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 Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for March 15, #1730

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for March 15, No. 1,730.

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

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a fairly common word, but the beginning letter is one I rarely guess. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with G.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with E.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a mark that a student receives in a class.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is GRADE.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, March 14, No. 1729, was ANKLE.

Recent Wordle answers

March 10, No. 1725: SHOAL

March 11, No. 1726: TEDDY

March 12, No. 1727: SMELL

March 13, No. 1728: EATEN

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.

Some solid starter words to try:

ADIEU

TRAIN

STARE

NOISE

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 15, #538

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 15, No. 538.

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.

Today is Selection Sunday, and the Connections: Sports Edition puzzle is all about the NCAA basketball tournament. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for 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: Oops!

Green group hint: Not the second word.

Blue group hint: They direct the team.

Purple group hint: They made it to the Big Dance.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Basketball fouls.

Green group: First words in NCAA tournament rounds.

Blue group: Women’s college basketball coaches.

Purple group: Teams qualified for the 2026 Men’s NCAA tournament.

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 basketball fouls. The four answers are block, charge, hold and reach-in.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is first words in NCAA tournament rounds. The four answers are elite, final, second and sweet.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is women’s college basketball coaches. The four answers are Auriemma, Close, Ivey and Staley.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams qualified for the 2026 Men’s NCAA tournament. The four answers are Gonzaga, High Point, Queens and Troy.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, March 15

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 15.

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.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Today’s wasn’t terribly tough, but read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

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.