BlueHeisenberg/SCSKiller v1.3.0 on GitHub

Report a problem

If a game won't compile, still stutters after a compile, or anything else looks wrong, open its game page and press Report a problem. Write what happened and it goes straight to the SCSKiller team as an anonymous report, no Discord or GitHub account needed. You see the whole report before you send it.

This build isn't code-signed yet, so the first run will probably show SmartScreen's "Windows protected your PC".
Click More info, then Run anyway. Updates never show it.
Signing through the SignPath Foundation is in progress for stable releases. Alpha and beta builds stay unsigned. To
check the download arrived whole, compare its SHA-256 with the one at the end of these notes (PowerShell:
Get-FileHash <file>). These notes aren't signed, so that doesn't prove who built it. The source: https://github.com/BlueHeisenberg/SCSKiller/tree/v1.3.0.
Smart App Control (Windows 11) blocks unsigned apps outright. If it's on, wait for a signed release.

This is a very big update, with everything from the 1.3.0 alphas and betas.

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.

From 1.3.0-alpha.1

New

Official recordings: SCSKiller's own recordings of a game version, marked "Official recording" on the game page.
Each is for backers, for every Patreon supporter, or for everyone without signing in.
DirectX 11 games compile on AMD. Their vertex shaders need a recording, so on AMD the recorder now records DirectX
11 games too, and the community database shares what it learns.
Engine support updates from the server: the rules that decide what a game compiles can be fixed or extended
between releases. Only rules SCSKiller signed are used, and a change rebuilds only the games it covers, while the PC
is idle.
Riot Client: its games are found (VALORANT, League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, 2XKO). Riot Client
games contain anti-cheat, and SCSKiller can't start them, so they have no recording session.
Naughty Dog games (The Last of Us Part I, UNCHARTED 4: A Thief's End, UNCHARTED: The Lost Legacy): SCSKiller
reads their shaders. They compile after a recording. The two UNCHARTED games of the Legacy of Thieves Collection show
as two games, each compiled for its own exe. Listed as one, the collection compiled for an exe that never runs, so
the driver cache it filled was one neither game reads. One recorder, on UNCHARTED 4's page, records both.
God of War Ragnarök compiles without a recording on NVIDIA. God of War (2018) compiles its DirectX 11 shaders
without a recording (on AMD, all but the vertex shaders).
Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart compile without a recording on NVIDIA, and
after a recording on AMD. HELLDIVERS 2's shaders are read too, but GameGuard keeps the recorder out, so it can't
compile yet.
Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition and DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT: SCSKiller reads their shaders. They
compile after a recording.
Overwatch (Steam) compiles its DirectX 11 shaders without a recording (on AMD, the pixel and compute shaders).
Its Steam install counts as an anti-cheat game, so the recorder stays out (thanks @JohnsonRan).
Source 2 games like Counter-Strike 2 compile their DirectX 11 shaders without a recording (on AMD, all but the
vertex shaders). Based on the notes in issue #13.
Notifications under a bell at the top: news, notes on new rules and links, only ones SCSKiller signed.
"What's new" lists a version's changes once after an update. About shows it again.
Max compile on a game's page compiles every combination of that game's shaders, once. It takes longer and uses
more disk space, but potentially fewer shaders compile while you play, which seems to help most on AMD. Nothing is
kept for the game: its next Compile is a standard one. It replaces Compile everything.
Maximum mode suggested per game: a game whose Maximum mode is known to help on your GPU says so on its page, with
"Turn on for this game". It turns Maximum on for that game only. On AMD, Maximum adds at most as many pairings as the
game's plan has, and at most about 2 GB of the shared cache. Maximum stays off by default.
AMD cache use: Settings and the Cache page show the DirectX 12 cache against the driver's fixed 16 GB, and say when
it's nearly full. A game's Maximum suggestion says how much it would add at most.
Cache page: every shader cache on the PC with its size, by installed game, uninstalled game, old driver, earlier
SCSKiller compiles and other GPU vendor, and the folder the driver reads and writes it in. Delete an item, a group or
everything there. After a driver update it offers to free what the new driver no longer reads.
A game marked not supported after it was compiled offers to clear the cache compiled for it.
A driver cache folder moved to another drive with a junction is followed: Settings shows that drive's free space, and
a link whose drive is missing holds compiles instead of marking games as cleared by the driver.
Library sorting and filters: the Game, Pipelines and Cache headers sort each section, and a status filter shows
only games that aren't supported, are ready to compile, are compiled, or were compiled by SCSKiller.
Game folders: add a folder of games no store lists, and SCSKiller finds each game in it at every scan. Games added
by hand or found in a folder can be renamed.
Scan progress shows per store and per game, and a big library shows its last list at once while the scan runs.
New shaders compile on their own if you choose: when a compiled game gains pipelines from its recording, the
community database or an update, SCSKiller compiles them while the PC is idle, never while you play. Set it in
Settings, or per game on its page. The default still only notifies you.
Theme: Light, Dark or the Windows setting, in Settings.
The tray icon's tooltip shows SCSKiller's status and the compile's progress.
"Share diagnostics to help fix problems" in Settings (off by default): when a compile fails or the driver rejects
pipelines, SCSKiller sends error codes and pipeline hashes, nothing else. "What's shared" in Settings lists it all.
SCSKiller asks once, in the welcome or at the first start after the update.
Shader hash sharing also sends one report after a compile: which pipelines still compiled at the next launch, with
your GPU model and driver.
Compile progress on the game page: while a game compiles, its page shows the queue's progress and the time left.
While it waits, it shows its place in the queue.
Edit the compile queue in bulk: select several games with Ctrl+click or Shift+click, then Remove selected. Clear
queue removes every game but the one compiling.
Pick the DirectX of a game when SCSKiller only guessed it: Auto, DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 next to its engine on the
game page. Its plan is rebuilt for the pick. Your recording of the game wins over a guess, and over the pick. Unity games
built for both count as a guess now, and a change of DirectX always rebuilds the plan.
GPU picker in Settings, on a PC with more than one NVIDIA or AMD GPU: SCSKiller compiles for the one you pick
instead of the one with the most video memory. It switches after a restart.
Earlier sessions on a game's page: the last 20 launches with frame times, each with its date, play length, 1%
low and stutters.
Send report: once a game was compiled and played, or couldn't be compiled, its page can send an anonymous
report of how it ran. Players with a similar system then see what others reported on the game's page.

