Yeah! UID shaders all the way! Being able to use shaders between different driver versions, Dolphin builds, backends and computer systems sound too great pass. I do not mind waiting a few seconds before being able to start playing. I have a feeling it will only improve in the future (if not, we just have to upgrade our systems). Even if the shader generation of what is accessible so far is compiled on every boot I don't mind, provided the waiting time is a few seconds (a minute would be too long, don't we agree?). I hate it if Dolphin has to reconfigurate itself when a few settings are changed. You wouldn't know how often I update to the latest Development version... At least we can avoid regenerating the shaders from scratch all the time.
Unless you never update Dolphin, your drivers or change your backend, UID shaders might most likely backfire. But, how many of us do actually never update/change Dolphin, the drivers and the backend?
Storing shaders across multiple backends is always good. Well... Most of the times it is worth sticking to one backend. Some games just require a different backend. Super Mario Sunshine (OpenGL is faster than Vulkan here) works horrible with D3D12 and Twilight Princess just runs way too smooth with D3D12. From the sounds of it, it seems like D3D12 is dying sillently? But I guess Vulkan can be even better than D3D12? I would hate it to see D3D12 removed while Vulkan is not yet on par to reach the same levels of speed for our favorite games.
It might be a great idea when the UID shaders feature is fully implemented to distribute the UID shaders with the Dolphin builds since they should work regardless of the system setup. Or host a database where users can download the UID shaders themselves (if it does not conflict with legal issues, that is). I don't have the impression yet that UberShaders is coming anytime soon. So yeah, UID shaders should not be a replacement for UberShaders, but nevertheless it seems like an improvement of the current shaders system.
Unless you never update Dolphin, your drivers or change your backend, UID shaders might most likely backfire. But, how many of us do actually never update/change Dolphin, the drivers and the backend?
Storing shaders across multiple backends is always good. Well... Most of the times it is worth sticking to one backend. Some games just require a different backend. Super Mario Sunshine (OpenGL is faster than Vulkan here) works horrible with D3D12 and Twilight Princess just runs way too smooth with D3D12. From the sounds of it, it seems like D3D12 is dying sillently? But I guess Vulkan can be even better than D3D12? I would hate it to see D3D12 removed while Vulkan is not yet on par to reach the same levels of speed for our favorite games.
It might be a great idea when the UID shaders feature is fully implemented to distribute the UID shaders with the Dolphin builds since they should work regardless of the system setup. Or host a database where users can download the UID shaders themselves (if it does not conflict with legal issues, that is). I don't have the impression yet that UberShaders is coming anytime soon. So yeah, UID shaders should not be a replacement for UberShaders, but nevertheless it seems like an improvement of the current shaders system.