AMD Software 26.6.1 Drivers Support Microsoft Advanced Shader Delivery in XBOX PC App

Microsoft today rolled out Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD), a feature that allows game developers to ship pre-compiled shaders to end-users specific to graphics hardware, to minimize game loading times. Modern games perform runtime shader compilation on the end-user's machine, usually during the first startup of an installed game, or when graphics settings are significantly changed, to build or rebuild shaders specific to the installed hardware. This can sometimes take frustratingly long, as your machine is essentially compiling code for your GPU. Microsoft developed a framework to eliminate this on the XBOX PC app, but this requires participation of hardware vendors. AMD is onboard.

AMD announced that its recently released Adrenalin 26.6.1 WHQL drivers support Advanced Shader Delivery feature on the XBOX PC app. This allows game developers to stream pre-compiled shaders, reducing game loading times by up to 95%, or as if you're trying to launch the game after shader compilation. AMD says that the feature is rolling out to all RDNA architecture GPUs, which would mean Radeon RX 5000 series, RX 6000 series, RX 7000 series, and the current RX 9000 series; starting with 26.6.1 WHQL drivers, and the latest XBOX PC app from the Microsoft Store. "Forza Horizon 6" is the first game to support pre-compiled shader delivery.