Faster and steadier

A new community recording for a game you compiled rebuilds its plan while the PC is idle, and the game shows how
many more pipelines it can compile.
A game whose engine SCSKiller reads better says "SCSKiller can compile more" instead of "Game shaders changed".
When new rules more than double a game's plan, the compile after a driver update leaves it for you to start.
A recompile compiles only what isn't compiled yet, so adding a recording or turning on Maximum mode is quicker. It
compiles everything again after a driver update, when the driver's cache lost files, or when the game still compiled
after the last run.
On NVIDIA, a game no longer asks to compile again after each session for pipelines whose shaders its last compile
already compiled.
On NVIDIA, compiled ray tracing pipelines that a game creates on other threads (The Witcher 3) are found in the cache
at launch instead of compiling again.
The Library holds still: a game that changes is updated in its row, the list keeps its place when a game moves to
another section, and the scan's status line no longer pushes the list down.
Less memory with big community recordings: a download is checked as it decodes and kept compressed, and a
compile no longer holds every recorded shader in memory. With a 250,000-record recording, the download takes about
45 MB instead of 1.1 GB and the compile's peak about half.
Bigger community recordings on NVIDIA: up to 500,000 pipelines per game, once the community database serves
them. AMD keeps reading up to 250,000.
Building a plan can no longer run forever or take all the memory. A plan that outgrows half the PC's RAM or 30
minutes stops with a clear error, and the next compile plans again. Building the plan of a game with many shader
layouts is much faster.
With "Closes to System Tray" on, closing the window no longer sometimes quits SCSKiller.
Updates: after a failed download, SCSKiller waits longer before the next try (1 hour, then up to 12). "Check for
updates" still tries at once.
A partly compiled game's "Last compile" card says what the refused pipelines mean and what helps, and the
coverage ring of a compiled game no longer counts the pipelines the driver refused.
While a compile runs, the queue and the game page say "memory limit: 4 of 32 threads" when the compile's memory limit
runs fewer threads than set.
Pipelines that crash the GPU driver are all found and skipped in one compile (The Witcher 3 on AMD). Before, a
compile stopped after 20 driver crashes, and a game with many of them needed several clicks on Compile. A compile
that still stops says how many it skipped, and compiling again continues where it stopped.
Pipelines that make the GPU driver fault (PRAGMATA on AMD) are found and skipped the same way. Before, a compile
skipped them only for that run and stopped after three, so every later compile met them again.
The "Last compile" card says "Nothing failed." also when it skipped pipelines whose shaders aren't in this version
of the game.
Start with Windows: a portable or test copy of SCSKiller no longer removes the installed copy's autostart, or
moves it to itself, when it starts. A copy changes another copy's entry only when you turn the setting on in it.
NVIDIA Auto Shader Compilation in Settings: Apply changes only what differs. With the feature already on it says
so, with no administrator prompt, instead of failing to set up NVIDIA's task again. An error says which step failed
and whether the setting was saved.
app.log in SCSKiller's data folder keeps what the app did (scans, community sync, compiles and the recorder) for
a bug report. Your user name and profile folder are masked, and it takes at most 2 MB.

