List of computer games that require pixel shaders

Games that require Pixel Shaders
Pixel Shaders 1.1 (DirectX 8.0)
This is the list of computer games that require DirectX 8.0 programmable Pixel Shader 1.1 support to run, eg. Silent Hill 3. Games such as Half-Life 2 that only need pixel shader 1.1 as an optional feature will NOT be listed here. Users of graphics cards such as GeForce 4 MX will therefore not be able to run Silent Hill 3, but will run Half-Life 2 without problems.

* Alexander (needs confirmation)
* Act of War: Direct Action
* Advent Rising
* Attack on Pearl Harbour
* Battlestations: Midway
* Black & White 2
* Black & White 2: Battle of the Gods
* BloodRayne 2
* Boiling Point: Road to Hell
* Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
* Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
* Caesar IV
* Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
* Chaotic
* The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
* The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
* Colin McRae Rally 2005
* Company of Heroes
* Darkstar One
* Deus Ex: Invisible War (Does not work with 3D Analyser)
* Devil May Cry 3 (Works with 3D Analyzer confirmed. Use skip pixel shaders options, force 100 Hz, check performance mode, force SwTnL; Tested on Intel 865 onboard graphics)
* Earth 2160
* Empire Earth 2
* Empire Earth 2: The Art of Supremacy
* Eragon
* Fable: The Lost Chapters
* F.E.A.R.
* Half-Life 2: Episode Two
* Heroes of Might and Magic V
* Heroes of Might and Magic V: Hammers of Fate
* Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East
* ' (Missing Effects and not officially supported.)
* Just Cause
* Knight Of The Temple 2
* Lego Star Wars: The Video Game
* Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
* Lord of the Rings Online
* Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
* Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
* Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault
* Medieval II: Total War
* Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms
* Mega Man X8
* Men of Valor
* Need for Speed Carbon
* Paws & Claws Pet Vet 2 Healing Hands
* Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
* Portal
* Project: Snowblind
* Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
* Psychonauts (can be launched with 3D-analyze)
* Richard Burns Rally
* Roboblitz
* Serious Sam 2
* '
* Silent Hill 3 (can be launched with 3D-analyze)
* Silent Hill 4 (can be launched with 3D-analyze - Performance > force SW TnL, Hardware Limits(cap bits) > all, Vendor ID 0, Device ID 0, ANTI DETECT MODE > shaders and textures ).
* Silent Hunter III
* Sniper Elite
* Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars
* Star Wars: Republic Commando (works with some texture problems)
* Sudeki
* Team Fortress 2
* Test Drive Unlimited
* The Godfather: The Game
* The House of the Dead III
* The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II
* The Matrix: Path of Neo
* Thief: Deadly Shadows
* Titan Quest
* Titan Quest: Immortal Throne
* Toca Race Driver 3 (launches, but isn't playable)
* Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown
* Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
* Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (can be launched with 3D-analyze)
* Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
* Top Spin
* Total World Demo
* Wildlife Park 2
* Winning Eleven/ Pro Evolution Soccer series on PC (although playable frame rates are possible with a Geforce 4 MX if used with a fast enough CPU)
* Worms 4: Mayhem
* Virtua Tennis 3
* Crazy Taxi 3

Pixel Shaders 1.3 (DirectX 8.1)
The following is a second list of computer games that require DirectX 8.1 programmable Pixel Shader 1.3 support to run, eg. X3: The Reunion. Games such as Half-Life 2 that only need pixel shader 1.3 as an optional feature will NOT be listed here. Users of graphics cards such as GeForce 3 will therefore not be able to run X3: The Renuion, but will run Half-Life 2 without problems.
* Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (requires hardware TnL, per EA.com Tech Support)
* F.E.A.R. Extraction Point (needs confirmation)
* F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate (needs confirmation)
* Genesis Rising: The Universal Crusade
* Loki: Heroes of Mythology (needs confirmation)
* The Settlers: Rise of an Empire
* X3: Reunion

Pixel Shaders 1.4 (DirectX 8.1)
The following is a third list of computer games that require DirectX 8.1 programmable Pixel Shader 1.4 support to run, eg. Hitman: Blood Money. Games such as Half-Life 2 that only need pixel shader 1.4 as an optional feature will NOT be listed here. Users of graphics cards such as GeForce 4 Ti will therefore not be able to run Hitman: Blood Money, but will run Half-Life 2 without problems.
* Battlefield 2
* Battlefield 2: Special Forces
* Battlefield 2142
* Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike
* Hitman: Blood Money
* Star Trek: Legacy

