Intel must also hate waiting for shaders to compile as it begins bundling pre-compiled code into Arc drivers for faster load times
We finally have games taking full advantage of the speed of a solid state drive and, bam! Shader compilation. Games require a whole lot of custom code, in the form of shaders, in order to look as good as they do these days. This code needs to be available at short notice, and often compiled ahead of time, in order to keep up with the demands of real-time rendering. That's why it takes time to compile on first boot. Unless, of course, you already have the compiled code ready to go.
Intel is now including precompiled shaders for selected games alongside its graphics driver package. It's called the Intel Graphics Shader Distribution Service, and it will "help improve first load times up to 2x on Intel Arc B-series GPUs, Intel Core Ultra Series 3, and Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs."
Here's the list of supported games in the latest driver package (32.0.101.8626 WHQL):
- Black Myth: Wukong
- Borderlands 4
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
- Cyberpunk 2077
- God of War Ragnarök
- Gotham Knights
- Hogwarts Legacy
- NBA 2K26
- Starfield
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
- The Outer Worlds 2
So, if you're booting for the first time or building a fresh PC with Arc, you'll be spared precious minutes of your life before your game boots. Okay, sure, it's a small change, but it makes sense, considering shader compilation is not going anywhere in a hurry. Bundling pre-compiled shaders can also reduce compilation-related stuttering issues during gameplay.
There's no major file size increase with the latest drivers for the inclusion, either.
If you're thinking, 'hey, that sounds good, but I'm using—insert AMD or Nvidia—graphics card', I've good news for you. This is all part of a wider push by Microsoft with what it calls Advanced Shader Delivery. Alongside Intel, Nvidia has also announced it will be supporting the feature for "GeForce RTX users" later this year. Advanced Shader Delivery was also rolled out to help the Xbox ROG Ally device—powered by an AMD chip—so we're expecting a full rollout across the board.
"New APIs and tools from Microsoft allow game developers to package a collection of Pipeline State Objects into a State Object Database (SODB)," Intel explains. "Subsequently, Intel’s offline compiler compiles those SODBs into a Precompiled Shader Database (PSDB). Using PSDBs at runtime greatly accelerates loading times and reduces stuttering."
Some games won't be supported, or only partially supported by the feature, due to the complexity of precompiling them for a range of PC configurations. However, pre-compiled shaders could be a decent way to save time and banish stutters, especially as, through driver packages, they could arrive just in time for the latest games on release.