Games

GTA V Enhanced compiles on NVIDIA without a recording. BattlEye still keeps the recorder out.
Resident Evil Village and PRAGMATA compile on NVIDIA without a recording.
Dragon's Dogma 2: SCSKiller reads its game files, which it refused before.
Games that build all their shaders at the main menu (Horizon Forbidden West, Detroit: Become Human) show as not
supported, with that reason.
Encrypted Unreal games with anti-cheat (VALORANT and others) get their key from the exe file on disk, so
SCSKiller can read their files. Reading the key never touches the running game.
Encrypted Unreal games take their correct AES key where it was refused or opened only some files: games with
their own decryption (Dead by Daylight and other forks), files under a named key, and readable file lists whose files
are encrypted. The key is also found in exes built for AVX. When the exe is protected (SteamStub, Themida, VMProtect,
Enigma, or Denuvo), the game page says so instead of only asking for the key.
Cyberpunk 2077 shows its engine as REDengine 4, and Alan Wake 2 and CONTROL Resonant as Northlight 2.
Cyberpunk 2077 on Steam is found with its own exe, the one its launcher configuration names, not REDprelauncher.exe.
The recorder goes beside the game, and the game no longer counts as closed once the launcher exits.
Returnal no longer compiles tessellated pipelines the driver rejects.
Games whose shaders carry their own root signatures (Naughty Dog, RAGE, FromSoftware and others SCSKiller reads
directly) no longer compile pipelines the driver rejects, where a shader uses resources the root signature lacks.
The Last of Us Part I: a compute shader the game ships with several root signatures compiles once for each of
them, instead of only the first.
War Thunder is on the known shader-stutter list, and no longer stays on "Needs rebuilding" when nothing new comes
of it. On DirectX 12 it also compiles its shadow and depth passes.
ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN with its Digital Artbook & Mini Soundtrack installed no longer shows as a DirectX 11 Unity
game. SCSKiller took the artbook's app for the game. It now follows the exe the game's EasyAntiCheat settings start.
Unreal Engine 4.25 games no longer show "not tested on this engine version yet".
Unreal versions: 5.7 and 5.8 games no longer show as 5.6, and a game on a newer Unreal than SCSKiller knows says
"Unreal 5.9 isn't supported yet" instead of compiling as 5.8. A version SCSKiller can only guess shows "(guessed)", and
a game whose Unreal version changes rebuilds its plan.
DirectX 11 shaders that read a multisampled texture with more samples than the GPU supports compile.
Games started through EasyAntiCheat's bootstrap (Gears of War: E-Day and Sea of Thieves from the Xbox app) compile
for the game's own exe, the one the anti-cheat's settings name, instead of the bootstrap. An earlier compile shows
"Needs rebuilding".
A game's page says the game may still run its own shader step when it starts.
A not supported game no longer shows its shader coverage after Clear cache.

Mods

ReShade and HDR mods like RenoDX show as a tag in the Library and on the game page, and "Compiles through RenoDX"
under the game's status.
Luma mods no longer make the game page say some pipelines aren't precompiled (they change no DirectX 12 pipeline).
When a mod loads a copy of the recorder from another folder, where it can't record, the game page says so.
ReShade chaining another mod through ReShade.ini's [PROXY] ProxyLibrary (OptiScaler or a DLSS mod under another
name) no longer compiles through a copy of ReShade that lacks that mod's DLL. With a RenoDX mod that changes every
pipeline, the game page says how to keep that mod under another name and turn the proxy off. One that replaces some
shaders compiles without ReShade.

