Nvidia adds ReShade filters to GeForce Experience

In addition to launching the GTX 1660 Super today, Nvidia's latest GeForce driver brings some neat new features to their GeForce Experience app. Chief among them is built-in support for ReShade filters, the popular post-processing shader tool that modders often use to enhance or change the overall look of a game. Instead of 'injecting' or installing them manually into each individual game, you'll now be able to apply them straight from Nvidia's Ansel or Freestyle overlays.

If this is the first time you've heard of ReShade, then our friends at Digital Foundry have a handy explainer video on what it does and how it works. In short, ReShade gives you more control over the look of a game. It's particularly handy for older games that might not have as many graphics options as newer, more modern games, for example, and applying the right filters can often improve a game's overall appearance, such as adding in anti-aliasing options or sharpening features that clear up jagged edges and such like.

Naturally, there are some limitations involved. Nvidia isn't allowing certain ReShade filters to be applied to competitive games, for example, as the filters can sometimes interfere with anti-cheat programs (just like they did with ReShade filters previously). You'll still be able to apply all the regular Freestyle and Ansel filters to those competitive games, of course, but the number of official ReShade filters supported by those games will be limited to 30.

Elsewhere, however, the sky is pretty much the limit. All official and custom ReShade filters will be supported by both Freestyle and Ansel, and you'll be able to apply and tune them to your liking from the Filters menu in each Nvidia overlay.

Separate to the ReShade filters, Nvidia will also be adding an image sharpening tool into their Nvidia Control Panel software with this new driver, which can be found in the Global Settings tab in the Manage 3D Settings menu. It's the same tool that was previously found in Nvidia's Freestyle overlay, but can now be applied to all DirectX 9, 11 and 12 games automatically (with OpenGL and Vulkan support coming soon). Like its Freestyle counterpart, there will also be adjustable sliders to change the intensity of the effect, as well as per-game profile options.