diff --git a/src/renderer/atlas/AtlasEngine.cpp b/src/renderer/atlas/AtlasEngine.cpp
index 91046f34d43..966eea7dbd6 100644
--- a/src/renderer/atlas/AtlasEngine.cpp
+++ b/src/renderer/atlas/AtlasEngine.cpp
@@ -681,11 +681,18 @@ void AtlasEngine::_createResources()
                 break;
             }
 
-            static constexpr auto flags = D3DCOMPILE_PACK_MATRIX_COLUMN_MAJOR | D3DCOMPILE_ENABLE_STRICTNESS | D3DCOMPILE_WARNINGS_ARE_ERRORS
+            static constexpr auto flags =
+                D3DCOMPILE_PACK_MATRIX_COLUMN_MAJOR
 #ifdef NDEBUG
-                                          | D3DCOMPILE_OPTIMIZATION_LEVEL3;
+                | D3DCOMPILE_OPTIMIZATION_LEVEL3;
 #else
-                                          | D3DCOMPILE_DEBUG | D3DCOMPILE_SKIP_OPTIMIZATION;
+                // Only enable strictness and warnings in DEBUG mode
+                //  as these settings makes it very difficult to develop
+                //  shaders as windows terminal is not telling the user
+                //  what's wrong, windows terminal just fails.
+                //  Keep it in DEBUG mode to catch errors in shaders
+                //  shipped with windows terminal
+                | D3DCOMPILE_ENABLE_STRICTNESS | D3DCOMPILE_WARNINGS_ARE_ERRORS | D3DCOMPILE_DEBUG | D3DCOMPILE_SKIP_OPTIMIZATION;
 #endif
 
             wil::com_ptr<ID3DBlob> error;