Early-inject Phase 0: native routing, UE TAA-off, early_color glue

[GorgotsRoman]

Summary

• Native DLSS discipline: prefer Opti / RenoDX / Upstream; warn on Force Feeder; honest Present vs early-color About/Setup copy
• UE TAA-off seeds (e.g. Ghostrunner) write r.AntiAliasingMethod=0 Engine.ini hints; ME/Gothic/Sims tighten engine_velocity=0 for estimated-MV/OFA
• Feeder glue: early_color / early_color_cand in feeder_cfg + overrides; Games/Setup status chip (Early color / Present). No bundled .addon64

Stack note

Based on pr/shipping-game-overrides (#59) so this PR currently includes the #57→#58→#59 tip plus one Phase 0 commit. After #59 merges, rebase onto main for a one-commit review. Avoids the hub monolith/preview/assets/patches addon64 bloat.

Companion Feeder work: jlrouzies-fr/DLSS5-Feeder#76 (early color hunter on the Optimize branch).

Test plan

• Native DLSS title: Setup defaults to Opti/RenoDX path; Force Feeder shows warning
• Ghostrunner Shipping Install: override note + Engine.ini TAA-off under Saved/Config when layout found
• Mass Effect: cfg gets engine_velocity=0, OFA/LightStab seeds
• Witcher 3: early_color=1 seed; Games chip shows Early color; Feeder overlay can still fallback Present
• Gothic 3: early_color=0, estimated-MV friendly; no early claim
• cargo fmt / clippy -D warnings / cargo test
• Confirm no new files under assets/patches/*.addon64

Game matrix

Role	Game	Path	Check
DX9	Gothic 3	dgVoodoo→Feeder	Install, estimated MV, early N/A
DX11 early	Witcher 3 / other deferred	Feeder early	Cand overlay, A/B vs Present
UE Shipping	Ghostrunner	DX12 Feeder	Shipping resolve, TAA-off
Vulkan	ME LE	kit	Soft-warn; early N/A
Native	CP2077 / any own DLSS	Opti/RenoDX	Not forced to Feeder

[faisalkindi]

Two things here: one I like, one I want changed before it goes near main.

The stack is now four deep. #61 is based on #59, which contains #58 and #57. That means #61's 4,275-line diff is mostly code I have already reviewed twice, and none of it can merge until the base does. I am not going to review a fourth copy of the same lines — let's land #58 first (it is verified and waiting), then rebase down the chain as you planned.

The part I want changed: writing to the game's Engine.ini.

UE TAA-off seeds (e.g. Ghostrunner) write r.AntiAliasingMethod=0 Engine.ini hints

This tool does not currently modify a game's own configuration files, and I would like to keep that line clean. Everything it writes today is either a file it brought (dxgi.dll, the add-ons, the shaders) or a config for a component it installed (ReShade.ini, OptiScaler.ini, dlss5-feed.cfg). Engine.ini is the player's game settings, edited through the game's own menus, and often synced or regenerated by the launcher.

If it stays, it needs all four of these:

1. Opt-in, never on a plain Install.
2. A backup of the original beside it, the way the OptiScaler and ReShade paths keep .bak files.
3. Reverted by Remove, like everything else the tool writes.
4. Named in the UI before it happens — "this will change the game's anti-aliasing setting" is not something a user should discover afterwards.

Otherwise I would rather it were a printed instruction than a silent edit: "turn TAA off in this game's settings for a better result" costs the user ten seconds and costs us nothing in trust.

The parts I like: preferring Opti/RenoDX/Upstream on native-DLSS titles and warning on Force Feeder is right — the Feeder is the fallback, not the default, and the tool has never said so clearly enough. The honest Present-versus-early-color status chip is also good; users currently have no way to tell which route they ended up on.

early_color is the piece I cannot judge yet. It depends on the Feeder's own early-color hunter in DLSS5-Feeder#76, which is unmerged. If that PR changes shape upstream, this glue changes with it — so this one should land after the Feeder side is settled, not before. Otherwise the tool ships config keys that no released Feeder reads.

Suggested order: #58 → #57 → #59 → (upstream #76 lands) → #61, each rebased to its own diff.

[GorgotsRoman]

Follow-up: no Engine.ini writes

Per your review — this tool no longer touches the game''s Engine.ini.

• Removed apply_ue_taa_off / Saved/Config merging entirely.
• taa_off: true now only logs a printed tip on Install (and Setup still shows setup_tip): turn TAA/TSR off in the game''s own options (or set r.AntiAliasingMethod=0 yourself).
• Tip text explicitly says this tool does not edit Engine.ini.

Agree on merge order: #58 → #57 → #59 → (Feeder #76 lands) → #61, each rebased to its own diff. Happy to rebase #61 onto main after the stack lands; early_color glue stays gated on upstream Feeder.

[faisalkindi]

That is exactly right, and quickly done — thank you.

A printed tip that says what to change and states plainly that the tool does not edit Engine.ini is the correct shape: the user gets the benefit and keeps ownership of their own game settings. Removing apply_ue_taa_off and the Saved/Config merging outright is cleaner than the four-condition version I described, and I prefer it.

Agreed on the order, and on keeping the early_color glue gated behind DLSS5-Feeder#76. Shipping config keys that no released Feeder reads would only generate confused bug reports.

Nothing further from me on this one until the stack below it lands.

[GorgotsRoman]

Thin glue for Feeder async feed + HUD (see Feeder PR #76):

• async_feed in feeder_cfg / Settings checkbox
• Games chip Async ~1f when cfg on
• Gothic setup tip recommending async for weak CPU (lag ~1 frame, not FPS delay)

No bundled addon64 — build Feeder build.bat separately.

[faisalkindi]

Same position as the early_color glue: fine in shape, gated on upstream.

async_feed is a Feeder key, so the tool should only learn to write it once a released Feeder reads it. DLSS5-Feeder#76 is still open, and "build Feeder build.bat separately" is not something this tool can ask of its users — everything it installs comes from a published release, precisely so nobody has to compile anything.

So: keep it in the branch, and when #76 lands and a release ships with async_feed, this glue goes in with the version check that stops it writing a key an older Feeder would ignore.

The "Async ~1f" chip and the Gothic tip are good — being explicit that it is roughly one frame of lag rather than an FPS cost is the right framing, and it is the kind of thing users otherwise learn by guessing.

Still nothing further from me here until #58 → #57 → #59 have landed.