Nvidia rolls out its fix for PC gaming's "compiling shaders" wait times

PC gamers who are tired of waiting for their games to “compile shaders” during some load times may want to dig into the latest beta version of the Nvidia App. Alongside new DLSS 4.5 Multi Frame Generation features, the app includes the beta rollout of a feature that allows your machine to automatically compile new shaders while it’s idle.

Nvidia’s new Auto Shader Compilation system promises to “reduc[e] the frequency of game runtime compilation after driver updates” for users running Nvidia’s GeForce Game Ready Driver 595.97 WHQL or later. When the feature is active and your machine is idle, the app will automatically start rebuilding DirectX drivers for your games so they’re all set to roll the next time they launch.

While the feature defaults to being turned off when the Nvidia App is first downloaded, users can activate it by going to the Graphics Tab > Global Settings > Shader Cache. There, they can set aside disk space for precompiled shaders and decide how many system resources the compilation process should use. App users can also manually force shader recompilation through the app rather than waiting for the machine to go idle.

Unfortunately, Nvidia warns that users will still have to generate shaders in-game after downloading a title for the first time. The Auto Shader Compiler system only generates the new shaders needed after subsequent driver updates following that first run of a new title.

Nvidia’s Auto Shader Compiler is distinct from Microsoft’s Advanced Shader Delivery system, which lets developers generate databases of precompiled shaders that can be downloaded ahead of time to align with a player’s specific system. Nvidia said earlier this month that it is “working closely with Microsoft” to add Advanced Shader Delivery support to its GeForce RTX line “later this year.”

Intel has also recently started rolling out its Precompiled Shader Delivery system while promising to integrate compatibility with Microsoft’s shader delivery system later in the year.

Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper.

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