Pixel Shaders 2.0 (DirectX 9.0)
The following is a fourth list of computer games that require DirectX 9.0 programmable Pixel Shader 2.0 support to run, eg. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. Games such as Far Cry that only need pixel shader 2.0 as an optional feature will NOT be listed here. Users of graphics cards such as GeForce 3 will therefore not be able to run Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, but will run Far Cry without problems.
* Act of War: High Treason
* ArmA: Armed Assault
** Note: The single-player demo version is missing PS 1.x support, which results in a visible interface, but a blank terrain onscreen.
* Call of Juarez
* Condemned: Criminal Origins (needs confirmation)
* Company of Heroes
* Death to Spies
* '
* Europa Universalis III
* Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power
* Halo 2
* Hellgate: London
* Neverwinter Nights 2
* Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
* Onimusha 3: Demon Siege
* Overlord
* Raiden III
* Resident Evil 4
* Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific
* Silverfall
* Space Force: Rogue Universe
* Spiderman: Friend or Foe
* Starcraft II
* Stubbs The Zombie
* Supreme Commander
* Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
* S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
* Theatre of War
* The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
** Note: Oblivion does have a partially complete 1.x shader package, which the mod 'Oldblivion' completes, enabling it to run/walk on a GeForce3. By default, Oblivion doesn't complain of missing shaders when run on GF3/4 Ti, but there will be missing shading on most graphics.
* The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles
* The Witcher
* Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
* Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
* Two Worlds
* Unreal Tournament 3
* Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
* World in Conflict (needs confirmation)

Pixel Shaders 3.0 (DirectX 9.0c)
The following is a fifth list of computer games that require DirectX 9.0c programmable Pixel Shader & Vertex Shader support to run, eg. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent. Games such as Far Cry that only need Shader Model 3.0 as an optional feature will NOT be listed here. Users of graphics cards such as Radeon 9700 Pro will therefore not be able to run Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent, but will run Far Cry without problems.
* Colin McRae: DiRT
* Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
* Medal of Honor: Airborne
* RoboBlitz
* Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
* Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent
* Spider-Man 3
* Stranglehold

Graphic chipsets with pixel shader support
While the ATI Radeon 7xxx series and NVIDIA GeForce2/GeForce4 MX series do have somewhat programmable pixel pipelines, they are not flexible enough to run shader programs of level 1.0. Shader Model 1.1 was the first standard used in games, and was first supported in DirectX 8.0.[http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s&postid79609&highlight=radeon+pixel+shader#post79609]

The list below shows the highest pixel shader version supported by each card family.

Version 1.1 (DirectX 8.0)

* nVidia GeForce3 series
* Matrox Parhelia series
* SiS Xabre series

Version 1.3 (DirectX 8.1)
* nVidia GeForce4 Ti / Go 4x00 series (not MX)
* SiS Mirage / 2

Version 1.4 (DirectX 8.1)

* ATI Radeon 8500 - 9250 series

Version 2.0 (DirectX 9.0)

* ATI Radeon 9500/9550/9600/9700/9800 series
* ATI Radeon X300/X600 series
* ATI Express-200 integrated graphics
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 and 950 series (no hardware vertex shader)
* XGI Volari series
* SiS Mirage 3
* S3 Chrome series, including DeltaChrome and GammaChrome but excluding UniChrome integrated graphics

Version 2.0x (DirectX 9.0b)

Version 2.0x comprises two versions - version 2.0a (for nVidia GeForce FX series) and version 2.0b (for ATI Radeon X700/X800/X850 series). These versions expose additional features over version 2.0 and are usually used for increased performance with the target hardware (GeForceFX or Radeon X700/X800/X850).

* nVidia GeForce FX series
* ATI Radeon X700/X800/X850 series
* AMD 690G/V chipset and Radeon Xpress 1250

Version 3.0 (DirectX 9.0c)

* nVidia GeForce 6 Series
* nVidia GeForce 7 Series
* ATI Radeon X1K series
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3000 (Intel® GMA 3000)

Version 4.0 (DirectX 10.0)

* nVidia GeForce 8 Series
* ATI Radeon HD 2000 series
* (RS780)
*Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3500

Solution for unsupported cards

As of 2007, there are still a large number of GeForce 4 MX users. Software tweaks, such as SwiftShader, swShader and 3D-analyze, can sometimes be used as a workaround for games requiring pixel shaders. However, this often renders games unplayable. Forcing such games to run on unsupported cards usually results in unrendered textures and lighting, as well as poor performance. Additionally, many online anti-cheat systems (such as Punkbuster) perform file and memory scans to ensure that game files have not been modified. As a result, those who attempt to play online using such workarounds may be unable to play, and in a worst case scenario, may in fact have their account/CD-key banned.

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