Per-layer staged-image engine for the eleven translated denoiser Swin
layers: descriptors (verified offsets per phase), cut recipes that splice an
isolated native phase into NVIDIA's PTX, wave templates, epilogue notes and
GPU probes. The isolated phase-8 splice produces a byte-identical final
4K frame but is slower than the translated body (14.90 vs 6.59 ms) - a
correctness experiment, not a shipping improvement; docs/rr-engine.md
records the design and the next direct-converter win (B operands built
from transposed accumulators).
The bridge's other instrumentation - D4R_CUDA_LAUNCH_STATS with
D4R_CUDA_LAUNCH_DUMP_DIR - already dumps every allocation, surface object and
texture object named in a launch's packed argument buffer, after the launch has
finished. That is enough to check one reimplemented kernel on its own: the
translated kernel's surface files are its output, and a native replacement has
to reproduce them.
What was missing was the comparison. compare_launch_dump.py keys the files by
kernel, argument offset, kind, shape and format rather than by the global launch
sequence, so a replacement that adds launches of its own does not break the
alignment, and it reports the first differing byte per argument.
Verified end to end today: cuda_dldn_engine_swin_enc0_kernel's PTX module was
compiled offline with d4r_emit, served from a native directory (the bridge logs
`[d4r-native] "cuda_dldn_engine_swin_enc0_kernel" -> ...hsaco`), and its run is
byte-identical to the translated one across all 54 of its dumped arguments -
weight image, activation buffer, four output surfaces. That also shows the
offline build reproduces the loader's own compile exactly, which every native
denoiser layer will rest on.
docs/native-kernels.md gains the dump-and-diff step, which is the only way to
localise a mismatch to one of the eleven layers that sample textures and write
surfaces.
Ray Reconstruction's eleven DLSS-D Swin layers still run ZLUDA's compile of
NVIDIA's PTX; at 1280x720 -> 3840x2160 on gfx1201 they are 30.2 of a 31.6 ms
frame. The denoiser's high-fidelity output kernel is the first one with a native
replacement: make_ptx.py replaces its whole-texel RGBA16F store
(sust.b.2d.v4.b16.zero) through d4r_sust_v4b16, kernels/build.sh builds the pair
as the `rr` family, and packaging builds it into every target folder including
the RDNA4 FP8 ones.
Both libraries define modules named cuda_dldn_engine_*, with different text, so
one manifest cannot take the union of their hashes: kernel_manifest.py now takes
the denoiser DLL as --rr-dll and lets only its hashes authorize a
cuda_dldn_engine_* binary, and package_release.sh passes it when the denoiser is
bundled.
Verified in the D3D12 harness with Ray Reconstruction at 1280x720 -> 3840x2160:
the output kernel drops from 1.44 to 1.00 ms/frame and the 66 MB raw output is
byte-identical to the run with every kernel translated.
docs/native-kernels.md gains the denoiser family, the per-kernel cost table and
the instruction counts that show why the Swin layers are the remaining work.
NVIDIA's enc1 and enc2 clamp the patch merge's result to ±2π (as f16) before
its e4m3 encoding (max.f16x2 / min.f16x2 with 0fC0C90FDB / 0f40C90FDB after the
merge's last MMA). The native layers did not, in either template or set:
merge_clamp (swin_common.h) now does, at the three sites that encode the merged
tokens (swin_block.h's e4m3-activation and f16 paths, swin_tok.h), and
swin_check.py's model clamps the same way.
Measured on an RX 9070 XT against a run with no native kernels (preset L,
accuracy set, the flags of Ghost of Tsushima, 1280x720 -> 3840x2160, one
frame): native enc1 alone 34 dB and enc2 alone 31 dB from the translated
kernels before, byte-identical after; the whole native set 28 -> 80 dB (the
rest is dec1, 0.09% of the output values). Preset M's fast set against
translated M: 30.8 -> 35.1 dB after 30 frames. The gfx11 path has the same
change and was not run on hardware.
The repo's tests pass (36, 3 skipped).
Shim
- Adaptive output-event wait: sleep to ~120 us before the predicted
completion (smoothed per wait site), spin near it, back off when late.
