DirectX Developer Blog
The latest news on Microsoft's Graphics and Display technology
Latest posts
Open Sourcing Direct3D 9 on 12 and the Release of the DXBC Signer NuGet Package
It’s been a while since we last mentioned the D3D9On12 mapping layer. As a quick refresher, it maps D3D9 commands to D3D12 by acting as the D3D9 Device Driver Interface (DDI). Having this mapping layer enables older D3D9 applications to run on modern systems that may not have a D3D9 driver. Since the last blog post, we’ve added support for Alpha to Coverage extensions, done some bug fixing, and cleaned up the code base for open sourcing. Why Open Source? D3D9On12 has been a part of Windows 10 for a few years now, and over that time it has grown in stability and usage. Making it open source will: ...
DirectStorage Developer Preview now available!
Late last year, we announced that we would be bringing DirectStorage to Windows PCs, and in June, we told the world how DirectStorage would improve the gaming experience on Windows 11. Since then, the DirectX team has been hard at work bringing this state-of-the-art tech from Xbox’s Velocity Architecture over to Windows, empowering game developers on both platforms to create new immersive gaming experiences with vastly reduced load times.  If you are a developer that watched our GSL talk and signed up to be part of our NDA developer preview program, you’ll be happy to know that we have started rolling out our...
Windows Graphics News – 2021 Q2
Hi there! Another 3 months have passed since our last update, and we would like to bring you up to speed on what the Windows Graphics team has been up to! On this blog we will talk about: We’re hiring! Do you want to help shape the future of graphics? If so, the Xbox Graphics, PIX, and HLSL teams are hiring! We are looking to fill engineering positions across all levels of experience to help develop the technology critical to making the most visually stunning and performant Xbox games. Click here to learn more! New graphics features Dynamic refresh rate - smooth inking...
The Xbox Graphics, PIX, and HLSL teams are hiring!
Do you want to be part of the team building the next generation of gaming technologies for Xbox? Are you passionate about Graphics, GPUs, or Gaming? Do you want to work on the teams that enable game developers to make the most graphically advanced games on Xbox possible? If so, the Xbox Graphics, PIX, and HLSL teams are hiring engineering roles across all levels of experience to help develop the technology critical to making the most visually stunning and performant Xbox games. Machine Learning on Xbox Engineering roles are available to direct the future of machine learning...
Dynamic refresh rate – Get the best of both worlds
Dynamic refresh rate is a new feature that can be found in Windows Insider builds (Dev channel) on supported devices. Like the name suggests, DRR lets your device set the refresh rate dynamically. This means that Windows 11 will seamlessly switch between a lower refresh rate and a higher refresh rate based on what you’re doing on your PC.
Avoid Annoying Unexpected App Rearrangement – Your PC Can Sleep Without Nightmares
Have you ever experienced the frustration of your desktop application windows unexpectedly rearranging every time you return to your computer from sleep? We have on a feature to mitigate this behavior, available in Windows Preview now!
DirectX at Game Stack Live 2021
At Game Stack Live 2021, DirectX team shared how they continue evolving DirectX with the latest features across hardware and providing the greatest tools and support. Hardware partners also shared their updates on DirectX support.
Announcing HLSL Shader Model 6.6
After months of development and refinement in collaboration with hardware vendors and software developers, we are pleased to announce the availability of Shader Model 6.6! Shader Model 6.6 empowers shader authors with new tools for greater flexibility to make existing shaders faster and more versatile as well as to devise all new techniques. To give Shader Model 6.6 a try, developers will need a few tools. To compile shaders using Shader Model 6.6, you need the latest DirectX Shader Compiler release. To run those compiled shaders, you'll need the DirectX 12 Agility SDK and the corresponding graphics driver....
Announcing the DirectX 12 Agility SDK!
We’re excited to unveil the DirectX 12 Agility SDK, an update that will allow devs to adopt the newest DirectX 12 graphics features faster than ever before. With the Agility SDK, developers can now add the newest DirectX 12 features to their games, and gamers can play games with these features without having to upgrade their OS. Games can use the Agility SDK to light up the latest features on any device with the Windows 10 November 2019 Update or newer. As of this writing of this blog, this already means close to every gamer machine today can run games which use the Agility SDK! Developers excited about...