Recorder and anti-cheat

Recording in games with anti-cheat, at your own risk. Until now the recorder always stayed out of these games, so
they never got a recording of their own. Settings has "Allow the recorder in games with anti-cheat (at your own
risk)", off by default. A game that contains anti-cheat then offers "Record a session (at your own risk)" on its page,
and each session is confirmed before it starts. Games with anti-cheat can treat the recorder as cheating and ban your
account, and no game is known to be safe. SCSKiller removes every file it places when the game exits, or after a
crash at your next logon.
Frame times with frame generation on (FSR 3): the graph shows the frames the game rendered. Before, the recorder
measured no frame times while frame generation was on.
Frame times in games with NVIDIA Streamline (Ghost of Tsushima, Ratchet & Clank) on every GPU. Before, the
recorder measured none in them unless DLSS frame generation was on.
On NVIDIA, the recorder no longer makes a game crash as it closes.
The recorder no longer crashes a game now and then as it sets up its hooks. It moved a few of a function's first
instructions to make room for its jump, so a game thread paused among them could resume mid-jump and crash. It now
replaces only the first instruction.
A game that makes its own crash dump or log folder (Horizon Zero Dawn's coredumps) no longer turns the recorder
off. Any new folder that wasn't empty turned it off until the install was checked again, so the first recorded
session was lost. A new folder now keeps it on when it holds only data files, with no code or anti-cheat in it.
A portable or test copy keeps its own recorders: each copy's armed list is in its own data folder, and a copy
never arms, updates, removes or imports the recording of a recorder another copy placed. Before, a copy with a new
data folder took every recorder for its own and moved the game's recording out of the game folder. Turning the
recorder on in a copy takes it over. Recorders placed before this version belong to the installed copy.
The recorder's log no longer holds your user name or full folder paths, so it's safer to share in a bug report.
Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) games contain anti-cheat, so the recorder stays out unless you enable it, at your own
risk. SCSKiller isn't responsible for bans. They still compile from their files.
NetEase games whose anti-cheat leaves no file in the game folder count as anti-cheat games, so the recorder stays
out of them: the Steam installs of Once Human, Marvel Rivals, FragPunk, Sword of Justice and NARAKA: BLADEPOINT, and
Once Human from any store by its exe.
ELDEN RING added by hand gets the offline session too, when the EasyAntiCheat settings beside its exe are
ELDEN RING's.
Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator count as anti-cheat games on a PC with TruckersMP.
Xbox app Unreal games that start through a small launcher (Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Avowed) record. The
recorder moves beside the game's own exe once the game is closed.
A Steam game you uninstalled loses the recorder too. Steam leaves the folder behind when it holds files it didn't
install. A scan once the game is gone removes SCSKiller's own files from it, and the folders they leave empty. The
game's recording is kept.

From 1.3.0-alpha.2

New

Initial experimental Linux support.
Command line: add adds a game no store lists.
Leave out of Add all ready on the game page: the game stays out of Add all ready, and its own Add button still works.
Remove from library on every game's page. A game a store lists is hidden, also after a refresh, and nothing compiles
it on its own. Its files, saves and compiled cache stay. Show hidden on the Library page brings it back.
Set AES key on the game page of an encrypted Unreal game: paste your own key there, without opening Why? first.
DirectX choice on the game page of every DirectX game, also where SCSKiller is sure which one it runs on.
Before and after recording on the game page of a recorded DirectX 12 or DirectX 11 game: SCSKiller deletes the
game's shader caches and starts it, you play 5 minutes, it deletes the caches again and compiles, and you play the
same 5 minutes again. Both runs count from the game's first frame, loading and pauses included. A small panel in the
game shows the time left, your frame times and each shader compilation stutter as it happens, also with frame
generation and HDR. The report compares shader compilation stutters, pipelines ready from the cache and the worst
stutter, with both frame-time graphs, and says whether frame generation was on. 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. Frame times and the report stay on your PC unless you share the image.
Intel GPUs (experimental, contributed by nyannoying1337): Settings shows "Experimental: compile on Intel GPUs" on a
PC with an Intel GPU, off by default. Only Intel Arc was tested.
Send report lists what a report carries until you've sent one. Later reports leave that line out, and Settings
still has What's shared.
Compile ray tracing shaders in Settings, on by default, with a choice per game on its page. Off skips them, and
the game builds them itself when you turn ray tracing on.

