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Directx and OpenGL getting low-level access soon (GDC 2014)

Just saw this while browsing the GDC catalogue (with help from GAF's KKRT PBUH). Two microsoft DX team hosted sessions:

1.Direct3D Futures
Come learn how future changes to Direct3D will enable next generation games to run faster than ever before!

In this session we will discuss future improvements in Direct3D that will allow developers an unprecedented level of hardware control and reduced CPU rendering overhead across a broad ecosystem of hardware.

If you use cutting-edge 3D graphics in your games, middleware, or engines and want to efficiently build rich and immersive visuals, you don't want to miss this talk.

2.Evolving Microsoft's Graphics Platform

For nearly 20 years, DirectX has been the platform used by game developers to create the fastest, most visually impressive games on the planet.

However, you asked us to do more. You asked us to bring you even closer to the metal and to do so on an unparalleled assortment of hardware. You also asked us for better tools so that you can squeeze every last drop of performance out of your PC, tablet, phone and console.

Come learn our plans to deliver.

Microsoft caught wind of changing tides in Open GL and Mantle and decided to change? Only time will tell.

Also Open GL is a-changin'

1. Approaching Zero Driver Overhead in OpenGL
Driver overhead has been a frustrating reality for game developers for the entire life of the PC game industry. On desktop systems, driver overhead can decrease frame rate, while on mobile devices driver overhead is more insidious--robbing both battery life and frame rate. In this unprecedented sponsored session, Graham Sellers (AMD), Tim Foley (Intel), Cass Everitt (NVIDIA) and John McDonald (NVIDIA) will present high-level concepts available in today's OpenGL implementations that radically reduce driver overhead--by up to 10x or more. The techniques presented will apply to all major vendors and are suitable for use across multiple platforms. Additionally, they will demonstrate practical demos of the techniques in action in an extensible, open source comparison framework.

Multi-vendor cooperation? WHAT IS THIS?!

edit:
 

Chobel

Member
This is great.

EDIT: It won't be that great, if these new DirectX features are Windows 8 exclusive.
 

diaspora

Member
This is great.

EDIT: It won't be that great, if these new DirectX features are Windows 8 exclusive.

IMO, they'll definitely be Windows 8 as the minimum requirement. 7 is bloated trash comparatively, so it'd make sense to put a thinner abstraction layer on a more efficient, superior OS.
 

dr_rus

Member
Multi-vendor cooperation? WHAT IS THIS?!
This is what's been going on just fine since the demise of 3dfx until AMD decided that they know better.

IMO, they'll definitely be Windows 8 as the minimum requirement. 7 is bloated trash comparatively, so it'd make sense to put a thinner abstraction layer on a more efficient, superior OS.
You do know that internally 7 is 6.1 while 8 is 6.2 and they both are nearly identical to Vista which is 6.0 in pretty much all underlying technology, right?
The only reason why something is exclusive to 7 or 8 is because of marketing.
 

aY227

Member
It should be reminded that the benefits of Mantle were almost entirely limited to cases of lower end CPUs.

They do, for consoles ports. High end PC titles will benefit tremendously from this, like for example MMOs, strategy games, sim games.

Also it will enable new algorithms [like Order-Independent Transparency optimization or cheap shadows for particles] and better compute and multi-gpu utilization across the board.

It will also improve LOD handling by a lot. Rendering vegetation or strains of fur/hair will be cheaper too etc.

It will also ease achieving higher framerates on lower settings in high end titles, because of lower CPU bottlenecks, which will help with VR.
 

riflen

Member
Could MS's DirectX improvements positively affect the Xbox in any way?

Potentially. Although it's more likely that the API employed for Xbox development already benefits from these kinds of improvements, due to the nature of creating a fixed platform.
 

JesseDeya

Banned
No. Consoles are already coded to their specific hardware. PC's are trying to mimic that with mantle and this news.

Why then does the quote say...

However, you asked us to do more. You asked us to bring you even closer to the metal and to do so on an unparalleled assortment of hardware. You also asked us for better tools so that you can squeeze every last drop of performance out of your PC, tablet, phone and console.

I doubt they are talking about the Wii U or PS4 :)
 

Sentenza

Member
This is great.

EDIT: It won't be that great, if these new DirectX features are Windows 8 exclusive.
I don't give a damn. If they do it and if it actually works well I'm ready to jump even on a mandatory Windows 9, for all I care.
I'm a bit more concern about hardware support, on the other hand.
It's easy to see some of these improvements being exclusive of future GPUs, which doesn't concern me particularly in terms of economic investment, as much as it does because that would considerably slow down their adoption.
 
Still don't get the Windows 8 hate, it performs much better than Windows 7 and it cost me $15 for 64-bit pro via promo a long time ago.
 

Zarx

Member
nice, these improvements can only help PC gaming. Especially if we can get a similar level of low level hardware access and low CPU/Driver overhead on all the major APIs.
 

StevieP

Banned
Still don't get the Windows 8 hate, it performs much better than Windows 7 and with nice promo cost me $15 for 64-bit pro.

Metro still sucks with a keyboard and a mouse. MS realized this and you'll see more of that later this year.

Luckily you can install classic shell for free and make windows 8 into a much faster windows 7. Most people who go to use their new laptop to horror don't know of classic menu software though, and it takes them awhile to realize they can start typing the software they want to start.
 
You do know that internally 7 is 6.1 while 8 is 6.2 and they both are nearly identical to Vista which is 6.0 in pretty much all underlying technology, right?
The only reason why something is exclusive to 7 or 8 is because of marketing.

Yes. Only marketing...
 
Metro still sucks with a keyboard and a mouse. MS realized this and you'll see more of that later this year.

Luckily you can install classic shell for free and make windows 8 into a much faster windows 7. Most people who go to use their new laptop to horror don't know of classic menu software though, and it takes them awhile to realize they can start typing the software they want to start.

I guess I didn't really think about Metro, I've erased that from my Windows 8 experience haha.
 
As with everything Microsoft promises in the PC games space, I'll believe it when I see it, running on my Windows Crimson 9.4.5 machine since whatever improvements will be exclusive to the that specific release of course...
 

Demigod Mac

Member
All the Windows 8 FUD is really unfounded. You can pretty much banish the Metro interface from existence and get 8 to 7's functionality and usability with a few minor tweaks.

As someone said though, under-the-hood they're all very similar, so yeah, an exclusive API at this point would be pure marketing. I'd expect that of Microsoft with D3D but not AMD/Mantle or Khronos/OpenGL.
 
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