Technologies

Load Faster and Crash Less with Marvel Rival’s New Experimental Feature

The new performance setting lets you spend less time compiling shaders and more time bringing the beatdown on some baddies in Marvel’s hero shooter.

The Hellfire Gala isn’t the only reason for Marvel Rivals PC players to party in Season 2. The hit hero shooter just got a new experimental performance setting that aims to speed up load times and prevent crashes.

PC players have been plagued with issues since the release of Marvel Rivals. Even with adequate memory and beefy GPUs, the game’s performance has been shaky for many players. The new mode aims to solve these issues, especially for any players who have 16GB of RAM or less installed in their rig.

Toggling Switch Shader Compilation Mode will ensure that the game only goes through the shader compilation on the first startup after a new patch or graphics driver update, rather than every time you launch the game.

The developers also have optimized the game’s memory usage, cutting down on severe frames per second drops, visual stutters and crashes caused by memory shortages.

Here’s how you can turn on the new Switch Shader Compilation Mode and optimize your Marvel Rivals performance.

How do I turn on Switch Shader Compilation Mode for Marvel Rivals?

You don’t actually turn on the new performance setting from the in-game settings menu. Because Switch Shader Compilation Mode affects load times, you need to toggle this option within the Marvel Rivals launcher before you start the game.

The Switch Shader Compilation Mode setting appears in a long rectangular box directly to the left of the «Launch» button. To turn on the mode, simply check the box on the left side of the rectangle and run the game.

Known bugs that can occur with the Switch Shader Compilation Mode

This new performance feature was released in an experimental state, which means you might run into some bugs. None of these are game-breaking, nor are they permanent, so you don’t have to worry about running Marvel Rivals with this option toggled.

When Switch Shader Compilation Mode is turned on, some textures may render abnormally at the beginning of a match but will return to their normal state after several frames.

As these textures properly load, you may also experience momentary stutters before the game once again settles into a continuous picture. Both of these bugs are supposed to last for only a few frames at the start of each match, well before players step outside of the spawn doors.

A heads-up for those using older silicon: On systems with lower end CPUs (those with six or fewer threads), enabling Switch Shader Compilation Mode alongside AMD FSR3 Frame Generation could potentially create stutters that will last throughout a match.

This doesn’t mean players with less powerful CPUs can’t use Switch Shader Compilation Mode but it does mean that they should disable AMD FSR3 Frame Generation while they do so. It’s unclear whether there will be a fix for this bug — but development will continue on this experimental performance feature nonetheless.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for July 27, #307

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for July 27, No. 307.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

I cleaned up on the purple category for today’s Connections: Sports Edition. Sports buffs who are also film fans should have the same experience. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Time-related.

Green group hint: Drive to survive.

Blue group hint: Retired and revered.

Purple group hint: Yo, Adrian.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Interval.

Green group: F1 Grand Prix locations.

Blue group: 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame class.

Purple group: Starts of boxing movies.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is interval. The four answers are period, spell, stint and stretch.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is F1 Grand Prix locations. The four answers are Abu Dhabi, Baku, Monaco and Monza.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame class. The four answers are Allen, Parker, Sabathia and Suzuki.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is starts of boxing movies. The four answers are Cinderella, Million, Raging and Rocky.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, July 27

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for July 27.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

I set a new personal speed record for the Mini Crossword today. I was also delighted to learn a new word: psithurism. Can’t wait to drop that in casual conversation! Need a little help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. If you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.