DirectX Shader Compiler

The DirectX Shader Compiler project includes a compiler and related tools used to compile High-Level Shader Language (HLSL) programs into DirectX Intermediate Language (DXIL) representation. Applications that make use of DirectX for graphics, games, and computation can use it to generate shader programs.

For more information, see the Wiki.

Features and Goals

The starting point of the project is a fork of the LLVM and Clang projects, modified to accept HLSL and emit a validated container that can be consumed by GPU drivers.

At the moment, the DirectX HLSL Compiler provides the following components:

• dxc.exe, a command-line tool that can compile shader model 6 HLSL programs

• dxcompiler.dll, a DLL providing a componentized compiler, assembler, disassembler, and validator

• various other tools based on the above components

The DirectX Shader Compiler is currently in preview stage but is expected to be finalized in the next few months. The Microsoft Windows SDK releases will include a supported version of the compiler and validator.

The goal of the project is to allow the broader community of shader developers to contribute to the language and representation of shader programs, maintaining the principles of compatibility and supportability for the platform. It's currently in active development across two axes: language evolution (with no impact to DXIL representation), and surfacing hardware capabilities (with impact to DXIL, and thus requiring coordination with GPU implementations).

Building Sources

Before you build, you will need to have some additional software installed.

• Git.
• Visual Studio 2015, Update 3. This will install the Windows Development Kit. In the install options, make sure the following options are checked:
  • Windows 10 SDK (10.0.10240.0)
  • Common Tools for Visual C++ 2015
• Windows 10 SDK. This is needed to build tests that reference the D3D12 runtime. You may get this as part of installing/updating Visual Studio.
• Windows Driver Kit. No need to download and install tests. This is used to build and run tests.
• CMake. Version 3.4.3 is the supported version. You need not change your PATH variable during installation.
• Python. Version 2.7.x is required, 3.x might work but it's not officially supported. You need not change your PATH variable during installation.

To setup the build environment run the utils\hct\hctstart.cmd script passing the path to the source and build directories from a regular command prompt window. For example:

git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler.git C:\DirectXShaderCompiler
cd C:\DirectXShaderCompiler
utils\hct\hctstart.cmd C:\DirectXShaderCompiler C:\DirectXShaderCompiler.bin

To create a shortcut to the build environment with the default build directory, double-click on the utils\hct\hctshortcut.js file.

To build, open the HLSL Console and run this command.

hctbuild

You can also clean, build and run tests with this command.

hctcheckin 

To see a list of additional commands available, run hcthelp

Running Tests

To run tests, open the HLSL Console and run this command after a successful build.

hcttest

Some tests will run shaders and verify their behavior. These tests also involve a driver that can run these execute these shaders. See the next section on how this should be currently set up.

Running Shaders

To run shaders compiled as DXIL, you will need support from the operating system as well as from the driver for your graphics adapter.

At the moment, the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 15007 is able to run DXIL shaders.

Drivers indicate they can run DXIL by reporting support for Shader Model 6, possibly in experimental mode. To enable support in these cases, the Developer mode setting must be enabled.

By default, tests will run using the Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP) adapter. To get the correct version of WARP working, in addition to setting Developer mode, you should install the 'Graphics Tools' optional feature via the Settings app (click the 'Apps' icon, then the 'Manage optional features' link, then 'Add a feature', and select 'Graphics Tools' from the list).

For more information, see this Wiki page.

Making Changes

To make contributions, see the CONTRIBUTING.md file in this project.

Documentation

You can find documentation for this project in the docs directory. These contain the original LLVM documentation files, as well as two new files worth nothing:

• HLSLChanges.rst: this is the starting point for how this fork diverges from the original llvm/clang sources
• DXIL.rst: this file contains the specification for the DXIL format
• tools/clang/docs/UsingDxc.rst: this file contains a user guide for dxc.exe

License

DirectX Shader Compiler is distributed under the terms of the MIT license.

See LICENSE-MIT and COPYRIGHT for details.

Code of Conduct

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.