Long first-launch waits
What this fixes: long “optimizing for your PC” waits on first launch and shader compilation stutter. Who it’s for: Windows 11 players who buy games through the Xbox PC app and want to know whether their hardware qualifies.
Verified against Microsoft’s Advanced Shader Delivery overview, the Xbox support page (accurate as of October 1, 2026) and the DirectX Developer Blog’s Gears of War: E-Day post and AMD expansion post.
What does Advanced Shader Delivery do?
Microsoft calls ASD “a Windows 11 Direct3D 12 technology that helps games load faster.” Normally your PC compiles a game’s shaders itself, at launch or “just-in-time” during play, which causes long loads, stutter and extra power draw. ASD compiles them ahead of time and delivers the results when you download the game. Think of it as getting a meal kit already cooked instead of a box of ingredients.
How much does it help?
| Game | Hardware | Result, per Microsoft |
|---|---|---|
| Gears of War: E-Day | Supported Windows devices | Shader compilation cut by about 95%, “a few seconds” vs “several minutes” |
| Forza Horizon 6 | Radeon RX 7600, Ryzen 7 5800 | Loads in 4 seconds vs almost 1.5 minutes |
Will it work on my PC?
| Vendor | Supported GPUs | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| AMD | RDNA 1, 2, 3, 3.5 and 4 | Adrenalin 26.6.1 or newer |
| Qualcomm | Snapdragon X2 Series | 2026.08.3 or newer |
| Intel | Arc B570, B580; Core Ultra Series 2 and 3 | 32.0.101.9150 adds support |
| Nvidia | All RTX GPUs and RTX Spark | Announced for “later this month” |
Every vendor needs Windows 11 24H2 or later. Microsoft’s E-Day post lists Intel and Nvidia as coming “later this month”. Intel has since shipped driver 32.0.101.9150, which its release notes say adds ASD on Arc B-series, Core Ultra Series 3 and “certain Series 2 notebooks”. Nvidia hasn’t named a driver yet.
How do I make sure it’s on?
- Update Windows 11 to 24H2 or later.
- Update your graphics driver to the version listed above.
- Install and update the Xbox PC app before you download the game. Microsoft says this matters for Gears of War: E-Day.
- Launch the game. “Precompiled shaders installed” appears on the splash screen or launch window when ASD is working.
Why not on Steam?
ASD is delivered by the storefront. Developers upload a State Object Database to a store, which compiles it for each GPU. For now, Microsoft’s documentation and the Xbox support page describe it through the Xbox PC app, and the Xbox support page lists Gears of War: E-Day and Forza Horizon 6 among recent supported games. Other storefronts would need to build the same pipeline.
