We’re probably in for a long wait before it’s available on Steam, GOG, and other online stores.
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.
