Per-game method advisor and DLSS5-Feeder

README.md

@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ Settings for all games. Every option has a short explanation, and the help butto
 | [RenoDX DLSS add-on](https://github.com/clshortfuse/renodx) | ShortFuse's ReShade add-on for neural rendering. | You import the file yourself. |
 | Lecram DLSS5 add-on | A ReShade add-on for neural rendering by Lecram. | You import it yourself. The builds are available to supporters on the author's Buy Me a Coffee. |
 | Deep Fried Chicken | A neural rendering add-on. Its licence allows personal use only. | You import the extracted release folder (or a .zip) yourself. Every import is kept, and each game can use its own version. |
+| DLSS5-Feeder | An MIT ReShade add-on that makes the DLSS calls for games without DLSS, so Deep Fried Chicken can run in them. DLAA only. | Downloaded from its GitHub releases and checked against the SHA-256 GitHub publishes. Single-player games only. |
 
 The app only replaces files in a game with files from the sources above or files you imported. Which of these you use is up to you. Most people only need the OptiScaler mode or **DLSS only**.
 

docs/addons/dlss5-feeder.md

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# DLSS5-Feeder
+
+ReShade add-on by Jean-Laurent Rouzies (`jlrouzies-fr/DLSS5-Feeder`). It makes the DLSS calls a game without DLSS never
+makes: it takes the backbuffer, ReShade's depth (Generic Depth add-on) and estimated motion vectors from a ReShade shader,
+and hands them to NVIDIA's DLSS as a DLAA frame, so a neural consumer (Deep Fried Chicken here) has something to run on.
+DLAA only: no upscaling, no performance gain, a few ms per frame at 4K. Facts below are from its README and release notes
+(docs/research/methods-2026-10.md section 1); nothing was reverse engineered.
+
+## Component model (docs/design.md section 2)
+
+| Part | Feeder |
+|---|---|
+| Source | `Download` and `Import`. Releases of exactly `jlrouzies-fr/DLSS5-Feeder` (copycat repositories exist, the owner and name are pinned in `FeederLibrary.Repo`). Asset `DLSS5-Feeder-<version>.zip`. |
+| Licence | MIT for `src/`, `shaders/`, `host/` (GitHub reports NOASSERTION because of an extra notice line). Third-party parts keep their own licences and none is bundled in the zip. Downloading and copying into the user's game is what the licence allows. |
+| Verification | The SHA-256 GitHub publishes in the asset's `digest` field (all 4 releases checked 2026-10-21 had one). A release without a digest is not offered: no digest = no install. **Import** (Settings → ReShade add-ons → DLSS5-Feeder builds: Import… for the release .zip or `dlss5-feed.addon64`, Folder… for the extracted release): the four package files are copied byte for byte as a build whose id is the SHA-256 of the 64-bit add-on, labelled with the version from `READ-ME-FIRST.txt` ("imported" in the list); no digest check, the user chose the files. Imports are never removed by the automatic cleanup. The catalog repo needs no `feeder` section for that reason; add one (SHA-256 plus a mirror) the day GitHub stops publishing digests. |
+| Library | `LibraryKind.Feeder`: `components\dlss5-feeder\<tag>\pkg\` plus the `.complete` record. Only the four files below are kept. Newest first by `BuildOrder`. |
+| Default / per-game | `Components["dlss5-feeder"].Build` in settings and `GameOverride.BuildPick("dlss5-feeder")`; the picker shows **"Auto (<build>)"** first (the newest build, or the pinned default) and then every build; a pick wins, and "Reset to auto" (Settings and the game page) goes back. A removed build's pins go back to Auto, never to another build. The author tags betas (`v1.18.0-beta.2`) without GitHub's prerelease flag, so a beta is told by its tag and follows Settings' "include pre-releases" like the other downloads. |
+| Cleanup | In `BuildCleanup` like every library; the default, per-game picks and builds installed in a game are protected. |
