SCSKiller 1.3.0-alpha.2 (Patreon)

This version includes many many fixes and two big features: Before and after recording, and experimental support for Intel GPUs.How to get it: in SCSKiller, go to Settings, sign in with Patreon and pick the Alpha update channel (Patreon Backers), then go to About and press on check for updates, once the update is downloaded a button to update should appear in the window top bar.

BEFORE AND AFTER RECORDING

Measure what SCSKiller does for a game on your own PC: you play the same part twice, once without SCSKiller's compile and once with it, and get a report you can share.

It works on DirectX 12 and DirectX 11 games without anti-cheat, with "Record while I play" on for the game.

1. Open the game's page and click Before and after. Pick 5 or 10 minutes.

2. SCSKiller deletes the game's shader caches (the driver's, Windows' and the game's own) and starts the game. Load a save you can load again and play. The time counts from the game's first frame, loading and pauses included. A small panel in the game shows the time left, your frame times and, on DirectX 12, each shader compilation stutter.

3. Close the game. SCSKiller deletes the caches again and compiles the game's shaders.

4. Load the same save and play the same minutes again.

5. The report compares shader compilation stutters, pipelines ready from the cache and the worst stutter, with both frame-time graphs. On DirectX 11 it compares every stutter, since SCSKiller can't tell shader compilation stutters apart there. Save or copy it as an image, or share it to X, Reddit or Discord.

Don't change graphics settings between the two runs. Frame times stay on your PC unless you share the image.

INTEL GPUs (EXPERIMENTAL, contributed by nyannoying1337)

SCSKiller can now compile on Intel GPUs. It's off by default and was only measured on Intel Arc.

1. Open Settings, Compile speed, and tick "Experimental: compile on Intel GPUs". It only shows on a PC with an Intel GPU.

2. If the PC has another GPU too, pick the one your games run on in "GPU to compile for".

3. Restart SCSKiller, then compile your games as usual.

Tell us on Discord how it goes, with your GPU and driver version.

ALSO NEW

- Initial experimental Linux support.

- Settings has Compile ray tracing shaders (on by default), with a choice per game.

- On AMD, Keep compiled caches aside (Settings) puts a game's compiled cache back after the driver's 16 GB limit removes it.

- On NVIDIA, a game whose compiled cache is gone asks to compile again, or to raise the driver's shader cache size when it's too small.

- Game page: Remove from library, Leave out of Add all ready, DirectX choice and Set AES key.

- Unreal games also compile what the game saved in its own pipeline cache while you played, no recorder needed.

FIXES

- A shader that crashes or hangs the driver is skipped for that compile, and the rest keeps going.

- When a compile pauses because you start a game, the shaders it was building are finished afterwards instead of being skipped.

- DirectX 11 games: Unity games such as Megabonk compile more of their shaders, and shaders SCSKiller can't compile yet count as skipped, no longer as refused by the driver.

- The game scan keeps going past a file it can't read (failing drive, cloud folder) instead of stopping.

- On Windows 10, protected games such as AION 2 now compile.

- On AMD, Before and after and Clear cache no longer delete the DirectX 11 shader cache of another game with the same exe name.

- Last time you played no longer shows a game's run while it's still going.

- Frame times are recorded again in games where a mod such as ReShade replaces dxgi.dll.

- FINAL FANTASY XV precompiles every DirectX 11 shader without a recording. Mass Effect Legendary Edition, FINAL FANTASY TACTICS and KINGDOM HEARTS 1.5+2.5 list each of their games. Forza Horizon 6 compiles from its game files.

- WARDOGS, THE FINALS and Forza Horizon 6 contain anti-cheat. Enabling the recorder there is at your own risk, and SCSKiller isn't responsible for bans.

NOTE: After this update, SCSKiller checks every compiled game again, which can take several minutes with many games. The app is slow until that ends. Later starts are fast.