DirectXShaderCompiler

DirectX Shader Compiler

The DirectX Shader Compiler project includes a compiler and related tools used to compile High-Level Shader Language (HLSL) programs into DirectX Intermediate Language (DXIL) for DirectX and the Standard Portable Intermediate Representation (SPIR-V) for Vulkan.

Applications that make use of DirectX or Vulkan for graphics, games, and computation can use it to generate shader program binaries.

For more information, see the Wiki.

Visit the DirectX Landing Page for more resources for DirectX developers, or the Vulkan homepage for resources for Vulkan developers.

Pre-built binaries

Officially supported binary release for the DirectX Shader Compiler are available:

• On this repository’s Releases page
• as a NuGet package
• in the Windows SDK(DXIL-only), and
• in the Vulkan SDK

Features and Goals

The starting point of the project is a fork of the LLVM and Clang projects, modified to accept HLSL and emit a validated shader binary that can be consumed by GPU drivers.

At the moment, the DirectX Shader Compiler releases provide the following components:

• dxc.exe, a command-line tool that can compile HLSL programs for shader model 6.0 or higher

• dxcompiler.[dll|so], a DLL providing a componentized compiler, assembler, disassembler, and validator

• dxil.[dll|so], a DLL providing the DXIL validation and hashing support

• dxv.exe, a command-line tool that validates DXIL IR (compiled HLSL programs)

• A collection of C++ headers for working with the contained dynamic libraries

• A collection of HLSL headers exposing useful high level abstractions

The Microsoft Windows SDK releases include a supported version of the compiler and validator.

The goal of the project is to allow the broader community of shader developers to contribute to the language and representation of shader programs, maintaining the principles of compatibility and supportability for the platform. It’s currently in active development across two axes: language evolution (with no impact to DXIL representation), and surfacing hardware capabilities (with impact to DXIL, and thus requiring coordination with GPU implementations).

Pre-built Releases

Development kits containing only the dxc.exe driver app, the dxcompiler.dll, and the dxil.dll signing binary are available here, or in the releases tab.

SPIR-V CodeGen

As an example of community contribution, this project can also target the SPIR-V intermediate representation. Please see the doc for how HLSL features are mapped to SPIR-V, and the wiki page for how to build, use, and contribute to the SPIR-V CodeGen.

Metal CodeGen

When built from source DXC can utilize the Metal Shader Converter if it is available during build and configuration time. This allows DXC to generate Metal shader libraries directly using the -metal flag.

Note: DXC cannot currently disassemble Metal shaders so the -Fc flag cannot be used in conjunction with the -Fo flag.

Building Sources

See the full documentation for Building and testing DXC for detailed instructions.

Running Shaders

To run shaders compiled as DXIL, you will need support from the operating system as well as from the driver for your graphics adapter. Windows 10 Creators Update is the first version to support DXIL shaders. See the Wiki for information on using experimental support or the software adapter.

Hardware Support

Hardware GPU support for DXIL is provided by the following vendors:

NVIDIA

NVIDIA’s r396 drivers (r397.64 and later) provide release mode support for DXIL 1.1 and Shader Model 6.1 on Win10 1709 and later, and experimental mode support for DXIL 1.2 and Shader Model 6.2 on Win10 1803 and later. These drivers also support DXR in experimental mode.

Drivers can be downloaded from geforce.com.

AMD

AMD’s driver (Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.4.1 or later) provides release mode support for DXIL 1.1 and Shader Model 6.1. Drivers can be downloaded from AMD’s download site.

Intel

Intel’s 15.60 drivers (15.60.0.4849 and later) support release mode for DXIL 1.0 and Shader Model 6.0 as well as release mode for DXIL 1.1 and Shader Model 6.1 (View Instancing support only).

Drivers can be downloaded from the following link Intel Graphics Drivers

Direct access to 15.60 driver (latest as of this update) is provided below:

Installer

Release Notes related to DXIL

Making Changes

To make contributions, see the CONTRIBUTING.md file in this project.

Documentation

You can find documentation for this project in the docs directory. These contain the original LLVM documentation files, as well as two new files worth nothing:

• HLSLChanges.rst: this is the starting point for how this fork diverges from the original llvm/clang sources
• DXIL.rst: this file contains the specification for the DXIL format
• tools/clang/docs/UsingDxc.rst: this file contains a user guide for dxc.exe

License

DirectX Shader Compiler is distributed under the terms of the University of Illinois Open Source License.

See LICENSE.txt and ThirdPartyNotices.txt for details.

Code of Conduct

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact [email protected] with any additional questions or comments.