+| Install record | Generic `InstalledComponent` (`dlss5-feeder`, build id = tag, version label, files with SHA-256, backups). `Extras`: `bits` (`64`/`32`) and, for 32-bit, `manual`. |
+| Config | None, so there is nothing to override per game.  `dlss5-feed.cfg` is created by the add-on itself with working defaults and re-read while the game runs; the README documents `host_window`, `preset`, `stall_log_ms` and others, but the app writes no key. |
+| Update check | Through `GitHubClient.GetReleasesAsync` (ETag cache); offline it uses the cached release list, then the library. |
+
+## What the app places
+
+| Game | Files (relative to the install folder) |
+|---|---|
+| 64-bit | `dlss5-feed.addon64`, `reshade-shaders\Shaders\DLSS5_Feed.fx` |
+| 32-bit | `dlss5-feed.addon32`, `reshade-shaders\Shaders\DLSS5_Feed.fx`, `host64\dlss5-feed-host64.exe` |
+
+Taken from the zip by exact name; a zip missing one of them is refused whole. Not taken: `dlss5-feed-helper.addon64` (64-bit
+helper mode, only for games whose own process cannot run NGX), the Vulkan layers (`layer-x64`, `layer-x86`: machine-wide
+registration needs administrator rights), `READ-ME-FIRST.txt` and `Verify-DLSS5Feeder.ps1`.
+
+## What it needs and the app does not do
+
+- **One neural consumer, Deep Fried Chicken** (imported, 4.x or newer for games without DLSS). The planner
+  (`NrAddons.FeederRefusal`, checked in `Installer`) refuses Feeder without it and next to stock OptiScaler, the DX11 bridge,
+  ShortFuse's RenoDX add-on, Lecram or GITC Uplift. Feeder's README also names `renodx-dlss5` and an OptiScaler DLSS-NR fork as
+  consumers; the app only pairs it with DFC, the one it can install in a game without DLSS.
+- **ReShade 6.8+ with add-on support**, the user's imported `nvngx_dlssnr.dll` (never downloaded by the app) and an
+  `nvngx_dlss.dll` (the app places NVIDIA's, as for DFC without DLSS).
+- **A motion-vector shader** in `reshade-shaders\Shaders`, picked with `DLSS5_MV_PROVIDER` in the overlay. LumeniteFX Kernel is
+  recommended; its AGNYA licence ("all rights reserved unless explicitly stated") stops the app from shipping it. The advisor
+  treats `lumenite_*.fx` in the shader folder as "present".
+- **The right depth buffer** in Generic Depth, MSAA/SSAA off, single-player only.
+- Routes with manual steps: Direct3D 9 (dgVoodoo2, freeware that cannot be redistributed; the README has the settings),
+  Vulkan (ReShade's Vulkan layer, one administrator prompt, plus `ReShadeApps.ini`), 32-bit (the `host64\` folder needs a 64-bit
+  ReShade and DFC's 64-bit set placed by hand). The advisor lists each as a "Needs" line.
+
+## Checked builds
+
+| Release | Published | Zip (bytes) | Checked | Notes |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| v1.19.0 | 2026-10-11 | 503554 | 2026-10-21 | Layout: `dlss5-feed.addon64`, `dlss5-feed.addon32`, `dlss5-feed-helper.addon64`, `host64\dlss5-feed-host64.exe`, `reshade-shaders\Shaders\DLSS5_Feed.fx`, `layer-x64\`, `layer-x86\`, `READ-ME-FIRST.txt`, `Verify-DLSS5Feeder.ps1`. README: "NOT RUN IN A GAME: the two 1.19.0 fixes". Line 1 of `dlss5-feed.log` must say `dlss5-feed 1.19.0 commit 3c09eab`. |
+| v1.18.0-beta.2 | 2026-10-06 | 503310 | 2026-10-21 (listing only) | Same asset name pattern; beta. |
+| v1.18.0-beta.1 | 2026-09-29 | 492288 | 2026-10-21 (listing only) | Beta. |
+| v1.17.0 | 2026-09-27 | 390753 | 2026-10-21 (listing only) | No helper add-on yet. |
+
+Volatility: four releases in four weeks; the driver/consumer matrix in its README changes with them (driver 616.64+ breaks
+`renodx-dlss5` 4.6/4.7, DFC is fine). Re-check this table, the zip layout and `FeederLibrary.PackageFiles` for every new release.
+
+## Tests
+
+`tests/DLSSUpdater.Tests/FeederTests.cs` (release choice, digest check, library, 64-bit and 32-bit install and uninstall, update),
+`DfcTests.cs` (install in the same run as DFC, removal by a run without it, refusals), `NrConsumerTests.cs` (the rule).

