Syntax

Here is the syntax for calling FXC.exe, the effect-compiler tool. For an example, see Offline Compiling.

• Usage
• Arguments
• Remarks
• Profiles
• Version notes
• Related topics

Usage

fxc SwitchOptions Filenames

Arguments

SwitchOptions

[in] Compile options. There is just one required option, and many more that are optional. Separate each with a space or colon.

Required SwitchOptions	Description
/T <profile>	Shader model (see Profiles).

 

New for Direct3D 12	Optional SwitchOptions	Description
	/?, /help	Print help for FXC.exe.
	@<command.option.file>	File that contains additional compile options. This option can be mixed with other command line compile options. The command.option.file must contain only one option per line. The command.option.file cannot contain any blank lines. Options specified in the file must not contain any leading or trailing spaces.
Yes	/all_resources_bound	Enable aggressive flattening in SM5.1+.
	/Cc	Output color-coded assembly.
	/compress	Compress DX10 shader bytecode from files.
	/D <id>=<text>	Define macro.
	/decompress	Decompress DX10 shader bytecode from first file. Output files should be listed in the order they were in during compression.
	/dumpbin	Loads a binary file rather than compiling a shader.
	/E <name>	Shader entry point. If no entry point is given, main is considered to be the shader entry name.
Yes	/enable_unbounded_descriptor_tables	Enables unbounded descriptor tables.
Yes	/extractrootsignature <file>	Extract root signature from shader bytecode.
	/Fc <file>	Output assembly code listing file.
	/Fd <file>	Extract shader program database (PDB) info and write to the given file.When you compile the shader, use /Fd to generate a PDB file with shader debugging info.
	/Fe <file>	Output warnings and errors to the given file.
	/Fh <file>	Output header file containing object code.
	/Fl <file>	Output a library¹.
	/Fo <file>	Output object file. Often given the extension ".fxc", though other extensions are used, such as ".o", ".obj" or ".dxbc".
	/Fx <file>	Output assembly code and hex listing file.
	/Gch	Compile as a child effect for fx_4_x profiles. Note  Support for legacy Effects profiles is deprecated.
	/Gdp	Disable effect performance mode.
	/Gec	Enable backwards compatibility mode.
	/Ges	Enable strict mode.
	/getprivate <file>	Save private data from the shader blob (compiled shader binary) to the given file. Extracts private data, previously embedded by /setprivate, from the shader blob. You must specify the /dumpbin option with /getprivate. For example: Copy fxc /getprivate ps01.private.data /dumpbin ps01.with.private.obj
	/Gfa	Avoid flow control constructs.
	/Gfp	Prefer flow control constructs.
	/Gis	Force IEEE strictness.
	/Gpp	Force partial precision.
	/I <include>	Additional include path.
	/Lx	Output hexadecimal literals¹.
	/matchUAVs	Match template shader UAV slot allocations in the current shader. For more info, see Remarks.
	/mergeUAVs	Merge UAV slot allocations of template shader and the current shader. For more info, see Remarks.
	/Ni	Output instruction numbers in assembly listings.
	/No	Output instruction byte offset in assembly listings. When you produce assembly, use /No to annotate it with the byte offset for each instruction.
	/nologo	Suppress copyright message.
	/Od	Disable optimizations. /Od implies /Gfp though output may not be identical to /Od /Gfp.
	/Op	Disable preshaders (deprecated).
	/O0 /O1, /O2, /O3	Optimization levels. O1 is the default setting. O0 - Disables instruction reordering. This helps reduce register load and enables faster loop simulation. O1 - Disables instruction reordering for ps_3_0 and up. O2 - Same as O1. Reserved for future use. O3 - Same as O1. Reserved for future use.
	/P <file>	Preprocess to file (must be used alone).
	/Qstrip_debug	Strip debug data from shader bytecode for 4_0+ profiles.
	/Qstrip_priv	Strip the private data from 4_0+ shader bytecode. Removes private data (arbitrary sequence of bytes) from the shader blob (compiled shader binary) that you previously embedded with the /setprivate <file> option. You must specify the /dumpbin option with /Qstrip_priv. For example: Copy fxc /Qstrip_priv /dumpbin /Fo ps01.no.private.obj ps01.with.private.obj
	/Qstrip_reflect	Strip reflection data from shader bytecode for 4_0+ profiles.
Yes	/Qstrip_rootsignature	Strip root signature from shader bytecode.
	/res_may_alias	Assume that UAVs/SRVs may alias for cs_5_0+¹.
	/setprivate <file>	Add private data in the given file to the compiled shader blob. Embeds the given file, which is treated as a raw buffer, to the shader blob. Use /setprivate to add private data when you compile a shader. Or, use the /dumpbin option with /setprivate to load an existing shader object, and then after the object is in memory, to add the private data blob. For example, use either a single command with /setprivate to add private data to a compiled shader blob: Copy fxc /T ps_4_0 /Fo ps01.with.private.obj ps01.fx /setprivate ps01.private.data Or, use two commands where the second command loads a shader object and then adds private data: Copy fxc /T ps_4_0 /Fo ps01.no.private.obj ps01.fx fxc /dumpbin /Fo ps01.with.private.obj ps01.no.private.obj /setprivate ps01.private.data
Yes	/setrootsignature <file>	Attach root signature to shader bytecode.
	/shtemplate <file>	Use given template shader file for merging (/mergeUAVs) and matching (/matchUAVs) resources. For more info, see Remarks.
	/Vd	Disable validation.
Yes	/verifyrootsignature <file>	Verify shader bytecode against root signature.
	/Vi	Display details about the include process.
	/Vn <name>	Use name as variable name in header file.
	/WX	Treat warnings as errors.
	/Zi	Enable debugging information.
	/Zpc	Pack matrices in column-major order.
	/Zpr	Pack matrices in row-major order.

