Compiler Booster

Overview

Tired of wasting hours of your daily work in lights and shaders compile time? This asset sets the CPU priority of the compilers higher than by default.

Measured on an Intel Core i5-6500 @ 3.20 GHz

Installation & Setup

1. In Unreal Engine, go to Edit > Plugins.
2. Search for Compiler Booster (in the “Installed” section).
3. Activate the plugin and restart the engine when prompted.

Opening the Plugin Interface

Process Status

The status panel displays the current CPU priority of active compiler processes on your machine. By default, Unreal Engine launches compilers with Low priority to ensure UI responsiveness.

If the status displays ProcessNotFound, no shader or light build tasks are currently running.

Configuring CPU Priorities

Sliders become interactive when corresponding compilation processes are active on your computer.

Control Options

• Auto-Boost Checkbox: Automatically boosts detected compilers using your saved priority preset.
• Reset: Emergency recovery button. Restores all processes to default priority if engine FPS drops too low.
• Boost: Instantly applies your configured priority levels to active worker threads.

Important Performance Guidelines

Warning

System Stability & Performance Considerations

• Save before boosting: Changing the priority of the processes affects the performance of the engine, please save your work BEFORE boosting.
• Computer processes: Be aware that all processes on your computer can be affected. It is recommended to close any program outside the engine that consumes high CPU while boosting (like Chrome, for example).
• Game packaging: It is recommended to disable the plugin before building/packaging the game, for compatibility reasons.
• Engine responsiveness: This asset reduces editor responsiveness during compilation to maximize compile speeds—while you will save substantial time, interacting with the engine at maximum boost may be sluggish. The engine can freeze for several seconds at the beginning of the boost, be patient :-)

Speed Up Editor Launch Time

To accelerate launch and initial shader compilation for large projects:

1. Launch a lightweight project (Project A) with Compiler Booster enabled.
2. While Project A is open, launch your asset-heavy project (Project B).
3. Set the priority slider in Project A to your desired boost level.
4. Once set, close Project A—the elevated CPU priority remains active for the compiler processes powering Project B.