Stack explained

RenoDX and ReShade are not the same layer

ReShade is the injection and add-on platform. RenoDX is a graphics-modification toolkit that uses that platform. A DLSS 5 add-on is a feature loaded into the stack.

ReShade

ReShade hooks into DirectX, Vulkan, or OpenGL rendering and exposes a shader language, overlay, depth access, and an add-on API. By itself, it is not DLSS 5. Think of it as the host that lets compatible effects and add-ons run.

Source: crosire/ReShade.

RenoDX

RenoDX, short for Renovation Engine for DirectX Games, is a toolkit for replacing shaders, injecting buffers, upgrading swapchains and texture resources, adding overlays, and saving settings. It commonly powers game-specific HDR and tone-mapping mods.

Source: clshortfuse/RenoDX.

The runtime stack

Game renderer
  → ReShade: injection and add-on host
  → RenoDX-derived DLSS 5 add-on: intercepts compatible NGX calls
  → NVIDIA nvngx_dlssnr runtime: executes neural rendering
  → GPU output

Which part is “the mod”?

Users often call the whole setup a DLSS 5 mod. Technically, ReShade is a framework, RenoDX is a toolkit, and the neural-rendering add-on plus its game-specific configuration is the feature mod. Bridge and Feeder are compatibility layers used only when the game’s native path is insufficient.

License boundaries are separate. ReShade and RenoDX repositories have open-source licenses, but that does not automatically grant rights to redistribute every closed-source add-on or NVIDIA runtime used alongside them.