 

Filenames

[in] The files that contains the shader(s) and/or the effect(s).

Remarks

Use the /mergeUAVs, /matchUAVs, and /shtemplate options to align the UAV binding slots for a chain of shaders.

Suppose you have shaders A.fx, B.fx, and C.fx. To align the UAV binding slots for this chain of shaders, you need two passes of compilation:

To align the UAV binding slots for a chain of shaders

1. Use /mergeUAVs to compile shaders, and specify a previously-compiled shader blob with /shtemplate. For example:
   Copy

   
   
   fxc.exe /T cs_5_0 A.fx /Fo Atmp.o
   fxc.exe /T cs_5_0 B.fx /Fo Btmp.o /mergeUAVs /shtemplate Atmp.o
   fxc.exe /T cs_5_0 C.fx /Fo C.o /mergeUAVs /shtemplate Btmp.o
   
   
   

2. Use /matchUAVs to compile shaders, and specify the last shader blob from the first pass with /shtemplate. You can compile in any order. For example:
   Copy

   
   
   fxc.exe /T cs_5_0 B.fx /Fo B.o /matchUAVs /shtemplate C.o
   fxc.exe /T cs_5_0 A.fx /Fo A.o /matchUAVs /shtemplate C.o
   
   
   

   Note that you don't have to recompile C.fx in the second pass.

After you perform the preceding two compilation passes, you can use A.o, B.o, and C.o as final shader blobs with aligned UAV slots.

Profiles

Each shader model is labeled with an HLSL profile. To compile a shader against a particular shader model, choose the appropriate shader profile from the following table.

Version notes

¹ : this option requires the D3dcompiler_47.dll or a later version of the DLL.

For Direct3D 12 refer to Specifying Root Signatures in HLSL, Resource Binding in HLSL and Dynamic Indexing using HLSL 5.1.

In Direct3D 10 use the API to get the vertex, geometry, and pixel-shader profile best suited to a given device by calling these functions: D3D10GetVertexShaderProfile, D3D10GetPixelShaderProfile, and D3D10GetGeometryShaderProfile.

In Direct3D 9 use the GetDeviceCaps or GetDeviceCaps methods to retrieve the vertex and pixel-shader profiles supported by a device. The D3DCAPS9 structure returned by those methods indicates the vertex and pixel-shader profiles supported by a device in its VertexShaderVersion and PixelShaderVersion members.

For examples, see Compiling with the Current Compiler.

Related topics

Effect-Compiler Tool