X-Plane 12 Upscaling Guide: FSR, DLSS & RTX / Radeon 9000 Performance.
X-Plane 12 and Modern Upscaling – What You Need to Know!
X-Plane 12 has set a new benchmark for realism in civil flight simulation, but its advanced weather, lighting, and aircraft systems come at a heavy performance cost, especially in VR and 4K scenarios.
X-Plane 12 currently supports only an early version of AMD’s FSR, with no DLSS integration. Users cannot manually force newer FSR versions either as they can in some cases with DLSS, as updates must come from Laminar Research.
NVIDIA has introduced driver-level upscaling and frame generation for RTX 4000 and 5000 GPUs, offering 30-50% performance boosts even without DLSS. RTX 3000 support may arrive in the future, though results will vary.
Recent Nvidia Update for 4000 series.
In recent videos by Q8PILOT on his YouTube channel highlighted the benefits of the new RTX 4000/5000 driver level upscaling. It showed a doubling of native FPS in the example in the video. Worth a watch if you have 4000/5000 series Nvidia cards.
It has been said this integration could come to the RTX 3000 series as reported by LetsFlyVFR.com back in January of 2025. Its taken six months to get the 4000 series released, so hopefully not to long to get the 3000 series as well. This was said by NVIDIA themselves and not a rumour.
AMD has Driver Level Upscaling too!
AMD’s new Radeon 9000 series provides strong performance thanks to large VRAM, efficient rasterization, and FSR 3 support, making it a powerful alternative for non-DLSS simulators like X-Plane.
AMD is also offering a version of driver level upscaling called RADEON SUPER RESOLUTION. This is again a driver level upscaling technology that does not need to be integrated into the game itself by developers.
RSR is available on all RDNA cards from 5000 through 6000, 7000 and now 9000 series cards. This must be enabled in the Radeon Driver Software but works pretty much on all games.
✅ Supported GPU Series for RSR
⚠️ Requirements
- Game must run in exclusive fullscreen mode
- RSR must be enabled via AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition
- Works across thousands of games, even those without native FSR support
For now, users can expect smoother VR and 4K gameplay with driver-level upscaling, while awaiting possible official support for FSR 3 or DLSS in future updates.
Current State: Early FSR, No DLSS
Currently, X-Plane 12 only supports an early version of AMD’s FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution). This provides a performance uplift but lacks the stability and image quality of FSR 2.x/3.x.
DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is not supported at all. Unlike Microsoft Flight Simulator, Laminar Research has not yet integrated NVIDIA’s DLSS SDK into X-Plane’s Vulkan renderer.
Can Users Force a Newer FSR Version?
No FSR updates must be implemented at the game engine level. Users cannot simply “drop in” newer FSR libraries. To enable FSR 2.x or 3.x, Laminar would need to update X-Plane’s renderer.
Again this is where the NVIDIA & AMD driver level upscaling can come to the rescue.
What Would It Take to Add DLSS?
For DLSS to run inside X-Plane, Laminar would need to:
- Integrate NVIDIA’s DLSS SDK into Vulkan.
- Optimize frame timing for AI-based frame generation.
- Work closely with NVIDIA to ensure VR and multi-monitor stability.
There are some important parts missing to get DLSS in X Plane 12. Its been said a number of times that it needs Vector data to work and currently the graphics engine does not create this data so its a big rewrite to the software to get DLSS working. Its certainly not impossible because DCS WORLD added DLSS support some time back and its great!
NVIDIA Driver Level Upscaling – Available Now!
In 2025, NVIDIA introduced driver-level upscaling and frame generation for RTX 4000 and 5000 series GPUs. Unlike DLSS, this method works outside the game engine, meaning it can be applied to X-Plane 12 even without native support.
- RTX 4000/5000 owners can already benefit from smoother frame pacing and up to 30-50% FPS gains in heavy scenes.
- RTX 3000 series may receive similar support soon, though performance and stability remain unconfirmed.
- Older RTX/GTX cards are unlikely to benefit.
AMD Radeon 9000 – A Strong Alternative.
AMD’s new Radeon RX 9000 series offer impressive raw performance with:
- High rasterization throughput, ideal for Vulkan engines like X-Plane.
- Large VRAM pools, excellent for heavy scenery and textures.
- Support for FSR 3 with frame generation, compatible across GPU brands.
For X-Plane 12, this means smooth performance in high-resolution scenarios, often at a better price-to-performance ratio than RTX cards — especially since DLSS isn’t available in X-Plane anyway.
Comparative Performance Chart (Estimated / Early Indicators).
| GPU Model | Relative Specs & Features | Estimated X-Plane 12 Performance | Upscaling / Frame Gen Notes | Pros & Cons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA RTX 4000 | Tensor cores, driver-level upscaling enabled | High fps at 1440p/4K; +30-50% fps with driver upscaler | Upscaling outside engine, some artifacts possible | ✅ VR strength, ✅ great with driver tools; ❌ expensive |
| NVIDIA RTX 5000 | Newest tensor/RT cores, driver-level upscaler | Best fps overall; strong at ultra/VR | Smoothest pacing, higher native fps before upscaling | ✅ Future-proof; ❌ very high cost/power |
| AMD Radeon RX 9000 | RDNA 4, big VRAM, FSR 3 support | Competes with RTX 4000 in many raster workloads | Works with FSR driver/frame gen | ✅ Strong value, ✅ efficient; ❌ lacks DLSS |
| Mid-range GPUs (RTX 4070 / RX 7800XT) | Lower core counts, less VRAM | Playable at 1440p, but VR/4K require upscaling | Driver/FSR helps noticeably | ✅ Good value; ❌ less headroom for ultra/VR |
Other Options for X-Plane 12 Users.
- Graphics tuning: Reduce clouds, shadows, and object density to ease GPU load.
- Third-party tools: OpenXR Toolkit and similar VR injectors can provide scaling/sharpening.
- Future updates: Pressure from the community may lead to FSR 3 or DLSS integration in later X-Plane 12 builds.
Author
Brendon McAliece (Aka Gunnie) is a military veteran with 23 years working on Jet Fighters, their weapons systems and ejection seat/module systems as well as munitions and R&D.
Involved with flight simulation since the 1980s, he has flown all the major flight simulators over the years. He is an Australian expat who has lived in Malaysia, UK, Saudi Arabia and more recently Thailand.
He is a multi-lingual blogger who loves to share his life experiences here on LetsFlyVFR.com and DreamingGuitar.com, with his lifestyle and Travel experiences Blog plus his Dreaming Coffee website.
Learn More @
DreamingGuitar.com – DreamingCoffee.com – LetsFlyVFR.com
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