Microsoft is actively working to eliminate the frustrating "compiling shaders" wait times in PC gaming. The company's Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) system, first rolled out in its SDK last September, aims to significantly reduce game launch times. This initiative promises to improve the experience, particularly on battery-limited handheld devices, where initial tests showed launch time reductions of up to 85 percent in titles like Avowed.
While hardware support from companies like Nvidia and Intel is anticipated later this year, wider adoption across the PC gaming ecosystem is a gradual process. Game engine makers must also integrate Microsoft's Shader Object Data Base (SODB) APIs to streamline the process for game developers. Epic Games is currently in early testing phases.
Microsoft has updated its APIs to simplify the creation and testing of precompiled shaders, urging developers to integrate SODB collection into their game engines. This will allow PC games downloaded through the Xbox app to bypass the shader compilation step starting in May. The company intends for this feature to be available to any storefront in the future, not just its own PC game platform.