DirectX Developer Blog

The Xbox Graphics, PIX, and HLSL teams are hiring!

July 2, 2021 Jul 2, 2021 07/2/21

Jerry Zhou

  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 ...

Dynamic refresh rate – Get the best of both worlds

June 28, 2021 Jun 28, 2021 06/28/21

Ana Marta Carvalho

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

April 28, 2021 Apr 28, 2021 04/28/21

Michelle Xiong

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

April 20, 2021 Apr 20, 2021 04/20/21

Jianye Lu

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

April 20, 2021 Apr 20, 2021 04/20/21

Greg Roth

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...

Announcing the DirectX 12 Agility SDK!

April 20, 2021 Apr 20, 2021 04/20/21

Jacques van Rhyn

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...

Getting Started with the Agility SDK

April 20, 2021 Apr 20, 2021 04/20/21

Jacques van Rhyn

This guide is intended for developers who want to get started developing games that use the Agility SDK. It covers: Be sure to also see our Announcement blog, Downloads Page, Game Stack Live talk and spec. Visit the DirectX Landing Page for more resources for DirectX developers. What is the Agility SDK and how ...

Windows Graphics News – 2021 Q1

April 7, 2021 Apr 7, 2021 04/7/21

Ana Marta Carvalho

With the first quarter of 2021 behind us, we here at the Windows Graphics team would like to share what we've been up to in the last three months.

Auto HDR Preview for PC Available Today

March 17, 2021 Mar 17, 2021 03/17/21

Hannah Fisher

Today we’re excited to bring you a preview of Auto HDR for your PC gaming experience and we’re looking for your help to test it out. When enabled on your HDR capable gaming PC, you will automatically get awesome HDR visuals on an additional 1000+ DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 games!

Moving Gears to Tier 2 Variable Rate Shading

January 12, 2021 Jan 12, 2021 01/12/21

Jacques van Rhyn

The team at The Coalition haven't stopped innovating since bringing Tier 1 VRS to Gears Tactics, and have brought Tier 2 VRS support to both Gears 5 and Gears Tactics.  The team saw similarly large perf gains from VRS Tier 2 - up to 14%! - this time with no noticeable visual impact. See for yourself if you can tell which side of the first ...