In the official version of the game, the shader compiler crashes when attempting to load a custom map in the game.
Workaround (Easy way)
Step 1
Download a RefShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM3.upk which has been modified, paste it into \UDK\UDK-2011-01\UDKGame\Content\. If you've played on custom maps before, the one from your \Tribes\TribesGame\CookedPC\ folder should work.
Step 2
Run UnrealFrontEnd and cook the map. Copy RefShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM3.upk in \UDK\UDK-2011-01\UDKGame\CookedPC\ and paste it into \Tribes\TribesGame\CookedPC\. This will need to be done every time you wish to test the map.
Workaround (Advanced users)
Step 1
Copy the RefShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM3.upk in \Tribes\TribesGame\CookedPC\ and paste it into \UDK\UDK-2011-01\UDKGame\Content\.
Step 2
Using a hex editor, you will see the values C1 83 2A 9E 25 03 02 00, modify the 02 in that sequence to 00.
Step 3
Run UnrealFrontEnd and cook the map. Copy RefShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM3.upk in C:\UDK\UDK-2011-01\UDKGame\CookedPC\ and paste it into \Tribes\TribesGame\CookedPC\. This will need to be done every time you wish to test the map.
Reason why this is needed
It looks like the shader compiler is missing some required shaders to properly compile.
Cooking the map with the unedited RefShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM3.upk will fail due to license version checks, the license version is in the file’s header which we edit via our hex editor.
