{"id":3703,"date":"2021-04-20T09:16:26","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T16:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/?p=3703"},"modified":"2021-04-29T17:27:37","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T00:27:37","slug":"announcing-dx12agility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/directx\/announcing-dx12agility\/","title":{"rendered":"Announcing the DirectX 12 Agility SDK!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re excited to unveil the\u00a0<\/span>DirectX 12 Agility SDK<\/span><\/b>, an update that will\u00a0allow devs to adopt the newest\u00a0DirectX 12\u00a0graphics\u00a0features\u00a0faster than ever before.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Games can use the Agility SDK to light up the latest features on any device with the <\/span>Windows 10\u00a0November 2019 Update<\/span><\/b> 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!<\/span><\/p>\n

Developers excited about\u00a0the Agility SDK should check out our\u00a0Getting Started Guide<\/a>,\u00a0Downloads Page<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Announcement Talk<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Accelerating DirectX Innovation<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Historically,\u00a0the DirectX\u00a0team\u00a0used\u00a0Windows 10\u00a0updates\u00a0to get out our latest features, but\u00a0game developers\u00a0told us\u00a0that they wished that they could\u00a0add\u00a0the latest DirectX\u00a012 features to their game without requiring gamers to upgrade their OS.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Could there be a way to get the latest DirectX features up and running on a gamer\u2019s machine, even before they get the latest OS?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We built\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>DirectX 12 Agility SDK to respond\u00a0to\u00a0this\u00a0very\u00a0feedback.\u00a0Here\u2019s what some of our partners had to say:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur collaboration with Microsoft on the DirectX 12 Agility SDK enables us to easily implement forward-looking Unreal Engine features, and the new distribution model makes them\u00a0quickly\u00a0available\u00a0to our developer and player communities.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nick Penwarden, Vice President, Engineering, Epic Games<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With the Agility SDK, all DirectX 12 features, new and old,\u00a0can\u00a0run\u00a0on a huge install base:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The DirectX 12 Agility SDK allows us at 343 to be confident that the latest innovation from the DirectX team runs for nearly all of our PC players.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tom Holmes, Engine Architect at 343 Industries<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This means that game developers can adopt the latest DirectX 12 features much sooner:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The DirectX 12 Agility SDK will allow us to adopt the latest DirectX 12 features faster than ever. We are really excited about what this change means for the future of Forza Tech at Turn 10 and Playground Games.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Tector, Studio Software Architect at Turn 10 Studios<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What does this mean for gamers?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Put simply,\u00a0<\/span>what\u2019s good for developers is good for gamers<\/span><\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Agility\u00a0SDK\u00a0makes it\u00a0easier than ever for developers to provide gamers with the best experience from their gaming rig. We\u2019re talking about more games adopting the latest graphics features sooner.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With many game developers not wanting to leave behind gamers on older Windows 10 versions, it used to be that some developers had to make the difficult decision to wait until a version saturates a large enough audience before adopting a feature.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Agility SDK removes OS rollout as a bottleneck for our latest features to get adopted \u2013 gamers can now look forward to the <\/span>latest\u00a0features from DirectX\u00a0getting used sooner than ever before.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What features are we talking about?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We already have our first Agility SDK out, with support for the full DirectX 12 Ultimate<\/a> feature set and Shader Model 6.6<\/a>: <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n