Modern Warfare 4 Advanced Shader Delivery is live on compatible Windows 11 PCs. The feature delivers precompiled shaders with supported Xbox PC app downloads, reducing the work your processor must do before the game starts.
Modern Warfare 4 launched on October 23, 2026. NVIDIA added GeForce RTX shader delivery support in its October 21 Game Ready 621.01 driver. You still need a supported game installation and storefront: Steam and Battle.net copies do not automatically use the Xbox shader delivery route.
Modern Warfare 4 Advanced Shader Delivery: what changed from shader preloading
Official image credit: Activision.
| Old wording | Shader Preloading |
| New system | Advanced Shader Delivery |
| Purpose | Deliver precompiled shaders ahead of time |
| Xbox PC app | Install before downloading the Xbox PC app version to receive its shader data |
| NVIDIA note | NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 621.01 released October 21 |
The goal is to reduce the amount of launch-time waiting that older Call of Duty PC players associate with shader preparation. Modern Warfare 4 Advanced Shader Delivery moves more of that work into delivery before you are trying to start a match.
It does not replace the need for current graphics drivers. Activision explicitly tells players to install the latest drivers as part of launch preparation.
Do Steam and Battle.net players need the Xbox PC app?
Not to play the game. The Xbox PC app is the confirmed shader delivery route for supported Microsoft Store installations. Microsoft plans to add the technology to Steam and Epic Games Store, but that does not establish current support for every Steam or Battle.net copy.
The different storefronts are covered in our Modern Warfare 4 PC guide. Installing the Xbox app does not move your Steam or Battle.net purchase to Xbox. Microsoft has to support delivery through the store distributing your copy.
NVIDIA 621.01 now supports Modern Warfare 4 Advanced Shader Delivery
GeForce Game Ready 621.01 launched on October 21 and enables the supported shader delivery path on GeForce RTX hardware. Microsoft requires Windows 11 24H2 or newer for this rollout. NVIDIA also issued the 621.12 hotfix to address separate black-screen and video-playback problems after 621.01.
NVIDIA describes a near-100% shader cache hit rate for the supported games. That describes how much of the necessary shader work is covered by the delivered data, not a near-100% increase in FPS. Read our NVIDIA 621.12 hotfix guide if the driver causes problems with video playback.
Updates should require fewer restart interruptions
The same Faster Time to Play section says updates no longer require restarts during game boots. Activision still warns that a restart can happen if an update goes live while you are actively in the game, with the restart expected between matches.
That is a separate improvement from Modern Warfare 4 Advanced Shader Delivery. Shader delivery is about preparing compiled shaders, while the restart change is about reducing the extra boot loop after routine updates.
How to set up Modern Warfare 4 Advanced Shader Delivery
Update Windows 11 to version 24H2 or newer, check the graphics card’s supported driver version and install the Xbox PC app before downloading the supported Xbox-distributed version of Modern Warfare 4. When the game starts, look for “Precompiled shaders installed” in the lower-left corner of the launch interface. Microsoft describes that message as the sign that the precompiled data was delivered.
The Modern Warfare 4 PC System Requirements page covers the driver versions, SSD size and security requirements that still apply regardless of shader delivery.
What Advanced Shader Delivery does not change
Modern Warfare 4 Advanced Shader Delivery does not lower the published GPU, CPU, RAM or SSD requirements. It also does not guarantee a particular frame rate. The 90 FPS recommended target is covered separately in Modern Warfare 4 90 FPS.
Think of ASD as a launch and update convenience system. The graphics workload still depends on resolution, quality settings, ray tracing and the hardware inside the PC.
For the first-party technical details behind Modern Warfare 4 Advanced Shader Delivery, see the official Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 PC article.
