Tired of shader compilation screens? Microsoft is rolling out its own solution, but we won't feel the benefits immediately

Last month, Microsoft introduced Advanced Shader Delivery, a mechanism that claims to solve one of the biggest annoyances PC gamers face these days: shader compilation. Although the technology will initially be limited to the Asus ROG Xbox Ally handhelds and games purchased through the Xbox app, an update to Agility SDK means that other vendors and merchants can now get started on supporting it too.

Microsoft's Agility software development kit (SDK) is a collection of tools that game developers can use to implement the latest DirectX features, without having to wait for them to be integrated into Windows itself. In the latest 1.618 version, Agility now supports Advanced Shader Delivery, which was announced last month.

The rather unassuming name is for a complex database system that will hopefully be the ultimate solution to all problems relating to shader compilation. Modern 3D graphics involve tens of thousands of different shaders, and APIs such as DirectX, Vulkan, or Metal generate them in a common format. For your graphics card to be able to process them, they need to be compiled specifically for that hardware.

For gaming PCs, that process is carried out by the GPU drivers, and it's why your CPU's fan suddenly goes wild when you load up certain games. Depending on when and how the compilation stage has been implemented by a game's developer, you can either get a long, grinding stage before you even get to the main menu or problems during gameplay as the drivers struggle to compile shaders that have been missed.

Advanced Shader Delivery solves all of this by removing the whole compilation process from your PC's hands (well, processors) and doing it 'offline', i.e. by the game developers themselves. The idea is to have a database that stores the compiled shaders for any given game, for every hardware configuration that's able to run it.

Then, when you download a game from the likes of Steam, the pre-compiled shaders are bundled with it. And hey presto! No lengthy compilation screens, no screaming CPU fans, no shader stutters mid-battle.

Console gamers already enjoy this because that's how it's done for PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox games. However, the database only needs to deal with one or two hardware setups, so it's a much easier affair to manage. With gaming PCs, the sheer number of different GPUs that can run any given game makes it a much larger challenge.

To simplify the process as much as possible, AMD, Intel, and Nvidia are providing the offline compilers for developers to use, and Microsoft has developed a set of APIs for digital storefronts to integrate into their installers. So when you fire up your newly downloaded game for the first time, it checks the database for the correct pre-compiled shaders to use.

Whether the entire PSDB (pre-compiled shader database) is part of the game's download or just a relevant subset isn't clear, but I suspect that the first stores and games to support Advanced Shader Delivery will probably go with the former. That means the size of the download will be larger, but for many PC gamers, that will be an acceptable trade-off for long loading times and stutters.

As things currently stand, the first store to host PSDBs for its games will be Microsoft's Xbox app, and even, only for the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X handhelds. That's just two hardware configurations, so it's not hard to see why the first iteration of the system is so limited.

For every other game store, we've got a long wait on our hands. Firstly, we need game developers to integrate the Advanced Shader Delivery system (which will be simple in some cases and a major hassle in others), then we need Valve, GOG, Epic, Ubisoft, et al to do the same.

I suspect that we won't see it making an appearance until we're well into 2026, at the earliest, and even then, it will probably just be added to new releases or older ones that are still very popular (and would significantly benefit). Super-fast load times and a dearth of shader stutter are two advantages that consoles have over gaming PCs, so anything that can be done to even the playing field is a must-have, even if it takes a while to get here.

Best graphics card 2025

1. Best overall: AMD Radeon RX 9070

2. Best value: AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB

3. Best budget: Intel Arc B570

4. Best mid-range: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

5. Best high-end: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090

👉Check out our full guide👈