New NVIDIA driver: MW4 skips shader compilation, Phantom Blade Zero gets Game Ready

NVIDIA released a new GeForce Game Ready driver on October 20. The most useful part for PC players this week is that it turns on Advanced Shader Delivery in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4: with the driver installed, the game skips shader compilation and you get in faster. It also adds support for Phantom Blade Zero, which launches October 28, for Crimson Desert Enhanced: Charting the Unknown and for the Cyberpunk 2077 update arriving today, October 22. On October 20 we told you that AMD brought FSR Upscaling 4.1 to Radeon RX 6000 cards with the Adrenalin 26.10.1 driver. This time it is GeForce RTX owners’ turn.

What the driver brings, game by game

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4: officially launches October 23 and adds multiplayer. Before that came the campaign Early Access, which began on the 16th, and DMZ Early Access, which has already started. The driver adds Advanced Shader Delivery, and NVIDIA says all GeForce RTX gamers benefit once it is installed. DLSS Super Resolution works in all modes. RTX 40 Series cards add DLSS Frame Generation, and RTX 50 Series cards get DLSS Dynamic Multi Frame Generation with up to 6X multiplication. NVIDIA Reflex can be enabled on any GeForce RTX.
• Gears of War: E-Day: NVIDIA names it alongside MW4 as the other game getting Advanced Shader Delivery.
• Phantom Blade Zero: launches October 28 with the full suite of DLSS 4.5 technologies. On GeForce RTX it uses DLSS 4.5 with Dynamic Multi Frame Generation, and its path-traced lighting is refined by DLSS Ray Reconstruction. Pre-orders are open on Steam and the Epic Games Store.
• Crimson Desert Enhanced: Charting the Unknown: arrives October 29, also with the full suite of DLSS 4.5 technologies.
• Cyberpunk 2077: today’s update adds DLSS 4.5 Dynamic Multi Frame Generation. It also moves Multi Frame Generation, Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution to the second generation AI models.
• NBA 2K27: the driver is Game Ready for Season 2, with a 2X faster model for DLSS 5.

You can download the driver from the NVIDIA app or NVIDIA’s website.

What it means for your PC

Advanced Shader Delivery is the most practical part of the announcement. According to NVIDIA, any GeForce RTX benefits from it in MW4, not just the newest cards. If you have an older card such as an RTX 3060, install the driver before the 23rd so you can jump in without waiting on shader compilation.

The rest depends on the generation. In MW4, Frame Generation is listed for the 40 Series, such as the RTX 4060, and Dynamic Multi Frame Generation for the 50 Series, such as the RTX 5070. If you run a Radeon or Intel Arc card, keep in mind that everything NVIDIA announced here is for GeForce RTX. If you are thinking about upgrading, our best GPU for gaming in 2026 guide can help you choose.

One detail that matters: canirun grades each game against its recommended requirement, so these features do not change your PC’s grade. Of the games in this driver, Gears of War: E-Day is the most demanding in our database, with a recommended GPU score of 25,500. Modern Warfare 4 sits at 15,900 and Phantom Blade Zero at 19,810.

Can your PC run the games in this driver?

Here is how your PC grades against the three biggest launches covered by this driver:

Game	Rec. GPU score	Rec. RAM	Min. RAM	Your PC
Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 4	15,900	16 GB	8 GB	?
Phantom Blade Zero	19,810	16 GB	16 GB	?
Gears of War: E-Day	25,500	16 GB	12 GB	?

For the full requirements and the upgrade that raises your grade the most, open the Modern Warfare 4 or Phantom Blade Zero page.

Sources: NVIDIA: Game Ready Driver for Phantom Blade Zero and Modern Warfare 4