FIXED: Long "Preparing Shaders.."

[Ewoke]

There are three known to me solutions:

FIRST SOLUTION (worked for me personally)
It's been said on this hub before a couple of times, I just wanna highlight it, because it fixed the issue for me, I can't guarantee it will work for everyone, but it's worth giving a shot, because it's very simple to do, although the solution is so stupid I have no idea why it's affecting the loading times.

Link your account in-game. (ESC -> Options -> Account) Yup, that's it. I have no idea why, but it made the game load much, much faster. Before it took minutes at times, now mere seconds.

My guess would be that the shader settings are being saved into NX account, and it can't do it without linking, but it's just a wild guess, it's the only explanation that makes sense to me.

If for some reason you are interested in my hardware, it's ancient and not that great, i7-3770S, installed on 870EVO, so only SATA3, 1070ti. Sharing it because I've seen some folk talking something about i7s and i9s having issues with shaders, blah, blah, but it seems like nonsense to me now that I got the game working as intended.

WARNING: People are reporting that linking accounts when you've already made some progress is resetting them back to the state as if they just started playing, HOWEVER so far from all the people that mentioned it to me, NONE were actually affected by it, they just heard it from somewhere else, and I myself linked my account after 90h+ of playing, and no progress was lost. Personally I think it's just a rumor or a case of people wiping their accounts on accident, and shifting blame. I have no proof for either case, so just be aware that it may be possible, but personally I doubt it.

SECOND SOLUTION
1. Steam Settings -> Downloads -> Shader PRE-CACHING (Disable this and then re-enable it)

2. Go to the following folder: C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\NVIDIA and then delete the files that are INSIDE the GLCache folder.

Credit for this one goes to Noirfragment on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFirstDescendant/comments/1e1sbla/preparing_shaders_solution/

THIRD SOLUTION

Originalmente postado por BuBaLoM:

Go to C:\Users\blabla\AppData\Local\M1\Saved\Config\Windows
open Engine.ini , add

[SystemSettings]
r.ShaderPipelines=1
r.ShaderPipelineCache.Enabled=0
r.D3D.ForceDXC=1

Pass that info around, help folks out.

[SenpaiKimchi]

Originalmente postado por MΞG:

Ok so here is what eventually worked for me -

Step 1 - already linked
Step 2 - completed
Setp 3 - completed

Next:
Go to Control Panel - Power settings and set to High Performance. Then edit the settings and set CPU minimum to 5% and CPU maximum to 90%. This eliminated the CPU always using 100% and now my AMD Ryzen never gets above 50 degrees while playing even in the Arizona heat.

Next (the one that made the most difference):
I had the game on an external SSD and I moved it to my main C: drive which is an internal Samsung 950 PRO SSD. Moving it COMPLETELY FIXED IT. Shaders now load super fast and there is no to very little lag or fps drops anymore! Game plays smooth as butter now. n.n

If you have this game on an external drive, definitely move it. It makes a world of difference.

My rig: AMD Ryzen 5 2600x - 16gb ram - GTX 1660 Super

Nah still not working for me preparing shader still takes 5-10 mins unfortunately.

[MΞG]

Originalmente postado por Licher.Rus:

This is THE ONLY game with such PROBLEM in the my entire Library

The problem is not on MY side, obviously

So when they would fix THEIR problem?

Same here. I have no problems with any of my other games no matter what drive they are on. This game is optimized very poorly and instead of the devs addressing that, they are releasing new patches to fix farming locations and new cosmetics. I wish they'd fix the optimization first.

There are multiple people reporting issues across all kinds of different setups from consoles to PCs with 1000 gen cards to 4000 gen cards. So if we want to play, apparently Nexon is leaving it up to us to fix it for them on our ends.

[MΞG]

Originalmente postado por SenpaiKimchi:

Originalmente postado por MΞG:

Ok so here is what eventually worked for me -

Step 1 - already linked
Step 2 - completed
Setp 3 - completed

Next:
Go to Control Panel - Power settings and set to High Performance. Then edit the settings and set CPU minimum to 5% and CPU maximum to 90%. This eliminated the CPU always using 100% and now my AMD Ryzen never gets above 50 degrees while playing even in the Arizona heat.

