‘Starfield’ DLSS mod sparks controversy over paid modding

The Starfield community is split as a paid mod that adds DLSS to the game has been “cracked”, or in other words, redistributed without the restrictions that the creator placed on it.

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Nvidia‘s DLSS (deep learning super sampling) uses artificial intelligence for anti-aliasing, frame generation and ray reconstruction to make games look as good as they possibly can on the player’s PC.

Unexpectedly, it was discovered that Starfield would not support DLSS, but it wasn’t long for a modder to take this matter into their own hands. PureDark’s DLSS 2 mod is free to download through Nexus Mods, however, their DLSS 3 mod was only available if players paid for their Patreon.

What’s more is that the DLSS 3 mod had DRM (digital rights management) protection – an authentication request to ensure that people aren’t able to access the mod without subscribing to PureDark first.

This wasn’t a popular move amongst some Starfield fans. In response, one of them re-uploaded the DLSS 3 mod without the DRM protection for free.

“I do think modders deserve to make some money of their work if they want to. It takes a lot of skill and dedication to build those, and there is nothing wrong in charging for that,” said one player.

“My take on this is, mods are a derivative work, you can’t make money on that, it’s not your property,” replied another. The debate was reminiscent of the controversy over Skyrim‘s paid mods in 2015, where Bethesda walked back on its plan to split revenue from mods between the modders, Valve and itself.

As AMD and Bethesda entered an agreement for the PC port of the role-playing game, Starfield only supports AMD’s own FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) technology. This upscales the visuals of Starfield to increase frame rates at no expense to detail and resolution. However, AMD gaming chief Frank Azor stated that there is nothing stopping the developer from introducing Nvidia’s DLSS.

“If and when Bethesda wants to put DLSS into the game, they have our full support,” answered Azor in an interview with The Verge.

In other gaming news, the developer of Palworld shed a little light on the inspiration behind the dystopian creature collecting game in an Q&A that received over one thousand questions.

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