Ever fired up the latest blockbuster PC game only to be stuck staring at a “compiling shaders” screen for what feels like forever? If yes, you’re not alone, and Microsoft just announced a solution called Advanced Shader Delivery that aims to eliminate those agonizing wait times and gameplay stutters.
For those of you who don’t know, Advanced Shader Delivery gets games ready to play by compiling shaders ahead of time and storing them in the cloud. That means less waiting and less in-game stuttering, at least eventually. The catch? Shaders are super hardware-specific. There are tons of GPU and driver combinations out there, so developers have to compile dozens of shader sets for each popular setup and every game. Multiply that by all the AAA releases each year, and you’ve got a mammoth database to manage.
Now, this tech isn’t totally new, so much so that it works like consoles do, which only need a few shader versions for their fixed hardware. That’s why Microsoft is launching Advanced Shader Delivery first for ASUS ROG Xbox Ally handhelds. With just two hardware configurations, it’s way easier to roll out.
The Agility SDK supporting this tech is now available for game developers, so you might see new games with speedy shader loading soon if you’re using Xbox app titles or the ROG Ally. But don’t get your hopes up for Steam or other platforms just yet; like Microsoft’s Direct Storage (which is still rare after three years), it could take years before most games and storefronts fully adopt Advanced Shader Delivery.
