DirectX

[deanb]

Hey it's a new DirectX

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive/2014/03/20/directx-12.aspx

Apparently the big thing with DX12 is it's closer to the metal than ever before, which given why DirectX exists in the first place seems a bit backward. No doubt those that fully make use of it will have better looking games, but point of DirectX was to keep developers away from coding near the metal.

Also lol at Forza 5 being "an example of a game that pushed the Xbox One to the limit", I think at this stage any game would be a great example of pushing the Xbox One to the limit

Oh it's also almost two years away, so might even end up being a Windows 9 thing, depending on how desperate they want to try and push it. Bit like Vista and DX10 exclusivity (remember all those DX10 games that came out...)

 

Nvidia have said it'll support DX12 on it's current DX11 GPUs:

http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2014/03/20/directx-12/

 

edit: With regards to OS, as folks have noted Windows 7 mainstream support is officially ended in under a years time, so this more than likely will remain Windows 8/9 exclusive. So Vista/DX10 comment especially applies.

[TheMightyEthan]

I thought the point of Direct X wasn't explicitly to keep devs from coding near the metal, but to provide a consistent environment across platforms.  If this can accomplish that with less overhead then wonderful.

[deanb]

Nah. It provides an abstraction layer. Back in the bad old days you'd code for individual components, though it's a lot easier these days given there's only three GPU manufacturers left. DirectX meant you could code for DirectX and then bits in the middle would tell whatever GPU the gamer happened to use what to do.

 

Obviously with the likes of PhysX there's still been coding for specific GPUs though that's also an API. As noted though there's now substantially less GPU manufacturers and two of them develop console chips, so it's likely MS is able to get in close connections with these to work DX12 to better tie in with thier hardware regardless of manufacturers. DX10 GPU's onwards have been a lot more similar with each other in design than previous GPUs. Hence GPGPU applications sprouting out from DX10 GPU's onwards with the change in processor design to stream processing.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

Nah. It provides an abstraction layer. Back in the bad old days you'd code for individual components, though it's a lot easier these days given there's only three GPU manufacturers left. DirectX meant you could code for DirectX and then bits in the middle would tell whatever GPU the gamer happened to use what to do.

 

 

...so it provided a consistent environment?

[deanb]

Kinda figured you of all folks would understand an abstraction layer. It's consistent enough, but consistency was never the point, as shown by the fact that most games on Steam have the whole "first time set-up....installing DirectX version 9.123whateverisspecifictothisgame". The point of DirectX, and OpenGL, was to provide a layer between the individual Voodoo, S3, Matrox, ATI, Nvidia, 3dfx graphics cards and the developer. Bringing them up to the level that Windows sat-on. Which lest we forget, at the time Windows sat on top of MS-DOS. Which MS were wanting to draw developers from. They've not really changed tactics ever since, holing the latest DirectX version to peddle whatever new OS they're wanting to get folks to buy over the more popular older OS.

[TheMightyEthan]

I'm thinking it's you who doesn't understand an abstraction layer...

 

The point is so that developers don't have to code specifically for each individual component from each manufacturer, no?  That's what I said.

[deanb]

Might be understanding "consistent environment" differently to each other. As noted in recent years, especially with DirectX 10 and most GPU manufacturers going bust, the hardware has become more homogeneous, but that was never the point of DirectX and just something that can about over the span of a decade or so mainly through external forces. If the point of DirectX had been to create a consistent environment then it's a longer term vision than Microsoft has ever shown in any other aspect of PC gaming. DirectX came about to stop people using MS-DOS and to use Windows 95. Times change, we're now in a Windows 7 market share on PC and games market spread across consoles that have very PC-like nature to them. DirectX 12 reflects that.

[TheMightyEthan]

I meant "consistent environment" in that it was designed to allow folks to code for DirectX and it would run on all sorts of different hardware, rather than them having to code differently for different manufacturers and whatnot.

[deanb]

To a degree. As I noted there's still many different individual versions DirectX (beyond the 9/10/11), and while we have been reduced to mainly two GPU manufacturers there's still inconsistencies between both that means you're going to have to take both into account or:

 

The hardware manufacturers themselves have to support DirectX too. Hence the post from Nvidia about it working on their current DX11 GPUs. They also work with the developers, hence my GPU being recently updated with quite specific fixes and enhancements for certain recent games.