receive FSR 2.0 support through a community mod. The way this mod works is by replacing the NVIDIA DLSS DLL that resides in the game folder with a customized DLL. The new DLL takes the various DLSS-specific API calls and translates them into the calls FSR 2.0 needs. FSR 2.0 and DLSS 2.0 are very similar in nature, so this translation process is relatively easy. Theoretically, this method is compatible with all games supporting DLSS, but some manual per-game adjustments are needed. Just to clarify, 4A Games has not added official FSR 2.0 support to the game, and we do not know if they ever will. What we are reviewing today is the community patch to replace DLSS with FSR 2.0.



How to install the AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 Mod for Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (download link):

• Extract the .reg files and run EnableSignatureOverride.reg, which may require admin permission. The directory these are extracted to does not matter.
• Extract nvngx.dll to the Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition folder so that it is next to nvngx_dlss.dll and MetroExodus.exe.
• Launch the game, open the graphics options, and enable the "DLSS" setting.
• The game will now run with FSR 2.0.

Below, you will find comparison screenshots at 4K, 1440p, 1080p, and in different FSR 2.0 and DLSS quality modes. For those who want to see how DLSS and FSR 2.0 perform in motion, watch our side-by-side comparison video. The video can help uncover issues like shimmering or temporal instability, which are not visible in the screenshots.

All tests were made using a GeForce RTX 3050 GPU at Ultra graphics settings with ray tracing at Ultra; motion blur and depth of field were disabled for better image viewing. We picked an RTX 3050 instead of our usual RTX 3080 to minimize CPU bottlenecks for a better idea of what differences to expect performance-wise. DLSS was manually updated to version 2.4.3 by swapping the DLL file.

Screenshots

Side-by-Side Comparison Video

Conclusion

In Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, none of the anti-aliasing and upscaling solutions are using sharpening filters in the render path. However, you can still adjust the setting manually in NVIDIA Control Panel or AMD Radeon Software. With FSR 2.0 active, image quality is very noticeably upgraded at all resolutions compared to native TAA. FSR 2.0 deals with small thin objects that are far away better, like wires or tree leaves, for example. The quality of vegetation, grass in particular, is improved by eliminating shimmering at lower resolutions, and the image is less blurry overall. In "quality mode," FSR 2.0 delivers better image quality and performance while running at lower internal resolution.

However, as this mod is not an official implementation, it has some issues TAA and DLSS 2.4 do not. The most noticeable of those with this FSR 2.0 mod is excessive ghosting on NPCs and enemy creatures at medium and far distances and player weapon while moving quickly, on weapon scopes in particular. We also found shimmering issues on steel objects at lower resolutions, such as 1080p, and black trails on power lines while moving. In some scenarios, it may even look like smearing, which most people will find quite distracting. The issue with power lines is probably due to the lack of proper masking because FSR 2.0 needs different mask inputs vs. DLSS 2.4 to hide things such as particles from the reconstruction. To be fair, DLSS 2.4 also has the same issue (black trails on power lines), but it's less visible on the DLSS 2.4 image. Just like in other games we tested, the FSR 2.0 mod conflicts with in-game motion blur, creating black borders around the image as if squinting, so we recommend turning motion blur off. The ray tracing features, like reflections, are working as intended with the FSR 2.0 mod applied.

Compared to DLSS 2.4, FSR 2.0 provides a similar level of image quality if we exclude the few issues described earlier, which may of course be fixed in the future. The most noticeable difference between DLSS 2.4 and FSR 2.0 is temporal stability. While moving through the world at day time, FSR 2.0 image stability is slightly less stable than DLSS 2.4. Performance-wise, compared to native resolution, the FSR 2.0 performance uplift is a great improvement to the game, and compared to DLSS 2.4 in this game, FSR 2.0 basically works identically to DLSS 2.4 in terms of performance gains across all resolutions. Metro Exodus Enhance Edition is the first game that absolutely requires a ray tracing capable graphics card—there is no "RT off" render path. Since DLSS is an NVIDIA-exclusive technology, Radeon users were left behind without a high-quality upscaling solution and stuck with lower framerates. With this FSR 2.0 mod applied, AMD RDNA 2 owners now have the ability to play Metro Exodus Enhance Edition at much higher performance with only a small loss in image quality.