DirectX Developer Blog
The latest news on Microsoft's Graphics and Display technology
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Open Sourcing DXIL Validator Hash
Today the HLSL team is announcing plans to open source the DXIL validator hashing algorithm and include it in the DirectXShaderCompiler sources on GitHub. If you’re wondering what any of that means, strap in! DXIL Validator To understand the DXIL Validator you first need to understand a few basics of what DXIL is. DXIL, the DirectX Intermediate Language, is the format used to provide shader binaries to DirectX drivers. DXIL is based on the LLVM-3.7 IR module format, but is constrained to not support all valid features of LLVM’s IR. The constraints placed on a DXIL module are enforced by the DXIL Validato...
A Step Forward for Gaming on Arm Devices
This year at Microsoft Build 2024 we announced a new set of Windows devices, Copilot+ PCs. Copilot+ PCs are a new class of Windows 11 PCs, including Arm-powered devices that are powered by the Snapdragon® X Series. These new Arm devices have cutting-edge new processing power coming from the CPU, GPU, and NPU (neural processing unit). This new hardware, in combination with innovations in Windows 11, is a step forward for Arm gaming. A few weeks ago, we showed several initiatives that improve the gaming experience on Arm-based Copilot+ PCs: advancements such as Prism emulation, automatic super resolution (Auto SR)...
Automatic Super Resolution: The First OS-Integrated AI-Based Super Resolution for Gaming
Welcome to the latest innovation in gaming graphics with Automatic super resolution (Auto SR)—the first OS-integrated AI super resolution (SR) technique where your games not only play smoother, but look stunning too! Ready for a quick visual challenge? Take a glance at these side-by-side images of Borderlands 3 played natively at 1440p versus one rendered at 720p but enhanced by AI-based Auto SR. Can you spot which one uses AI to boost visual quality? Me neither. And here’s a twist: while one runs at 24 frames per second, the other zips along at 40. Which do you think is which? As you ponder, let me int...
DirectSR Preview Available Now
In the evolving landscape of Super Resolution (SR), GPU hardware vendors have set the stage with their respective technologies – AMD FidelityFX™ Super Resolution, Intel XeSS, and NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution. These cutting-edge solutions elevate the gaming experience by boosting frame rates while maintaining exceptional visual quality. Yet as the number of SR variants continues to grow, developers are in search of a common SR API that will seamlessly scale across the hardware ecosystem. Today, we are thrilled to announce the preview release of DirectSR, a new API designed to standardize SR support in D3D12 titles...
DXC 1.8.2405 Available Now, Including HLSL 202x
The HLSL team is excited to announce DXC 1.8.2405 which is a packed release! In addition to a healthy assortment of bug fixes and quality of life improvements, this release features two things we’re really excited about. First this is the first DXC release to contain Windows binaries built with Clang alongside the binaries built with MSVC, and it includes the first feature planned for the next HLSL language version, which is ready for user testing. We will dig into a lot more details later in this post, but two quick TL;DRs are: As with all HLSL language versions, once our new language version is fea...
Agility SDK 1.614.0: R9B9G9E5 support for Render Targets and UAVs
Today the DirectX team is excited to announce the release of the Agility SDK 1.614.0 which includes full support for R9G9B9E5_SHAREDEXP (999E5) texture format for render targets and UAV read/writes! This new Agility SDK is also fully supported by PIX. To get the latest release head on over to our Agility SDK downloads page. Understanding the 999E5 Texture Format 999E5 was originally introduced in Direct3D 11 and Direct3D 12 in a limited capacity. Its Direct3D 12 support has now been extended to support render targets and UAVs. A key benefit of the 999E5 texture format is it enables efficient storage and ren...
D3D12 Work Graphs
This is the official release of D3D12 Work Graphs, enabling new types of GPU autonomy, originally available as a preview in 2023. To start, here's what Epic sees: With the proliferation of GPU-driven rendering techniques - such as Nanite in Unreal Engine 5 - the role of the CPU is trending towards primarily resource management and hazard tracking, with only a fraction of time spent generating GPU commands. Prior to D3D12 Work Graphs, it was difficult to perform fine-grained memory management on the GPU, which meant it was practically impossible to support algorithms with dynamic work expansion. Even si...
Agility SDK 1.613.3 Available Now, Including Support for GDC 2024 Showcase Features
We're pleased to announce the release of our latest Agility SDK, complete with features we'll be showcasing at GDC 2024. Get started today with the retail versions of Work Graphs, Shader Model 6.8, GPU Upload Heaps, and more! For previous versions, see our Agility SDK Downloads page. Work Graphs Work Graphs is a cutting-edge API that utilizes the full potential of your GPU. It’s not just an upgrade to the existing models, but a whole new paradigm that enables more efficient, flexible, and creative game development. With Work Graphs, you can generate and schedule GPU work on the fly, without relying...
DirectX Innovation on Display at GDC 2024
Update: Watch the full recording of our GDC 2024 DirectX State of the Union session Ft. Work Graphs and Introducing DirectSR on our Microsoft Game Dev channel. The excitement is building as we finish our preparations for this year's Game Developers Conference, set to kick off on March 18th. Industry leaders, developers, and enthusiasts will converge on San Francisco for a week of innovation, and the DirectX team here at Microsoft has a lot of exciting news to share. We've been gearing up to showcase new functionality in the Windows gaming ecosystem, including features that will define the future ...