Microsoft plans to fix shader-related stutters and long load times for PC gamers

Playing a modern PC game, we have all grown accustomed to the 'shader compilation' process, which can take seconds or several minutes to complete. This process, designed to minimize stutter that occurs when new shaders are compiled in real time, also increases the time it takes to get into the action. And it's not always a one-and-done thing, as changes to settings and game updates can restart the shader compilation process.

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At GDC 2026, Microsoft announced that it's bringing Advanced Shader Delivery for Windows to PC gamers, with NVIDIA confirming that it will be available for GeForce RTX gamers later this year. It's an ambitious update that is rolling out via the latest AgilitySDK 1.619 release, where developers can generate a "state object database (SODB) file" and then use an "offline compiler to compile the state objects into a precompiled shader database (PSDB)."

Although that's the technical summary of what's involved, the good news for gamers is that pre-compiled shaders for their specific GPU model will be downloaded as part of installing the full game, so the process will be automated and seamless. And for developers, there's also a new Stats API that can be used for optimization and seeing how the game runs in relation to the "shader cache hit rate."

It's a twofold solution: one that eliminates the shader compilation step to improve load times, and one that reduces stutter across a wide range of PC hardware. However, the catch is that developers will need to submit the SODB file to the Xbox Partner Center, so odds are this might be limited to games available on the Xbox storefront on PC. That said, it looks like it's going to be integrated into Unreal Engine, which should help it go mainstream.

"As Unreal, we're excited about supporting advanced shader delivery in the ecosystem. We've been doing early testing and explorations on SODB and PSDB generation, and will have more details coming soon," Mihnea Balta, Director, Rendering Engineering at Epic Games, said.