Disclaimer: These steps were performed on a clean windows 7 64-bit installation after necessary graphics and system drivers and windows updates have been applied, steps may vary between cryengine and crylauncher versions, I take no responsibility or liability for any damages or inconveniences caused by following any information provided. All information provided is of my best knowledge and opinion and is not official in any way, use at your own risk.
Enjoy this small tutorial showing how to compile Vulkan Shaders on windows 64bit platform.

Requirements

1. Make sure your engine is correctly installed*, and is the default for your machine.
2. Be sure you have a working game, with all assets etc in the correct stated locations.

^ The above short-hands may appear in any part of these instructions (text/code snippets).

Setup the Remote Shader Compiler

1. Open %ENGINE_ROOT%/Tools/RemoteShaderCompiler/config.ini in your favourite text editor.
2. Put the following contents into the open file, then save and close:

Setup the Game Client

1. Remove any value for any CVAR named "sys_user_folder" in either your cryproject file or any .cfg file.
2. Put the following contents into %ENGINE_ROOT%/system.cfg, then save and close:

Setup and use the RC Package batch scripts

1. Delete all .pak type files from the %ENGINE_ROOT%/Engine folder
2. Copy RCJobFiles folder from the supplied package to your engine root (post attachment)
3. Read the RCJobFiles\README.txt file
4. Run RCJobFiles\tools\setup.bat
5. Run RCJobFiles\JOB_fresh_start.bat
6. Copy contents of RCData\RCOut\engine to the root\engine folder

Start compiling shaders (NOTE: This assumes your project folder is the engine root.)

1. Start %ENGINE_ROOT%/Tools/RemoteShaderCompiler
2. Launch %ENGINE_ROOT%/bin/win_x64/GameLauncher.exe
3. Move around your level, check the console for shader compilation messages, as well as the RSC console window
4. Keep moving around etc until you are satisfied the shaders have been compiled. (Generally, you keep adding to the cache through playtests etc)
5. Close the game

Build PAK cache archives

1. Run RCJobFiles/JOB_shadercache.bat NOTE: (This copies generated shaders from the user folder in the engine root. if you user folder is somewhere else, copy them to the user folder in the engine root before executing this batch file).
2. Close the RemoteShaderCompiler console window
3. Copy the new shadercache/shadersbin and shadercachestartup .pak files from RCData\RCOut\engine to the root\engine folder
4. Start the game without compilation support and verify

=== Attachment zip contains windows BATCH source code, take note of the disclaimer at top of this post === Enjoy


Special note (correctly installed*).. preferred method for 5.4 previews:

1. Clone repo at tag 5.4.0_previewX (where X is the preview number)
2. Download release zip for preview X and merge with/overwrite into your cloned repo folder.

Yay! Stickified.

or, probably a lot simpler version if you just need to get Vulkan running in GameLauncher:

put this into system.cfg (in project or engine folder): start CrySCompileServer.exe from <CE engine dir>/Tools/RemoteShaderCompiler,
run game via GameLauncher.

you don't actually need to change the config.ini for remote shader compiler unless you really want to change the port etc.

or, probably a lot simpler version if you just need to get Vulkan running in GameLauncher:

put this into system.cfg (in project or engine folder):

Code: Select all

r_shadersallowcompilation = 1 r_shadersremotecompiler = 1 r_shadercompilerserver = 127.0.0.1 r_shadercompilerport = 31455 r_driver = vk

start CrySCompileServer.exe from <CE engine dir>/Tools/RemoteShaderCompiler,
run game via GameLauncher.

you don't actually need to change the config.ini for remote shader compiler unless you really want to change the port etc.

Doesnt Work for me!
Vulkan Renderer, doesnt show up in the Viewport in the Editor!!

I dont know if cryengine needs some time to work properly, becuase of changing the renderer, but it takes a huge time at all. I used the Engine folder!
Well, hoestly it would give us a better and easier control if we had an option in the main menu bar, where u can also change the quality of the graphics, just like a dropdoen menu, where i can choose if i want the Vulkan renderer, OpenGL renderer or DirectX renderer!!!
Just for people who had know acknowledge or he she is a beginner, and dont want to code or scripting!

or, probably a lot simpler version if you just need to get Vulkan running in GameLauncher:

put this into system.cfg (in project or engine folder):

Code: Select all

r_shadersallowcompilation = 1 r_shadersremotecompiler = 1 r_shadercompilerserver = 127.0.0.1 r_shadercompilerport = 31455 r_driver = vk

start CrySCompileServer.exe from <CE engine dir>/Tools/RemoteShaderCompiler,
run game via GameLauncher.

you don't actually need to change the config.ini for remote shader compiler unless you really want to change the port etc.

Doesnt Work for me!
Vulkan Renderer, doesnt show up in the Viewport in the Editor!!

I dont know if cryengine needs some time to work properly, becuase of changing the renderer, but it takes a huge time at all. I used the Engine folder!
Well, hoestly it would give us a better and easier control if we had an option in the main menu bar, where u can also change the quality of the graphics, just like a dropdoen menu, where i can choose if i want the Vulkan renderer, OpenGL renderer or DirectX renderer!!!
Just for people who had know acknowledge or he she is a beginner, and dont want to code or scripting!

It works for the game launcher not the Sandbox Editor. That will come later.

Only DX11 works in the Editor for now.

Would anyone suggest that its worth going to Vulkan Shaders, or would it be best to wait?

I heard rumors that others say its buggy, so dont want to do this, and have issues.

Would anyone suggest that its worth going to Vulkan Shaders, or would it be best to wait?

I heard rumors that others say its buggy, so dont want to do this, and have issues.

Works ok but dont forget Vulkan Renderer is experimental in 5.4. So i advice against using it in a live productions.

Try both . Feedback for vk would be great since imo it is the way forward. At the end it is just a cvar and shader compilation between the two. vk requires the rsc to compile atm afaik so if you are missing some shaders in the end user psckage the user wont be auto compiling missing shaders, whereas dx11 can be compiled directly in game launcher so it is preferred atm.