Next (the one that made the most difference):
I had the game on an external SSD and I moved it to my main C: drive which is an internal Samsung 950 PRO SSD. Moving it COMPLETELY FIXED IT. Shaders now load super fast and there is no to very little lag or fps drops anymore! Game plays smooth as butter now. n.n

If you have this game on an external drive, definitely move it. It makes a world of difference.

My rig: AMD Ryzen 5 2600x - 16gb ram - GTX 1660 Super

Will it not break or harm other games when playing? I mean when you change the cpu thingy?

It hasn't broke or harmed anything me, on the contrary actually. It's much happier! All you're doing is setting limits on your CPU so it doesn't overwork itself to death. Before I changed the power settings, my CPU was getting up to 78 degrees when I played TFD. But I also play PSO2NGS and Warframe and they work fine. Now it never goes about 82% and stays a cool 50 degrees no matter what I'm playing. But if you aren't comfortable, then leave the setting alone or do more research on it.

[Falk3n]

third solution worked for me

[Cultivator Cai'er]

People thought i was an AFK'er so they just quit the mission before i load in.... Life is great.

[Meyrime]

I tried to relink my account. Little did I know, I basically lost everything. All weapons, progress, descendants, gone. This is the stupidest idea from Kuro Games

[Cultivator Cai'er]

The ini stuff fixed it for me. since i already have linked my account.
Thank you

[dxd]

It`s work for me. Thank you.

[RiseM]

Didnt work

[sixbullets]

Didn't work for the most recent update sadly

[百地希留耶]

The third one work for me, W

[stefanto]

third solution worked for me

This is my full Engine.ini, I changed the graphic settings to full potato mode, because weapon DPS is tied to fps :(. If it crashes on your PC the values are too low, but maybe someone finds this useful, especially on lower end PCs.

Engine.ini

[Core.System]
Paths=../../../Engine/Content
Paths=%GAMEDIR%Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/2D/Paper2D/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/AnimToTexture/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/AnimationWarping/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/ControlRigSpline/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/ControlRig/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/IKRig/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/MotionWarping/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Bridge/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Compositing/Composure/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Compositing/OpenColorIO/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Developer/AnimationSharing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Developer/Concert/ConcertSync/ConcertSyncClient/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Developer/TraceSourceFiltering/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/BlueprintHeaderView/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/ConsoleVariablesEditor/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/GeometryMode/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/ObjectMixer/LightMixer/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/ObjectMixer/ObjectMixer/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/SpeedTreeImporter/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Enterprise/DatasmithContent/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Enterprise/GLTFExporter/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosNiagara/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosSolverPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/Dataflow/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/FullBodyIK/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/GeometryCollectionPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/PythonScriptPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/UVEditor/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/FX/Niagara/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Media/MediaCompositing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Media/MediaPlate/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/MovieScene/MoviePipelineMaskRenderPass/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/MovieScene/MovieRenderPipeline/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/MovieScene/SequencerScripting/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AMD/FSR2MovieRenderPipeline/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AMD/FSR2/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AMD/FSR/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AR/ARUtilities/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AR/AppleAR/AppleARKitFaceSupport/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AR/AppleAR/AppleARKit/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AudioSynesthesia/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AudioWidgets/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/GeometryProcessing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Intel/XeSS/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Metasound/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Nvidia/DLSSMoviePipelineSupport/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Nvidia/DLSS/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/ResonanceAudio/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Synthesis/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/WaveTable/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/TraceUtilities/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/VirtualProduction/CameraCalibrationCore/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/VirtualProduction/Takes/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/ImpostorBaker/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/M1Actor/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/M1Data/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/M1FunctionalTesting/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/M1NGS/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/M1PreLoadScreen/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/MissionGraph/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/NexonPlatformWebView/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/Spica/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/Wwise/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/ACLPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AMD/FSR3MovieRenderPipeline/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AMD/FSR3/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Nvidia/NRD/Content

