XeSS 1.2 out now
Intel has a new XeSS version now available for game developers.
Intel is not slowing down with the development of their temporal upscaling technology, known as XeSS. The newest version was just released with the latest SDK (Software Development Kit) with an updated libxess.dll file compiled on July 27th and carrying a version of 1.2.0.13.
Intel XeSS 1.2 brings backward compatibility with XeSS 1.0 and 1.1, meaning that file DLL drop in file replacement may still work for some games, but it wasn’t confirmed at the time of writing. Furthermore, there is now support for dynamic resolution scaling and new fixes improving stability and performance, notes the official changelog.
This XeSS 1.2.0.13 version has not yet been implemented into any game, however Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart already features a version “1.2.0.10”. Worth adding that XeSS 1.1 was an important upgrade for Intel, whose upscaling tech brought faster XMX and DP4a kernels and new upscaling models. This version of XeSS has become a feasible alternative to other competing upscaling techniques like FSR or DLSS. Worth reminding that XeSS is supported not only by Intel GPUs but also AMD and NVIDIA gaming processors.
The SDK has a demo for everyone to download and try as well as documentation and samples for developers to implement. Unfortunately, unlike FSR, XeSS remains a closed source. That’s despite Intel advertising their technology as ‘open and accessible’, and Intel’s VP announcing the technology will be open-source.
Intel’s XeSS will be open-source and cross-platform with good performance across the board. Stay tuned, it’s coming soon
— Anton Kaplanyan 🫖 (@Kaplanyan) October 17, 2021
The main library, the key tech that drives XeSS technology, is still a closed Windows DLL library that cannot be modified by anyone. Until this “libxess.dll” file is shared as a code, there is no way to consider XeSS open-source technology.
