DirectX Developer Blog

Iterating on Variable Rate Shading in Gears Tactics

Jacques van RhynMay 26, 2020May 26, 202005/26/20

Gears Tactics is the very first game to ship with support for DirectX 12 Variable Rate Shading (VRS), one of the major features in DirectX 12 Ultimate. VRS let Gears Tactics achieve large performance gains – up to 18.9% (!) – on a wide range of hardware with a minimal impact on visual quality. Check out this guest post where Jacob Nelso

DirectX ❤ Linux

Steve PronovostMay 19, 2020May 19, 202005/19/20

Overview of the upcoming support for DX12, NVIDIA CUDA, OpenGL and OpenCL acceleration in the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

In the works: OpenCL™ and OpenGL® mapping layers to DirectX

Angela JiangMarch 24, 2020Mar 24, 202003/24/20

Building on our previous work with the D3D12 Translation Layer library as well as the D3D11On12 and D3D9On12 mapping layers, we’re happy to share that we are working on two new projects: OpenCL and OpenGL mapping layers to D3D12.

DirectX 12 Ultimate Getting Started Guide

Jacques van RhynMarch 19, 2020Mar 19, 202003/19/20

So, you’re a developer sold on the next-gen features in DirectX 12 Ultimate? Look no further than this little guide! 1) OS The complete set of DirectX 12 Ultimate features is be available in the next retail version of Windows 10, version 2004 (also called the Windows 10 May 2020 Update). As of 5/27, you can get this version of Wi

Announcing DirectX 12 Ultimate

Shawn HargreavesMarch 19, 2020Mar 19, 202003/19/20

It is time for DirectX to evolve once again. From the team that has brought PC and Console gamers the latest in graphics innovation for nearly 25 years, we are beyond pleased to bring gamers DirectX 12 Ultimate, the culmination of the best graphics technology we’ve ever introduced in an unprecedented alignment between

DirectX Developer Day Schedule

Shawn HargreavesMarch 18, 2020Mar 18, 202003/18/20

Tomorrow (3/19) is DirectX Developer Day! Join the Microsoft DirectX team, along with partners AMD and NVIDIA, for a series of talks and demos covering the future of gaming graphics: Streaming will start at 10:00 AM PDT. Whether you’re a game developer, graphics enthusiast or just curious about wha

Announcing DirectX Developer Day

Claire AndrewsMarch 17, 2020Mar 17, 202003/17/20

GDC may have been postponed, but we aren't going to let that prevent us from bringing the next generation of graphics innovation to the world. Join us this Thursday, March 19, for a virtual DirectX Developer Day on Mixer! The Microsoft DirectX team, along with partners from AMD and NVIDIA, will be streaming a series of talks covering how we

D3D12 Translation Layer and D3D11On12 are now open source

Angela JiangJanuary 14, 2020Jan 14, 202001/14/20

If you’re a developer looking to port your game to DX12, we have good news: The D3D12 Translation Layer, a helper library for translating graphics concepts and commands from a D3D11-style domain to a D3D12-style domain, is now open source.

As an example of how to use the library, we have also opened sourced the D3D11On12 mapping layer.

Demystifying Fullscreen Optimizations

Hannah FisherDecember 17, 2019Dec 17, 201912/17/19

We wrote this article to explain the difference between Fullscreen Exclusive and Fullscreen Optimizations. This article goes details the roll out and the benefits that come with Fullscreen Optimizations.

DirectX 12 and Fortnite

Jacques van RhynNovember 20, 2019Nov 20, 201911/20/19

On Monday, Epic Games announced that DirectX 12 support is coming to Fortnite. And today, the wait is over: anyone updating to the v11.20 patch has the option to try out Fortnite’s beta DX12 path! What does this all mean? Let's see if we can help! What’s wrong with DX11? Nothing! We at the DirectX team designed Direct