We need to talk about UE4 Shader compilation issues

Why is there so much stutters with these games on pc? It seems there is a big issue here with games made with that engine. Is nvidia doing anything about this?

I know most game dev solve this by having a pre compile before start but its abit ridiculous now. whats your thoughts peeps?

 

Only really notice it at the start of a new level/area or when the game is precaching at menus. Tbh it doesn't feel like a big issue.
In saying that though I'd imagine it'll be a lot worse when not using an m.2

 

True but the pre caching is not present on the consoles

 

Consoles have fixed hardware and drivers. So devs can precompile shaders and package them with the game.
On PC there are different architectures, and different makers, and different drivers. So it's impossible to pre-compile shaders without risking compatibility issues and graphics bugs.

 

they can also do compiling BEFORE the game loads up the game. last i checked games that actual do dont suffer from the issue? and by that I mean before gameplay starts

 

It's more than just shader compilation -- a lot of UE4 titles also have genuine asset streaming stutter that occurs like clockwork regardless of whether the shaders are compiled are not. E.g. Outer Worlds, Jedi Fallen Order, Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

For context my rig has a 3900X + 2080S + 32 Gigs of 3200 cl16 RAM + NVMe Drive and G-Sync -- not bleeding edge anymore, but no slouch either.

It baffles me that devs (and the UE team for that matter since it's so common with their engine) don't take hitching/stuttering more seriously, it's an awful problem that plagues too many games on PC. Sadly it's not just limited to UE games either, I was very bummed to see that Elden Ring exhibited these issues too on PC.

 

Surely it can't be hard for them to do the Horizon Zero Dawn/Modern Warfare 2019 way where they just compile the shaders at game launch no? I don't mind that approach at all and I'd be surprised if that was all that difficult to do.

 

This is what shouldshould be done for shaders period. do it before game launchs, then to my understanding there no need to do again less drivers change or game was patched? this should solve at one of reason why it so bad on pc

 

Yes, there are games that do that. And avoid most stuttering.

 

UE's stuttering is not caused by shader compilation.

 

Part is caused by asset streaming. Part is caused by shader compilation, especially in DX12.

 

but there’s just two graphic card companies, can’t they pre compile shaders for nvidia and amd. Have the drivers read them universally

 

So much this, it takes two is virtually UNPLAYABLE ON PC due to ue4 stuttering

 

You seem to forget the biggest of all: Intel and their IGPs. And soon, also discrete GPUs.
And each of these companies has several archs in the market at the same time. And different driver versions.

 

No it isn't. UE has very robust systems to prevent shader recompilation in release builds. If the game is properly cooked via Unreal Frontend (release versions always are), then all shaders are precompiled and stored in unreal's shader cache, which is always loaded either on game start or when a specific package is loaded.

 

every game now with this DX12 crap API have this problem Elden ring Call of duty pacific map Shadow warrior 3 God of war ......ect i have 6900XT with 16GB vram LOL ..........

 

you can ship precompiled shaders with pc as well, but they'll still end up being converted again as the driver reinterprets it into a driver optimal format.

GTAIV did this. heh.

 

You said it well: "If the game is properly cooked"

I kwon some games like Gears 5 are so well optimized, that I barely saw any stutter.
Then there are other games, where it is a stutter fest....
UE4, being a widely game engine, has devs that know what they are doing and some that don't.

 

Yes, driver's internal compiler can optimize given shaders, but it's not necessary. If there are some slowdowns caused by improperly implemented recompilation on driver-level, that is not engine's fault.

 

Just an example.