docs/advisor.md

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# Method advisor
+
+The game page's **Works in this game** panel answers "which ways of improving this game does the app know, and which fit
+here". `MethodAdvisor.Advise(AdvisorInput)` (`Core/MethodAdvisor.cs`) is pure: the caller reads the game, the GPU, the catalog
+and the library and passes them in. It implements the decision table of `docs/research/methods-2026-10.md` section 8 (20
+rows); `MethodAdvice.Rows` reports which rows applied, and `tests/DLSSUpdater.Tests/MethodAdvisorTests.cs` has a test per row.
+
+## Input
+
+| Input | From |
+|---|---|
+| Graphics APIs, bitness, engine, upscaler DLL and plugin signals, anti-cheat | `GameInfo` / `GameTech` (the detection scan) |
+| Native DLSS | `Installer.HasNativeDlss`: DLLs our own install placed don't count |
+| GPU vendor and RTX generation | `GpuDetector` (display adapter class in the registry, read once at startup); tests inject a `GpuInfo`. An unreadable GPU never hides a method. |
+| OptiScaler compatibility list, HUDfix-incompatible list | the catalog's `optiscalerCompat` section (`docs/catalog.md`), matched by title with `GameMatcher.MatchName` |
+| RenoDX game list | the catalog's `renodx` section, `GameMatcher` |
+| Imported builds, DFC version | the component library |
+| Routes already in the game | `NrAddons.PresentIn` (record and files) |
+| Store install | `MethodAdvisor.IsProtectedStoreInstall` (under `WindowsApps`, or `MicrosoftGame.config` with an unreadable exe) |
+
+## Output
+
+An ordered list of `MethodOption`: title, `Availability` (available / needs setup / not possible / coming), a one-line reason,
+the component ids it would install (and the install mode), what it needs, and an `Unverified` flag (also said in the reason)
+where the research marks something unverified: Smooth Motion's RTX 40/50 requirement, the DX11 bridge requirement, the DX10
+route, an Unreal DLSS plugin standing in for the DLL, an assumed graphics API. What cannot be done comes last with its reason.
+Anti-cheat and protected Store installs return no methods and a `Blocked` line (row 20); a non-NVIDIA or GTX GPU leaves only
+OptiScaler (row 19).
+
+Methods the app does not install yet (Luma, third-party upscaler mods, the DX11 bridge, the all-in-one add-on, the RenoDX HDR
+mod) are listed as **coming**, so the answer is complete without promising an install.
+
+## The button
+
+"Select" turns on the components of a method on the game page (and the install mode it needs). It never installs; the user
+presses Install. Smooth Motion has no components: it is a driver setting on the game's NVIDIA tab.
+
+## One neural consumer
+
+`NrAddons` holds the rule (`Refusal`, `FeederRefusal`, `PresentIn`): DFC, GITC Uplift, ShortFuse, Lecram, the DX11 bridge and
+OptiScaler's NR all detour the game's NGX calls, so a game gets one (ShortFuse + Lecram only with the Settings override, as
+before). `Installer` checks it before anything is fetched (`EnsureOneNeuralConsumer`): a DX11 bridge in the folder blocks any
+route, and DLSS5-Feeder needs ReShade + add-ons mode and Deep Fried Chicken alone. Routes the app places itself replace each
+other as before.

