SCSKiller
Shader Compilation Stutter Killer. SCSKiller compiles your games' shaders into your GPU driver's
cache before you play, so the game doesn't stop to compile them mid-game. Free and open source, for Windows.
Website
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[!WARNING]
The only official downloads are this repository’s Releases.
See official links for the accounts and sites that belong to SCSKiller.
Why
A game that meets a new effect has the GPU driver compile its shader on the spot, and the frame waits: that’s shader
compilation stutter. SCSKiller reads the shaders a game ships with, works out the pipelines it will build, and compiles
them into the driver’s cache ahead of time, in its own process with the game closed.
Results
About 5 minutes of play per game, from a cold driver cache and after compiling with SCSKiller. A stutter is a shader
compile the game waited 20 ms or more for.
| Game | GPU | Measurement | Cold | With SCSKiller |
|---|
| Final Fantasy VII Rebirth | NVIDIA
RTX 5090 | Stutters (≥ 20 ms) | 19 | 0 |
| Worst stall | 76 ms | 5 ms |
AMD
Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (Strix Halo) | Stutters (≥ 20 ms) | 162 | 0 |
| Worst stall | 291 ms | 7 ms |
| Silent Hill: Townfall | NVIDIA
RTX 5090 | Stutters (≥ 20 ms) | 24 | 0 |
| Worst stall | 347 ms | 8 ms |
| Hogwarts Legacy | NVIDIA
RTX 5090 | Stutters (≥ 20 ms) | 1,014 | 87 |
| Worst stall | 2,400 ms | 100 ms |
AMD
Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (Strix Halo) | Stutters (≥ 20 ms) | 27,743 | 206 |
| Worst stall | 2,146 ms | 104 ms |
| Tiny Tina's Wonderlands | NVIDIA
RTX 5090 | Stutters (≥ 20 ms) | 583 | 0 |
| Worst stall | 315 ms | 13 ms |
| Star Wars Jedi: Survivor | NVIDIA
RTX 5090 | Stutters (≥ 20 ms) | 9,038 | 11 |
Measured with SCSKiller’s recorder. Your numbers depend on the game, GPU and driver. SCSKiller fixes shader compilation
stutter only, not traversal or streaming stutter, and a shader it couldn’t find or record can still compile in game.
Features
- NVIDIA and AMD, DirectX 12 games, and DirectX 11 games on NVIDIA.
- Finds your games in Steam, Epic Games, EA app, GOG, Ubisoft Connect, Xbox (PC), Battle.net, PURPLE, HoYoPlay,
Gaijin and the Riot Client, plus games you add yourself.
- Puts games known to stutter on top, with the reason, and marks games whose engine prepares its shaders itself.
- Compiles again after a driver update, which clears the shader cache, on its own if you let it.
- Optional recorder for games whose pipelines its files don’t give: play a few minutes with it on, then compile. It
also records alongside a mod that replaces shaders.
- Frame times per session: with the recorder on, a game’s page graphs your last session and marks shader stutters
apart from other hitches. They stay on your PC.
- Play button that starts the game through its store.
- Community shader hash database for Patreon supporters: other players’ recordings, so your games are covered
without recording them first. Sharing yours is opt-in, anonymous and hash-only.
- Leaves anti-cheat games alone beyond reading their files: no launching, no injecting, no recorder, except in a
session you allow per game and confirm every launch, at your own risk: without EasyAntiCheat for ELDEN RING and
ARMORED CORE VI, or in games with anti-cheat once you turn on “Allow the recorder in games with anti-cheat (at your own
risk)”.
Install
| Requirement |
|
| OS |
Windows 10 (version 2004) or 11, 64-bit |
| GPU |
NVIDIA or AMD |
| Games |
DirectX 12, DirectX 11 on NVIDIA |
Intel GPUs aren’t supported yet: I don’t have one to test on. If you’d like to sponsor an Intel Arc GPU, get in touch at
[email protected].
Download SCSKiller-Setup.exe from Releases and run it.
It installs for your user only, needs no admin rights and updates itself.
Or unzip SCSKiller-<version>-Portable.zip to any folder you can write to and run SCSKiller.exe. It updates itself
too, and keeps its settings and data in a data folder beside the exe. Turn recording off for your games before you
delete the folder, so the recorder leaves the game folders.
[!IMPORTANT]
Releases aren’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. To check a download, compare its SHA-256 with the
one in the release notes (PowerShell: Get-FileHash <file>). Smart App Control (Windows 11) blocks unsigned apps
outright, with no Run anyway.
How to use it
- Open SCSKiller. It finds your games and the shaders they ship with.
