{"id":13111,"date":"2026-03-12T12:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T19:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/?p=13111"},"modified":"2026-03-17T16:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:12:29","slug":"directx-bringing-console-level-developer-tools-to-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/directx-bringing-console-level-developer-tools-to-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"DirectX: Bringing Console-Level Developer Tools to Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">On\u00a0March 12<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">th, 2026,<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> the DirectX team and our hardware partners hosted <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/schedule.gdconf.com\/session\/directx-bringing-console-level-gpu-tools-to-windows-presented-by-microsoft-xbox\/917904\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">DirectX: Bringing Console-Level GPU Developer Tools to Windows<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0at GDC.\u00a0We shared our dream of bringing console-level GPU developer tools to Windows, and\u00a0today we are announcing\u00a0a major step toward that goal with\u00a0the biggest wave of new tooling features in DirectX&#8217;s history.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">For the first time<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, all\u00a0four Windows GPU hardware partners joined us on stage<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">to\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0these features running on their hardware. <strong>AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm<\/strong> have worked closely with us throughout feature development, each making significant contributions to make this release possible. This represents the deepest GPU tooling collaboration across the Windows ecosystem and the future of Windows GPU development.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The announcements included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#directx-dump-files\"><span data-teams=\"true\">DirectX Dump Files<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><span data-teams=\"true\">DebugBreak() in HLSL<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-teams=\"true\">PIX Event Configurability<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#preview:-live-shader-debugging\"><span data-teams=\"true\">Preview: Live Shader Debugging<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#shader-explorer\"><span data-teams=\"true\">Shader Explorer<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#partner-announcements\"><span data-teams=\"true\">Partner Announcements<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><span data-teams=\"true\">AMD: PIX\/RRA interop and RGP + PIX events<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-teams=\"true\">Intel: timing accuracy improvements on all GPUs<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#more-pix-announcements\"><span data-teams=\"true\">More PIX Announcements<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>PIX API<\/li>\n<li><span data-teams=\"true\">Tile Mappings Viewer<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-teams=\"true\">GPU Hardware Counters in System Monitor<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-teams=\"true\">New GPU Capture File Format<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-teams=\"true\">Capture\/Replay Reliability<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-teams=\"true\">Remote Deployment<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-teams=\"true\">Dr PIX improvements<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-teams=\"true\">Update Notifications + What&#8217;s New<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-teams=\"true\">Machine Learning features<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">DirectX Dump Files<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:360,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>The Problem: GPU Crashes Are Painful<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Lower-level APIs like D3D12 extract\u00a0maximum\u00a0GPU performance, but they make it easier than ever to hit gnarly GPU bugs &#8211; whether during development, QA testing, or on retail gamers&#8217; devices. Existing tools like the Debug Layer, GPU-Based Validation, and DRED each help, but none provide thorough crash dump infrastructure with deep OS integration across all hardware vendors.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We want to change that.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Introducing DirectX Dump Files<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><strong>DirectX Dump Files<\/strong> are GPU dump files generated when a TDR occurs. They\u00a0represent\u00a0thorough crash dump infrastructure in Windows, with robust integration that brings together critical data from all levels of the stack: hardware,\u00a0user\u00a0mode\u00a0and kernel drivers, user\u00a0mode\u00a0and kernel components of Windows, and even your game\/application via new D3D12 APIs.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The\u00a0first\u00a0releases will offer immediate help to developers. After that, our robust infrastructure lays an exciting foundation for everyone to build upon, enabling rapid innovation in this space in the future.\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We are very thankful to our hardware partners AMD, Intel,\u00a0NVIDIA\u00a0and Qualcomm,\u00a0who have worked very closely with us throughout\u00a0feature development. They all joined us on stage during the GDC session to\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0DirectX Dump Files running on their hardware.\u00a0We hope that many of you will try out our previews over the summer and send us your thoughts and feedback. This will help us refine the overall feature and make it as useful as possible for you.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>What&#8217;s\u00a0in a DirectX Dump File<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">A single <code>.dxdmp<\/code>\u00a0file brings together data from every level of the stack, so you\u00a0don&#8217;t\u00a0have to piece together information from multiple sources:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:20,&quot;335559739&quot;:39}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"4\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Hardware and driver state:\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">information from your GPU vendor&#8217;s user mode driver and kernel driver about the hardware state including but not limited to register values, shader program counters (PC), shader memory, command buffers, page fault virtual addresses and more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"4\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">DirectX state:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> information from D3D runtime and DX kernel \u2014 including D3D objects, pipeline state objects, DRED data, device error and CPU call stack, adapter\u00a0info\u00a0and\u00a0device configuration.