TheIsland, ScorchedEarth_P, or Aberration_P from in their respective sub folders. In order to do that, you need to click on the File Menu > Open Level and then browse to the maps folder. The easiest way to trigger the shaders to compile is to open up the maps from The Island, Scorched Earth, and Aberration, and then load the sublevels. TIP #2 – Open all Maps and Sublevels: If you’re going compile the shaders yourself, then it’s best to get them all over with as soon as you can. Zen Rowe has provided a starter DDC for Extinction, and cpjet has his available as well. TIP #1 – Download a Copy: You can skip a lot of the shader compiles by just downloading a copy of someone else’s folder and overwriting your own with theirs. Shader compiles are one of the most time consuming parts of working with the kit, but there are a number of tips to speed them up. There are many assets that require shader compiling so that the engine can store a compiled copy of the shader inside its DerivedDataCache folder.

Once you’ve loaded into the kit though, the fun doesn’t stop there. This is due to the large number of assets (some requiring shader compiles and reference loading), and is unfortunately normal.

When you start the kit for the first time it will seem to take a very long time, and even appear to freeze. It is even preferable to store the ADK and modding resources on its own SSD if possible. The editor is referencing a huge number of assets, and having a drive with a high read rate in particular is crucial to improving the editor’s performance.

The best advice anyone can get for improving general performance is to install the kit onto a Solid State Drive (SSD) rather than a normal platter based hard drive. Well thankfully, the community has come up with some tips to help keep your modding on track. I just tried to change some simple text, and nope, computer says no.

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