Faster and steadier

Also delete the game's own shader cache also clears the pipeline libraries of GTA V Enhanced and HELLDIVERS 2.
Also delete the game's own shader cache no longer deletes an Unreal game's user pipeline cache. It lists what the
game created while you played, and only playing again refills it.
The game scan keeps going past a file it can't read, on a failing drive or in a cloud folder. 1.2.3 to 1.2.5
stopped with system error 0xc0000006. That game is skipped, and the log names the file.
On NVIDIA, a compile where several shaders hang the driver at once skips them for that compile and keeps going.
A compile that created nothing ends as Failed and says why, such as the driver rejecting every pipeline, instead
of Done with a count.
On Windows 10, a game whose exe is protected or packed, such as AION 2 and Fortnite, compiles with the game's own
D3D12 runtime from its D3D12 folder. Its compile used the older runtime built into Windows 10, which rejected every
pipeline.
On NVIDIA, a game whose compiled shader cache files are gone, or smaller than after its compile, asks to compile
again. When its shaders are bigger than the driver's shader cache size, it asks to raise that size instead.
On AMD, a game whose files the driver removed because its shader cache is full no longer asks to compile again,
which only removed another game's files in turn.
Keep compiled caches aside (AMD, Settings): a compiled game's shader cache is put back after the driver's 16 GB
limit removes it, so it doesn't stutter again.
On NVIDIA, a plan built again after a new recording no longer offers to compile the shaders the last compile already
compiled.
The coverage ring on the game page is one measure in every state, so it no longer drops after each play, jumps
when the game needs compiling again, or rises when the driver refuses more than a tenth of the pipelines.
A compile run by another SCSKiller, such as a portable copy, no longer counts as playing the game.
A portable copy made from your installed SCSKiller's data folder starts with Start with Windows, Record all games and
automatic updates off.
A community recording that doesn't match the game's files is no longer compiled, which skipped all its pipelines
every time, and games whose shaders SCSKiller can't read no longer share or download recordings under one hash.
A game compiles one texture filtering setting unless Maximum mode is on, so a community recording with several
settings no longer makes its compile several times bigger.
On Unreal games, the texture filtering setting compiled is the player's own when the game's settings files name it.
After an app update, a compiled game stays compiled until its plan is checked, and says it can compile more only
when the check finds more.
Unreal games also compile what the game saved in its own pipeline cache in your user folder while you played,
without the recorder, also when the game contains anti-cheat. The next compile picks up what a new play added.
Reading shaders on Unreal games runs at below-normal priority and shows how many packages it has read, so games
like Days Gone or Styx no longer look stuck there and the window stays responsive. A read that runs out of memory
stops with a message that says so.
A ray tracing shader that crashes or hangs the driver is skipped for that compile, along with the ones built on it,
and the compile keeps all its threads. These count as skipped, not failed, and the next compile tries them again.
A compile stopped after the driver reset too many times continues from where it stopped.
DirectX 11 games: shaders SCSKiller can't compile yet count as skipped, no longer as refused by the driver, and
Unity games such as Megabonk compile more of their shaders.
When a compile pauses for a game, the shaders it was building are finished on resume instead of being skipped and
blamed on the driver.
Updates never install a version older than the one running, unless you pick Go back to stable.
On AMD, a game that gives the driver its own name through AMD's AGS library gets its compile where it reads its
shaders, once the recorder saw it play.
The game page says Careful compile is only for games whose compile fails.
On NVIDIA, the game page also says a compile didn't help when that shows after a Before and after run or after
Clear cache.
While a game runs, its page shows the last finished play under Last time you played, not part of the current one.
A game that compiled shaders for its whole launch no longer shows "no stutters" and a 1% low of 0 fps on its page.
On AMD, Before and after and Clear cache no longer delete the DirectX 11 shader cache of another game with the same exe name.