[GameNetDriver StatelessConnectHandlerComponent]
CachedClientID=618

[TextureStreaming]
r.Streaming.PoolSize=0

[SystemSettings]
r.ShaderPipelines=1
r.ShaderPipelineCache.Enabled=0
r.D3D.ForceDXC=1
r.TextureStreaming=0
r.MaxAnisotropy=0
r.Streaming.MipBias=15
r.Streaming.UsePerTextureBias=1
r.TextureStreaming.MaxEffectiveScreenSize=0
r.TextureStreaming.LimitPoolSizeToVRAM=1
r.Streaming.FullyLoadUsedTextures=0
r.Streaming.HLODStrategy=2
r.HLOD.DistanceFactor=0.5
r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=0
r.ShadowQuality=0
r.BloomQuality=1
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=0
r.LensFlareQuality=0
r.MotionBlurQuality=0
r.TranslucencyVolumeBlur=0
r.SceneColorFringeQuality=0
r.EyeAdaptationQuality=1
r.TonemapperQuality=1
r.LightShaftQuality=0
r.RefractionQuality=0
r.SSR.Quality=0
r.SceneColorFormat=3
r.LightFunctionQuality=0
r.Shadow.CSM.MaxCascades=0
r.Shadow.MaxResolution=64
r.Shadow.RadiusThreshold=0.1
r.DistanceFieldShadowing=0
r.DistanceFieldAO=0
r.AllowLandscapeShadows=0
r.DFDistanceScale=1
r.SkyLightingQuality=0
r.ReflectionEnvironment=0
r.Reflections.Denoiser=0
r.ReflectionCaptureResolution=16
r.PostProcessAAQuality=0
r.TemporalAA.Upsampling=0
r.MipMapLODBias=4
r.LODDistanceFactor=0.1
r.SkeletalMeshLODBias=10
r.ParticleLODBias=10
r.ParticleLightQuality=0
r.HZBOcclusion=0
r.RenderTargetPoolMin=200
r.SceneColorFringe.Max=0
r.FastBlurThreshold=0
r.DetailMode=0
r.SimpleDynamicLighting=1
r.FinishCurrentFrame=0
r.StaticMeshLODDistanceFactor=0.1
r.LODMaxResolution=64
r.StaticMesh.LOD.MaxResolution=64
r.StaticMeshLODBias=10
r.StaticMesh.LOD.MaxScreenSize=2.0
r.StaticMesh.MinLOD=4
r.SkeletalMesh.MaxScreenSize=2.0
r.SkeletalMesh.MinLOD=4
r.ReflectionQuality=0
r.ReflectQuality=0

[SenpaiKimchi]

Originalmente postado por stefanto:

third solution worked for me

This is my full Engine.ini, I changed the graphic settings to full potato mode, because weapon DPS is tied to fps :(. If it crashes on your PC the values are too low, but maybe someone finds this useful, especially on lower end PCs.