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"4\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Game state:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0up to 2MB of custom data along with metadata to uniquely\u00a0identify\u00a0your data that you choose to include via new D3D12 APIs and callbacks.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">All of this maintains Windows process isolation guarantees, ensuring sensitive data from other processes isn&#8217;t included in your game&#8217;s dump file.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Supported Scenarios<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">DirectX Dump Files support two critical developer scenarios:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"6\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Retail\u00a0crashes<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">: collecting crash dumps from retail users\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"6\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Local\u00a0crashes<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">: collecting crash dumps from developer (or QA) machines<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Both scenarios are fully supported, with customization available via new D3D12 APIs that will allow developers to sacrifice some application performance to improve crash dump actionability.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Configuring Dump Quality vs. Performance<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">New D3D12 APIs let you control a trade-off between game performance and dump file actionability, with three levels:\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">no\u00a0overhead<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> (no runtime performance impact), <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">medium overhead<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(balanced data with moderate impact), and\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">high overhead<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(maximum data from the hardware vendor). Hardware vendors will define and document the exact features and impact of each level on their devices.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:20,&quot;335559739&quot;:39}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-teams=\"true\">These levels are divided into D3D12 support tiers. Tier 1, which all devices supporting DirectX Dump Files will support, includes the medium and high overhead options. Tier 2, which some devices will support initially, offers the no overhead option. On Tier 2 devices, the no overhead dumps will be enabled by default by Microsoft. On Tier 1 devices, we will not enable medium or high overhead options by default due to the application performance implications, so it will be up to developers to opt into these settings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Retrieving Dump Files<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">You\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">can either\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">retain<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">\u00a0the dump file\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">(<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">and use it to investigate\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">a local crash or upload it\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">from\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">a\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">retail gamer&#8217;s machine to your server<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">)<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">\u00a0or let Microsoft collect it via Watson.<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">D3D12 provides<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">\u00a0an<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">\u00a0optional callback<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">\u00a0after the\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">dump creation<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">\u00a0that provides the\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">dump\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">file path<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW33515373 BCX8\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">PIX Support\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">PIX\u00a0provides\u00a0full support for analyzing\u00a0crashes with\u00a0DirectX Dump Files, inspired by Xbox PIX&#8217;s support for hang dumps (&#8220;HIX&#8221;). You can analyze any\u00a0crash with a\u00a0DirectX Dump File in the PIX UI, regardless of which hardware it\u00a0was generated on.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">All four hardware partners have written PIX plugins\u00a0to\u00a0decode\u00a0their hardware\u00a0and driver state collected in the dump files\u00a0via the standardized DirectX Dump File UI in PIX, which they each\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0during our GDC session.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>AMD Demo of DirectX Dump Files in PIX:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/AmdDirectXDumpFile.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13211\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/AmdDirectXDumpFile.webp\" alt=\"AmdDirectXDumpFile image\" width=\"805\" height=\"513\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/AmdDirectXDumpFile.webp 1084w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/AmdDirectXDumpFile-300x191.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/AmdDirectXDumpFile-1024x653.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/AmdDirectXDumpFile-768x490.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 805px) 100vw, 805px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Intel Demo of DirectX Dump Files in PIX:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelDumpFiles.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13225\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelDumpFiles.webp\" alt=\"IntelDumpFiles image\" width=\"806\" height=\"483\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelDumpFiles.webp 1920w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelDumpFiles-300x180.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelDumpFiles-1024x614.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelDumpFiles-768x461.webp 768w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelDumpFiles-1536x922.webp 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 806px) 100vw, 806px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>NVIDIA Demo of DirectX Dump Files in PIX:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/NvidiaDirectxDumpFiles.