Games

RE Engine games with an empty patch file in their folder (Resident Evil 2, often a mod manager's leftover) no
longer show "Not supported yet".
Games whose ray tracing is all inline, such as RE Engine games, count their shaders that trace rays inline in the
game page details.
Hidden game folders are scanned, such as a Unity game's Data folder hidden in Explorer. Their compile no longer
skips every shader.
DCS World and other games with two builds of one program (bin\DCS.exe and bin-mt\DCS.exe) can be added with
their own folder, which was refused as "a folder of several games" (found by JLAF5150).
Xbox app Unreal games built for WinGDK (Evil West) read their own DirectX setting, not the Windows one.
FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION precompiles every DirectX 11 shader without a recording (on AMD, all but the
vertex shaders).
Mass Effect Legendary Edition, FINAL FANTASY TACTICS - The Ivalice Chronicles and KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5+2.5
ReMIX on Steam list each of their games on its own. Mass Effect Legendary Edition showed only Mass Effect 3, and
each of its games now has its own recorder (#126).
Forza Horizon 6 (Steam and Xbox app) compiles from its game files without a recording. Its ray tracing shaders
need a recording. The game contains anti-cheat, so the recorder goes in only through "Record a session (at your own
risk)".
Unreal games stay detected when SCSKiller can't download a decompression codec, such as behind a proxy, firewall
or antivirus. They showed "engine not supported yet", and now an unreadable game names the missing codec.
A game that needs a recording and is in the community database says "in the community database for Patreon
supporters" when you aren't signed in as one, since only they can compile from it.

Recorder and anti-cheat

PRAGMATA gets no recorder for now, since it crashes the game while it loads. Compiling still works, and a
recorder already in its folder is removed.
WARDOGS counts as a game with anti-cheat (Elytra), so the recorder goes in only through "Record a session (at
your own risk)". It showed "no anti-cheat" since the game moved from EasyAntiCheat to Elytra.
THE FINALS counts as a game with anti-cheat by its Steam id, since Elytra installs outside its folder.
A Steam game whose launch options start an anti-cheat launcher counts as a game with anti-cheat even when no
anti-cheat file is in its folder yet.
A mod the recorder ran alongside no longer comes back after its own uninstall removed it. Its renamed file is left
unused and recording turns off for that game.
A portable copy upgraded from 1.2.5 takes back the recorders it placed, so they record and update again.
A portable copy made from your installed SCSKiller's data folder no longer takes over the recorders the installed
copy placed. Its game page says another SCSKiller copy placed them, until you turn recording on there.
Frame times are recorded again in games where a mod such as ReShade replaces DirectX's dxgi.dll, so the game
page's frame-time graph and the Before and after panel show there. 1.2.5 lost them in those games.
The recorder records while the game's exe is the one SCSKiller last checked for anti-cheat, and no anti-cheat is next
to it or in the game's folders above it. A mod's files appearing in the game folder no longer stop it until the next
check. In a game that contains anti-cheat, the recorder goes in only through its own session card, at your own risk.
SCSKiller isn't responsible for bans. Outside a session, SCSKiller takes it out the moment it finds anti-cheat: when
it scans, when the game exits or updates, and every 2 minutes while it runs. The scskiller.armed file is gone from
game folders.
Forza Horizon 6 contains anti-cheat. It counts as an anti-cheat game from Steam, the Xbox app or added by hand,
so the recorder stays out unless you enable it at your own risk. SCSKiller isn't responsible for bans.
A VAC game in a folder whose path is longer than 260 characters counts as VAC, so the recorder stays out. Its VAC
check could miss it before.

Known issues

A portable copy made from another portable copy's data folder can take over the recorders that copy placed with
1.2.5. 1.2.5 recorders don't record which copy placed them.

From 1.3.0-beta.1

New

HDD mode in Settings: SCSKiller reads a game's files only when you open or compile it, so scans finish on big or
slow libraries.
Maximum memory for compiling goes up to 2 GB below your PC's RAM.