Engine.ini

[Core.System]
Paths=../../../Engine/Content
Paths=%GAMEDIR%Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/2D/Paper2D/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/AnimToTexture/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/AnimationWarping/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/ControlRigSpline/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/ControlRig/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/IKRig/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/MotionWarping/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Bridge/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Compositing/Composure/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Compositing/OpenColorIO/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Developer/AnimationSharing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Developer/Concert/ConcertSync/ConcertSyncClient/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Developer/TraceSourceFiltering/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/BlueprintHeaderView/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/ConsoleVariablesEditor/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/GeometryMode/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/ObjectMixer/LightMixer/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/ObjectMixer/ObjectMixer/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/SpeedTreeImporter/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Enterprise/DatasmithContent/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Enterprise/GLTFExporter/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosNiagara/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosSolverPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/Dataflow/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/FullBodyIK/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/GeometryCollectionPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/PythonScriptPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/UVEditor/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/FX/Niagara/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Media/MediaCompositing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Media/MediaPlate/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/MovieScene/MoviePipelineMaskRenderPass/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/MovieScene/MovieRenderPipeline/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/MovieScene/SequencerScripting/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AMD/FSR2MovieRenderPipeline/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AMD/FSR2/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AMD/FSR/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AR/ARUtilities/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AR/AppleAR/AppleARKitFaceSupport/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AR/AppleAR/AppleARKit/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AudioSynesthesia/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AudioWidgets/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/GeometryProcessing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Intel/XeSS/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Metasound/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Nvidia/DLSSMoviePipelineSupport/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Nvidia/DLSS/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/ResonanceAudio/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Synthesis/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/WaveTable/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/TraceUtilities/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/VirtualProduction/CameraCalibrationCore/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/VirtualProduction/Takes/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/ImpostorBaker/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/M1Actor/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/M1Data/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/M1FunctionalTesting/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/M1NGS/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/M1PreLoadScreen/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/MissionGraph/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/NexonPlatformWebView/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/Spica/Content
Paths=../../../M1/Plugins/Wwise/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/ACLPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AMD/FSR3MovieRenderPipeline/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AMD/FSR3/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Nvidia/NRD/Content

[GameNetDriver StatelessConnectHandlerComponent]
CachedClientID=618

[TextureStreaming]
r.Streaming.PoolSize=0

[SystemSettings]
r.ShaderPipelines=1
r.ShaderPipelineCache.Enabled=0
r.D3D.ForceDXC=1
r.TextureStreaming=0
r.MaxAnisotropy=0
r.Streaming.MipBias=15
r.Streaming.UsePerTextureBias=1
r.TextureStreaming.MaxEffectiveScreenSize=0
r.TextureStreaming.LimitPoolSizeToVRAM=1
r.Streaming.FullyLoadUsedTextures=0
r.Streaming.HLODStrategy=2
r.HLOD.DistanceFactor=0.5
r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=0
r.ShadowQuality=0
r.BloomQuality=1
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=0
r.LensFlareQuality=0
r.MotionBlurQuality=0
r.TranslucencyVolumeBlur=0
r.SceneColorFringeQuality=0
r.EyeAdaptationQuality=1
r.TonemapperQuality=1
r.LightShaftQuality=0
r.RefractionQuality=0
r.SSR.Quality=0
r.SceneColorFormat=3
r.LightFunctionQuality=0
r.Shadow.CSM.MaxCascades=0
r.Shadow.MaxResolution=64
r.Shadow.RadiusThreshold=0.1
r.DistanceFieldShadowing=0
r.DistanceFieldAO=0
r.AllowLandscapeShadows=0
r.DFDistanceScale=1
r.SkyLightingQuality=0
r.ReflectionEnvironment=0
r.Reflections.Denoiser=0
r.ReflectionCaptureResolution=16
r.PostProcessAAQuality=0
r.TemporalAA.Upsampling=0
r.MipMapLODBias=4
r.LODDistanceFactor=0.1
r.SkeletalMeshLODBias=10
r.ParticleLODBias=10
r.ParticleLightQuality=0
r.HZBOcclusion=0
r.RenderTargetPoolMin=200
r.SceneColorFringe.Max=0
r.FastBlurThreshold=0
r.DetailMode=0
r.SimpleDynamicLighting=1
r.FinishCurrentFrame=0
r.StaticMeshLODDistanceFactor=0.1
r.LODMaxResolution=64
r.StaticMesh.LOD.MaxResolution=64
r.StaticMeshLODBias=10
r.StaticMesh.LOD.MaxScreenSize=2.0
r.StaticMesh.MinLOD=4
r.SkeletalMesh.MaxScreenSize=2.0
r.SkeletalMesh.MinLOD=4
r.ReflectionQuality=0
r.ReflectQuality=0

By full potato mode you mean like the graphics are are blurry and jaggedy?

[DanHg]

The third one did help

[Jaynoble55]

Oh look. North Korean coding is still not fixed.