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13215\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/NvidiaDirectxDumpFiles.webp\" alt=\"NvidiaDirectxDumpFiles image\" width=\"803\" height=\"231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/NvidiaDirectxDumpFiles.webp 1278w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/NvidiaDirectxDumpFiles-300x86.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/NvidiaDirectxDumpFiles-1024x295.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/NvidiaDirectxDumpFiles-768x221.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 803px) 100vw, 803px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Qualcomm Demo of DirectX Dump Files in PIX:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/qualcomm-dump-files.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13179\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/qualcomm-dump-files.webp\" alt=\"qualcomm dump files image\" width=\"804\" height=\"444\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/qualcomm-dump-files.webp 934w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/qualcomm-dump-files-300x166.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/qualcomm-dump-files-768x424.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 804px) 100vw, 804px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\">The<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><strong><span class=\"TextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\">PIX API<\/span><\/span><\/strong><span class=\"TextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\">\u00a0also supports programmatic analysis of\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\">a GPU crash and extracting information from a\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\">DirectX Dump File. These APIs let you write C++,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\">C#,<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\">\u00a0or Python scripts to\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\">investigate crashes\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\">in your own\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\">environment<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW36131344 BCX8\">.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP Selected SCXW36131344 BCX8\" data-ccp-props=\"{}\"> This could, for example, be used to analyze DirectX Dump Files that you have gathered from retail users&#8217; machines to analyze patterns and bucketize bugs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>DirectX Dump Files will be available starting in early June 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span data-teams=\"true\">Auxiliary DirectX Features<\/span><\/h2>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">DebugBreak() in HLSL\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">A new intrinsic is coming in April in <strong>Shader Model 6.10:<\/strong> <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">DebugBreak().\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">DebugBreak() will be critical for Live Shader Debugging (see below) but in the short term it can also be used to improve the actionability of DirectX Dump Files. We are adding new D3D12 pipeline state object flags to configure DebugBreak()\u2019s behavior, with one option letting you tell the driver to halt the GPU and immediately trigger a DirectX Dump File when a DebugBreak() is hit. This will enable abort-like behaviors, both in development and even in retail scenarios if necessary, allowing crash dumps to point more accurately to the first problem that occurred rather than a downstream consequence of it that crashed the GPU. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">You can read the full spec <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/microsoft\/hlsl-specs\/blob\/main\/proposals\/0039-debugbreak.md\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">PIX Event Configurability\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">PIX events and markers, such as PIXBeginEvent(), have multiple competing use cases: debugging and profiling. Changes to increase their helpfulness for one use case may hurt the other one. This is the main reason why, until now, PIX events would be absorbed by the D3D12 runtime and they wouldn&#8217;t reach the driver.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">At GDC we announced new D3D12 APIs to let you configure this trade-off. If you tell the D3D12 runtime to pass PIX events to the driver, then\u00a0the PIX events\u00a0will be included in DirectX\u00a0Dump Files\u00a0to improve their actionability. This configuration also lets other driver-level tools use PIX events:\u00a0see the\u00a0<a href=\"#partner-announcements\">Partner Announcements<\/a> section below for examples of this in action.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Preview: Live Shader Debugging<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:360,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">At GDC we previewed <strong>Live Shader Debugging<\/strong>: real-time, on-chip shader debugging\u00a0that&#8217;s\u00a0coming to Windows. This is a much-loved Xbox feature that we are working to bring to Windows for the first time.\u00a0It\u00a0is designed to help you catch &#8216;needle in the haystack&#8217; type problems &#8211; the kind of GPU bugs that are hardest to track down today.\u00a0<strong>This is the deepest GPU\u00a0tooling\u00a0collaboration with hardware vendors in Windows history.<\/strong><\/span><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We are targeting the first release of this in 2027. We appreciate that\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0very early\u00a0to announce a feature like this. However, you are likely to see public work for this in the coming months (DebugBreak() above is a good example!) so we wanted to provide\u00a0some\u00a0context now about our goals and motivations. Stay tuned for more details later in 2026\u00a0and 2027.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Shader Explorer<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:360,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We\u2019re\u00a0thrilled to announce the first version of\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Shader Explorer<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0for PIX on Windows. Shader Explorer builds on the back-end shader compilers that driver writers must create as part of\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/aka.ms\/GDC2026ASDBlog\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Advanced Shader Delivery<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. Together with PIX, they now give you\u00a0low-level compile-time performance insights for your shaders\u00a0alongside your HLSL.