diff --git a/src/Cafe/HW/Latte/Renderer/Vulkan/RendererShaderVk.cpp b/src/Cafe/HW/Latte/Renderer/Vulkan/RendererShaderVk.cpp
index e4c87d62..8460c8b5 100644
--- a/src/Cafe/HW/Latte/Renderer/Vulkan/RendererShaderVk.cpp
+++ b/src/Cafe/HW/Latte/Renderer/Vulkan/RendererShaderVk.cpp
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ public:
 		}
 	}
 
-	~_ShaderVkThreadPool()
+	void StopThreads()
 	{
 		m_shutdownThread.store(true);
 		for (uint32 i = 0; i < s_threads.size(); ++i)
@@ -149,6 +149,11 @@ public:
 		s_threads.clear();
 	}
 
+	~_ShaderVkThreadPool()
+	{
+		StopThreads();
+	}
+
 	void CompilerThreadFunc()
 	{
 		while (!m_shutdownThread.load(std::memory_order::relaxed))
@@ -176,6 +181,8 @@ public:
 		}
 	}
 
+	bool HasThreadsRunning() const { return !m_shutdownThread; }
+
 public:
 	std::vector<std::thread> s_threads;
 
@@ -195,8 +202,8 @@ RendererShaderVk::RendererShaderVk(ShaderType type, uint64 baseHash, uint64 auxH
 	m_compilationState.setValue(COMPILATION_STATE::QUEUED);
 	ShaderVkThreadPool.s_compilationQueue.push_back(this);
 	ShaderVkThreadPool.s_compilationQueueCount.increment();
-	ShaderVkThreadPool.StartThreads();
 	ShaderVkThreadPool.s_compilationQueueMutex.unlock();
+	cemu_assert_debug(ShaderVkThreadPool.HasThreadsRunning()); // make sure .StartThreads() was called
 }
 
 RendererShaderVk::~RendererShaderVk()
@@ -204,6 +211,16 @@ RendererShaderVk::~RendererShaderVk()
 	VulkanRenderer::GetInstance()->destroyShader(this);
 }
 
+void RendererShaderVk::Init()
+{
+	ShaderVkThreadPool.StartThreads();
+}
+
+void RendererShaderVk::Shutdown()
+{
+	ShaderVkThreadPool.StopThreads();
+}
+
 sint32 RendererShaderVk::GetUniformLocation(const char* name)
 {
 	cemu_assert_suspicious();
@@ -457,4 +474,4 @@ void RendererShaderVk::ShaderCacheLoading_Close()
 {
     delete s_spirvCache;
     s_spirvCache = nullptr;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/src/Cafe/HW/Latte/Renderer/Vulkan/RendererShaderVk.h b/src/Cafe/HW/Latte/Renderer/Vulkan/RendererShaderVk.h
index 561145f9..207ea3ea 100644
--- a/src/Cafe/HW/Latte/Renderer/Vulkan/RendererShaderVk.h
+++ b/src/Cafe/HW/Latte/Renderer/Vulkan/RendererShaderVk.h
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ public:
 	RendererShaderVk(ShaderType type, uint64 baseHash, uint64 auxHash, bool isGameShader, bool isGfxPackShader, const std::string& glslCode);
 	virtual ~RendererShaderVk();
 
+	static void Init();
+	static void Shutdown();
+
 	sint32 GetUniformLocation(const char* name) override;
 	void SetUniform1iv(sint32 location, void* data, sint32 count) override;
 	void SetUniform2fv(sint32 location, void* data, sint32 count) override;
diff --git a/src/Cafe/HW/Latte/Renderer/Vulkan/VulkanRenderer.cpp b/src/Cafe/HW/Latte/Renderer/Vulkan/VulkanRenderer.cpp
index 052ca21a..5b4dd739 100644
--- a/src/Cafe/HW/Latte/Renderer/Vulkan/VulkanRenderer.cpp
+++ b/src/Cafe/HW/Latte/Renderer/Vulkan/VulkanRenderer.cpp
@@ -591,6 +591,9 @@ VulkanRenderer::VulkanRenderer()
 	{
 		//cemuLog_log(LogType::Force, "Disable surface copies via buffer (Requires 2GB. Has only {}MB available)", availableSurfaceCopyBufferMem / 1024ull / 1024ull);
 	}
+
+	// start compilation threads
+	RendererShaderVk::Init();
 }
 
 VulkanRenderer::~VulkanRenderer()
@@ -598,6 +601,8 @@ VulkanRenderer::~VulkanRenderer()
 	SubmitCommandBuffer();
 	WaitDeviceIdle();
 	WaitCommandBufferFinished(GetCurrentCommandBufferId());
+	// shut down compilation threads
+	RendererShaderVk::Shutdown();
 	// shut down pipeline save thread
 	m_destructionRequested = true;
 	m_pipeline_cache_semaphore.notify();