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If The First Descendant hangs at “Preparing Shaders,” stutters during play, or crashes while shaders are being prepared, start with reversible checks: link your Nexon account, update your graphics driver, lower demanding graphics settings or turn off ray tracing, and verify the game files in Steam. These are reported troubleshooting options, not guaranteed fixes for every PC or confirmation that the current game build has a known shader bug.
What to try first
Work through these steps in order, testing the game after each one so you can tell whether anything changed. The first four are options described in secondary troubleshooting coverage; no controlled comparison establishes which is most effective.
- Link your Nexon account. In the game, open Menu > Options > Account, link the account, then return to the title screen. Some players have reported faster loading after linking, but the reason is not established. esports.gg’s troubleshooting coverage describes the step, and a Steam community post includes an individual report.
- Update your graphics driver. Check for a current driver from your GPU maker, NVIDIA or AMD. The cited guidance does not specify a driver version, so use the appropriate official driver channel for your hardware rather than relying on an old version number.
- Reduce graphics demands. Lower graphics settings and, if enabled, turn off ray tracing. This is a troubleshooting suggestion, not proof that ray tracing causes the problem on every system.
- Verify the Steam installation. In Steam, open your Library, right-click The First Descendant, choose Properties > Installed Files > Verify integrity of game files, and let verification finish before launching again. This checks installation files; it does not establish that a shader cache is damaged.
The account-linking, driver, graphics-setting, and file-verification suggestions are reported in esports.gg’s coverage. If the screen remains at the same percentage, note how long it waits and whether the percentage changes; the available reports do not establish a universal wait time after which preparation is definitively frozen.
Why shader preparation can take a long time or stutter
Games may compile graphics shaders on the PC at launch or while the game is running. Microsoft explains that this work can extend load times and cause shader-compilation stutter; precompiling shaders can reduce the work done at those moments. That technical explanation applies generally and does not prove that every hitch in The First Descendant has a shader cause. Microsoft’s Direct3D documentation also describes Advanced Shader Delivery, a Windows 11 Direct3D 12 technology with Windows, GPU, driver, and storefront requirements. The sources available here do not establish that The First Descendant supports it.
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Optional cache steps reported by Steam users
A July 2024 Steam community report says that disabling and re-enabling Steam shader precaching and clearing files inside NVIDIA’s GLCache folder helped that user. These are individual reports, not verified fixes; cache changes can make shaders rebuild, so the next launch or area transition may take longer while that happens. Do not delete files outside the named cache location or treat cache clearing as a guaranteed remedy. The Steam report also warns that an account-page control labeled “Clear All Data/Informations” deletes progress. Do not use that control as a troubleshooting step.
What the 2024 hotfix does—and does not—tell you
In coverage dated June 11, 2024, esports.gg reported that a Nexon hotfix aimed to improve PC shader-preparation stability by reducing CPU load during shader generation. The same coverage said some players continued to see slow loads. This is historical secondary reporting; it does not confirm the status of the issue or the effectiveness of any fix in the current build. Read the report.
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If shader preparation crashes
Preserve the exact error before changing system settings
Write down or capture the full crash message, when it appears, and your CPU and GPU models. One Steam user with an Intel Core i9-13900K reported an “Oodle” shader decompression error and said lowering the Performance Core Ratio from 55x to 54x resolved that user’s crashes. That is a single hardware-specific account, not general advice to change CPU ratios, BIOS settings, or other firmware tuning. Seek a diagnosis specific to your system before changing them. See the Steam report.
Treat Engine.ini edits as experimental
A Steam thread contains mixed reports about editing shader settings in Engine.ini; a later commenter said a change prevented shader preloading in another game. The thread does not establish an official or universally safe configuration for The First Descendant. Avoid applying settings copied from a post unless you understand how to restore the original file and accept the possibility of unexpected effects. Read the community discussion.
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How to judge whether a step helped
- Change one thing at a time and retry the same launch or area transition.
- Record whether the preparation percentage advances, whether the game reaches the title screen, and whether stutter or crashes recur.
- After a cache change, allow for shader rebuilding before concluding that the step failed.
- If the issue persists, keep the error text and system details for a support request; the cited material does not establish a current official Nexon fix for every case.
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