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Insights that it may show include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Register usage and pressure, including automatic features to take you to the max register pressure<\/li>\n<li>Basic blocks<\/li>\n<li>Per-instruction data and control dependencies<\/li>\n<li>HLSL&lt;-&gt;ISA correlation (including inlining)<\/li>\n<li>Per-instruction documentation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Since the compiler is decoupled from the driver, you can use Shader Explorer to analyze shaders for GPUs that you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0own.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>AMD Demo of Shader Explorer in PIX:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/AmdShaderExplorer.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13210\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/AmdShaderExplorer.webp\" alt=\"AmdShaderExplorer image\" width=\"802\" height=\"537\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/AmdShaderExplorer.webp 1061w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/AmdShaderExplorer-300x201.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/AmdShaderExplorer-1024x686.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/AmdShaderExplorer-768x515.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 802px) 100vw, 802px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Intel Demo of Shader Explorer in PIX:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelShaderExplorer.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13205\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelShaderExplorer.webp\" alt=\"IntelShaderExplorer image\" width=\"804\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelShaderExplorer.webp 1276w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelShaderExplorer-300x174.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelShaderExplorer-1024x595.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelShaderExplorer-768x446.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 804px) 100vw, 804px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>The Shader Explorer Workflow<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Shader Explorer integrates deeply into PIX&#8217;s GPU Captures, giving you an intuitive iterative optimization flow:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Take a GPU Capture of your application and open it in PIX.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Analyze your capture and find an interesting shader to optimize.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> Export that shader and its pipeline state object into Shader Explorer.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> Iterate on that shader, making changes guided by the static analysis insights. You can select different target GPUs to see how your changes affect each one.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Export that shader back into your GPU Capture and see its effect on rendering and performance.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>You can alternatively just directly load a HLSL file into Shader Explorer and iterate on it, without taking a PIX GPU Capture first.<\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">You can also use the PIX API to analyze shaders programmatically, enabling you to write your own tools to analyze any or\u00a0all of\u00a0your shaders in bulk.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Shader Explorer has day one support from AMD and Intel. This collaboration brings new hardware-specific optimization guidance directly into PIX&#8217;s workflow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Partner\u00a0Announcements<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:360,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">During the GDC session, we were joined on stage by all four Windows GPU hardware partners:\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. We are deeply appreciative\u00a0of\u00a0these collaborations to make Windows GPU tooling as great as possible.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The features we announced today are the result of deep collaboration across the ecosystem.<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0All four partners\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0DirectX Dump Files on their respective hardware during the session, and all four have invested in PIX plugin support to surface their hardware-specific information through PIX&#8217;s standardized UI.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Beyond that shared foundation, our partners shared what else they&#8217;ve been working on. We encourage you to check them out.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>AMD<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">AMD announced two\u00a0integrations that go well beyond DirectX Dump Files support.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">First, they built\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">interop\u00a0between PIX and Radeon Raytracing Analyzer (RRA)<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. This new integration allows PIX users to export an Acceleration Structure out of a PIX GPU Capture and deeply analyze it inside RRA, bringing together the strengths of both tools.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Second, AMD showed how the new PIX Event Configurability APIs improve\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Radeon Graphics Profiler (RGP)<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. With driver-level PIX markers enabled, RGP can now show your PIX markers natively without requiring any PIX header changes &#8211; they just work.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">For more on AMD&#8217;s support for PIX, see <a href=\"https:\/\/gpuopen.com\/learn\/amd-microsoft-gdc-2026\/\">here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Intel<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Intel announced that their collaboration with Microsoft on PIX has moved to a whole new level, extending beyond Intel-specific PIX plugin development and into the core of PIX itself, helping to make the tool even better for all developers. They previewed their work to improve the reliability of Timing Data in GPU Captures, by filtering out misleading data caused by GPU preemption from other processes. This is just the start, and we&#8217;re excited for what Intel and PIX will build together next.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelTimelineImprovements.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13223\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelTimelineImprovements.webp\" alt=\"IntelTimelineImprovements image\" width=\"800\" height=\"326\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelTimelineImprovements.webp 1506w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelTimelineImprovements-300x122.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelTimelineImprovements-1024x417.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/IntelTimelineImprovements-768x313.