Enable effect to be persistent

packages/dev/core/src/Engines/abstractEngine.ts

@@ -2554,6 +2554,11 @@ export abstract class AbstractEngine {
      */
     public readonly onDisposeObservable = new Observable<AbstractEngine>();
 
+    /**
+     * An event triggered when a global cleanup of all effects is required
+     */
+    public readonly onReleaseEffectsObservable = new Observable<AbstractEngine>();
+
     /**
      * Dispose and release all associated resources
      */

packages/dev/core/src/Engines/thinEngine.ts

@@ -4041,13 +4041,8 @@ export class ThinEngine extends AbstractEngine {
      * Force the engine to release all cached effects. This means that next effect compilation will have to be done completely even if a similar effect was already compiled
      */
     public releaseEffects() {
-        const keys = Object.keys(this._compiledEffects);
-        for (const name of keys) {
-            const effect = this._compiledEffects[name];
-            effect.dispose(true);
-        }
-
         this._compiledEffects = {};
+        this.onReleaseEffectsObservable.notifyObservers(this);
     }
 
     /**

packages/dev/core/src/Engines/webgpuEngine.ts

@@ -2202,6 +2202,8 @@ export class WebGPUEngine extends ThinWebGPUEngine {
         }
 
         this._compiledEffects = {};
+
+        this.onReleaseEffectsObservable.notifyObservers(this);
     }
 
     public _deletePipelineContext(pipelineContext: IPipelineContext): void {

packages/dev/core/src/Materials/effect.ts

@@ -151,6 +151,12 @@ export class Effect implements IDisposable {
      */
     public static LogShaderCodeOnCompilationError = true;
 
+    /**
+     * Gets or sets a boolean indicating that effect ref counting is disabled
+     * If true, the effect will persist in memory until engine is disposed
+     */
+    public static PersistentMode: boolean = false;
+
     /**
      * Use this with caution
      * See ClearCodeCache function comments
@@ -384,6 +390,14 @@ export class Effect implements IDisposable {
                 (this._pipelineContext as any).program.__SPECTOR_rebuildProgram = this._rebuildProgram.bind(this);
             }
         }
+
+        this._engine.onReleaseEffectsObservable.addOnce(() => {
+            if (this.isDisposed) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            this.dispose(true);
+        });
     }
 
     /** @internal */
@@ -1485,6 +1499,9 @@ export class Effect implements IDisposable {
         if (force) {
             this._refCount = 0;
         } else {
+            if (Effect.PersistentMode) {
+                return;
+            }
             this._refCount--;
         }
 

packages/dev/core/src/Particles/webgl2ParticleSystem.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import type { VertexBuffer, Buffer } from "../Buffers/buffer";
 import type { ThinEngine } from "../Engines/thinEngine";
-import type { IEffectCreationOptions } from "../Materials/effect";
-import { Effect } from "../Materials/effect";
+import type { Effect, IEffectCreationOptions } from "../Materials/effect";
 import type { IGPUParticleSystemPlatform } from "./IGPUParticleSystemPlatform";
 
 import { CustomParticleEmitter } from "./EmitterTypes/customParticleEmitter";
@@ -146,7 +145,7 @@ export class WebGL2ParticleSystem implements IGPUParticleSystemPlatform {
         }
 
         this._updateEffectOptions.defines = defines;
-        this._updateEffect = new Effect("gpuUpdateParticles", this._updateEffectOptions, this._engine);
+        this._updateEffect = this._engine.createEffect("gpuUpdateParticles", this._updateEffectOptions, this._engine);
 
         return new UniformBufferEffectCommonAccessor(this._updateEffect);
     }