WATCH_DOGS Shader Compiler

Recompiles the shader database for WATCH_DOGS 1 from the game's own HLSL sources. The scripts drive fxc.exe over each shader family and write the compiled objects with the header stub the engine loads.

The .fx sources belong to the game and are not in this repository. Unpack your own copy.

Requirements

1. Windows SDK for fxc.exe
2. Python 3

Get the shader sources

1. Unpack [WATCH_DOGS Install Directory]\data_win64\shaders.dat with Gibbed.Disrupt.
2. Copy the unpacked engine folder into this repository's root, next to CompileShaders.py.

The scripts read engine\shaders\... from the repository root. Shader family names live in engine\shaders\meta\filelist.meta.xml.txt.

Compile

1. Add the Windows SDK x64 directory to PATH, for example F:\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.26100.0\x64\.
2. Run CompileShaders.py.
3. Enter a shader family, for example Mesh_DriverGeneric. Enter .fx to build the whole database.

Build the whole database once before you build a single family. Families share input and output signatures, so a family built on its own disagrees with the rest and the game stops drawing.

Compiled objects land in COMPILED, and the script resumes where it stopped if you run it again.

Load the compiled shaders

1. Unpack [WATCH_DOGS Install Directory]\data_win64\shadersobj.fat with Gibbed.Disrupt.
2. Rename shadersobj.fat to shadersobj.fat.bak, and shadersobj.dat to shadersobj.dat.bak.
3. Move the unpacked shadersobj_unpack\engine folder into [WATCH_DOGS Install Directory]\data_win64\.

The engine then reads shader files from disk.

Linux

compile_shaders_linux.py is the Linux port. It calls DXC instead of fxc.exe, keeps paths in forward-slash form, and resolves the source filename case that the Windows command list gets wrong. Install the DirectX Shader Compiler, then either put dxc on PATH or set DXC to its full path and run:

python3 compile_shaders_linux.py Mesh_DriverGeneric

License

Public domain. See LICENSE.