- Queue games and press Compile. “Add all recommended” is a good start. Keep the game closed while it compiles.
- Play, from your store or with the Play button. SCSKiller can be closed. Left open, it checks that the compile
reached the cache the game really uses, and with the recorder on, the game’s page shows your session’s frame times
and anything that still compiled.
If a game needs a recording, turn on Record, play it for a few minutes, then compile it.
FAQ
Can I get banned? SCSKiller only reads the files of games with anti-cheat and adds its recorder to them only in a
session you allow and confirm (next question). Its anti-cheat check can still miss a game, so you use SCSKiller at your
own risk, and its authors are not responsible for bans, crashes or lost data.
Is it safe with anti-cheat games? Outside a session SCSKiller never launches them, injects into them or gives them
the recorder. It only reads their files. A session is allowed per game, confirmed every launch, and at your own risk.
The offline session for ELDEN RING and ARMORED CORE VI runs them offline without EasyAntiCheat when their exe is
started directly: Steam must be running (offline mode is fine), and SCSKiller adds d3d12.dll, scskiller.ini and
steam_appid.txt to the game’s folder and starts the exe itself. With “Allow the recorder in games with anti-cheat (at
your own risk)” on in Settings, any other supported game can run a session too: SCSKiller starts the game as usual, with
d3d12.dll and scskiller.ini in its folder. Enabling the recorder in games with anti-cheat is at your own risk.
SCSKiller isn’t responsible for bans. Bans from it are not support issues. In both kinds the recorder records
only that process. When the game exits, SCSKiller takes those files out again (each only while it is still the file it
added) and keeps the recording and the session’s frame times, at the next logon or start if SCSKiller was closed or the
PC crashed. If those files are still there when you start the game online, you could be banned. Don’t uninstall
SCSKiller while the game runs.
What does it write, and where? Settings and per-game plans go in %LOCALAPPDATA%\SCSKiller\ (the data folder of
a portable copy), and the compiled pipelines go in your driver’s own shader cache. Game files are never modified. The
optional recorder adds d3d12.dll and scskiller.ini to the folder of a game you turn it on for, and turning it off
removes exactly those files. It never goes into a game with anti-cheat, and comes out the moment SCSKiller finds
anti-cheat: when it scans, when the game exits or updates, and every 2 minutes while it runs. scskiller.ini names the
game’s exe as it was when SCSKiller last found no anti-cheat in its folders, and a game records only while its exe is
still that one and no anti-cheat is next to it. Uninstalling SCSKiller removes these files and the recordings from every
game folder, and a scan removes them from a game Steam uninstalled.
Does it touch my drivers or their settings? No. It compiles through DirectX, as the game would.
Do I need an account? No. Everything the app does on your PC is free. Signing in with Patreon adds the supporter
features.
My game isn’t detected, or something broke. Open an issue
with the bug or game request template.
Support the project
The app is free and stays free. Patreon pays for the servers behind the community
database. Sign in with Patreon in Settings to unlock your tier.
| Tier |
You get |
| Patreon supporter |
The community shader hash database, and beta builds |
| Patreon backer |
All of that, plus alpha builds and priority on game requests |
Build from source
Visual Studio 2022 (C++ desktop workload with CMake) and the .NET 10 SDK:
cmake -S proxy -B proxy/build -A x64
cmake --build proxy/build --config Release
dotnet build SCSKiller.slnx -c Release
build/publish.ps1 builds the distribution into dist\. Design: ARCHITECTURE.md. Contributing:
CONTRIBUTING.md. Changes: CHANGELOG.md. Security issues go through
SECURITY.md, never a public issue.
Official links
Anything else claiming to be SCSKiller isn’t. Please report it.
Licence
GPL-3.0-or-later (LICENSE), with an additional permission for Oodle, the Windows App SDK and graphics driver
libraries (LICENSE-EXCEPTION.txt). Third-party components:
THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md. Code signing: CODE_SIGNING_POLICY.md.
Not affiliated with any GPU maker, engine maker or game publisher. All product names are trademarks of their owners.
Forks
Forks are welcome under the licence. Please give yours its own name, say it’s unofficial and based on SCSKiller, and
keep the SCSKiller copyright notices. The measurements and screenshots in this README are SCSKiller’s own, so please
don’t present them as a fork’s.
Official builds come only from this repository’s Releases page.
A fork’s builds, bugs and anti-cheat behaviour are its author’s: SCSKiller keeps its recorder out of anti-cheat games
except in a session the user confirms, and can’t vouch for a fork that changes that.
Improvements are always welcome back here as pull requests. Fixes, games and ideas from forks make SCSKiller better
for everyone.
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