Nvidia has added support for Microsoft’s cloud shader system to its latest driver, a move aimed at PC gaming’s most familiar irritation: the “Compiling shaders” screen and the stutter that follows when it doesn’t finish the job. The GeForce 621.01 driver adds support for Microsoft’s Advanced Shader Delivery, starting with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and Gears of War: E-Day. PCWorld notes that Nvidia buried it in a routine Game Ready release, but it could matter more than the usual day-one optimisations.
How Advanced Shader Delivery works
Shaders have to be compiled for a specific mix of game, GPU and driver. Consoles sidestep the problem because every unit has the same hardware, so developers compile shaders up front. PCs can’t do that, which is why players sit through compile screens, or worse, get CPU spikes mid-match when a new effect compiles on the fly. PCWorld points to The Last of Us Part I, where players waited up to an hour for shaders to build.
Advanced Shader Delivery moves that work off your machine. According to PCWorld, developers capture shader data in a standardised State Object Database, and Microsoft combines it with each hardware vendor’s shader compilers in the cloud. The result is a Precompiled Shader Database tailored to your hardware, which Windows downloads in place of making your CPU crunch through it. Microsoft says the shader cache can be updated automatically after a driver update.
Nvidia says the technology can let supported games skip local shader compilation entirely, while Microsoft says it can also reduce the shader-compilation stutters that have plagued major PC releases. Nvidia claims it can reach a near-100 percent shader-cache hit rate in supported games. A high hit rate matters because it means fewer shaders get compiled just in time during play, which is when the hitches happen.
Where it fits
This isn’t a new Microsoft idea. PCWorld says Microsoft unveiled Advanced Shader Delivery last year for the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, then expanded it to a wider range of AMD-powered PCs this summer. Nvidia was the missing piece for most desktop gamers.
It also complements a feature Nvidia already had. XDA Developers covered the Nvidia App’s Auto Shader Compilation beta earlier this year. That feature rebuilds DirectX 12 shaders while your system is idle, which softens the post-driver-update hit. Advanced Shader Delivery tackles a different moment: the first time you launch a supported game.
The 621.01 driver also carries the usual launch-week extras. Funky Kit’s rundown of the release notes says it brings Game Ready support for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, featuring DLSS 4.5 and Advanced Shader Delivery. If you want background on that upscaling tech, we covered how DLSS 4.5 makes 240p games playable on older RTX cards.
The limits
The catch is “supported games”. PCWorld stresses that developers and storefronts still have to integrate Advanced Shader Delivery, and that it won’t cure every hitch in Unreal Engine or elsewhere. Traversal stutter, asset streaming, CPU bottlenecks and poor optimisation are separate problems. For now, the launch list is two titles.
Softonic reports that Microsoft says you need the Xbox PC app installed for the feature to switch on, and that Nvidia adds that Steam versions of supported games can also benefit. The driver targets Windows 11 and DirectX 12.
We’d install it for the shader support if you plan to play either launch title. If you’ve been cautious about new drivers, that’s understandable: Nvidia’s 595.71 driver caused up to a 16% performance drop on RTX cards. You can grab 621.01 from Nvidia’s website or the Nvidia App, but there’s no harm checking early user reports before updating a PC you rely on.
Which games support Advanced Shader Delivery on Nvidia right now?
PCWorld says only Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and Gears of War: E-Day are supported at launch. Softonic reports Microsoft says the same, and more titles depend on developers and storefronts adding support.
Do I need to do anything to turn it on?
Install driver 621.01 first. Softonic reports Microsoft says the Xbox PC app must also be installed for the feature to work, including for Steam copies of supported games. We’d check Nvidia’s release notes for the exact requirements before you update.
Will it fix all stuttering in PC games?
No. PCWorld says Advanced Shader Delivery targets shader compilation, so it won’t cure traversal stutter, asset-streaming hitches, CPU bottlenecks or general poor optimisation.
