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DirectX 12 Promises Lower-level Hardware Access On Multiple Platforms
crookedvulture writes "Microsoft formally introduced its DirectX 12 API at the Game Developers Conference yesterday. This next-gen programming interface will extend across multiple platforms, from PCs to consoles to mobile devices. Like AMD's Mantle API, it promises reduced CPU overhead and lower-level access to graphics hardware. But DirectX 12 won't be limited to one vendor's hardware. Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm have all pledged to support the API, which will apparently work on a lot of existing systems. Intel's Haswell CPUs are compatible with DirectX 12, as are multiple generations of existing AMD and Nvidia GPUs. A DirectX 12 update is also coming to the Xbox One. The first games to support the API won't arrive until the holiday season of 2015, though. A preview release is scheduled for this year."
Reader edxwelch adds that OpenGL 4.4 already has functionality similar to the improvements brought by DirectX 12 and Mantle:
"The announcement of DirectX 12 was a big focus of attention at GDC yesterday. The new API will bring Mantle-like low level access to the hardware, reducing the CPU overhead. The OpenGL talk 'Approaching Zero Driver Overhead in OpenGL,' on the other hand, received considerably less media attention. The OpenGL camp maintains that the features to reduce CPU overhead are already present in the current version. They suggest using the extensions such as, multidraw indirect combined with bindless graphics and sparse textures, OpenGL can get the similar 'close to the metal' performance as Mantle and DirectX 12."
Raspberry Pi OpenGL is like DOS-4GW on steroids. I don't think we need you anymore, DirectX.
Spent All My Mod Points
It's Window 8 only, right?
No sig today...
I can't help but wonder if the game development gravity that is developing around Linux had at least some part in motivating Microsoft to stop screwing around and get serious about releasing version 12.
This has nothing to do with competing with Mantle or even improving the DirectX technology stack. The target here is the Steam Box, and Linux+OpenGL to a lesser extent. M$ can't afford to let the Steam box become the dominant PC gaming platform (or at least a major player) as it's threatening to become. The news that Linux+OpenGL could run some Source games much faster than Windows with lesser hardware did not sit well in Redmond, and this is their response.
Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows RT.
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DirectX has been MS only since it's inception, it has always had the implication of whatever you are making not being able to use of windows.
The difference now is that OpenGL is no longer crap and DirectX is no longer the clear front runner, so people can start saying again "hey, why am I using DX?" Rather than taking for granted that it is better for games.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
I hope you're right, and people start making more OpenGL games rather than DirectX. Time will tell.
windows 9 and maybe hacked for 7 as well
Like AMD's Mantle API, it promises reduced CPU overhead and lower-level access to graphics hardware. But DirectX 12 won't be limited to one vendor's hardware.
Nor will Mantle. I suppose that fact checking really fell out of fashion here on - oh, wait...
Ezekiel 23:20
Opening a window and setting up rendering context in DirectX makes my head hurt every time. You always need a hundred line boilerplate for that. OpenGL combined with SDL or SFML it's usually something like under ten lines.
The summary says that Intel Haswell CPUs will support DirectX 12, however it seems that only Iris and Iris Pro iGPUs will support it according to this article:
http://wccftech.com/microsofts...
People are already making far more OpenGL games than DirectX games. Look at the Apple AppStore or GooglePlay games list then compare that to Windows desktop, Xbox (all games and variations) and Windows Phone. Apple alone blows MS away, add all the stuff from Android as well ... well, DirectX isn't the leader in the gaming world, not by a long shot.
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for openGL?
imokwiththat.jpg
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
We need a stack and a common low level interface like USB Mass Storage for GFX. Only one driver common to all gfx. Implement OpenGL in hardware and interface with it, nothing else. Open source the GFX interface or create a spec, we need one gfx driver and nothing else.
Like AMD's Mantle API, it promises reduced CPU overhead and lower-level access to graphics hardware. But DirectX 12 won't be limited to one vendor's hardware.
Mantle will work on this hardware as well, and won't be limited to one vendor's operating system. From AMD's Mantle FAQ
Twinstiq, game news
It's been like that for nearly two decades now. At least since 1994, when software rendered Quake came out. SGI pushed to get OpenGL out as a software API to eliminate the need for in-house software renderers. Microsoft realized they needed their own 3D software API to keep up to date with the game industry developments. 3Dfx came out with the Glide API for hardware piggyback boards. Nvidia formed from SGI engineers who wanted to see PC boards, then there was a race to be the first fully complete TLC (texturing, lighting and clipping) hardware accelerated boards, then another race for programmable fragment shading, then vertex, geometry and compute shaders.
The ideological battle has continued. Microsoft has always seen themselves as the supplier of software API's. In response, The Khronos consortium formed to provide an open standard alternative to proprietary API's (www.khronos.org).
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Some would dispute that the App Store and Google Play are part of the "gaming world". While there are excellent games on both stores, most are complete and utter drivel (many people compare the App Store to the far west), at a much much lower percentage than on Steam or the likes.
Gaming, today its a really complicated market and I don't think anyone knows where its going. -
- Apple and Android absolutely vast potential market, but very complex to market in, low margins and tight constraints (esp with Apple). Many companies in this market go bankrupt.
- XBox One & PS4 traditional high end gaming machines. In current tough market high prices make sales slow. XBOX One is the obvious real reason for Direct X 12.
- XBox 360 & PS3 still major competitors with much wider user base than new consoles. Slowing of advancement cycle means there is a smaller gap between these and the new machines than in previous generations.
- PC Windows, in long term decline but still a pretty large market. Still technology pinnacle for games development. Big problem is extreme diversity in PC market with a wide range of software and hardware specifications, vast numbers of machines at lower end of market, extremely high costs at top end. Windows XP still very widespread especially in developing & third world markets. Long stream of bad decisions by Microsoft are not improving the platforms future.
- PC Linux. Still the up and coming PC games development platform, funny thing is that I remember people saying that 10 or 15 years ago. Still perceived as a hobbyists or computer geeks OS.
- Steam Box. Very interesting, especially if Steam OS can run natively on standard hardware.
- Mac. Still the future up and coming games development platform. People have been saying that for a long time but the success of the I-machines has given the Mac platform a large boost. Still has problems with being perceived as high end, high costs, high margins. IOS can run on PC's and Windows can be made to run on modern Macs so the separation between Macs and PC's has reduced considerably.
- Hey that's not all, there are other players like the small Linux based consoles, and NVidea's thing and there are many small new players. A fundamental change in the hardware industry means that now even fairly tiny companies can develop their own custom hardware. - The Raspberry Pi is only an early example at one end of the range, things like advanced FPGA's, SOS and IP cores mean that we really don't know what we will see in the future but it has the potential to be 'amazing'. My own project / company is just art the start of developing a series of custom CPU's intended for running Advanced AI, and Strong AI systems.
To pick the winners and losers from all that you will need precognition, balls of steel, and a helping of luck. I guess that is why so many of the big players are floundering. My guess is that the market is so big now that most of them could win (still be in business in 10 years).
Below the speed of light Special Relativity is one of the most accurate theories in physics - above the speed of light..