The Shader Cache thing

[MeGa]

Every time I have a patch, the shader cache rebuilds. Very slowly, it takes 2 good minutes. The result is better frames after first launch, on every patch.

That's why, imo, we usually have people reporting better performance after patch, but some days or weeks after, performance degrades again.

Reinstalling the game or installing new nvidia drivers seems to have same effect, but must be checked to be sure.

The "issue" here is how to reproduce it myslef? (without doing something radical and more time consuming like reinstalling or updating drivers)

There is a shader_cache.hans file in appdata Fatshark folder that you can remove (usually 27mb for me) and it gets replaced after some boots. The shader cache rebuilds but faster and the results are a temporary performance boost, but not the same as the "long shader cache rebuild".

So as I cant draw further conclusions or investigate much more on myself, but I think this could improve performance, I "bring this to the public" XD.

Any ideas? Anybody who tinkered with this stuff?

[MeGa]

bump?

[Bresker]

Well the shader is pretty quick to compile even after updates, are you using an ssd ? i not this is one of the games that requires one.

[Calv]

I'm not saying it doesn't, but in theory, recreating the shader cache when there have been no other changes to the game or your system, shouldn't have any impact on frame rates.

It could be that there are other factors at work here, maybe when the shader cache is built, certain parts are being retained in memory or indexing for a short while afterwards, resulting in increased access times but then over time these are replaced which then results in some FPS drops when they are accessed later.

[MeGa]

Originally posted by Bresker:

Well the shader is pretty quick to compile even after updates, are you using an ssd ? i not this is one of the games that requires one.

yep, using an m2 ssd. Its not that it takes long, I load the game uber fast. What I mean is that the only time it rebuilds in a slow, and convincing way, is after a patch. And it has a positive effect on fps.

After that, shader cache builds up in less than 3s, and the performance doesnt improve.

Originally posted by Calv:

I'm not saying it doesn't, but in theory, recreating the shader cache when there have been no other changes to the game or your system, shouldn't have any impact on frame rates.

It could be that there are other factors at work here, maybe when the shader cache is built, certain parts are being retained in memory or indexing for a short while afterwards, resulting in increased access times but then over time these are replaced which then results in some FPS drops when they are accessed later.

Interesting, maybe its something like that.

My experiences come from some games (was it no mans sky for example?) where deleting the shader cache usually improved frames.

The additional thing is, nvidia has its own folder of shader cache, but I havent tinkered with it.

[Calv]

Originally posted by MeGa:

Originally posted by Bresker:

Well the shader is pretty quick to compile even after updates, are you using an ssd ? i not this is one of the games that requires one.

yep, using an m2 ssd. Its not that it takes long, I load the game uber fast. What I mean is that the only time it rebuilds in a slow, and convincing way, is after a patch. And it has a positive effect on fps.

After that, shader cache builds up in less than 3s, and the performance doesnt improve.

Originally posted by Calv:

I'm not saying it doesn't, but in theory, recreating the shader cache when there have been no other changes to the game or your system, shouldn't have any impact on frame rates.

It could be that there are other factors at work here, maybe when the shader cache is built, certain parts are being retained in memory or indexing for a short while afterwards, resulting in increased access times but then over time these are replaced which then results in some FPS drops when they are accessed later.

Interesting, maybe its something like that.

My experiences come from some games (was it no mans sky for example?) where deleting the shader cache usually improved frames.

The additional thing is, nvidia has its own folder of shader cache, but I havent tinkered with it.

From how I understand it, the shader cache is mainly intended to take some of the load off of the CPU.
You could try monitoring your CPU usage during a few missions following a full shader rebuild and then again after a few days to see if there is any noticeable difference.

[Ghosties Shaft]

Reduce your load capacity on CPU by 25% across the board.
Lower worker thread count by 1 from default.
Scroll all the way down and check the actual sliders for Blood impact etc, Hover over those settings and check to see which one's specifically are CPU intensive, ONLY REDUCE THOSE AND TEST AGAIN.