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For more on Intel&#8217;s support for PIX, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intel.com\/content\/www\/us\/en\/developer\/articles\/news\/microsoft-collaboration-powers-future-of-pc-gaming.html\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">More PIX Announcements<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:360,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Here is a wide range of new PIX features also coming in this wave. We will share more details about each of these in ~May 2026 when they are released alongside the other PIX features above.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>PIX API<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Our long-term vision is to give you programmatic access to everything that you can see inside the PIX UI. At GDC we announced that the <strong>PIX API will be available publicly in May 2026<\/strong>, with support for <strong>C++, C#, and\u00a0Python<\/strong>. It uses a D3D12-style nano-COM interface, supports all new PIX features\u00a0immediately, and will light up existing PIX features over time.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">Tile Mappings Viewer\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We are bringing a dedicated <strong>Tile Mappings viewer<\/strong> to PIX to help you debug and fix issues with your tiled\/reserved resource mappings. It includes the ability to see tile information for your selected pixel in the Texture Viewer, see the mappings (including visually) for a particular resource, and see the resources mapped into a particular heap.\u00a0This will also be helpful for upcoming DirectX features &#8211; stay tuned.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide096_img00.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13168\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide096_img00.webp\" alt=\"slide096 img00 image\" width=\"624\" height=\"483\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide096_img00.webp 1171w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide096_img00-300x232.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide096_img00-1024x793.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide096_img00-768x595.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide097_img02.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13169\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide097_img02.webp\" alt=\"slide097 img02 image\" width=\"624\" height=\"605\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide097_img02.webp 1274w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide097_img02-300x291.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide097_img02-1024x993.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide097_img02-768x745.webp 768w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide097_img02-24x24.webp 24w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide097_img02-48x48.webp 48w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">GPU Hardware Counters in System Monitor\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">PIX&#8217;s system\u00a0monitor\u00a0view can now show <strong>low-level hardware-specific counters<\/strong> while your application runs, powered by our hardware partners&#8217; PIX plugins.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"> These complement existing cross-platform GPU and CPU counters in System Monitor today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide098_img02.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13170\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide098_img02.webp\" alt=\"slide098 img02 image\" width=\"755\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide098_img02.webp 1431w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide098_img02-300x199.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide098_img02-1024x678.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide098_img02-768x508.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h4><\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">New GPU Capture File Format\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We have been working hard to rewrite our GPU Capture file format, and we are pleased to announce the\u00a0first\u00a0release of this in May\u00a02026.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0This first release comes with three main improvements:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><strong>Performance improvements<\/strong>: <span class=\"FindHit SCXW7042048 BCX8\">40<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW7042048 BCX8\">% faster start analysis times for UE5 so far<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>The ability to save Shader PDBs back into the capture file\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>The ability to show GPU Capture screenshot thumbnails in File Explorer\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We are excited by the potential of this new file format. We look forward to\u00a0building\u00a0many new PIX features\u00a0on top of it\u00a0\u2013 stay tuned for details later in\u00a02026!<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">Capture\/Replay Reliability\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW11743122 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW11743122 BCX8\">We have made many reliability improvements to PIX&#8217;s capture and replay infrastructure. This includes turning on new D3D features by default, such as\u00a0<\/span><\/span><a class=\"Hyperlink SCXW11743122 BCX8\" href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/agility-sdk-1-716-0-preview-application-specific-driver-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span class=\"TextRun Underlined SCXW11743122 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW11743122 BCX8\" data-ccp-charstyle=\"Hyperlink\">Application-Specific Driver State<\/span><\/span><\/a><span class=\"TextRun SCXW11743122 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW11743122 BCX8\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/span><a class=\"Hyperlink SCXW11743122 BCX8\" href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/agility-sdk-1-716-0-preview-recreate-at-gpuva\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span class=\"TextRun Underlined SCXW11743122 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW11743122 BCX8\" data-ccp-charstyle=\"Hyperlink\">RecreateAtGpuva<\/span><\/span><\/a><span class=\"TextRun SCXW11743122 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW11743122 BCX8\">, along with many other fixes to improve the consistency and reliability of your GPU captures.