docs/catalog.md

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ allows it. Its README documents the format (and `schema/catalog.schema.json` is
 | `CatalogState.cs` | The catalog the app holds: the last good copy at startup, refreshed with every update check; a failed refresh keeps what it has. Holds the `HdrPicker`. |
 | `CatalogClient.cs` | `LoadAsync` fetches catalog.json through `GitHubClient.GetRepoFileAsync` (ETag cache, 304s are free) and keeps the last good copy in `AppPaths.CatalogFile`. Offline, rate-limited, damaged or newer-than-us (`schema` > 1) answers fall back to that copy; it never throws except on cancellation. `LoadCached` reads the copy with no request. |
 | `CatalogDownloader.cs` | `DownloadAsync(file, dest, ...)` downloads from `MirrorUrl`, else `Url` (and from `Url` when the mirror copy fails), into a staging file, checks size and SHA-256, and only then moves it to `dest`. A mismatch returns a one-line `Refusal` and leaves nothing behind. |
+| `OptiCompatIndex.cs` | The `optiscalerCompat` section (OptiScaler's wiki compatibility list and its HUDfix-incompatible list) looked up by game title with `GameMatcher.MatchName`. Feeds the method advisor (`docs/advisor.md`); an older catalog without the section just leaves it empty. |
 | `GameMatcher.cs` | `new GameMatcher(catalog.Sections.Renodx).Match(game)`: overrides first, then Steam AppID, then the normalised name (exact; game name contains entry name, longest wins; entry starts with game name). Anything that is "name + only a sequel number" (digits, roman numerals up to 39) is not a match. Only `main` and `engine` entries take part; a matched entry can be `Blocked`, so check `Mod.Blocked` and show `BlockReason`. |
 
 `GameInfo.SteamAppId` comes from the Steam appmanifest (`Launchers.SteamLibrary`); other launchers and manual folders have none.

src/DLSSUpdater/Core/AdvisorCatalog.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+namespace DLSSUpdater.Core;
+
+/// <summary>What the method advisor reads from the catalog, built once per catalog document (the document is replaced as a whole on refresh).</summary>
+public sealed class AdvisorCatalog
+{
+    public static readonly AdvisorCatalog Empty = new(null);
+
+    private static readonly System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ConditionalWeakTable<CatalogDocument, AdvisorCatalog> Cache = [];
+
+    public OptiCompatIndex OptiCompat { get; }
+    /// <summary>Matches games to RenoDX's list; null when the catalog has no RenoDX section.</summary>
+    public GameMatcher? RenoDx { get; }
+
+    private AdvisorCatalog(CatalogDocument? doc)
+    {
+        OptiCompat = new OptiCompatIndex(doc?.Sections.OptiscalerCompat);
+        RenoDx = doc?.Sections.Renodx is { } renodx ? new GameMatcher(renodx) : null;
+    }
+
+    public static AdvisorCatalog For(CatalogDocument? doc) => doc is null ? Empty : Cache.GetValue(doc, d => new AdvisorCatalog(d));
+}

src/DLSSUpdater/Core/BuildLibrary.cs

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ namespace DLSSUpdater.Core;
 /// Every library of kept builds: the downloaded OptiScaler and GITC Uplift releases, the imported add-ons and the NR runtime.
 /// Each keeps several builds side by side; settings choose a default and each game may choose its own.
 /// </summary>
-public enum LibraryKind { OptiScaler, Uplift, Lecram, RenoDx, Dfc, DlssNr, RenoDxHdr, ReShade }
+public enum LibraryKind { OptiScaler, Uplift, Lecram, RenoDx, Dfc, DlssNr, RenoDxHdr, ReShade, Feeder }
 
 /// <summary>
 /// One kept build as the lists and the cleanup see it. <see cref="Id"/> is what settings, game picks and install records name
@@ -175,6 +175,7 @@ public sealed partial class ComponentStore
         LibraryKind.Uplift => ReleaseBuilds(Component.Uplift),
         LibraryKind.RenoDxHdr => HdrLibraryBuilds(),
         LibraryKind.ReShade => ReShadeBuilds.Select(b => new LibraryBuild(kind, b.Id, b.Label, b.Version, b.Added, ReShadeBuildDir(b), Downloaded: b.Downloaded)).ToList(),
+        LibraryKind.Feeder => FeederLibrary.Builds(),
         _ when AddonOf(kind) is { } addon => AddonBuilds(addon)
             .Select(b => new LibraryBuild(kind, b.Id, b.Label, b.DetectedLabel, b.Imported, Path.Combine(AddonRoot(addon), b.Id), Downloaded: b.Downloaded))
             .ToList(),

src/DLSSUpdater/Core/CatalogModel.cs

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ public sealed class CatalogDocument
 public sealed class CatalogSections
 {
     public CatalogRenodx? Renodx { get; set; }
+    public CatalogOptiCompat? OptiscalerCompat { get; set; }
     /// <summary>ShortFuse's renodx-dlss add-on: hash-pinned builds, never mirrored (licence unknown).</summary>
     public CatalogRenodxDlss? RenodxDlss { get; set; }
 }
@@ -33,6 +34,30 @@ public sealed class CatalogDlssBuild
     public CatalogBinary File { get; set; } = new();
 }
 
