Magpie Experimental

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Current release: Magpie Experimental v0.6.9 · Release notes

Magpie Experimental is a Windows tool for processing window content and an unofficial fork of Blinue/Magpie. Built on Magpie's window-scaling and effect system, it explores DLSS, XeSS, FSR, RTX Video and related technologies for games, video and other windowed content.

The application captures a target window, processes its images through a user-configured effect group, and displays the result fullscreen or in a window. The source application does not need to integrate these effects itself. This is not an official Magpie release; please report experimental-fork issues in this repository.

Main Features

Image Processing and Frame Generation

Feature	Example Effects	Purpose
Spatial upscaling and sharpening	Lanczos, FSR and other MagpieFX effects	Enlarge window content and adjust clarity and detail
Experimental temporal super resolution	DLSS SR, FSR 2/3/4, XeSS SR	Explore image reconstruction from captured frames and estimated motion
AI image controls	DLSSNR	Same-resolution SDR processing with tone, structure, shadow, reflection and glow controls
Video enhancement	RTX Video	Video super resolution and denoising for low-resolution or compressed content
Frame generation	DLSSFG, XeSSFG	Generate intermediate images between real frames for smoother motion

Experimental-effect availability depends on the GPU, driver, runtime components and effect combination. See the Release notes for the effects and hardware requirements of each build.

Effect Groups and Parameter Editing

An effect group combines effects in a chosen order, storing their parameters and scaling settings. Use built-in groups or create your own combinations for different applications.

The toolbar's parameter panel lets you adjust effects while viewing the result, with automatic saving. Controls indicate whether a change applies live or requires the group to restart; double-clicking a slider restores the effect's default value. Parameters support groups, drop-down choices and Chinese translations.

The same panel places the Front Edge Sync switch and target frame-rate slider (15–360 FPS, step 1) before the effect controls, so you can adjust frame pacing and image processing in one place. Follow each control's Live or Restart label to see how a change takes effect. The parameter window remembers its position and size and stays within the visible area when the capture area changes.

Comparison, Performance Monitoring and Frame Sync

The toolbar offers original/processed comparison, per-effect timings and frame-rate monitoring, screenshots and parameter editing, with customizable shortcuts. When frame generation is enabled, separate output and real-frame readings help you assess the result and processing cost.

Front Edge Sync controls Magpie's frame submission pace, regulating real-frame input before FG when frame generation is active. Apply a matching frame-rate cap in the source application; synchronization waits may increase latency. See the frame-sync guide for setup details.

Download and Install

Choose a version from GitHub Releases, read its notes and download the main Magpie-Experimental-x64.zip package.
Fully exit any running Magpie instance and extract the complete package into a new directory.
Run Magpie.exe, select an effect group and target window, and use the shortcut shown on Home to enable the effects.

Before upgrading, back up any settings and screenshots you want to keep outside the program directory, then follow that release's instructions for the old installation and configuration. The same notes explain optional runtimes, DLL choices and helper tools. GitHub's automatically generated source archives are for development, not ready-to-run application packages.

Usage and Compatibility

The main release package targets Windows x64 and requires a DirectX 11-capable GPU; individual AI effects may have higher requirements.
Magpie processes complete window images without access to the game engine's full native motion vectors, depth, exposure or separated UI. Estimated optical flow can assist some effects, but this is not equivalent to native in-game DLSS/FSR/XeSS integration.
Image processing can affect text and UI along with the scene; temporal effects may also produce ghosting or other artifacts. Use Comparison to judge whether an effect suits the content.
Use one frame-generation effect per group and avoid combining it with other frame-generation systems. Generated FPS is not the game's real rendering rate and does not imply a proportional improvement in input responsiveness.

Reporting Problems

Start with the suggestions and details in Home's recent-issue card, or open the log directory. When filing an issue, include the application version, GPU and driver, effect group, input/output resolution, reproduction steps and relevant logs.

The upstream Magpie FAQ also covers general usage questions. Please discuss this fork's experimental effects and compatibility issues in this repository.

Development and Documentation

The project includes the Magpie application, MagpieFX effects and experimental native effect backends. Optional proprietary backends are disabled by default in source builds and require separately supplied SDKs and runtimes. Configure local paths in the untracked src/BuildOptions.props.user file.

Contributions and Acknowledgments

This project builds on Blinue/Magpie and its contributors' work. Thanks also to everyone contributing code, translations, design suggestions and testing feedback.

HexBen123: early depth-estimation performance optimization and TensorRT integration guidance, plus the DLSSNR parameter-localization proposal.
Kristijan1001: the reference implementation for editing effect parameters while scaling, which informed this project's parameter-panel design and implementation.
LCPD15: the 1.0× windowed-scaling fix, allowing same-resolution effects to be displayed at the source size without forcing output enlargement.
TurnX-alt: build, UI and repository consistency improvements, including ClangCL build fixes without optional SDKs, preset parameter and feedback link corrections, narrow-window text wrapping, scaling-start notifications and a repository consistency check suite.
konodiodaaaaa1: HDR support and compatibility work.

Contributions through Issues and Pull Requests are welcome. See Contributors for the code contribution history.

License

Magpie-derived source code is licensed under GPLv3. Third-party SDKs, models and runtimes have their own licenses; see the third-party and redistribution notes.