PoE2 shaders compilation

Hi all,

Hope I am posting this in the right section :)
I have a hardware/technical question.

When I turn on the in-game statistics there is a green shader bar, I mean green when it's loading/compiling shaders.

Is CPU or GPU responsible for that specific case of shaders compilation?

I am asking because usually in other games when shaders compilation occurs (examples MW3, TLoS2, Stafield etc.) it is done 100% by CPU.

Game Engines compiles shader on the CPU using the DirectX Compiler (DXC) or the HLSL Compiler (HLC), SPIR-V if Vulkan is used and it’s done as part of the asset pipeline.

At the moment, the workload of such compilation rely on CPU. As PoE engine rely on these API, I suppose it does not except to the rule.

However, there are some third-party solutions that can be used to compile shaders on the GPU. These solutions usually require additional setup and configuration. It is specific and I only saw that on Unreal Engine at the moment.

if you want furious shader compilation times, a good multicore CPU should always be recommanded.

Thanks a lot for such in-depth explanation :)

I thought that maybe this works differently when compared to other games as other games usually just do it in the menu, before we even launch the game.
But with poe2 it looks like it often compiles shaders, even when playin the actual game.

Not at all! :-)

I am guessing the following :

Due to the complexity of graphics materials used in the game. I suspect that they opted in to an on-demand compilation.

In my PoE2 game, most shader compilations are done at the start of a new map (15-20 sec). It only triggers for specific events for a fast compile duration, like abyssal mobs, for example.

I think it is specific to mods on the map and their content.

And most importantly, it would be awesome if we could get a behind-the-scenes look at GGG, concerning their game engine. Rare are the studios that are always developing their own engine. It is a really valuable experience, all the most for curious players as I am.