DirectX Developer Blog
The latest news on Microsoft's Graphics and Display technology
Latest posts
DirectX 12 Ultimate Getting Started Guide
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 Windows by following these instructions. This is recommended for most developers. We also wrote a handy guide on how a developer can use a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) for DirectX development. Using a VHD allows setting up temporary OS versions to test new features on, which can t...
Announcing DirectX 12 Ultimate
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 PC and Xbox Series X. When gamers purchase PC graphics hardware with the DX12 Ultimate logo or an Xbox Series X, they can do so with the confidence that their hardware is guaranteed to support ALL next generation graphics hardware features, including DirectX Raytracing, Var...
DirectX Developer Day Schedule
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 what’s next in computer graphics, be sure to check out these sessions on https://mixer.com/DirectX.
Announcing DirectX Developer Day
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’re pushing gaming graphics into the future, introducing exciting new features, showing never-before-seen demos, and doing a deep dive into both PIX and our shader compiler. Mark your calendar to tune in Thursday for DirectX Developer Day at 10:00 AM PDT, on https://mixer.c...
D3D12 Translation Layer and D3D11On12 are now open source
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
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
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 DirectX 11 to be the best API for game developers to use in their engines. Even though we shipped DX11 a decade ago, for many games it’s still a great option. Having said that, DX12 has several advantages over DX11. A major difference between the two APIs is that DX12 is more low-l...
CPU- and GPU-boundedness
We wrote this article to explain two key terms: CPU-bound and GPU-bound. There's some misinformation about this terms, and we're hoping this article can help fix this problem. Even though applications run on the CPU, many modern-day applications require a lot of GPU support. These apps generate a list of rendering instructions (i.e. the math behind generating the 2D images to display). This happens on the CPU, which sends these instructions to the GPU for processing. How this entire process works warrants a separate article, but the main point here is that most apps need to use both the CPU and GPU to do wo...
Coming to DirectX 12: D3D9On12 and D3D11On12 Resource Interop APIs
D3D is introducing D3D9on12 with resource interop APIs and adding similar resource interop APIs to D3D11on12. With this new support, callers can now retrieve the underlying D3D12 resource from the D3D11 or D3D9 resource object even when the resource was created with D3D11 or D3D9 API. The new D3D9On12 API can be found in the insider SDK in D3D9on12.h. These features are available in Windows Insider builds now and do not require new drivers to work. You can explicitly create D3D9 with D3D9On12 using new overrides: D3D9 begins by creating an active display adapter enumerator. These new entry points allow...