+/// <summary>OptiScaler's own compatibility list (its wiki), as the catalog copied it: facts and a pointer back to the wiki page.</summary>
+public sealed class CatalogOptiCompat
+{
+    public string? Updated { get; set; }
+    public List<CatalogOptiGame> Games { get; set; } = [];
+    /// <summary>Games OptiScaler's wiki lists as unable to use OptiFG's HUDfix.</summary>
+    public List<string> HudfixIncompatible { get; set; } = [];
+}
+
+public sealed class CatalogOptiGame
+{
+    public string Name { get; set; } = "";
+    /// <summary>The wiki page of the game: https://github.com/optiscaler/OptiScaler/wiki/&lt;Page&gt;; null when the list has none.</summary>
+    public string? Page { get; set; }
+    /// <summary>"main", "upscalerMods" (games that got an upscaler through a third-party mod) or "lumaUe".</summary>
+    public string List { get; set; } = "main";
+    /// <summary>"working", "single-os" or "not-working".</summary>
+    public string Compat { get; set; } = "working";
+    /// <summary>Upscaler inputs the game offers OptiScaler, as the wiki writes them: DLSS, FSR2, FSR3, FSR3.1/4, XeSS.</summary>
+    public List<string> Inputs { get; set; } = [];
+    public bool OptiPatcher { get; set; }
+    public string? Notes { get; set; }
+}
+
 public sealed class CatalogRenodx
 {
     public string? Updated { get; set; }

src/DLSSUpdater/Core/ComponentRegistry.cs

@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ public static class ComponentRegistry
     public const string Uplift = "gitc-uplift";
     /// <summary>RenoDX HDR mods per game (named, Unreal Extended, generic Unreal and Unity). Not the ShortFuse DLSS add-on, <see cref="RenoDx"/>.</summary>
     public const string RenoDxHdr = "renodx-hdr";
+    /// <summary>DLSS5-Feeder (MIT, downloaded): makes the DLSS calls for games without DLSS; recorded the generic way (<see cref="FeederLibrary"/>).</summary>
+    public const string Feeder = "dlss5-feeder";
     /// <summary>Not a component with files: the per-game record of what the app wrote into the NVIDIA driver profile (<see cref="NvidiaRecord"/>).</summary>
     public const string NvidiaDriver = "nvidia-driver";
 
@@ -73,6 +75,7 @@ static ComponentRegistry()
         Register(new(Dlss, "DLSS") { Legacy = true, OwnedFiles = ComponentStore.DlssFiles });
         // Recorded the generic way. The wildcard also matches renodx-dlss.addon64, which is ShortFuse's other component.
         Register(new(RenoDxHdr, "RenoDX HDR") { Library = LibraryKind.RenoDxHdr, Label = "RenoDX HDR", OwnedFiles = ["renodx-*.addon64", "renodx-*.addon32"] });
+        Register(new(Feeder, "DLSS5-Feeder") { Library = LibraryKind.Feeder, Label = "Feeder", OwnedFiles = FeederLibrary.OwnedFiles });
     }
 
     /// <summary>

src/DLSSUpdater/Core/ComponentStore.cs

@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ public sealed class CachedComponent
     public bool Prerelease { get; set; }
     public DateTime? Published { get; set; }
     public DateTime Fetched { get; set; }
+    /// <summary>The user brought this build in (DLSS5-Feeder only so far): kept byte for byte and never removed by the automatic cleanup.</summary>
+    public bool Imported { get; set; }
+    /// <summary>The version of an imported build, as read from its files.</summary>
+    public string? Label { get; set; }
 }
 
 /// <summary>Resolves the latest releases, downloads them once per tag and holds the user-supplied files.</summary>