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Microsoft Unlocks Framerates For Smoother Gameplay On Windows 10 (pcper.com)
An anonymous user writes: Back in March, Microsoft's Phil Spencer addressed some of the concerns over the Unified Windows Platform and PC gaming. He noted that Microsoft would "plan to open up VSync off, FreeSync, and G-Sync in May" and the company would "allow modding and overlays in UWP applications" sometime further into the future. Well, it appears that Microsoft is on point with the May UWP update. According to the MS DirectX Developer Blog, a Windows 10 update being pushed out today will enable UWP to support unlocked frame rates and variable refresh rate monitors in both G-Sync and FreeSync varieties. Today's update won't automatically enable these features in UWP games like Gears of War or Quantum Break, they will still need to be updated individually by the developer. Microsoft states that Gears of War and Forza will be the first to see these changes, but there is no mention of Quantum Break here, which is a game that could DEFINITELY benefit from the love of variable refresh rate monitors.PCWorld has more details.
Expect an eventual update that will break all versions of Office except Office 365, forcing users into a subscription mode.
It's more like 70 million on steam alone.
As its primary purpose is to siphon money off to MS, what do you expect? This is basically an attempt to force the console-model on any PC running Windows 10.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I get where Microsoft is going with UWP - It's replacing the legacy overall application framework that's been cobbled together since DOS/3.11. Every windows desktop application has a bit of baggage that's a holdover from DOS, and can in theory interact and work with legacy DOS systems (USB floppy drive? and sneakernet? Add an old DOS hard drive via a USB cable?)
UWP is a different beast. Sandboxed applications that come through a managed app store - Yeah it's tablet like but it's easy and safe for users. Bad applications can't root your system and getting new ones, updating them is easy as hell.
Of course, conveniently, Microsoft gets a piece of the pie or has their hand in every UWP application in some manner or another.
Trouble is UWP is tied to the shitfest that was windows 8 "Metro" and got an astoundingly bad start. It's also got serious issues. Ask any developer that wants to code something more complicated than an online photo browser or "App" that that replaces a web page for some simple service.
Huge pain in the ass straight jacket that makes porting legacy applications near impossible.. Limited access to system resources. Interface issues that make it a complete nonstarter for any serious productivity application. And as we see now, really really really poor and forced choices for games that make it useless for anything that's not a port of a tablet/mobile game.
I let Microsoft update my computer to Windows 10 but that didn't even upgrade my laserjet into a 3D printer. Lame.
UWP just seems like another stupid layer of bloated crap between the game and the hardware.
That's incorrect. UWP isn't "another layer". If you write a DirectX UWP app then it goes through the same DirectX APIs as it would if you were doing a regular win32 app.
UWP has some replacement APIs -- e.g. it removes the gdi32.dll drawing APIs from win32, replacing them with faster rendering that's more hardware-accelerated, and it bypasses the user32.dll window-managed APIs from win32 replacing them with its own model. But those things are irrelevant to games.
UWP has a couple of new entry-point APIs, e.g. if you want start playing audio, you'd use one API in win32 to enumerate the audio device but a different sandbox-friendly API in UWP. But once you've gotten hold of the audio device, you use exactly the same APIs.
UWP has new sandbox-friendly installers that are performed by the OS, rather than requiring each individual app to do the installing (and trusting that the app's installer doesn't install any system-wide rubbish).
But all in all, no, UWP isn't an additional layer between the game and the hardware. In most cases it's actually a *thinner* layer between app and hardware than what was there before.
No it wont. It'll all be done in secret courts with subpoenas that are classified.
1- They are only doing this because the xbone is failing hard to the PS4. If they had a dominant position on consoles, we wouldnt be talking about this.
2- Again, to give the 360 and now the xbone advantages, they crippled DirectX gamepad tech. (DirectInput - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
3- Trying to kill Steam,but given how dirty M$ will always be, they will kill Steam and with it, multiplatform releases (OSX and more important, Linux/Steam OS).
Might be more, but perhaps you get the idea.
Personally, I am tired of this damn monopoly, tired of paying license for a damn OS or better yet, not trusting the OS at all (W10).
UWP is getting built up as fast as possible to match Win32, and when parity is achieved, UWP will have all the new API updates and Win32 will stagnate. Eventually MS will say it's not worth supporting Win32 as a development platform and will leave it to a virtual machine for compatibility. It will be deemed too insecure and out of date. UWP will be supported on more devices. Through MS's store, UWP applications have DRM containers and the Windows PC won't be as open as it used to be, allowing for community fixes and game updates like texture packs and mods. Anyway that's what it seems like.
Twinstiq, game news
Do those encrypt the folders and files from the user? UWP does so you are comparing apples and handcuffs.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
CRT displays relied on phosphorous glowing for a short period after being blasted by electrons. You had to keep redrawing the screen to refresh the pixels. But modern monitors are based on LED technology - they don't need refreshing - you just turn them on and off. So why have refresh rates at all? Why doesn't the device simply send frames to the monitor as and when they are ready and the monitor just display what it's told. If I don't send a new frame for an hour the monitor should just sit there for an hour showing the same picture without any refreshing or switching or scanning or any of that.
If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.