Faster and steadier

Compile queue and Start no longer add games you didn't pick.
Games show in the library as soon as a scan finds them, and a game you add shows at once.
Compiles no longer stay slow after hitting the memory limit on ray tracing games. While the PC has little free
memory, a compile uses fewer threads.
Games with many driver-crashing pipelines can start their compile again.
A compile no longer stops when the GPU driver crashes the compile process outright. It goes on and skips only
the pipeline that crashed.
A compile downloads the community upscaler packs for that game first, so it no longer shows "Needs rebuilding" right
after compiling.
Games with too many shaders to plan compile their recorded pipelines instead of failing, and their status says
"recorded pipelines only".
A compiled game only shows "Needs rebuilding" once at least 500 new pipelines are recorded, or 1% of its plan if
that is more. Fewer are compiled at its next compile, or quietly while the PC is idle if the game compiles new shaders
automatically.
Unreal games keep their game exe when another program from the game's folder runs during play, so a compile no
longer goes to the wrong exe and the game no longer asks for a full rebuild after playing.
One unreadable Steam game folder no longer hides every Steam game.
A game no longer counts as running when another program with the same exe name runs, such as Office's ai.exe for
Alien: Isolation.
When NVIDIA Auto Shader Compilation can't be applied, the error says why NVIDIA's tool failed, and the app log keeps
its full output.
Before and after warns up front that the game's own shader cache is deleted, isn't backed up and can take minutes
to rebuild.
The Before and after report says that 1% low and average count from the game's first frame, menus and loading
screens included.

Games

ELDEN RING with its DLC installed compiles even when the DLC's key can't be found, and the DLC's shaders are added
once the key downloads.
EA SPORTS WRC from the EA app is compiled for WRC.exe instead of the leftover trial exe.
Godot games show Vulkan or OpenGL instead of DirectX 11 and 12, and are marked as not supported.
Unity games now show the DirectX of their latest run, so "Record while I play" comes back after a game switches to
DirectX 12.
Games whose shared recording includes players without mesh shader support, like SILENT HILL: Townfall, now get
their full compile again instead of about a third of it.

Recorder and anti-cheat

Assassin's Creed Shadows, Mirage and Black Flag Resynced get no recorder for now, since they failed to start with
it. Compiling still works.
Frame times and Before and after work in games where ReShade is installed as d3d12.dll or d3d11.dll (ReShade 6.8
or later).
Turning recording off keeps the last session's graph on the game page.
Turning recording off also removes the recorder copy Onimusha keeps in its storage folder.

From 1.3.0-beta.2

New

Cyberpunk 2077 on AMD graphics cards is recorded, contributed by ExMoha.
Games installed with the new Epic Games Launcher preview are found and can be launched.
DXVK games on NVIDIA are compiled through the game's own DXVK d3d11.dll.
Wuthering Waves compiles on NVIDIA graphics cards from its game files once you enter its AES key, ray tracing
included, contributed by JohnsonRan. Its shader cache is huge, up to about 80 GB. On AMD graphics cards it still needs
a recording.
Allow the recorder in games with anti-cheat (at your own risk) also offers a recording session for games whose
engine isn't supported yet. Their recording is kept for when support arrives.
Report a problem on each game page sends what went wrong to the SCSKiller team, and shows the whole report
before you send it.

Fixed

A big compile no longer drops to one thread when Windows reports little free memory.
Games that contain anti-cheat and use a ReShade HDR mod like RenoDX no longer show Needs rebuilding after a restart.
Neverness to Everness uses the game's exe instead of its launcher.
Immortals of Aveum is compiled for its game exe instead of a launcher stub, so it compiles again on Windows 10.
Games with Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) no longer show No anti-cheat on their page.
On a game that contains anti-cheat, the recorder turns on only through its own session card, never through the Turn
on recording button.
On AMD, the recorder texts for Cyberpunk 2077 name the file it adds, amd_ags_x64.dll.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla no longer gets the recorder, which kept it at the splash screen.
Hogwarts Legacy and games like it record again: the recorder no longer goes next to their launcher.
A compile stopped because its game started waits until the game has been closed for 2 minutes before it continues,
so restarting a game right after closing it no longer runs into its compile.
A recording the game still had open when SCSKiller read it is picked up before the next compile.
After a driver update, the game page says the last compile was for the old driver instead of showing its old coverage.
scskiller --version on a portable copy no longer copies the installed copy's data.
When the recorder records nothing, the game page and app.log say why.
The Ray tracing shaders choice only shows on games with ray tracing.
Frame times and Before and after also work with ReShade before 6.8 installed as dxgi.dll.
A game with DXVK installed as its d3d11.dll or dxgi.dll says on its page that DXVK runs it on Vulkan, and whether the
compile covers it.
Recording sessions in games that contain anti-cheat also record DirectX 11 games.
A game that contains anti-cheat and can be recorded in a session says it needs a recording instead of showing it as blocked.
Send report is now Rate this compile, and Known to stutter is now Stutters without a compile.
The anonymous daily check is off until you turn it on. SCSKiller asks once, and you can change it any time in Settings.
A recorder an earlier version left as d3d11.dll is removed when recording is off, and before the recorder goes in as
d3d12.dll.
Games with FSR frame generation that closed at start with Record while I play on, like Train Sim World 7, start
again.
A before and after run whose frame times stop when frame generation starts ends with a note instead of waiting.
Games from HoYoPlay, Battle.net, Riot Client and the EA app no longer offer a recording session that fails when
clicked. Their page says SCSKiller can't start games from that store.
SCP: Secret Laboratory no longer gets the recorder, which kept it from starting.
The compile warns when one game's shaders are more than your NVIDIA shader cache limit in Settings.
A compile no longer fails with Access denied when a folder left from an earlier compile is locked, for example by
OneDrive.
Turning on recording for a game where another SCSKiller copy left its recorder now puts this copy's recorder in
place.
On AMD, Split Fiction and other Unreal games that the driver gives a shader cache of their own are compiled into
that cache. A game an earlier compile missed says so on its page, and the next compile reaches it.
Before and after no longer says frame generation was on in games that only load DLSS Frame Generation, like Ready or
Not with the option off.

