| name | shaders |
| description | Custom shaders in FlatRedBall2. Use when adding .fx shader files or troubleshooting shader compilation errors (libmojoshader, Wine). |
Shaders in FlatRedBall2
Apos.Shapes
FlatRedBall2's built-in shape rendering (ShapesBatch) uses Apos.Shapes, whose shader is embedded directly in the package assembly (0.7.2+) — no content pipeline, no .xnb, no Wine dependency. The version is centralized in $(AposShapesVersion) in the repo's Directory.Packages.props; sample and template projects inherit it transitively and must not pin it themselves (see issue #495).
Custom Shaders
Adding your own .fx files to a project requires the MonoGame/KNI content pipeline to compile them at build time.
Windows
Install the Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x64) — the content pipeline's libmojoshader_64.dll depends on it:
winget install Microsoft.VCRedist.2013.x64
Or download from https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=40784.
Without it, builds fail with:
Unable to load DLL 'libmojoshader_64.dll' or one of its dependencies.
macOS and Linux
The MonoGame content pipeline uses Windows-only tools for shader compilation. Wine must be installed.
Follow the MonoGame setup guide:
https://docs.monogame.net/articles/tutorials/building_2d_games/02_getting_started/index.html?tabs=macos#setup-wine-for-effect-compilation-macos-and-linux-only
For OpenGL/WebGL/DirectX targets, ShadowDusk compiles cross-platform without Wine — see the shadowdusk skill. Metal still requires the Wine path above.
KNI Backend
Shader compilation is not supported on macOS or Linux with the KNI backend. KNI projects must have their shaders compiled on Windows.