D4R_SHIM_OUTPUT_POLL_US restores a fixed interval.
- Defer the input-marker wait into the worker thread with VRAM interop
(D4R_SHIM_DEFER_MARKER, default on), taking the host setup off the
critical path.
MicroCUDA
- Experimental ZLUDA-free backend in wine_nvcuda_bridge, plus
tools/microcuda and scripts/build_microcuda.sh. Serves accuracy, fast
and native kernels; unregistered modules fall back to the reference
path. Unclassified writes invalidate prepared weights.
M kernels
- SWIN_PREP_IDENTITY_AT: key weight prep by allocation identity
(MicroCUDA); enc3 tube uses it with 8 slots. ZLUDA ignores it.
- dec2 (gfx1101): SWIN_PACKED_RESIDUAL, byte-identical, ~1.6% faster.
- Opt-in gfx12 hardware fp8 conversion (SWIN_FP8_HWCVT), unverified
on hardware.
Native K translators
- ctile: handle variants that re-materialize the parameter base (mvlo).
- rewrite_output: check live-in registers, not just outputs.
- build.sh: native input covers all 8 flag variants, output the 4 HDR
"max" variants; depth-tile skip stays mvhi-only.
Tools
- dump_runner and bench_dlss_kernel harness additions.
RDNA4 (experimental; untested on RDNA4 hardware)
- kernels/common/wmma_layout.h picks the WMMA operand/accumulator layout
per target; K (pwin_*) and M (swin_*) index through it, so the same
sources build for gfx11 and gfx12. D4R_WMMA_LAYOUT=12 on gfx11 is a test
shim that runs the gfx12 indexing on gfx11 WMMA.
- M can use native e4m3 FP8 WMMA on gfx12 (D4R_NATIVE_FP8=1). Texture
tails (enc0_tail, dec0_head) get gfx12 f16 and FP8 paths that match
ZLUDA's gfx12 lowering.
- ZLUDA patch 0007: gfx12 WMMA helpers, optional native FP8 MMA
(D4R_ZLUDA_WMMA_FP8_NATIVE), a layout override for testing, and an
architecture argument for d4r_emit. Texture kernels are now compiled
offline per target through d4r_emit (D4R_ZLUDA_EMIT) instead of on the
local GPU.
- New d4r.ini option [Kernels] NativeFp8 (default on), wired through the
shim and d4r_config.py. On gfx12 the bridge serves kernels/<arch>-fp8
when it is on.
- The bridge picks the KFD GPU with the most SIMDs (so an iGPU is not
chosen over a discrete GPU); D4R_GPU_ARCH overrides it.
- kernels/build.sh and package_release.sh build gfx1100-gfx1103 and
gfx1200/gfx1201 (plus -fp8 variants), and D4R_BUNDLE_TEX takes
per-target folders.
Performance (RDNA3; harness byte-identical unless noted)
- ZLUDA patch 0006: m16n8k8 f16 MMAs on WMMA (E; not bit-exact, 52-55 dB
per layer, D4R_ZLUDA_WMMA_K8=0 disables it), per-key weight-image slots
for native prep kernels (d4r_prep_key_at, d4r_prep_key_slots), and
wave64 builds of MMA-free kernels (D4R_ZLUDA_WAVE64).
- M: packed FP8 encoding, conflict-free patch-merge reads, scalar weight
loads in enc1, and weight prep once per weight set for the six enc3
tube blocks.
- K: CU mode for the six non-wide pwin layers.
- Texture kernels: every DLSS flag variant is built natively (24 K output,
8 M post, 4 M downsample, 4 M enc0), not only Townfall's; post and K
output run as wave64.
- M direct output: rrlite_downsample_kernel writes the shim's output
buffer; the shim's default direct-output presets are now 11,13.
Tools
- dump_runner takes the prep grid from d4r_prep_blocks and refuses
texture/surface dumps.
- New pwin_check.py, swin_check.py, model_enc3.py and tail_check.hip.
Docs: README GPU table and RDNA4 notes, building (patches 0002-0007,
d4r_emit), native-kernels (RDNA4 section), performance (new numbers),
packaging README. Version 0.1.2.
woutermans