New in 1.3.0

Fixed

Wuthering Waves from its own launcher is read as Unreal, so its page asks for the AES key.
On a busy PC, for example during a long compile of another game, a game with the recorder no longer loses it for
good, and the game page no longer says the HDR mod the last compile ran through is gone. The recorder comes back once
SCSKiller has checked the game again.
A game with many new pipelines compiles automatically right away instead of waiting a day, one waiting for the PC to
be idle is still compiled after SCSKiller restarts, and one held back by another compile is queued once that compile
ends.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered and other games with Sony's crash reporter are compiled for the game's own exe.
Dark and Darker on Steam counts as a game with anti-cheat, so the recorder stays out.
Mafia: The Old Country and other games that start NVIDIA's crash reporting with shader debug info use their compiled
shaders: the compile now starts it the way the game does, and such a game compiled before is compiled again.
On NVIDIA, the game page notices when the driver trims a game's compiled shaders, and no longer says the cache is gone
when it isn't.
A compile that fails no longer leaves its compile process running, and problem reports say why it failed.
The recorder no longer slows a game's startup when it creates many shaders at once.
A big compile that reaches its memory limit no longer drops to one thread for hours. It keeps its threads when fewer
threads don't free any memory.
On a PC with more than 64 GB of RAM, Auto gives compiling a quarter of the RAM instead of 16 GB.
The compile time estimate follows the speed measured on all your compiled games, not only the first one.
In a recording session for a game with anti-cheat, the card says the game contains anti-cheat when the recorder
didn't load.
Opening the queue page or Settings no longer changes the thread or memory limits you saved.
The compile queue's cache warning no longer offers Raise the limit when the NVIDIA cache limit is already Unlimited.
A click on the tray icon opens SCSKiller, a right-click shows its menu.
On a game page, Left out says when pipelines weren't seen in a recording yet, and the note on what still compiles
while you play stays when recording is already on.
On a game page, the note on shader slots the game's engine adds no longer asks for a recording when recording is
already on.
Clicking a SCSKiller notification after SCSKiller was closed opens it instead of failing to start.
STAR WARS: Galactic Racer compiles into the cache the game reads on AMD and is no longer marked as not supported.

SHA-256:

77141ce819d28ebb2c50eab234edea634b26780132401c42be76f01462d9cb35  SCSKiller-1.3.0-Portable.zip
14482a65b4afaff281d62e475ed2e3c262674fe4a836de86351074b791901b22  SCSKiller-Setup.exe

Code signing policy

BlueHeisenberg/SCSKiller v1.3.0 SCSKiller 1.3.0 on GitHub

From 1.3.0-alpha.1

From 1.3.0-alpha.2

From 1.3.0-beta.1

From 1.3.0-beta.2

New in 1.3.0

BlueHeisenberg/SCSKiller v1.3.0
SCSKiller 1.3.0

on GitHub