I'm making .NET 3D Library's for games & tools that are cross platform between D3D9, D3D10, OpenGL & XNA that will run on Windows, XBOX, Phone7, MacOSX & Linux (Maybe iPhone & Android).
So my question is..., I want to be able to compile an Effect file in XNA 4.0 like you could in XNA 3.1... Microsofts excuse for taking this feature away is not legit as it kills XNA for being used to make tools for your games (Like an Effect editor).
If anyone knows a work around for this & could post some code or point me in the right direction would be nice tnx.
I also posted this question on App Hub where it was answered. http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/70737/431600.aspx#431600
The answer to this question is to use a command-line utility (CompileEffect) that uses the Content Pipeline to compile a .fx source file into a binary blob that can be passed directly to the XNA Framework Effect class constructor.
Here is the link to answer this question for anybody looking... http://create.msdn.com/en-US/education/catalog/sample/stock_effects
EDIT (better links): To compile shaders you need to look at the docs for the FX compiler. LINK: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb232919(v=vs.85).aspx
LINK2: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb509710(v=vs.85).aspx