[SOLVED!] Question about shader compilation

[gorba]

Can someone explain why this needs to run every time I continue my game? It seems unnecessary. The shader compilation has run dozens of times in the same locations. The shaders should be baked and ready to go.

UPDATE: Issue solved by uninstalling from an external SanDisk 4TB Extreme Portable SSD (1050MB/s, USB-C) and reinstalling to blazing fast internal SAMSUNG 990 PRO SSD 4TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 (Read Speeds Up to 7,450 MB/s). Load speeds are now a second.

[hntd]

Because not all shaders are cached, you are mistaking compiling and caching. Just because it compiles them does not mean it caches them for later. Are you running the game on a very bad CPU? You would only see such a thing if you were on a very slow CPU.

[Arc]

Originally posted by gorba:

Can someone explain why this needs to run every time I continue my game?

Mods ? Reshade or somesuch ?

[gorba]

Originally posted by Arc:

Originally posted by gorba:

Can someone explain why this needs to run every time I continue my game?

Mods ? Reshade or somesuch ?

I use Reshader to remove the game's yellow tint. However, the constant shader compilations happened before I added Reshader.

[Praesi]

Originally posted by Arc:

Originally posted by gorba:

Can someone explain why this needs to run every time I continue my game?

Mods ? Reshade or somesuch ?

What has ReShade or Mods to do with it?
Absolutly nothing.

[Praesi]

Because your Hardware is old and has to do it to somewhat keep the Game running.

[Arc]

Originally posted by gorba:

I use Reshader to remove the game's yellow tint. However, the constant shader compilations happened before I added Reshader.

You sure ?
https://steamcommunity.com/app/2420110/discussions/0/4355617246779019235/

[any_ill]

Yes it's sure. I use no mod myself and shader compilation happens all the time.

[Raider Deci]

Originally posted by any_ill:

Yes it's sure. I use no mod myself and shader compilation happens all the time.

Same here, even in reloading saves which I dont get (takes way short time than when first starting). No mods/reshade or anything at all, game runs perfecly fine without hickups otherwise. And while the cpu is on the older side its not running to max all the time either, far from.

[any_ill]

I'm guessing it's not an issue, as someone else said, they don't cache them so they need to do it all the time. It's short anyway but it struck me a bit because it was unusual.

[• Shockwave •]

Open world games like this one have ♥♥♥♥ ton of different complex materials. There's a wide range of hardware configurations with different capabilities. Compiling shaders at runtime ensures that they are optimized for your GPU, providing the best possible performance and compatibility (might use some clever hacks/solutions that are applicable only for some specific GPUs). Also I'm pretty sure that not all shaders are compiled when the game loads, but a set needed for the current region or smth like that. It's quite typical for modern games to compile shaders in the background, while you play the game but if it's done in a dumb way, you will have a lot of stuttering in the game and quite a high CPU load.

Also you have your answer in one of the latest tech interviews with Nixxes devs:

One thing I wanted to go back to is PSOs. Interestingly, there's a longer 'burn' at the beginning of the game - 30s on a big CPU and around a minute on smaller CPU. That's reasonable - but what is the PSO process like, how are they collected?

Michiel Roza - Nixxes : It's similar to Spider-Man; we let QA collect all of the PSOs, collect them at the end of the week and merge them into a big database. One extra challenge in this game was that this game uses compute shaders that are mostly unique by tile to generate placements. If these shaders aren't ready in time, they cause streaming issues. To alleviate that, we front-load those specific shaders and that's the shader compilation step you see.

[Praesi]

Originally posted by Arc:

Originally posted by gorba:

I use Reshader to remove the game's yellow tint. However, the constant shader compilations happened before I added Reshader.

You sure ?
https://steamcommunity.com/app/2420110/discussions/0/4355617246779019235/

Yes he is sure.
ReShade has zero impact on anything the Game does.

[gorba]

Originally posted by any_ill:

I'm guessing it's not an issue, as someone else said, they don't cache them so they need to do it all the time. It's short anyway but it struck me a bit because it was unusual.

I think the issue probably stems from the game's architecture optimized for the PS5. The console's hardware might have necessitated constant shader compilation at startup to manage the game's extensive content.

In contrast, the varied configurations of PC systems (CPU, memory, video, HDD) impact this process differently, mainly because the PC version of Horizon 2 includes additional graphical enhancements like DLSS, DLAA, and Frame Gen, and framerates greater than 60 that are not available on the PS5.

Nixxes made the game functional for PC but likely didn't modify the shader compilers, as they are a fundamental area of the code. This neglect highlights a prevalent issue with console-to-PC ports and why solid console ports are rare. In other words, the studio can only do so much with the port but can't remake it for PC from the ground up.

With Nixxes other port, Spider-Man, Insomniac likely employed distinct engines or methodologies that appear better suited for PC gaming. So when Nixxes worked on that project, the results were much better for PC. This contracting out conversion to a third-party studio starkly contrasts with Rockstar's games. Their ports were done in-house so the game's engine could better handle things on PC. If Rockstar had made the Horizon game, they would have refactored the shader compilation code to run things better on Windows.

[gorba]

In retrospect, and thinking about what many of you posted, I realize you are correct about my hardware for this game, specifically the CPU.

Except for the GPU, I've FULLY upgraded my machine.

CPU: Intel i9-14900K (with be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 Quiet cooler)
MOBO: ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Dark Hero
RAM: 32 GB G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo RGB Series 6400MT/s (on Asus's QVL)
GPU: 4090 (already own)
M.2 SSD #1: Acer Predator GM7000 1TB NVMe (Read speeds up to 7400MB/s)
M.2 SSD #2: SAMSUNG 990 PRO SSD 4TB (Read Speeds Up to 7,450 MB/s)
CASE: CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW Tempered Glass Mid-Tower ATX (with many Quiet 140 mm case fans)
PSU: Corsair RM1000e 1000-Watt Fully Modular Low-Noise

I'm hoping this makes a difference with the shader compilation.

[rzn6jw]

Shouldn't have a compile every time you start the game. Should only happen after a new graphics driver install or a game update. I can think of one game, The Last of Us, that compiled every time you started it but HFW doesn't do the compile every time for me.

[biosmonkey]

Try increasing shader cache size in Nvidia control panel under 3d settings.