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP Selected SCXW11743122 BCX8\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p id=\"remote-deployment\" data-source-line=\"271\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">Remote Deployment<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-source-line=\"273\">We announced new PIX remote deployment features, building on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/aka.ms\/GameRemoteDevTools\">Remote Windows Game Development Tools<\/a>. Once your local device is paired with a remote device via these remote tools, PIX will be able to automatically deploy itself to your remote machine and connect &#8211; removing the need for you to manually run PIX on both devices. This greatly streamlines multi-device development workflows.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/nearfinal_slide081_img2.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13195\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/nearfinal_slide081_img2.webp\" alt=\"nearfinal slide081 img2 image\" width=\"772\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/nearfinal_slide081_img2.webp 1440w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/nearfinal_slide081_img2-300x167.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/nearfinal_slide081_img2-1024x569.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/nearfinal_slide081_img2-768x427.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 772px) 100vw, 772px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">Dr PIX\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Several improvements to Dr\u00a0PIX\u00a0are coming: a new <strong>PIX API to access and run all existing experiments<\/strong>, and <strong>a new experiment to help you measure how much improvement D3D12&#8217;s new Tight Alignment flag could bring to your application<\/strong>. These\u00a0join\u00a0last year&#8217;s\u00a0NonUniformResourceIndexing\u00a0experiment in making Dr\u00a0PIX\u00a0an increasingly powerful tool for finding performance wins.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide101_img02.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13171\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide101_img02.webp\" alt=\"slide101 img02 image\" width=\"770\" height=\"407\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide101_img02.webp 1040w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide101_img02-300x159.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide101_img02-1024x542.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/slide101_img02-768x406.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">Update Notifications + What\u2019s New\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">PIX will now automatically\u00a0notify you\u00a0when\u00a0a new version\u00a0is available, and an updated What&#8217;s New page is built directly into\u00a0PIX\u00a0so you can easily see what changed.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-11-175723.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13196\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-11-175723.webp\" alt=\"Screenshot 2026 03 11 175723 image\" width=\"407\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-11-175723.webp 843w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-11-175723-300x170.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-11-175723-768x435.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 407px) 100vw, 407px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-11-175739-1.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13201 \" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-11-175739-1-e1773278892414.webp\" alt=\"Screenshot 2026 03 11 175739 image\" width=\"756\" height=\"409\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-11-175739-1-e1773278892414.webp 1472w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-11-175739-1-e1773278892414-300x162.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-11-175739-1-e1773278892414-1024x554.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-11-175739-1-e1773278892414-768x415.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 756px) 100vw, 756px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">Machine Learning\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">PIX supports new ML-driven graphics workloads. For more information, please visit our <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/aka.ms\/GDC2026MLBlog\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">ML blog<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Coming in May 2026<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Our biggest wave of new Windows GPU tooling features ever will mostly be available in preview in May 2026, with the DirectX Dump Files preview coming in early June 2026. DirectX Dump Files will reach retail availability in ~October 2026. Shader Explorer v2 with live\/online analysis features will follow in late 2026.\u00a0 <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Get in Touch<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We are incredibly excited about this wave of new features and the deepening collaboration with our hardware partners. <strong>This is just the next big step <\/strong>&#8211; we will keep building toward our dream of console-level GPU developer tools on Windows.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We&#8217;d\u00a0love to hear from you:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><strong>Discord<\/strong>: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/discord.gg\/directx\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">https:\/\/discord.gg\/directx<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(look for the #pix channel)<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><strong>Email<\/strong>: <\/span><a href=\"mailto:pix@microsoft.com\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">pix@microsoft.com<\/span><\/a><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Or use the <strong>feedback buttons in PIX<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On\u00a0March 12th, 2026, the DirectX team and our hardware partners hosted DirectX: Bringing Console-Level GPU Developer Tools to Windows\u00a0at GDC.\u00a0We shared our dream of bringing console-level GPU developer tools to Windows, and\u00a0today we are announcing\u00a0a major step toward that goal with\u00a0the biggest wave of new tooling features in DirectX&#8217;s history.\u00a0\u00a0 For the first time, all\u00a0four [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137194,"featured_media":12651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-directx"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"<p>On\u00a0March 12th, 2026, the DirectX team and our hardware partners hosted DirectX: Bringing Console-Level GPU Developer Tools to Windows\u00a0at GDC.\u00a0We shared our dream of bringing console-level GPU developer tools to Windows, and\u00a0today we are announcing\u00a0a major step toward that goal with\u00a0the biggest wave of new tooling features in DirectX&#8217;s history.\u00a0\u00a0 For the first time, all\u00a0four [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13111"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13319,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13111\/revisions\/13319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}