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It’s no secret that many Unreal Engine 5 games have struggled performance-wise.
These include older titles like the launch ofRemnant 2andLords of the Fallenand newer games likeS.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 showed the power of Unreal Engine 5 when pushed to its max.
2and Grey Zone Warfare.
The tone from the beginning, while friendly, kind of blames the developer for not doing their work.
From here, they let go of the high-level language and dive deeper into the incidentals.
Unreal graphics in Stalker 2 Heart of Chornobyl.
I strongly urge you to read the whole article for a more in-depth understanding.
This compilation takes resources.
Regarding shader compilation, this process is mostly the same for all intents and purposes.
Ark 2 belongs in the Unreal Engine family.
Pushing compilations like this during runtime increases the already large load being faced by the GPU.
Hitching happens when these compilations surface during a draw request.
Say you’ve turned your camera toward a new item or area that hasn’t been seen yet.
Halo will be moving to Unreal Engine for the first time in its long history.
These issues can be minimized through a process called precaching.
Drivers save compiled PSOs (Pipeline State Objects) for later use when a draw request is made.
This first request of a cached PSO can cause microstuttering.
If you’ve ever wondered why S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
2 requires extensive shader compilation at startup on a Windows PC, this is why.
The process is necessary to reduce the hitching that would otherwise occur during gameplay.
As it’s an open world, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
2 does all the precaching at launch rather than between levels like something that isn’t an open world.
A full compilation does not need to occur again until a driver or game update occurs.
What does that mean for consoles?
As for consoles, these issues are less persistent because they have a single target GPU.
Individual shaders are compiled directly in the executable code shipped with the game.
Compiling the shaders at launch is unnecessary because it’s already baked into the game’s code.
Shaders are turned into PSOs at runtime, so PSO hitching doesn’t occur on console platforms.
The future of Unreal Engine
Epic and theirUnreal Enginedevelopers continue to work on their precaching system.
Heck, we needed it yesterday.
These aren’t the solutions to every form of hitching either.
Things like excessive spawning or stream-in, synchronous loading, and other devices can cause hitching and stuttering.
2, even with precaching, aren’t free of issues.
Sure, many PC gamers may have a weaker system than a console.
you could only lower options so much.
It may be anecdotal, but I remember when players would get excited about an upcoming Unreal Engine game.
Now, I don’t see that same sentiment.
Instead, I read and hear about the worries gamers have.
They fear a monopoly that Unreal Engine could possess.
It stresses gamers when games likeWitcher 4move from their in-house engine that powered beautiful titles likeWitcher 3andCyberpunk 2077.
IfREDengineisn’t safe, what is?
Why are they even moving?
Well, it’s a two-fold problem.
A licensed engine also frees up the costs and time associated with developing an in-house engine.
Look at Halo’sSlipspace Engine.
The rumored cost of development for both the game and engine is in the range of $500 million.
I could rant some more on why I hate this prospect as well.
More studios will adopt Unreal as time passes, which will only compound this issue.
I can’t explain it further, but they just felt too similar.
It both looks awesome while running exceptionally well across a multitude of PC setups and consoles.
